Yesterday I took the boys shopping for swimming suits. It used to be that I could just bring something home in their size and they'd wear it. No questions asked. Now they're all "opinionated" and "have they're likes and dislikes." They want it to fit "just right" and not "be see through" (the nerve....I know).

Taking all three boys shopping at once is not something I do often. Here's an example of why not. It took a few hours. No one found what they wanted at JC Penny, only Camdon found what he wanted at Target, and only Carter found what he wanted at Old Navy (Jamon by the way just gave up and agreed to just wear Camdon's old one....bless his heart!)

Anyway. while we were standing in line to pay at Old Navy a very young, new mom who hadn’t a clue, a total stranger, a sweet young lady turned to me and said with disgust in her voice: "Uugh! Three boys....I don't know how you do it."

What is this? Is this a question? Does she really want to know how I do it? Is this a statement? Does she just want me to know how grossed out she is by my situation?

And let's pause right here to discuss my situation. As far as I'm concerned I have the PERFECT situation! Three kids isn't really a big deal. We have friends with five, six, seven kids. Quite honestly...three is for quitters. And three boys is perfectly fine by me. Yes, boys are harder when they're little, but MUCH easier when they're older.

(A.K.A. the current state of affairs at our house.)

They are relatively low maintenance and we're pretty much drama free around here. Ask my friend Susan who has four girls if she's drama free at her house. I can tell you right now the answer will be a resounding NO! And having all boys is perfect for when Jamon can't find a swimming suit he wants. He can just go shopping in Camdon's dresser. It saves us money. My friend Kayla has four boys and my friend Jennie has five boys, so I don't even remotely feel that I need unsolicited sympathy from strangers at the store about my "situation".

So, I just looked at her.......then looked over at my boys (who were modeling sunglasses for each other) and simply said: "I love them."

She grabbed all of the dresses she was buying for her perfect little baby girl, put her in her stroller, and went and stood in a different line.

Whatever, lady! Just wait until your little girl is in middle school and is crying and yelling she can't go to school because her hair isn't perfect and threatening to call the cops on you when you take her curling iron away. You'll still love her, but you'll be wishing she was a boy.

"Being cool is not trying to be cool."

First of all, I don't know these people, but I can guarantee they're not NEARLY as cool as they think they are!

Now, having said that, today is the last day of school for my boys. The middle school had an awards ceremony to honor the students of the year. Those of you that know Camdon well will not be surprised to hear he was receiving an award for outstanding history student (my mom will be SO proud). Anyway, his teacher called a few days ago to let us know about this and invited us to attend the assembly this morning. Being the amazing parents (cough, cough) that we are, we were very excited to be there.

I knew, however, that Camdon would be less than thrilled at the thought of his parents "harshing his gig"-- or whatever expression kids use these days to indicate their discomfort in the parental units showing up and sending them back to the harsh reality that they aren't really as cool as they think they are.

So, we warned Camdon that we had been invited and that we planned to attend. At first he tried to blow it off: "You guys don't have to worry about being there. It's not a big deal. We get our awards. We get made fun of by the cool kids. And we move on with our lives."

We tried to tell him there were no cool kids, but he wasn't having it.

He made it very clear he didn't want us there.

Now the difference between me and Justin (okay there are billions....but ONE of them) is that I have enough compassion to be slightly sympathetic to his plea to stay away. I've recently spent some time in a middle school and I know that image is everything to these young adults. No matter how ill-perceived it might be, it's still everything.

Justin, however, sees the plea to stay away as a complete challenge. We're talking showing up wearing a T-shirt that says "I'm Camdon's Dad!" or better yet showing up with five of his buddies each with a letter painted on their bare chest spelling out C*A*M*D*O*N.

Bottom line is you ask him not to come.......and well.....he's coming.

So, we got there early this morning and hid up in the bleachers high in a corner before most of the seventh graders came in. I'm proud to say no one ever knew we were there!

