Camping weekend and my swimsuit beauty.

Since I'm not working at the bank anymore, we have a little bit more time to do family things when Devin has a day or two off: Last week we decided to go camping. We left Friday night after Devin got off work and drove up to Mackay. We camped down from the reservoir in our camper and had a fund couple of days. The kids were able to fish and go metal detecting. We also drove them up to the 1983 earthquake site and took some photos. I don't think either child really understood what they were looking at but oh well. We roasted marshmallows and I made some tasty foil dinners.

On our way back we stopped by the deli in Arco for a sandwich. We really should have kept on driving....there was the annual mens softball tournament going on and with only 2 places to eat in Arco on a Sunday the odds of it being busy were pretty high. UNDERSTATEMENT! There were people everywhere waiting for their food and when I went to order the girl was so snotty! There were two women working (1 being the owner) and she had to pull her husband and 2 kids to work. That poor guy had no clue what he was doing and they were all sweating up a storm (don't think you really are supposed to wipe the sweat off your head and hair with the plastic gloves than continue to make sandwiches--but ow well. After a 40 minute wait we finally get our meals (listening to the workers complain on how busy they were and that they couldn't believe how busy they were, etc.....hmmm I don't live there an I knew there was a tournament in town) I ordered a sandwich and some wild rice w/chicken soup. I took one bite and it was clam chowder. Devin tasted his and the same thing (I can't eat clam chowder, I can get sick) he takes it to them and tells them that there is clam chowder in it and they said, "No there isn't" ummmm yes there is.... "Well, I didn't do it. I don't know how that happened. It is soup at the bottom of the pot so maybe that's what happened." Really??? You think???

Photos at the earthquake "site"

Tristan was SOOOOO dirty by the 2nd night

Kyra outside in her bikini playing with the kids on the slip n/slide

Swanson Reunion 2011

We were able to travel to Island Park for the 2nd Annual Swanson Family Reunion. We arrived to our cabin on Saturday, unpacked, and was ready for our vacation. Tristan and Cortlynn were so excited to hang out with their cousins and also aunt Nicole. We ate so much good food and snacks I think I left 20 pounds heavier.
This year we decided to decorate T-Shirts. The children decorated their own and the "adults" drew names and decorated that person's shirt. I was quite impressed by the talent and craftiness some of them had. The men may have been griping about the craft portion of the trip but the shirts turned out too cute.
The kids went fishing with their dads and grandpa, some went metal detecting, we had a water fight, cooked smores over the fire, had sno-cones, played cards, and other fun games. The adults had a Wii bowling tournament and I've decided NOT to lose the first game because than you have to come back from behind to try to win. I was so sore the next day. The Wii was a hit as well. The boys loved the hunting game and the girls couldn't get enough of the dancing game. My parents even "Walked like an Egyptian" with huge smiles on their faces. Nicole, dad, Daniel, Josh, and I also decided to play a game of Risk while Devin was out with Tristan(metal detecting). At the beginning Nicole and I decided to team up against the guys and it was the best thing we could have done. We didn't attack each other once the entire game and we slowly took each man out. Needless to say none of them were too happy with us. We didn't even play to see who won: we felt like winners for beating the boys. Teeheeheee
On Wednesday we left and decided to take the kids to Mesa Falls. Cortlynn and Tristan thought they were pretty but were ready to get home. We stopped in Idaho Falls and took them to "Bodies, The Exhibition". Tristan wasn't sure about it and wondered where all of these "monsters" came from: but still enjoyed it. Cortlynn really got into it and enjoyed it as well. All in all we had a great time away and spending it with family made it even better. Can't wait until next year!



Mesa Falls

BFF's Devin and Josh---metal detecting outside the cabin

Parents "dancing"

Nicole winning the favorite aunt title with taking all the kids to the hot tub (by herself) crazy women

The siblings modeling our T-Shirts

ALL the grandkids.

Look at the "sexy" grandparents

I drew Daniel's name and really put my heart into it. :-) Not sure if he appreciated the look I went for. (classy, sexy, diva)

Josh sure looks thrilled in this photo

Josh doing some serious thinking while working on the T-Shirt craft

(Do you like the craft shirts the kids are wearing? They are old Wamu and Chase work shirts. Something good came out of 13 years.)

Clayton and Kyra loved playing on the floor with each other.

Deja Vu: Attack of the Spinkler System Round 2, or 3, or 4??

Well it has been over a month since my last post: Reasons- 1. We've been too busy for me to blog. 2. I've been pretty pissy about things and didn't want to vent to everyone on the blog. 3. When I have any spare time I've been trying to actually read a book instead of play on the computer.

