Elmer Family Reunion {part 1} Family Pictures and Money Dig

We've just returned from a week in Utah spending time with the wonderful Elmer family in this beautiful lodge. Everyone had a great time and as I uploaded pictures I just kept wishing I would have taken more. We got to Utah Saturday and stayed the night near Thanksgiving Point, and on Sunday we went to church and then started the trip to the lodge. I think it took about three hours to get there. That night Malerie and Bryce blessed baby Ruby and it was great to be there for that (uggh, why didn't I get a pic of that?). Each day we started with a devotional (I missed most of them due to unruly children), and each day ended with a group activity of some sort (Story time with the Uncles, Family skits/songs, Family Home Evening, Minute to win it game, etc.). We got a big group picture in our reunion shirts that Peggy made (super cute) and this is where I pulled out my camera for the first time...
Maya, Bennett, and Benji. These three had a blast running around exploring nature. They tried and tried to catch a lizard, and even though I don't think they did, they just had a great time together. So much fun in fact, that they couldn't be bothered with looking at the camera for even one second.

The shirts were super cute. Each family had a different color shirt and on the backs they said "Team Jim", "Team John", "Team Jerry", "Team Jeff", or "Team Joe". They were very similar to the last reunion shirts except last time they were all the same color and had the the number on the back that represented the number you were in the family.

The money dig is always a huge hit, and this year was no exception. There was a sand volleyball court at the lodge and millions of coins were dispersed through an area of sand, then the kids were turned loose with Ziploc bags to collect their loot. I'm sure you can guess which of our kids liked this the best. Porter was in absolute heaven and was one of the last children to call it quits, Maya had a moderate amount of coins in her bag when she decided she'd had enough and walked away to find something more Maya-like to do, Bennett was swimming and decided the money dig wasn't worth leaving the pool for, and Miles was napping.


Stay tune for the next exciting installment...(hint - someone ends up with stitches, any guesses who?)

Date Night with Bennett

The last 3 Saturday nights each kid has had a date night with dad, but last night it was moms turn with Bennett and they went to the dollar store to get some activities for the trip today and Bennett in true Bennett-style wanted to wear his Lobster halloween costume on their date so he was fashionably dressed while they shopped, but at one point he took notice that everyone was looking at him and he leaned real close to Amanda and whispered, "They all know i'm a lobster" as if he were trying to fool everyone into thinking he was a normal kid in normal kid clothing and it just wasn't working.

Little Cubs

This week Porter had cub scout day camp and despite the heatwave, he loved it. Every morning we would have to wake up earlier than normal so that we could go pick up his friend Noah and get them to the leaders house who would drive them to camp. They'd bring him home around 4 or 5 and he'd recount the days exciting activities of woodshop where he made a bird house and a bird feeder, swimming in the pool, archery, BB shooting, and "Creeking" which apparently is a scout activity involving wading through the creek looking for crawdads, frogs, and other creepy-crawlies. Friday was family day and so at lunch we went out to meet Porter and do some of the activities that he had been doing all week. Maya and Bennett were so excited because Porter couldn't stop talking about it all week. They swam, did a big slip n' slide, and even had a turn on the shooting range where Bennett hit his soda can 3 times and Maya hit her paper plate target 4 times! It was pretty warm and the activities wore them out so on the way home, all the kids fell asleep and it was quiet for 30 minutes until we got home and they all woke up and were starving.

Netflix and the 80's

Thanks to Netflix, I have been hearing things coming from my children that I haven't heard in over 25 years. Sayings like, "I have the POWER!" and "I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME, GADGET!" have been generously bandied about in our home causing me to reminisce and remember when saturday mornings where the greatest time of the week and the ultimate exercise in bladder control. Thank you Netflix

GUMMED!

Two nights ago, one of the kids, Bennett I think, had a big wad of gum he was chewing on before bed. Remembering from my childhood when I was about his age and fell asleep with gum in my hair and having my mom rub generous amounts of peanut butter in my hair to get it out, I made him spit it out. He was throwing a fit about it so I told him he could continue chewing on it tomorrow if he went to bed without any further complaints, which he did. I set the gum on the desk by my bed and went to sleep.