Until we were leaving and accidentally bumped into Camdon in the hall on our way out. Justin just shook his hand but I started to lecture him on the way he treated the other award winners who were sticking out there hands for him to shake but he just TOTALLY BLEW THEM OFF! Why would you.......oh wait.......I guess this would be why he didn't want us there. He stomped off in a huff.

Oops. Not cool. Sorry Camdon. And for what it's worth....your dad and I think you are the coolest kid in the seventh grade.

You've probably noticed it's been quiet around the ol' blog. Okay....that's an understatement. It's been like three months since my last post. Frankly I'll be surprised if anyone still reads this. I think my fans have all given up on me.

I'm sorry to have been away for so long. (It's just that I've been super busy living a vibrant life full of romance and intrigue student teaching, being the mom, being the wife. Oh, and the church calling).

I was lucky to get toilets cleaned.....never mind entertaining the blogosphere with witty stories of motherhood.

BUT.....

Student teaching is over, I was released from my church calling, the boys are......well, the boys and the husband are still here, but they're the ones who provide the fodder for this here blog, so I keep them around.

In fact, I know Carter's birthday was three months ago, but you get to hear about it in May cuz that's when I had time to write about it y'all.

It's a pretty funny story. To me anyway.

When you're in the first grade it's "the bomb" when your mom brings a birthday treat into the class for everyone. I was able to do this for my older two boys and it was breaking my heart that I wouldn't be able to do it for Carter (one of the crappy things about being a working mom). But here's the thing.......

I married a really great guy.

He volunteered to take the day off work from home that day and bring cupcakes into Carter's school. That's right. Justin. For those of you who know him, you know he'd rather die than make small talk with anyone. He hates "being among people". I know. I know. Opposites attract.

Anyway, that's why this was such a HUGE favor to me. When Camdon started school it was like three years before Justin even knew where the school was, let alone go into it with 22 cupcakes to meet an over-zealous, way-too-happy, teacher and 22 snot nosed brats eager learners. But he didn't want to disappoint Carter anymore than I did, so what ya do?

Here's the funny part.........

Justin gets up at 5:30 three days a week to go play bball. He wears ratty t-shirts and gets sweaty and stinky. The day of the cupcake delivery was one of those days. That morning we were going over instructions (don't forget to check into the office, be on time, etc.) Carter gave his dad a quick hug as he walked out the door and quickly threw in his own set of instructions: "Uh dad? One more thing. Make sure you shower and put on better clothes before you come."

Bah ha ha ha ha! Awesome Carter....way to be subtle. And since when are first graders aware of how their parents look (or smell)? I didn't think that started happening until junior high. Our kids are always way ahead of the curve on everything!

Oh well. Justin did shower and put on "better clothes" before he went. I thought he'd drop off the cupcakes and bolt but he stuck around long enough to video tape the singing and what not. He even took this for me........

Happy late.......really late.........birthday Carter!

Therapy in the Bathroom

A warning to my readers those who humor me:

This post isn't going to be entertaining. In fact, it's not even for you. It's for me. A little therapy if you will. Okay~ so the therapy took place in the bathroom a half hour ago but nonetheless, I need to process some emotions tonight and my blog is how I'm choosing to do it so sorry. Read on if you must but consider yourself warned.

Here we go.

I had have a best friend. Well we were best friends in college but once a best friend always a best friend right? She moved away after we graduated and we made every effort to stay in touch but over the years we drifted a bit apart. Only because life is busy not because the friendship ended. About 7 months ago I stopped hearing from her. Only I didn't notice because I was so busy with my whole grad school/student teaching/mother of three/stake calling/wife/neighbor thing I have going on right now.

Then I started noticing.

Then I started panicking.

We've never in 13 years gone this long without speaking. I knew something was wrong. So earlier this week I called her and left a message. She called me and left a message. I then called her and left a message. I think you see where this is going.