This morning was the last straw; I'm going to vent....I woke up early to get ready for the kids (that I babysit)to show up and I was sitting on the chair wondering why Devin was taking a shower again. After an hour I'm upset because I could only dream of taking an hour long shower so I go outside to look at something and realized that I could hear a loud stream of water. The light bulb went on and I ran downstairs to discover that our window well was half way full of water, we had about an inch of water in the bathroom, the carpet was soppy, and the water was still gushing into the window. I run upstairs to find Devin and inform him of our good news and for him to turn off the water. Thank goodness we have a wet-vac; Devin sucked water out for close to two + hours. I jumped on the phone to call a restoration company, insurance company, sprinkler man----EEEEKKK!

We are pretty certain the sprinkler system is the culprit AGAIN!!! Our basement flooded two years ago but unfortunately this time is worse. They had to cut away part of the wall and remove the insulation. It also went into a storage closet where we keep the Christmas decorations. Fun, Fun, Fun.... I hate, Hate, HATE our sprinkler system and I've told Devin NO MORE! We will be using the good ol'fashion watering: green hose and sprinkler heads. The amount of money we've spent and will be spending could have been used for a nice vacation or at least have the sprinkler system completely redone.

The fans have been set up and we will know a little more tomorrow. I'm just thankful this happened today and not this weekend when we will be out of town. I can only imagine the lake we would have come home to based on the amount of water coming into the window. We would have lost soooooo much.

The plastic barriers and our "new" Storage area

Our Bathroom

Here you can see the parts of the walls they removed and all of the fans

Kyra and Tristan

Kyra is getting so big. Some days it is hard to remember she's only 6 months old because she acts like she is older. She had her 6 month appointment last week and is 15lbs12 ounces: still not double her birth weight but she is so active she has probably lost some. She LOVES to get in bags and purses. The other night she crawled over to the diaper bag and pulled the diapers out to play with them. She is obsessed with diapers--not on her bottom but in her mouth.

Kyra has also learned how to pull herself up on things. The first time was on her car seat. She is so determined and stubborn. When she puts her mind to something, she will succeed. The following photos are of her getting up into her car seat.

Tristan had his first two T-Ball games last week and they are so funny! The helmets are usually too big and when he runs in one he reminds me of Dark Helmet from "Spaceballs". too cute. He hit very well but is still confused as to where the bases are. It doesn't help when most of the teams decided to be green this year and you can't see the bases thru 20 little kids in green. I am still in shock as to how psycho some parents can be with little4 year olds. Yelling at them and telling them how bad they are playing. There were some HUGE jerks at the first game and the biggest one I knew from the bank. He was a jerk there so I shouldn't be surprised at him treating his son like garbage. There was also a grandparent who thought it was a good idea to take photos from the pitcher mound during the game! WHAT??? They asked her to leave and she said, "But this is the best angle." and stomped off. Too bad they didn't let her stay and get hit in the head with a ball. Some people are so stupid! Tristan had fun and doesn't quite understand that when you're playing 3rd base, you can't leave and find mom to get a drink or tell her how you want to play the DS when you get home. Yes--he did this. ;- )

This is Tristan with his hand up saying, "Where is the base???"

This little boy kept hitting the top of Tristan's helmet.

Date....What???

When Devin and I were dating we would go on a date 2,3, sometimes 4 times a week. Before we got married we made a pact that we would have a date night every week. Than Cortlynn was born and the weekly date became more like a monthly date. Fast forward a few years and I need to look in a dictionary to see what the definition of "date" is. Our Anniversary was no different. :-) In October I placed a bid on a 1 night stay at a themed hotel at Cortlynns Halloween Carnival; expecting someone to outbid me. Nope-I won it. I thought I would have a year to use it but it actually expired June 30. So=Anniversary here we come.
Kyra doesn't like a bottle anymore and I didn't want to leave her so I knew she would be coming with us. Everyone is so busy that I wasn't sure what to do with the other two kids. Hmmmmm....So Devin worked and told me he would get off earlier than 5:00: nope-he got home closer to 7:00. We decided that we would sneak out for a few minutes and get some ice cream-just the two of us. Ice cream was good. We came home, picked up the kiddos and went to the hotel. (the kids LOVE to stay in hotels-so why not) You're really not supposed to have kids at the hotel so we "snuck" them in. We actually had a back door so it was easy. Everyone was hungry so we decided to get pizza. Too bad the first place closed at 10 and the other place closed the door at 10 and you had to go thru the drive-thru. We finally got back to the room with pizza at 11:00.
The next morning we woke up, snuck the kids out, and headed to Idaho Falls for Kyra's 6 month check-up/shots. Yep that summed it up. Ah well, spending time with the family can't be beat and the kids enjoyed a night away from home.

Happy 11 Years

On June 24th 2000 I married my best friend Devin McIntire. I cannot believe we have been married for 11 years and have been blessed with three beautiful children. Unlike last year we will not be walking 23+ miles on the streets of Paris trying to locate the Paris, France Hard Rock Cafe (darn it) but we will be celebrating it by taking Kyra in for her 6 month shots. Yippee...Oh well----

Happy 11th Anniversary Devin and I love you!