Happy Birthday Sis!

Since my mom's birthday list was so much fun, I thought I'd give it another shot. Here's my top ten favorite things about my little sister ...

10 -- She's even more of a neat freak than me! It makes me feel so normal!
9-- Her good taste. Whether it's arranging my decorations or helping me shop, Hayley always knows exactly what will work and what won't. I pretty much don't dare do anything without getting her opinion first!
8-- She's extra competitive, which means that she usually wins, but absolutely whupping her butt in Canasta is so so sweet!
7-- Most people who are as beautiful as she is have a way of making others feel self-conscious and frumpy. Hayley somehow makes everyone around her feel better about themselves! It's an amazing talent.
6-- It's awesome having my own personal hairdresser! If you've only known me for a few years, you don't know that my hair before Hayley's beauty school days was pretty darn bad. She is a miracle worker!
5-- The way she celebrates her birthday. It usually takes her about a month to do it up right. This may sound selfish, but it's the opposite. She makes sure she celebrates with everyone, and I always manage to get a couple pretty great meals out of it! (The last couple years have also involved killer great shopping trips -- what a great sis, huh?!)
4-- She's super strong! She's been through some pretty tough things and she manages to stay positive and always hold onto her faith. She makes sure the rest of us do, too.
3-- Her thoughtfulness. It's one of the things that she inherited from my mom that I most try to emulate. She's always thinking of cute things to do for other people.
2-- The way she loves my kids. They are seriously lucky to have all the love and attention that she heaps upon them!
1--She gave me Travis, Ady, and Sienna --- some of my very favorite people in the whole world! Did I mention she has good taste?!

Happy Birthday Hayley! I know you're not done celebrating yet, but don't have too much more fun without me! We Love You!

I couldn't resist!

You Are Cinderella!

Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

A pretty great weekend!

We actually felt like we got to start our weekend on Thursday, which is a pretty great start. The circus was in town, and, while we were unable to go, we did get to go watch them set up. It was actually pretty interesting. We watched them set up the enormous circus tent, met the elephants, and even met the baby white tiger. We also got to learn a little bit about circus life. The kids loved it and it got me out of the house while waiting for the fam to arrive.... Travis, Hayley, the girls, and my mom arrived Thursday afternoon. Once they finished raving about the beauty of that long, long drive from Utah and took a much needed rest, we were able to kick-off our fun-filled weekend together. Of course, it began with food -- Mexican food and then staying up way too late.
Friday was loads of fun. The guys got up to go golfing and us girls were able to head to Boise with only Brielle and Sienna in tow. Imagine -- a full day of shopping where the kids do not outnumber the adults! It was fabulous and we owe Breje a whole bunch for watching Ady and Kutter while the guys golfed. We missed her tons, but she definitely reaped many rewards from our shopping trip! Brielle and Sienna were troopers, but were exhausted by the end of the day. I couldn't resist snapping this shot of Brielle just before we left the mall. Her stroller is literally loaded down with bags (we couldn't get her out of it would tip over!) and her is frazzled!

Later, the kids were able to relax in the pool, and Jody was the only brave adult who was willing to hop in with them. He definitely felt rewarded when they ALL snuggled with him on the trampoline to get warm!

I didn't think we'd ever actually get Sienna away from all of our pets! She stared at the fish and birds for hours on ends, and was constantly begging to visit the kittens in the garage.

Saturday was a birthday dinner for Jody and Hayley in Boise, topped off with mini golf. I sure wish I had some pics of that! Five adults, six kids, ninety degrees --- what in the world were we thinking? We topped it all of with the 3D Hannah Montana concert on Disney that the kids were just dying to watch. I even caught Jody getting interested!

And we couldn't get Trayson's attention for an hour!

To make everything just perfect, Jody finally got his horse this weekend! He has been waiting for this for a long time, and he is so happy!

Meet Sugarlegs!

If Jody's happy, our kids are ecstatic! They won't leave the poor horse alone. As Ady said, "This place looks just like a farm!" Hmmm, not sure where I fit in with all this, but our big old plot of tumbleweeds is definitely getting more interesting!

Thanks so much to Trav, Hayley, and my mom for driving all the way out here to entertain us! It was so much fun and I am so darn full!