She finally called me back today during my prep hour and the story she proceeded to tell me is unthinkable. It's horrible. It's not my story to tell. So for the sake of her privacy just know this......I stood there through my whole prep hour and then through lunch (thankfully they're back to back. A tender mercy from heaven which I've been grateful for since I started student teaching) in a complete trance. I was shocked beyond belief at what I was hearing and knew there wasn't anything I could do. I had to be strong for her but then I had to be strong for me because the time flew and before I knew it, fourth period was starting, and I had 23 rowdy kids just off of a lunch high filtering into my classroom.

To make matters worse they were saying things like: "Mrs. Kay we heard about what we're going to be doing today and we can't wait!"

Apparently I have a reputation to uphold and I owed it to the kids to table my emotions and process them later.

I'm not kidding here people when I say "the second" I got into my car to drive home I began to cry. I couldn't even conceive of what I had been told 3 1/2 hours earlier. I continued to cry the whole way home. I wanted to keep crying but as I pulled up I saw that Justin was home already. I don't like to cry in front of him. I always think he'll see it as a sign of weakness.

So I stopped. I faked my way through dinner (not really sure if I even ate to be honest with you) and then excused myself to go clean the boys' bathroom. Their shower was getting out of hand and I even got a new shower curtain for it because no matter how many times I wash and/or bleach it it still looks nasty. I think I even saw mold.

So I knew I'd have a good 45 minutes to myself in there. Scrubbing the shower and crying. Crying and thinking. Crying and wondering how on earth this could've happened. I knew if anyone came along I could just yell: "Don't come in here! There's cleaner fumes! Go away!"

But I hadn't been in there very long when Justin came in. He doesn't usually follow me around the house when I'm cleaning. He asked if I was okay and I remember saying: "I don't think I can talk about it right now. You'll have to ask later." But by then I was already teary eyed.

Bless his little heart. He stood there quietly hanging the new shower curtain while I talked and cried. Then when I finished saying all that I wanted needed to say he spoke.

For the record, he is my rock. He is wise and he is right. He is the calming influence in my life that keeps me grounded. He is the only one on the planet that could've come into that bathroom at that particular time and made me feel better. If you are ever unsure of the direction your life should take, ask him. If you are ever unsure how something could've happened, ask him.

If you ever need a therapy session in the bathroom, ask him.

"It's not a beard, it's an animal I've trained to sit very still." ~Bill Bailey

I'm one of those people that gets all hopped up on turkey and pumpkin pie and decides to drag out all the Christmas decorations the second we get back from our Thanksgiving holiday. I force Christmas music on my family as we drive to and from eastern Idaho every November. Sadly, this year was different.

As most of you know, I just finished a very intense seven- month graduate program at BSU. Christmas was really the last thing on my mind. I just wanted to get through finals and start preparing for student teaching.

Only once did I feel a tinge of regret about how pitiful our holiday was going to be. I was lamenting to Justin over the fact that we didn't put lights on the house, we didn't take a family picture for the Christmas cards, we didn't even send Christmas cards, and at the time of the conversation we didn't even have a tree yet. He didn't share my concern. In fact, I believe his exact words were: "Are you kidding? This has been the best year of our marriage!" In case you haven't figured this out by now, he and I are very different.

So exhausted was I that I even made the mistake of suggesting to Justin and the boys that we spend Christmas here at home in Kuna. The reaction was one of horror. You'd have thought I asked them to cut off their arms and eat liver for the rest of their lives. How could we not go to grandma's for Christmas?

In the end I lost the battle due to one argument: the beard picture.

Allow me to explain. Justin's baby brother showed up to the family reunion this summer sporting a full on beard. His three older brothers were in awe of this accomplishment and their respect grew to the highest level. In fact, they were still discussing Travis and his beard at Thanksgiving time. He lives in Seattle and only comes home twice a year. Once in the summer and again at Christmas. So, the Kay brothers decided to surprise Trav this Christmas by sporting their own full beards. The goal was to be together at Christmas (with beards) and get the "most awesome picture."