In the dark hours of the morning, I awoke feeling my arm hairs pulled out of my skin as I shifted in bed. Half dead, I felt around trying to figure who or what was sticking me to the sheets and all up and down my arm were little strings of gum wrapped like a web to my skin and the bed. Laying next to me was Miles our soon to be 2 yr. old. who was pulling the wad of gum out of his mouth and dropping strings of masticated Juicy Fruit all over the bed. I had to reach into his mouth and pull out the gum and then begin rolling all the gum strings back into their mother gumball. As I showered for the day, I kept finding little rogue gumlettes all over my body. At breakfast we had a stern lecture on the new "No Gum...Ever" policy ratified into law earlier that morning by the parental majority, but what sealed the deal was Amanda brushing her hair out and finding the offending wad snuggly nestled in her locks. Pressed for time trying to get Dad to work and Porter to Scout Camp, she took one for the team and forwent the more laborious peanut-butter method for the quick and effective, cut-your-hair-out-method and got us all to work on time. Rigorous screening procedures have been put into effect to apprehend any and all children with said contraband to ensure that no more hair is lost.

It's Friday I'm In LOVE...

AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com
Casey and I spent way too long looking through the photos on this sight and laughing till we cried. Oh. My. Gosh. Way too funny. The best parts are the captions. People are so funny.

I love funny moments like last saturday when Casey and Porter went to Walmart for their 'daddy son date' and while shopping made friends with a Peruvian couple who invited us to their grandsons birthday the following day. Ok, let me go into a little more detail. Porter wore a Peruvian soccer jersey that Jeff and Peggy had gotten him from their mission and as they were walking the toy aisle this man started talking to them and told them he was from Peru. His wife came up and they had a long conversation during which time the grandson and Porter played together. As the conversation was wrapping up Casey said "We'll have to have you guys over for a cookout sometime" and they said "Oh, we're having a cookout tomorrow for our grandsons birthday. You guys should come." Casey did give them fair warning that there are 7 of us, but the insisted we should all come, so we did. Weird! We showed up and there was a ton of their family there and us (the token gringo strangers). Everyone was like "This is the guy uncle tio met at the Wal-Mart". It was so strange but they were super friendly and nice and the kids had a great time playing together. Oh, and we ate cow heart and fish cooked by lemon juice (NO FIRE involved).

As if that Walmart trip wasn't eventful enough as Porter and Casey were leaving Casey walked up to the van and opened the trunk to find a stroller he didn't recognize. He was a little confused until he looked up front and saw a lady in a burkah sitting in the passenger seat. He suddenly realized he was in the wrong car. He said "I'm so sorry, this is the wrong car." and walked away. As they walked away Porter said "Dad that was so embarrassing!"

Wha'd you say?

I was trying to explain to Bennett why we shouldn't kiss people outside of our family and I said "It's ok to kiss mommy and daddy but kissing other girls is YUCK." He raised his eyebrows and with a puzzled expression said "I DON'T THINK SO."

Ender cried out in his sleep and Bennett said "Mom, Ender had a dream, a scary dream that somebody was eating him.

Bennett: Is spiderman real?
Me: No he's imaginary.
B: Why is he imaginary? I wanted Jesus to send him here. Why did Jesus send him to comics and not here?

The missionaries were telling the kids that they shouldn't start fires without adult supervision. Maya got a shocked look on her face and accusingly said "YOU MEAN YOU GUYS CAN LOOK THOUGH WALLS?".

As we left the gym it was super sunny outside and Bennett instinctivly squinted one eye closed, then he said ""Hey, I should be a pirate because I my eye can't see."

Casey-"Those bathroom books are not nearly long enough".

Me "Bennett did you have fun playing with Bella?"
Bennett "Yeah"
Maya "Bennett got a little kiss from Bella."
Me "Bennett, did Bella give you a little kiss?"
Bennett "Yeah, and I even closed my eyes."
Me "Why did you close your eyes?"
Bennett "Because she told me to!"

Maya-"Everybody I know has a sister or a dog forcept me."

As Casey was laying in bed trying to get a little extra sleep Bennett came in the room and crept up along side the bed. There was a pillow by the bed and right as he stepped on the pillow Casey tooted and Bennett said "hey Dad, this pillow sounds like a duck!"

Maya woke up and told us she had had a dream that she was the host of Americas Funniest Home Videos, and she introduced the clips by saying "In races...Mom's always win".

A few weeks ago the kids had wear read day, and pay a dollar to wear a hat day. As I was giving the kids their bath tonight Maya said "Wear red and pay a dollar to wear a hat day was fun. Guess what, Maddie wore a CHEESE hat. It looked like a piece of cheese, and I pretended to be a mouse."

Porter and Miles were playing together when Miles suddenly tried to bite Porters toe. Porter said "Ooww, I hope you don't do that on your mission".

Bennett had a piece of gum in his mouth and he broke it in half and gave half of it to Miles. I said Bennett that was so nice that you shared with Miles, and he said "Yeah, it's spicey and minty".

