Chinese Day!

We had Chinese Day yesterday! We've been on a KungFu Panda craze since we went and saw the movie. So, the kids have been asking for dumplings for a month and I finally gave in. To me they ended up being like big ravioli's with an oriental flavored filling and the kids pretty much took one bite of them and were done. After a month of begging! And mom being in the kitchen forever making them....yes, I was slightly irritated (lucky for Casey he ate his!) but expected as much. Will I be making them again? Probably never! But I will be making eggrolls with my leftover filling! Mmmm...that thought has brought me comfort. =) But eventhough the dumplings were rejected, the soup I made was a hit. We pulled out the Chinese bowls and spoons and the chopsticks just for fun. Katie Belle was the most successful with the chopsticks using a two-hand method she came up with by herself!

How does your garden grow?

I had to post another picture of my garden now that it's growing like crazy! We'll have alot of tomatoes really soon and it looks like we'll have pumkins to spare! The watermelon plants have started to put out melons but we'll see if they get big enough to actually eat. I'm afraid you can't see my peppers since they're behind the BUSHES of cilantro and basil but they're doing well too. =) I'm thinking this was definately the way to go.

Home Again!

So I finally recovered from my so-called vacation! LOL! Although girls camp is tons of fun it also means very little sleep and my body just doesn't function without rest! We were at Alturas Lake for camp this year and that's where we used to go in the summer when I was younger. So it was fun to see everything and remember being there before. And just for my family's sake...yes, the water is as cold as we remember! Maybe colder!!! =) I need to figure out how to get a cabin up there and maybe we could all go next summer? Just a thought. Anyway, I was surprised to see how well Casey fared without me. He had the house clean and even posted to the blog! He's AMAZING! But I knew that.

Now that that's over, there really isn't much planned for the rest of the summer. All I can think of is that we'll be going to the Twin Falls temple open house in August. I'm excited for that!

We had a Pirate theme for camp this year so here are my crazies after they pilaged my bags and found my pirate stuff.

A Divine Comedy

Well, it's just me posting on this blog. Coralie is on vacation officially and now I am a lone man for a while more. Just to let you know the recent current events, we headed to Pocatello and cleaned out the basement of the Rawson's with the help of Trent and Marlene. It was... surreal since I just swallowed snot for four days from the dust allergies I had. But to my surprise... no hallucinations.
But you know how there are seven wonders of the ancient world? Well I personally discovered at least 27 modern wonders downstairs. They were all wonders like, "What the?" followed by a 10 minute stupor of thought as I try to classify the new species I have discovered, and "A detonator for dynamite?!?!?! What is he planning on doing with this?" Here are some pictures to show you my point.
Here's me before:
Here is me after:

But hey it's all worth it. I am alive. But in all honesty it wasn't that bad. I mean what's so bad about a 32 year old man-eating cobwebs got to do with anything anyway? I'll tell you what. We still can't find Luke! Just kidding, obviously. But really, The place looks good now. Congratulations Theo and Mercedes on your new... space. Next year, retirement!

On another note, Coralie has been at girls camp since Tuesday and the kids and I miss her so much. Tomorrow she gets back and then I can go on vacation!!! Ha ha ha. (yeah right.) Everything we have eaten since her abandonment to freedom has been baked. My kids definately miss the food varieties. Shockingly they have only had cereal in the mornings. I am a good dad. =] And as the wise Chinese man says, "Don't eat yellow snow."

4th of July Weekend

We certainly had a fun weekend! First of all, Marlene and Trent came to visit and so the kids had fun running around with Chad. Brian is a cutie and he was fun to haul around! I must look enough like his mommy for him to be alright with me. =) We went to Jeanie's for a Barbecue and then went to Melba for fireworks. It was our first time there and next time we won't go early but the kids had fun messing around. They got to ride a little train, play at the park and run through the sprinklers. Katie Belle made herself a new friend too! She really likes bugs.

Once the fireworks started they were all in awe. The show was good but we all agreed that the best part were the big bombs of fire that they exploded! Think of what the nuclear bomb looked like and it was like that on a very small scale. I thought something had exploded on accident but soon realized it was on purpose. Very cool!

The next day we went swimming. It was one of the cooler days we've had so it was kind of cold to be in the water. Either way, they all managed to have fun. Luke was especially happy with his goggles and water socks. (He rubbed the skin off his toes last time!)


Hope you all had a great weekend and although we spent it having fun I did take some time to be really grateful for this country! We're all so lucky to be here. Love you all!