After four weeks of hard work how could I deny them their picture? I knew deep down we had to go home for Christmas.

Despite my reluctance, it was worth it. As it always is to spend time with family. Here's the hard earned picture:

Nice, right? I absolutely love these boys men. Particularly the third from the left, but the other three as well. They've always treated me more like a sister rather than just a sister-in-law. I love them for that. Anyway, I hope everyone had a merry Christmas. Here's to the men in our lives and their silly sexy beards.

"A boy is the only thing that God can use to make a man."

I'm a mom to three boys. So I say things like: "Why aren't you wearing any pants?" "Farting isn't as funny as you think it is." And "Who brought the catapult to the dinner table?"

My mudroom's always disgusting, there's never enough food in the pantry to keep them satisfied, and it's not fun unless someone gets hurt.

My kitchen currently has a fishing pole in the corner, a football on the table, and three uneaten vitamins sitting next to candy wrappers.

I would never complain though because raising boys has been the joy of my life. Little boys love their mommas in a way that little girls don't. Just the other day Carter said to me: "Mom please don't leave us alone with dad anymore. He picks us up by our skin."

I have no idea what that is referring to. But I love that he knows I'll keep him safe.

I also found this on my bed.

I'll translate.

"Mom Mom

you are the bomb.

So, so

what is wrong with your toe?

Why I am giving you the little white rose

Is because I like you so much."

I won't bother trying to figure out where he got the little white rose. Sorry neighbors.

It's no where near Mother's Day but Thanksgiving is next week and these three rugrats are at the top of my list of things to be grateful for.

Being someone's Superman

"What I do is based on powers we all have inside us; the ability to endure; the ability to love, to carry on, to make the best of what we have - and you don't have to be a ‘Superman' to do it." ~Christopher Reeve

Jamon lives in his own little fantasy world. And in his world Spiderman, Superman, Batman, and the Hulk really exist. Or at least they should as far as he's concerned. In fact, on more than one occasion he's said to me: "I just don't understand why Superman can't be real."

I've never had a good answer for that until today. And the answer is: He can. YOU can be Superman Jamon.

Today I stopped at Subway on my way out of town (yes, Kuna now has a Subway. We got a Les Schwab and a Walgreens too. It was a big month for our little town). Anyway, the Subway used to be a drive through coffee shop, so the dining room is really small. When I walked in there was only one other customer. Okay, there were three, but two boys were sharing one sandwich and the other boy brought his lunch with him. While the two sharing were waiting for their sandwich to be built, they were teasing the young man who brought his own. Now obviously they were friends so it wasn't like bullying....it was just good old fashioned tease- your -friend type of stuff.

I can see why because his lunch was a dried up hamburger patty, raw broccoli and plain noodles. Of course cold. They were saying things like: "Nice lunch. Did your Mommy make it for you?" and "ooohh delicious! I'm jealous that I'm stuck here eating Subway."

The young man was taking it well and at that moment I decided something. I was planning on ordering a footlong because they're only five bucks, but I wasn't really planning on eating the whole thing. I was hungry enough for about 8 or 9 inches but not 12. So, rather than cut the footlong in half, I had the girl cut me 3/4 and wrap up the other 1/4 separately. As I walked out of the restaurant I set the 1/4 sandwich at the table in front of the boy who brought his own lunch. I simply said: "Have a nice day" and walked out of the restaurant.

Before the door shut I heard one of the boys say: "Who. WAS. that?"

I heard Jamon's voice in my head saying "Who was that masked man?" and smiled to myself.

You see Jamon- you don't have to be able to fly, spin webs, use laser vision, or save the world from enemies to be a hero. That's not what people really want anyway.

They want to be cared for when they're sick, helped when they're in trouble, and they want a friend when they're lonely. There are opportunities to be heroic all around you every day. You just have to watch for them.