The Harwards were visiting, and as we were sitting in church Bennett was hovering around baby Ella. She started waking up, and he looked up at Sarah and said "She just loves me so much. I know, maybe I should feed here with these" (while lifting up his shirt and pointing to his little nipples).

As Hannah was saying family prayer, we were all listening quietly when Bennett, who had wanted to say the prayer, suddenly blurted out "Hanny, you're a doof." (Don't feel too sorry for Hanny, she's the one who taught Benny the word 'doof').

The Primary did a special party for the kids that are turning eight this year, so we stayed after church and learned about baptism and scouting. The scout leader told the boys they would be in the wolf den. After the program Maya said "I wish I could be in the wolf den". Casey told her it was not a REAL wolf den, and she said "Oh, I thought there would be baby wolves." Casey and I started laughing and she said "What? I love baby wolves."

Casey walked past Bennett and tousled his hair. When he touched his head he shocked him and I said "Bennett did he zap you?" Bennett said "No, I zapped him with my super hair."

We were getting ready for church, and Bennett and I were talking about how he was going to get to go to primary. He said "uuuggg, it's the boringest thing I ever saw".

In church Bennett's primary teacher asked the kids what their favorite songs were and Bennett said "I just like Holy Diver".

When we put Bennett to bed he's been coming upstairs and saying "I forgot how to sleep!"

Bennett threw a piece of a brick at Porter and Porter said "Hey, why'd you throw a brick at me?" and Bennett replied "It's not a brick, it's a rock".

It's Friday I'm In LOVE...

with this baby. He's is rolling over! I just can't believe it. He seems way too little to be acting so big. Porter was the first one to see him roll and I didn't believe it at first, but then I saw it myself. I guess I should be a little more trusting:)

We've been loving the music of Josh Ritter. Some of my favorites are 'Girl In The War' 'Folk Bloodbath' and 'Lillian Egypt'. I'm a sucker for folksy songs that tell a story. If you're interested you can download them on Legal Sounds for 10 cents a piece. Well worth it!

I love date night, even when the evening is so chaotic I want to call it off at the last minute. We had the missionaries over for dinner and quickly rushed them out the door and welcomed our babysitter in. Then we couldn't find the remote to the TV (we had rented the movie Rango for the kids to watch with the babysitter), so they had to watch the movie in our room (which was so dirty I had to swear the babysitter to secrecy). We had the bishops daughter watch the kids and she was amazing. I'm just sad she's leaving for school next week (hopefully her younger sister will be up to the challenge). Date night was fun. We watched Harry Potter in 3-D (I'm sure we'll have fun 3-D glasses pictures to follow). I still haven't seen the first part of the movie, but the second part was great. A good ending (if endings can be good).

I love our new traditions of counting the UPS trucks on the way to the gym. The kids love it and it makes the trip much more fun. The gym is only about 2 miles away but we pass the UPS dispatch place on the way so we see TONS! Our record so far is 68 one way (yeah, that's a lot).

I {heart} a clean van!

Last summer when I went to my grandma's funeral I was riding though the cemetery looking at the gravestone when my brother James said "I know what your headstone is going to say" I was excited to hear what he would say, I've always though James kind of liked me and I thought it was going to be something like "Here lies Amanda the best sister of all time" which would have been pretty cool since Sarah was in the car too. But instead he said "Here lies Amanda, owner of the worlds dirtiest van". Yeah, that was a slap in the face, but it's all too true. I've always admired those people who can keep their cars looking clean and new, but when you pack 5 munchkins around it's hard to build up the courage look in the back seat better yet to actually clean it! This weekend Casey and the kids braved the heat and filth, and cleaned out the van. I puttered around the house and made them "nada pina coladas" for their efforts, and I'm proud to say the van is still as clean today (Monday) as it was when they finished (Saturday). (hopefully I'll still be able to say that next week)

It's Friday I'm In LOVE...

I'm in love with Jeni's "Sweet Corn and Black Raspberry Ice cream". I broke down and bought the book (Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home) after trying the "Salty Carmel" at a friends house, then I scoured Craigslist until I found, and purchased a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker (with two freezer bowls - this could be dangerous!). Then we had a blast spending the fourth of July cooking up several different flavors. It was love at first bite when I tried the "Sweet Corn and Black Raspberry"! I can't get enough.

Through our health insurance we get free membership to certain area gyms, so we joined last week and I've started going to zumba again. They even have child care! I'm not sure I like it as much as I liked my old zumba instructor in Spokane, but it's fun, and hopefully I'll get better (and burn off some of that ice cream).

