#1 Grandparents!

We just returned from a long weekend in Taylor, AZ. Aaron's parents were kind enough to take our boys for a few days while Aaron took the bar. He survived and will get the results in October. It was so nice to have a little peace and quiet around our house.. although I really missed the kids! I hope I can get make it through our long vacation next week without them. Here are a few pictures of our adventures with Aaron's parents.

At the Snowflake, AZ temple. The grounds were beautiful!

Feeding the ducks in Pinetop.

The boys were completely wiped out on the way home. What a weekend!

the BAR

Aaron takes the bar this week! It starts tomorrow and finishes Thurs.. 3 long days of essays and multiple choice questions. ugh. He will take it at a hotel in North Las Vegas, and instead of driving there everyday, (fighting traffic our favorite thing about Vegas) he is going to stay at the hotel. This is a big deal and we are all praying for him. Good luck, good-looking! We know you can do it!
The good news is.. my wonderful, fabulous in-laws are taking our crazy boys to Arizona for 3 days. I am going to stay at the hotel with Aaron.. (swim, read, and be there when he's ready to eat a meal.. you know, give him the support he needs :) while our kids are off to play with their grandparents! After the bar, Aaron and I will drive to Taylor, AZ to pick them up and hang out for the weekend! Three cheers for Aaron's parents! Hip-hip Hooray! It's not that I won't miss my kids.. it's just that I need a practice round for when we go to Hawaii. 3 days will give me a taste of what's it's like to be away from them for 8... That's what I'm really looking forward to!

Home Videos

For those of you who are interested... I added a new link (on the right) to our home video archive. Most of them are short clips of our favorite memories. I still have other videos to add and will try to update periodically. That's all.

Jumanji

Ben received $15 from a friend for his birthday. He immediately put it in his piggy bank and wanted to save it for something really cool. Yesterday he found that special something.
While at the mall, he spotted a real Jumanji game.. This is very exciting because Jumanji is one of my boys all time favorite movies and for the past six months, they have been playing a homemade version of the game. I think it consisted of a Scrabble board, Sorry cards (which they made up new meanings for.. obviously..) and Monopoly moving pieces. When Ben found the game, he looked at the price ($14.99) and screamed, "That's exactly how much I have!!" Luke peeked over his shoulder and said, "No, Ben. It's not $15, it's $14 and 99 percent!" We've been playing this game nonstop.. and let me tell you.. it's exciting. Ben kept saying over and over "this is completely freakin' cool." Luke gets so nervous to turn over the next card, he covers his eyes while saying, "I just can't stand to look.. just get it over with." Oh! The joys of parenting.

- H - O - T -

When you see me, isn't that the first thing that comes to your mind? No? Well, it does to most people... okay maybe only my mother-in-law. Yesterday I had errands to run in the morning. Aaron had the boys for a couple of hours and then we planned to meet at the outlet mall and shop/eat lunch/exchange the kids. When I left the house, Zack was dressed in a cute striped shirt. When I got to the mall, he was wearing this:

Can't read it? The first thing I said to Aaron was, "Please tell me you didn't buy that shirt." His response: "Nope. My mom did." Apparently he got the mail on his way out and found a small package for Zack. Of course, Aaron knew I would NEVER go out in public with my child wearing this shirt, so he made sure to put it on him. If I would have known, I would have dressed more appropriately for the occasion (like actually done my hair.. maybe even have worn a little makeup!) Several people saw Zack and then quickly looked at me.. I just licked my lips and puckered. We had a good laugh about it.
When I called to say 'Thank you,' Aaron's dad responded.. "We would have bought one that said, 'My grandmother is Hot' but they didn't carry it." So typical of them. Don't I have the coolest in-laws?

Cherry Hill-- part two

So, these pictures aren't that exciting.. but it's really incredible making memories with your kids at a place you have memories of when you were their age. Does that make sense? Here are Zack and Anna at the arcade, with the very same wallpaper it had 25+ years ago.

It was so much fun to be with my siblings (and their kids!) going down these waterslides.. (and for those of you who know this place, this is the OLD part.) I have so many memories here.. riding these very slides with my grandpa, who has now passed. My parents were taking turns going down with the grandkids, and while I was at the bottom, I heard my dad screaming at the top. One of my cousins said, 'who is that screaming?' I knew it was my dad (cause I know that crazy scream).. and I just couldn't help but laugh. I love that my children are making memories with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and especially cousins.. because these are the relationships that will last a lifetime.

Brent and Deb and their girls.

Every person in this picture (ok- not the lifeguard) is a part of my family..
Bev and Les have quiet the clan.. I think the total number will be 43 in August, can you believe it? Soon we will have our own community, our own city! We will take over the world! Ha, ha, ha.

this IS funny..

before I post pictures of our watersliding adventures, I've gotta tell a story. The morning after sleeping in the van (or not sleeping at all) I took the kids to the bathroom. As I was crossing the street back to camp, Tim and Rachel were leaving in their car. I had already said goodbye to them, but being the brat that I am, I pranced in front of their car (with all three boys in tow) and stuck out my tongue at them.. luckily they didn't hit us.