Now giving this kid some of my sandwich might not be heroic, but I guarantee I made his day. I bet I made his mother's day too because he was a pretty good lookin' kid and that sandwich had onions on it. Stay away girls! You're welcome mom.

Actual Conversations, Part 1

"Ordinary people can be drop dead funny."

In fact, I'm learning why so many teachers have blogs. Writing about your students and their families is a no- brainer. It's free material right there at your fingertips.

Stuff you couldn't make up if you tried.

Now regular readers of my blog know that my three kids can be pretty dang funny. They have been, up until now, my sole source for writing material. But now I have 180 kids. So, my middle-schoolers have inspired me to come up with this new segment:

"Actual Conversations"

Please enjoy part 1:

I taught a "Life Skills" class with the counselors today. The following is an actual conversation. You are entering part way as we're learning about self-image.

Me: "What kinds of things help make up our self-image?"

Ranger: "How about how many sacs you get on the quarterback?"

Me: "Yes definitely! Our skills and abilities help make up our self-image."

Serena: "Your friends and family?"

Me: "Yes definitely! The quality of our relationships with others help make up our self-esteem."

Ysenia: "Where we come from?"

Me: "Yes definitely! Our background can help make up our self-esteem."

Colton: "You're all crazy! It's girls man! That's it! Just girls...that's what makes up your self-esteem!"

Heaven help us.

"Whoever said money can't buy happiness didn't know where to shop."

First of all you should know that Jamon is the most grateful person I know. His positive attitude is to be admired. At least three days a week he can be heard saying: "Today was the best day of my whole life!" I love that about him. He's so grateful for every little thing in life and he's so easily pleased.

For example: October came and went and our oldest boys turned 13 and 11. My mom just sent them gift cards this year because they're kind of to the point where it's just easier to let them pick their own stuff. That way no one's disappointed and no money is wasted on something they'll refuse to wear, use, or play with.

So, I took them out shopping one night to spend their birthday money. As is consistent with his personality, Camdon thought through his purchases with much diligence and prudence. He budgeted and made a list of most important needs and wants. He got a fishing pole, some football gloves, new headphones (ones that couldn't accidentally be put in a pocket and washed) and a new jacket.

Then there's sweet Jamon......the one who thinks every little thing in life is the best thing that ever happened to him. He saw these bad boys and thought he'd hit the jackpot! This is what he chose to spend his birthday money on.....

It was the "greatest day of his life" until I invoked my power to veto. I told him he would not be spending his birthday money on a giant tub of fake cheese balls. Someday he'll thank me.

"Just before the death of flowers,
before they are buried in snow,
There comes a festival season

When nature is all aglow."

Jamon and I just love the fall season. He told me the other day that he starts getting excited as soon as October gets here and stays that way through Christmas. Me too! I've had fall decorations up since the end of September. There's such a cozy feeling in the home. And never mind how excited everyone got when they saw I pulled the witch out! (she holds a goodie bag full of Hershey kisses) Who wouldn't be excited about that?

Anyway, one of our favorite fall traditions is to go to Linder Farms. It's owned by a family we go to church with and it's practically in our own backyard. My brother and his wife love it just as much as we do. They came over for conference weekend so we took them along with us.

Justin and Camdon went to the Priesthood session of General Conference so they weren't with us, but Jamon and Carter were thrilled to show my niece a good time.

The llama was thrilled to show my sister-in-law a good time.....

What is it about hot, stinky, fly-infested petting zoo's that makes everyone so happy? Maybe the cute baby animals.

Maybe.

Jamon did end up leaving the tent early because he couldn't take the smell anymore.

He stuck around long enough for me to get a pose....

But doesn't he look like he's about to hurl?

We went through the corn maze and took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch. It was so fun we decided to go back the following weekend. This time with Justin and Camdon. The quality of the pictures is so much better when Justin joins us.

Yep, Camdon got glasses, and yep, we love us some good old fashioned "agritainment." Happy fall y'all!