My Little Chocolate Protege

So Brielle knew that I baked cookies, because I had to give her one in order to frost the rest of them in a timely fashion. She seemed to notice that I then gave the other children cookies that looked much tastier (covered in gooey choclate frosting) than the cookie which she'd received. She must also have noticed that I still had two uneaten, frosted cookies on the counter after I sent the rest of the kids outside with theirs. She's no dumbie -- apparently that's me, because I'm the crazy mommy that got her out of the high chair and left her alone in the kitchen with said cookies (but seriously, they were way up on the countertop!)
I am still not sure how she did it -- it involved Jody's charging cell phone, a paper plate, and a ton of noise -- but when I heard the commotion I saw all these items on the kitchen floor and my panicked little toddler running away from it. The look on her face when I walked in showed that she knew she was in trouble, but she had the presence of mind to keep ahold of one cookie as she ran. I suppose I should've gotten mad but I was just so darn impressed with her determination and skill -- that kind of hard work should be rewarded -- right?

Happy Late Birthday!

Yep. That's true love for you. Jody's birthday was yesterday and I totally forgot to leave my sappy comments here for you all to read! Hmm ... maybe I could use that as my gift to him! It's really totally his fault, because his idea of a good day is doing tons of stuff together as a family. We went to the pool, shopped in Boise, and took just a little time out to eat his YUMMY double chocolate raspberry cake! Mmmm. I don't think Jody could have a good day if we weren't all grinning, too! If you ask his mom, that's just how he has always been and it's one of the things I love most about him. Everything he does is centered around his family and we just want to let him know how much we appreciate that!

He ended up getting some fun camping stuff from me, but I think his favorite gift was a homemade certificate from the kids. It said, "This certifies that Jody Kim Wolfley has been elected as World's Best Dad!" I guess that says it all!

Game Time!!!

I've seen this on a bunch of blogs and it sounds like fun!

Here are the directions:1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. :) If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Bear Lake holds a special place in my childhood memories. I spent most of my summers there--almost always surrounded by my cousins -- and just hearing the name evokes vivid memories for me. I spent countless hours exploring "undiscovered" trails in St. Charles Canyon with my siblings and cousins. We ate s'mores, we collected sea shells, we listened to our parents talk around the fire while we snuggled deep into our sleeping bags and planned how we would do it all again the next day. I got the chance to go back there with my own children and go camping again with my cousins last weekend. Although it definitely reminded me how much tougher my parents must have been when I was little (who knew camping was so much work?!) it was definitely worth giving my kids some of those same memories! There was much less relaxing than I remember, but we did get tons of good food, plenty of sunshine, and a whole bunch of laughter around the campfire. We also happened to have the most adorable group of children known to man, so you'll have to forgive me for the photo overload!

This shot was actually an "oops" but I am just in love with Brielle's belly from this angle! It also shows how busy she was the entire trip -- never seen without her hands full of something she wasn't supposed to have!

Kutter is absolutely beaming at getting so much attention from Cody, Amy and Simon, all at once!

One of the things I was most looking forward to is introducing my cousin Amber's little girl to Brielle. They are just over a week apart, and we were sure that they would share the same instant bond that we've had ever since we were little...

... this is the most interaction we could get from them the entire time! Maybe next year?
Ady and Kutter have never had that problem! They always manage to bridge the gap between "tough guy" and "beauty queen" and invent the very best games.

Now, this one is just priceless! Proof that they were actually enjoying each other's company.

This is the whole crew, finding a way to stretch out the fun while the grown-ups finished packing up.

Thanks to everyone who came for all the great food and laughter, and for helping me keep my kids alive! Whew!

Camping

The first camping trip of the summer ----whew! Remind me why we do this to ourselves? It came with all the fixings of a Grizwald family vacation ----first there was no available camp site, then there were the forgotten items (not just the cooking oil and fry pan, try a TENT!) kids puking in the middle of the night, flaming marshmallows, skinned knees, and my baby girl eating every stick she could find. Somehow we managed to have tons of fun.

I am still washing dirt out of every nook and cranny but the smiles on these kids faces makes it all worth it! Thanks Grandma Kay and Grandpa Kenny for making the trip with us!

They grow up so fast...

Lately I have been completely blown away by how fast my baby is growing up! It's hard to believe it was just over a year ago that my sweet friend took a picture of her curled up on my bench-- just four days old and the essence of innocence. This is how I found her on that same bench just a few days ago! When did she get so big (and so mischievous?!)

And I just had to share this picture of her first experience with corn on the cob. Do you think she liked it?