Happy and Fister

These are from a fun day with Shanie's Abby. Spencer and Abby have had such a fun bond and friendship their whole lives. Spencer loves that Abby is also his cousin. (yay small towns, Spencer's great Grandma and Abby's Great Grandpa are brother and sister). When these 2 were little and just starting to talk Spencer called Abby "Happy" and Abby called Spencer "Fister". At 7 they have resumed these nicknames and every time one is spoken they crack up!! They are just a few months apart in age and have always played well and can always make each other laugh and laugh.
This particular day aside from the water fight they also started their own news station called "the New News hour with Happy and Fister". Being a journalist from Neato News back in the day I totally understand the desire to start your own news program but it still surprised me and made me laugh. I want to find my Neato News tapes and let these 2 listen to them.
The fun never ends around here. Abby is one of the best bonuses I can think of to living here in SV again. Abby and her mom both.

Family reunion

A couple of weeks ago was John's family reunion on the Schwab side. Yes, the one that AJ and Jen were not invited to. I was a little nervous about going and not knowing anyone but then I got there and remembered that I grew up with his family and did know most of them (note the picture of Kathryn and me). It was fun to see everyone. It turned out to be a really fun and busy weekend. John and I never cease to make ourselves laugh and this was the weekend we started our collection of posed photos. One of us will go up to unsuspecting bystanders and pose for a photo without them knowing and the other will take the picture. Silly? We make us laugh at least. Notice that Linda outposed John.
After the reunion lunch in Afton my new niece, Emily, came with me to make the little girl headbands for the wedding. Her sister Mac went with John to get candy and hang out. All of our kids were with their other parent(s) so we borrowed Emily and Makaylyn that day and a few others that week. I'm getting so attached to those kids! I love having them around.
Anyway, Emily was a huge help and it was so much fun. My friend Amy came from Evanston too. It was a huge help, I can't think of when else I would have gotten that stuff done. As the wedding nears I
Later that evening was the Freedom Community gathering. Being all the way from Thayne and all I'd never experienced one of these Freedom bashes before. It was fun and more amusing than I have words for. A plane flew overhead and dropped candy on the eagerly waiting children. Nothing like being pelted with tootsie rolls from the sky to make a kid smile! I was a little shocked by the whole thing and listening to John, Eric and Daniel reminisce about what it was like when they were kids was funny. So this is the first year they have given the kids hard hats for the event. Too many candy related injuries apparently. And a four wheeler pulled a chain of garbage barrels made into a train ride for the kids. Small town fun. It was a good time. I did love the small townishness of the whole thing, I loved how it felt safe and everyone knew everyone and was having a fun night at the park. But I got injured. Pelted by a tootsie roll. The bruise hasn't gone away. Next year I'm wearing a hard hat.

The Memory game, blog style

I got this fun game from Marci and thought it would be fun to play. I chose the picture because it is one with Marci (top left) in it. If I weren't still living with my things in storage I would have chosen one of our graduation pictures, I have one with Marci the night of our high school graduation that is one of my favorites--but this prom picture is one I have on the computer and accessible, so here you go!


Here are the directions if you want to play.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Have fun!

And a month ago was John's birthday

Finally I get around to important things like John's birthday. His birthday was June 9. We had a party that weekend at Aunt Charlotte's house. She, by the way, is a super duper cake creator.

So about a week before his birthday Spencer asks 'what kind' of birthday John will have. Kids birthdays are so often themed events that Spencer couldn't imagine why we'd have a birthday party without knowing "what kind" we were having. So I asked Spencer what kind of birthday we should have for John. Spencer gave it some thought and finally said "well, Momma, you are pretty much his favorite thing ever so we should have a party of you for him". Such a sweet sentiment!

And here you will see the pictures of the "Dena cake" for John's birthday. You will also see the flower cake that Destrie made for him in case he was too embarrassed by the "Dena cake".

Directions to camp

Spencer gives the best directions to camp. It goes something like "Go straight and straight and turn and then straight and straight and around and turn and over bars on the road and see the Caribou National Forest sign and straight and straight and turn a little and straight and turn into our camp, WALLLAA you are there!!" All the while done with his hand very seriously slicing through the air to emphasize the straight and straight or bending to show the turns.
That's exactly how to get to our camp. Now that you know how to get there you can come see us!

With my hellish allergies and the billions of killer mosquitoes trying to drain my blood I am having a hard time wanting to be at camp much these days. These mosquitoes make the ones on Jumanji look small and friendly. But then again if only I could breathe maybe I wouldn't mind so much.

Grumpy. I'm grumpy today. I'm going to go get a pepsi or something. Something cheery. Then I'll work on remembering all the positives and why I want to be at camp.
On that note, I'm getting anxious looking in the paper each week at houses for sale and rent. Oh how nice will it be to have a place with a real shower? When camping can be for fun again. Sigh.