Devil's Vomit

"A weird and scenic landscape peculiar to itself." ~President Calvin Coolidge

Every time we go to eastern Idaho for a visit, we pass by Craters of the Moon, and I tell myself "someday we'll stop." Well, someday never showed up so we did it Labor Day instead. Ha ha...I know. As we paid our fee and entered the park, Jamon said in wonderment: "Wow! What happened here?"

I never got the chance to answer because Carter, my budding scientist, already knew.

"Duh! Volcanoes happened." Boy was he in his element! I've never seen him sit so still as when we were in the visitors center watching the movie about the history of Craters of the Moon. He hung on every word...lava....magma....caldera of fire.......molten liquid. He couldn't take it any more and we raced out of the visitors center and began our exploration.

A pioneer traveling the Oregon Trail in the 1850s looked at the blackened earth and described the land before him as "Devil's Vomit." This seems an accurate description. Carter led the way as we hiked and explored caves. I think he had the time of his life.

I think we all did.

Being down in the cave was so much fun!

Scary. But fun.

The opening of the cave was nice and wide.

Not true of the exit. In fact, as we were leaving, I said to the boys: "I should've come out first and taken a picture of you guys. No one would believe the tiny hole we just crawled out of." Just then this guy popped his head through. He said I could take his picture to prove where we had just been . Thanks kind sir.

We couldn't have picked a better day to stop.

See Facebook. Isn't this so much better?

“If Facebook were a country, it would now be the 6th most populous in the world.”

It was pointed out to me today that I no longer seem to care about my blog. This is so not true, I've just become a bit of a Facebook junkie. When a friend of mine begged me to join Facebook, I declined telling her if she wants to know what's going on in my life, she need only check my blog. She must've known I have no backbone because she kept nagging and I caved. So, I set up my Facebook account but announced that those checking my page often would be disappointed, because I only care about blogging.

That was then......

Now I seem to be content to write about my life in one or two sentence snippets that the whole world can see. Unless they don't "do Facebook." Like my parents who would never, ever in a million years "get it" let alone use it. Some of the biggest fans of my life are missing out because I've chosen to believe that the status of my life can be summed up in fifty words or less. This simply isn't true. Over Labor Day weekend I posted to Facebook that I was taking the boys to Crater's of the Moon. There are so many details of that day that I want remembered. Shame on me. And to my loyal fans~

Thanks for reminding me why I started blogging in the first place. And maybe by now that Chinese fan will have given up and gone away. He annoys me.

"Organize your life around your dreams - and watch them come true.”

It was a big week at our house. I guess I'll start at the top and work down from there.

Justin got a call from Ryan Ringel this week announcing the tickets have arrived. That's right~the tickets to BSU's season opener~ all the way across the country which Justin will be attending. Lucky. Dog. Ryan was kind enough to purchase the $92 ticket. Justin only had to get himself to Virginia. A bit more than $92, but the dream of watching an away game somewhere other than Utah has come true.

Camdon took my beloved camera to scout camp and it came back broken. I'm not placing blame. Not really anyway. I was sad because this month won't be a cheap one for us what with the plane ticket across the country and all the school supplies and Middle School registration and new football cleats and you get the picture. I knew a new camera wasn't in the budget. Then today I got something in the mail. It was a new camera. It was from Justin. My dream of having a newer/better camera has come true.

Camdon was asked to speak in sacrament meeting on Sunday. He did great! I realize that being asked to speak in church isn't anyone's dream, but when you're nearly 13 and you have to speak in front of a congregation of 300+, the dream is not to fail miserably or do anything to completely embarrass yourself or your family. He DIDN'T make a fool of himself. His dream of still being able to look the girls in the eyes has come true.

Jamon had Jamboree at Boise State on Saturday. He's playing tight end this year. He had two great receptions and although he didn't run for a touchdown, he did run. Long and fast. As a result, the coaches have made a few more plays just for him! Justin captured the moment perfectly. Here's a picture of him hauling in a catch.