Just after they passed, I realized that it wasn't Tim and Rachel.. nope. just complete strangers driving a car like theirs. What were they thinking as I strutted past them? Probably, "who in the world is this girl and why does she have children?" or "we should hit her, but the baby she's holding is kinda cute." Now that's something to laugh about.

Camping at Cherry Hill-- part one

This isn't funny. It might make me laugh in a month or so, but right now, I am still frustrated about it.

I love to camp, right? So I was looking forward to my family reunion at Cherry Hill, even if I had to do it without a husband. This place is not just a typical campground.. It's all grass (a bonus when you have a son like Zack who LOVES to cover himself in dirt.) Plus.. playgrounds, swimming pools, waterslides, golfing, batting cages, restaurants, a store.. I mean, what more could you ask for? All I wanted was a good night sleep-- I would have probably settled for a couple of hours. I didn't get any.

The weather was great.. warm yet breezy, but when evening came, we had a terrible wind storm, and the first night everyone was out of their tents at 2 am. One of the shade/tarp things flew on my dad's car and we were all up to rearrange the camp ground. I think I had one or two hours of sleep that night. When I woke up, I took my three kids watersliding ALL day. No naps, no breaks.. just chaos and sunburns--it was a wild time. When evening came, I was completely exhausted. Before I actually fell asleep, our tent came down on us. I moved all of us outside to sleep under the stars, until the wind picked up and we had leaves and branches hitting us in the face. Around 3 am I put my tent back up, moved the boys back inside only to have the tent collapse again. I was so tired, I just wanted to cry and drive home to Vegas.. but I didn't! I unloaded my van, shoved our air mattress in the back (it obviously didn't fit..) and moved my kids once more. As soon as I started to fall asleep, the sun came up, which woke up Zack. So I strapped him in his car seat and put on a movie.. Peter Pan was starting the second time around when most of the camp woke up. And of course, everyone was laughing at me. But what's is a girl supposed to do??? Anyway, here are the pictures taken to prove my frustration. Thanks to Dave and Katie for the photography.. and for watching Zack before we pulled ourselves out of bed.

Don't you love Ben and Luke's arms and legs sprawled everywhere? They were troopers.

Auntie Jade and the bean museum

Even though Jade (Aaron's little sis) is a busy hairdresser in Orem, she made time to hang out with her favorite (ok- only) nephews. We went to an animal museum (for the second time.. go figure) hung out at the park and went to lunch. It was great to see her and get caught up in her busy, exciting life! Jade is making BIG decisions and we wish her luck!!Getting eaten by a hippo.. (I made her pose like that.. I will take all the blame)Isn't this a beautiful butterfly exhibit? My fav part of the museum.. You have to enlarge it to get the full effect.John, her boyfriend, also joined us for an afternoon of swimming and mini-golf at Cherry Hill! I am SO glad you two could come and hang out with us!! I really needed you to entertain my kids (while I waited for the locksmith to unlock my van... I will spare the details.) Let's just say that it was a LONG trip with three kids and no husband and I was delighted to have some help, especially on my last day in Utah.

Tim and Rachel

We LOVE being with Tim and Rachel. "They are cool, even if they don't have any cousins at their house," Ben says. They sacrificed a night of their busy lives to go to an awesome reptile show and out to Letherby's. Thanks for the good times!This couple is seriously DYNAMITE! They are going to make a big difference in this world and we are lucky to call them family! They are going through a rough time.. if I can say, Rachel just had a miscarriage. They will tough it out and will get a baby soon.. because Tim is determined to have more kids than anyone else in the Clawson clan. Good luck, Rach! We miss you and love you both!!Ben and Luke petting a HUGE python.Our favorite old diner in Provo used to be Jerry's.. now it's the new Letherby's. This picture is for Aaron.. just to remember the good old days, when we didn't have three kids.

visiting friends

It was so nice to see my family and also spend time with old friends. I didn't have a ton of extra time, but we did visit Annalisa and her two beautiful kids! Her baby was asleep for this pic, but isn't little Alivia gorgeous? Zack kept staring at Annie.. I think he had a crush.
ps. I was wearing my green contacts.. I had my other contacts and glasses packed in the car and these just happen to be in my makeup bag. I think the last time I wore these was when I dressed up as a witch for Halloween. Aaron doesn't like me to wear them, but I think they are fun for a change. Okay, that's enough about that.

We also got to see Karlin and her gorgeous new house! You wouldn't believe that any young couple would be in this home.. it was literally breathtaking! I volunteer her place for the next WJ reunion. She probably has enough room for all of us to stay the night (and have our own bathrooms.) I LOVE this girl and I am so happy for the Kesslers and all their success! If anyone deserves it, they do!
No, I don't love this pic of me, but Karlin is a beauty! This was just before we headed home.. after three days of camping (and absolutely no sleep.. I will post later about that.)

The never-ending Birthday!

I guess that's what you get when you're born on the 4th of July. This is the actual day, though... my parents had a BBQ and all the cousins came to celebrate! It was a lot of fun.. and it actually cooled off at night! So refreshing!I can't believe Ben is 6 years old!
This is Ben's FAV birthday gift! We can't seem to keep him out of it (and it's really hot in Vegas.) I'm sure he's sweatin' bullets underneath, but that's a sacrifice a superhero has to make. Thanks Aunt Kristy for the present!