And this is a chinchilla

Our friends went out of town this week. They are in California enjoying the beach, and we are here getting the crap scared out of us. Ok, I will explain. We are taking care of their pets, and yard. When my friend said take care of the chinchilla, I didn't really know what that was. On Friday morning we went upstairs to a open empty cage. They hadn't shut it tight when they left and the rodent was somewhere in the house. I felt icky, knowing it was somewhere. Anyway we left Friday thinking it would just show up. Saturday still no Bob. I thought we really needed to find this thing. My friend had said it liked to hide in her closet. I go in there and turn on the light, and I hear a rustle. I yelled for Davis (he is the brave one, I can't handle furry rat things). All the sudden this thing ran across my feet, oh my gosh I screamed (and yes I about peed my pants) poor Owen screamed because I screamed. He then got mad at me for scaring him, and Ally was crying, all the while Davis was jumping around laughing and watching all of us. I left the room, and let him and Owen catch the thing. It took like 45 minutes to get the thing out from under the bed. After all the drama, I finally learned what a chinchilla was. Look at this thing, it looks like a rabbit (ears), rat, squirrel (tail), guinea pig thing. I made sure we shut the cage really tight.

They made do

Tonight was supposed to be a pool party with Josh & Rachelle's, PJ & Krissy's, and Mom & Colins (man we need to move to Layton) ward. However, it got cancelled. The kids were bummed, but they loved going out and playing in the rain, and when the rain stopped, they had their own pool party in Josh & Rachelles backyard. I'm not complaining though because the kids had fun, and I got to enjoy my favorite type of weather. I LOVE summer thunder and rain storms. My kids think I am crazy because I will just sit outside and listen to the thunder and watch the rain. So anyway our plans may have changed, but it was still a fun evening.

Time for another

And we are still going to Lagoon 7 years later. And now Grace is working there...still with that cute smile on her face, even while working.

Holiday Traditions

We celebrated the 4th of July yesterday. I feel as if I can just copy my post from last year and paste it right here. We didn't change our plans much, we are creatures of habit. But when something works why change it right!?! And we have always had a good time, and manage to see all our family members, so it is a good plan. I may have no new plans, but I do have tons of cute new pictures.

Cowabunga mini vacation

Today was another of our mini vacations. The kids have always wanted to go to Cowabunga, so we made another hotel getaway out of it. We started the day off at IHOP to fill our bellies.
We pulled up to the water park, and the screams just erupted from my car. I had to open the doors quick to release some pressure. The kids were excited to say the least. We had a BLAST! It was so worth the drive. I don't know what got into me. I am usually content just to watch my kids, but I joined them on all the slides and I think all of our favorite was the biggest splash in the world, that was fun. It must have been the smiles, and screams, and laughter that got to me. We were just plain exhausted by the time we left. Definitely a place we will have to visit again.







We got to the hotel, and I thought everyone would want to crash and take a little rest (well, I hoped anyway). I helped Ally use the restroom, and we came out into the room and it was empty. I didn't know where everyone had gone. So I went to Rachelle's room to see if they knew where my kids were. Well, we found them. Back in the pool, the crazy kids!! I didn't let their excitement pull me in this time. I was too tired, and happy to just sit on the side and watch.
After dinner we made one more stop to Paces for a treat. I could eat Astro bars day and night. The kids were pretty slap happy by this point, and scared off a few couples at dinner, and another few at Paces. I didn't see a problem at all, maybe it was just because I was just as silly and tired as them.We had a great day!

Family Reunion Fun!

This weekend was the annual Blackner Family Reunion. And as most other years, it was down in Milford/Minersville. I dragged my feet big time this year, because I am sorry, but I am just not a fan of Milford. I dragged my feet so much that I missed the caravan down south, and just about missed catching a ride with Clark in his semi. But very last minute I decided to buck up and go. I had sent the boys down with everyone else on Thursday. I knew they would have a blast and they never pass up the chance to go camping/4 wheeling with cousins. This year it was a 3 day campout instead of just the typical afternoon in the park. My kids were in paradise! There were endless 4 wheeling trails, dirt, cousins, pools, slides, games, camping, & late nights. I will remember this trip fondly except for the late night I spent in the trailer with everyone else. Well, my whole 2 hours in the trailer. Ally woke up at 1am quite confused and it took me taking her out for a walk to get her calmed down. I ended up crawling into the car because I didn't want to disturb everyone in the trailer. Come to find out, the party kept rocking all night with kids and getting stuck, and sleep talking, and bed switching, so I wouldn't have disturbed anyone coming in at 2:30am. My boys had themselves so worn out, they didn't know any of this was going on. Owen was stuck up on the top bunk, luckily he didn't have any of his sleep walking episodes. So I am glad that I braved Milfords hot, windy, dusty, weather and went down to the reunion, because I always love to see my kids having so much fun (and yes, I had a good time too).

Busy night for scouts

The boys had pack meeting tonight. Owen earned his Arrow of Light. He was pretty excited that he achieved this. With being so busy, scouts seemed to take the brunt of his time crunch, but he kept up with it, and I helped him at home alot and he made it. And with me being Davis's scout leader he doesn't have much of a choice so good thing he really enjoys scouts. He earned his wolf tonight. He's only been in scouts for 4 months, but he got his wolf and 5 arrows. Way to go boys, I'm proud of you!