His dream of making it big on the blue has come true.

The biggest dream, however, came from the littlest Kay. You must first know that I don't keep a ton of junk food around the house. And we certainly don't stop at the gas station for treats. Except this one time. I told Carter I'd take him to get a slurpee on Friday night. He's been patient all week as the boys started football and we sat through hours of practices. So, as we were leaving the football field (to go get his slurpee) he very cautiously stopped at the curb. He looked both ways before stepping into the road. In my most excited mother voice I said: "Look at you Carter~ Checking both ways before crossing the street!"

He said very matter-of-factly: "I usually don't. But I don't want to get killed before I get to taste my treat!"

Dream big little one!

“Repentance is not so much remorse for what we have done as the fear of the consequences.”

You know the old saying: "You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone?" This is how I've felt this week.

Camdon's been away at scout camp and I didn't realize how much help he is to me until I didn't have it anymore. From what I hear they are having fun despite getting dumped on for two days.

Today was especially difficult without him. I work Fridays from 12-4 and Camdon, of course, babysits for me. He does a great job but I knew Jamon could do good job too. He's really jumped in this week and been so helpful. He wanted the chance to prove himself. So, I agreed to let him give it a whirl. Carter's 6 1/2 so it's not like I'm leaving him alone with a baby or anything. I knew they'd be fine with a few movies and some popcorn.

Or so I thought.

I got a phone call at about 1:45. It was Jamon. He had a confession to make.

"There's something I have to tell you." Make it quick. I'm busy.

"Uuuhh...I really wanted to go play at Patrick's house so I had Jordyn (the neighbor girl who's 14) come over to watch Carter." What?! He hired a babysitter to get out of it himself? Clever.

"I was there for about an hour and then I started feeling really guilty that I just left Carter. So, I came home. Is that okay?" Good. You should feel guilty.

I asked if he felt better now that he'd confessed.

"Yes. Am I going to be in trouble?"

Well, let's think about this. I said he was in charge of Carter today. Quite frankly, he was very responsible by getting someone else to be responsible while he chose NOT to be responsible. Jordyn said he even called the house to tell her he hadn't bothered to feed Carter lunch and would she mind doing it. I guess if you think about it, he took very good care of Carter.

"No," I said. "Thanks for telling me the truth."

I can't wait until Camdon comes home!

Who: Us

What: Company Picnic

When: Last Friday night

Where: Boise~Municipal Park

Why: Because company picnics are awesome. Sometimes. This particular one was anyway.

I LOVE this park. It reminds me of when we were newlyweds and living down by campus. We didn't have any money so we spent hours on our bikes cruising the greenbelt. Ryan Ringel lived just down the street from this park and we spent a lot of time at his house as well.

The food was excellent, the games were fun, the company was okay. It's hard when Justin's the only one that knows these people. I know a few names but that's about it. I know that the guy who looks gay isn't, and the guy who doesn't look gay is. Once he told Justin that if he wasn't gay he'd be a mormon with a family. This strikes me as odd since the two concepts are fundamentally different.

There was a little girl there who was on the rather chunky side for being only fourish. As she ran past us Camdon said to me:

"She looks just like a girl from pre-school. On the first day I sat next to her and the first thing she says to me is 'Don't even THINK about it. I'm taken!" This strikes me as odd because number one...she was only four & number two...she was fat. Not that fat people can't find love, but I think you know what I mean.

After the party we walked over to the MK Nature center.

We were just leaving the nature center when Carter announced he "really had to go poop." I told Justin I'd take him on ahead since the older boys were enjoying the big fish. As we headed down the greenbelt towards the bathrooms I heard Justin yelling my name from 50 feet behind me. I looked back just in time to see a buck run RIGHT past us. He was weaving in and out of traffic along the greenbelt and barely missed Carter. This strikes me as odd since you don't normally see wildlife in the city.

Sometimes we think about moving back home to eastern Idaho. It's nights like these we're glad we're here.