A Nice Weekend in Pictures..ish

We started Friday night by re-celebrating Ben passing the PE by going to In-n-Out.

Troy and Liam ate lots of fries and drank lots of pop. Liam had 3 bites of burger, Troy had 2 small bites smothered in ketcup. Ben and I devoured our burgers. Well, actually I didn't finish mine. I get intimidated by large burgers. I hardly ever finish them. Ben gladly ate what the rest of us didn't eat.

Ben and I were pretty tired, so when it was time for bed, we didn't spend very long getting them to calm down. That resulted in them playing for an hour in their room. Ben found them like this before we went to bed. 

Saturday morning Ben had to go to work, so I took my time getting everyone ready. I love dressing up Katelyn. 

Isn't that flower adorable?! Compliments of Annie Andersen. She keeps Katelyn stylish ;)

I took the kids to Wal-mart (so scary for me still.) We had to get a baby present for a baby shower that morning and two birthday presents for a party in the afternoon. Shopping for toys is NOT something you should do with children. Its funny how I know that my kids are loud but I don't stress about it as much anymore. I try to get them to calm down and stop yelling, but it is what it is. 

We hurried back and dropped off the present to the baby shower, since I obviously wouldn't be attending with the kids. The girl, Amanda Noyes, had actually gone into labor right before the shower! 

After naps, we went to the birthday party for Chayla (3) and Giles (1). It was Mickey and Minnie themed. She had SO many things planned and decorated, it must have taken multiple hours to prepare. I know she had fun doing it. The kids loved it. 

Their favorite game was the giant Mickey cardboard bean bag game. I was here most of the party.

I was terrified of taking Liam and not having Ben's help. Ben didn't know he would have to work until the night before. Luckily, Katelyn slept the ENTIRE time in her car seat. Huge blessing.

Another tender mercy happened. It was a swimming party as well, but Liam didn't want to swim. Troy couldn't stop talking about wanting to swim. Well, I can't help Troy swim and chase Liam in the clubhouse at the same time. I figured we would just have to go home early. THEN I look out the window and Devin and Sarah are swimming at that precise moment! What?! So I sent Troy out there with them and he had SO much fun. YAY for Devin and Sarah (and little Timothy :)

After the party we drove to Mom Allsops and met Ben there. He went there directly after work to finish up a huge yard project. I really wish I would have taken before and after pictures. Her yard looks so beautiful and they did SO much work. It took two separate days and about 10 hours total. Bark laying and gravel spreading, lots of shoveling and trips to the dump. Lots of sore hands and backs, but great satisfaction in what was accomplished. Hard work is so satisfying!

Mom's cat, Emmy, had 5 kittens the night before! Are they not adorable?!

Sunday went better than previous weeks. We made it through the WHOLE sacrament meeting without taking Liam out. AMAZING. I had our last choir practice of the summer, we will sing  "This Is the Christ" next week. I am very grateful for such talent in our ward. I'm also grateful for the summer and the time to prepare for fall.

Later that evening we went to our ward "walk-a-bout." We have two distinct neighborhoods in our ward that are separated by a large hill, so it feels divided. Plus, the age difference is huge between the two. So, our sweet Bishop created an event for all of us to visit each neighborhood and have treats and see where everyone lives. It was really fun. Troy biffed it hard and hit his head on a rock, but he was tough (after he got a sucker.) Liam stayed strapped in a stroller, so we actually got to talk to people.

It was a full and fun weekend!

p.s. Shout out to Brittany who went to the Taylor Swift Concert! She has been getting the whole family to call radio stations at different times and her husband actually WON!