I already commented on this earlier, but I am absolutely loving my old pictures. This is a picture of Maya as a baby (she looks like Ender). I hate that I can't remember this at all. It just makes me want to scream! How could I forget? Anyway I'm grateful for the pictures since my brain is obviously unreliable.

Family of Pipers

Who says we're not talented. Thanks to Amanda for the impromptu Elmer video.

The Scioto Mile

Caseys company has been working on a project to revamp the columbus river front. There was a big grand opening this week, so we loaded up the hooligans and headed down town (even though Casey wasn't actually involved in the project). It was pretty fun (after all the long speeches and "thank you's") they cut the ribbon on the splash pad and the kids had a blast playing in the water. We had such a good time we decided to go back two days later and enjoy it again. These pictures are from our second trip (I forgot the camera our first time, along with changes of clothing).


Miles was mostly afraid of the water and spent his time wandering up to strangers and trying to hug them. Ender spent his time chilling in the stroller, it was a bit warm but every now and then the wind would shift and he'd get a nice misting from the fountain.

Porter and Maya each got hurt. Porter skinned his knee and Maya was spinning around a pole and smacked right into another pole head first. She's got quite the bruise on her forehead now.


Check this picture out. Every single person is totally cheesing it up. Love it!

Some random pictures and a few funny stories...

Is this guy not the cutest little fellow EVER? I can't get over what a wonderful little personality he has. I'm crazy about this kid. Casey gave me some of the best news I've had in a long time the other day. A few years ago our external hard drive fried and we lost all our pictures from when Porter and Maya were babies and I was totally crushed, but last week Casey came strutting downstairs and announced that he had discovered all the pictures. He had burned them to CD and forgotten all about it. Lucky for us he decided to go through all our miscellaneous CD's before throwing them out and hit the jack pot. I may resort to posting really old pictures just because I love them so much and as I look through them I feel so happy I think my heart might burst and I think you all might want a taste of that too.

Friday has become our night to have the missionaries from church over and we've enjoyed having their company (it gives us an excuse to practice manners on them). This week we somehow got onto the subject of fires and one of the missionaries said he use to pour hand sanitizer onto plates and set them on fire. As soon as the last word left his lips he looked at the kids and then at me and said "I probably shouldn't have said that. Sorry." Then the other missionary said "You should never start a fire without adult supervision." Maya quickly looked at us and said "You mean you guys can look through walls?"

Last night as I got Miles dressed for bed and put him in a little pair of solid blue spider man pants and a solid red t shirt. As soon as Porter saw him he busted up laughing and said "Miles looks so cute. He looks just like a Lego guy!". I never would have noticed on my own, but once Porter pointed it out I realized it was totally true and it cracked me up. I'm getting all kinds of ideas for next Halloween now.


Tonight Casey made Bennett a pretend cell phone out of clay. It was basically a long thin rectangle of clay folded in half with numbers scratched into it. Bennett liked it because it flipped open like Casey's phone. I don't know where he got the google eyes, but somehow he found a bunch and pressed them into the phone. I came in the room and he said "Momma, you like my I (eye) phone?" I giggled then he said "Do you want to see it? (then he shoved it into my face with all the little google eyes bobbing around, and said) It sees you!" Oh my goodness that kid is a-larious!

I'm sure no one cares about this but me but after about two years of longing for benches for my kitchen table the dream is finally a reality! I'll have to take a picture, but for now you'll just have to trust me when I say they look great. Casey got two better homes and garden farm benches (from walmart) and I absolutely love them. The table area seems much less cluttered and we can cram a bunch more kids on those suckers!

Columbus Zoo

We're not quite out of boxes yet, but we got our zoo pass and we're exploring our new home town. The zoo was great although it was a super hot day and even Casey and I were contemplating sneaking into the water park next door. The kids were amazing, of course they asked for all the stuff that isn't included in your membership (face painting, pony rides, giant sodas), but after being told "That cost extra" they were super understanding and didn't whine or ask again. I loved it and rewarded them with frostys on the way home. It was a great day to be a member of the Elmer family!

The Polar Bears were my favorite. They have an underwater viewing area (where it is much cooler than it is outside) and it was so fun to sit and watch them chase fish and swim around. I could have stayed there all day.


The zoo is divided up by regions and we only got through one region, so we're looking forward to our next trip (our pass includes two guest, any takers?).

Ender's Birth Announcement

I made this card exclusively for my Grammie after Ender was born, but thought I should share it with the rest of you now. ce