We're Back!!

We arrived home from our wonderful and eventful vacation this morning at 4am and have had such a lazy Sunday getting ready to get back to reality! We had the best trip ever and as always it was quite the adventure. I will be posting all about it so you can read about it or not, but we loved Alaska and our cruise ship was the best, it was a great family vacation that we will be talking about for years. Of course we are thrilled to be back (ha ha) and the kids are so excited to start school (yeah right). They are also looking forward to Moms home cooking (lie), no more lobster and prime rib and 24 hour ice cream bar. But it is time to get back to reality and to regular eating...my clothes are feeling tighter! It is good to be back!

Mom Likes ME Best!!

I was school shopping with Zack today and I cracked up when Zack found this shirt to try on. For years whenever Zack is sitting next to me or snuggling with me (yes, he still snuggles with me) or hugging me, unbeknowndest (is that a word??) to me he would be mouthing the words "Mom likes ME Best" to Matthew. I never realized it until Matthew finally said to me one day that I do like Zack best and then he told me what Zack has been doing. What a booger....he just does it to bug Matthew! But the thing I like is that it did bug Matthew! I sure do love my boys and I am so happy to know that they love me because they tell me all the time and show me all the time. I am truly blessed! So this shirt is perfect for Zack - - - he has been saying this for years! No favorites here though they are both my favorites - Moms are capable of that. And don't worry the shirt was only $5 and he will not be wearing it to school, maybe to the beach but not school!

Retro Popcorn

This might show my age but I remember Jiffy Pop being the best, most delicious popcorn around! It was such a treat when my Mom would buy it and we couldn't wait to make it. Putting it on the burner of the stove and shaking it around until the popping stopped and the foil was stretched and filled with wonderfully, buttery tasting popcorn. Yum! It was the best! So when Adam brought some home from a Young Adult camping trip the kids could not wait to make some because they had never had it before. Sorry only microwave popcorn in this house. Now mind you I was upstairs when, with their Dad showing them how to do it, made up a batch of it. I have got to tell you though that when I came downstairs the family room and kitchen were filled with smoke which indicated to me that the popcorn was not going to be that good. I believe it was overdone, there is definitely a technique to Jiffy Pop. So the boys excitedly opened up the foil and tried a few pieces of the dark yellow popcorn and pretty much gagged! Matthew stated that "it was nasty" and Zack said that "it was like eating a cigarette!" Yuck! I think that they will take their microwave popcorn anyday!
Just to set the record straight though I did make up some tonight and mine turned out much better, it was at least edible but it still was not the great tasting stuff I remember from my childhood. It was such a let down. I think that they have come a long way with popcorn!!

Matthew Bites It!

WARNING!! People who are faint of heart and cannot handle the sight of blood, Do Not Scroll Down! Remember you have been warned!!!!!



Today the neighbor kids came over and picked up Matthew and Zack to bike and Ripstick around the neighborhood. Now mind you we own two Ripsticks; one is Zack's and the other one is Adams. Matthew does not have one and there is a reason. But as I watch the boys go I notice that Matthew leaves on a Ripstick, which concerns me a little because he has only ridden one on flat ground not going down hills and our neighborhood is hilly. He does have a helmet on, which is good and I just yell out "Be safe! Remember we have our trip coming up. Don't do anything stupid, like get yourself hurt!" I have a strange paranioa about when we have a great vacation planned, I am always worried that someone will get injured and somehow it will ruin our fun trip. So two weeks before a trip it is pretty much like walking on egg shells around the house because heaven forbid if you get hurt Mom will be so mad! Oh yeah and by the way you better not get sick either!

Anyways so Matthew and Zack head off with their friends. Not more than 10 minutes later Zack comes running in and tells me that Matthew got hurt. Well of course at first I don't believe him because I did warn him not to get injured but sure enough here is what comes walking through the door-

OK at least he is walking and in this picture he is smiling....that is a good thing! Oh is it bad that I grabbed the camera before wiping him up. Oh well! I do believe his smile though was actually forced though because he was in pain. He apparently was flying down the hill on the Ripstick and did not know how to slow down so he thought if he put his foot down he would be able to stop but unfortunately the Ripstick stopped but he kept going and let his face and hands on the road stop him. Ouch!! He smacked his head pretty hard also but thank goodness he wore a helmet! After some investigating and cleaning his wounds which he had scrapes on his face, hands, shoulder and knees, I also noticed that it had torn up his shirt in the front and a huge hole in the back. He really skidded bad! Luckily it wasn't worse but the poor guy looks like he has been in a fight but at least it won't stop us from going on the cruise! Poor Matthew!!!

It is also lucky that he had his school pictures taken yesterday. Actually though he probably thinks that it would have looked cool to look like this in the picture. Boys!

Are you ready for some football??

I have to honestly say that I love watching football. I am so looking forward to football season starting and watching the games and playing our fantasy football team. I love it!! At least we have had the Olympics to watch so that has filled my need to watch a game. We are so addicted to the Olympics that every night we have been going to bed well past midnight. Usually if we are watching TV at night the 11 o'clock news will come on and then we know that it is time for bed. (Even though we should be going to bed earlier than that) But with Olympics on we have no idea how late it is so we have had some really late nights in the Walden household. That might be why we have all been a little grumpy......we need sleep!!

Anyways, back to football - I love watching it but I am not sure if I will like watching my own boy play. Every time I hear the helmets crash together my body cringes and I am so worried about him being hurt. Somehow I like that sound when I am watching a game on TV but I do not like it when I am watching my son practice and we haven't even started games yet! It might be a loooong season for me. But he is loving it and he sure looks cute in his uniform!

Best Beach Summer

I have a horrible confession to make. In past summers I have never taken my kids to the beach more than 3 times but this summer I made it a goal to make it to the beach more times than what I can count on one hand. Don't I have such high goals!?! But I have surpassed my goal and we really were able to enjoy the beach many times this summer and best of all enjoy it with our friends. It has been wonderful and I am sad to see summer come to an end. Even if I had nothing else planned for the week I at least had Tuesdays (Beach Day) to look forward to. Thanks to all the friends that have made Beach Tuesday the best day of the week! I wanted to add some pictures to remind me of the good times; boogie boarding, playing in the sand, and enjoying others company. Good times...good times!

Matthew and Trevor flying a Winnie the Pooh kite. How sweet!!

Whats the beach without this cute face there. Love you KC!

The Group

Zacks typical "pondering man" pose-

The little ones enjoying themselves

Zack and Branden always with the "thumbs up" sign-

Matthew looking for the perfect wave

We are Complete Once More

Matthew has been gone at Scout Camp this last week and he finally arrived home yesterday. Yeah! It sure seems like he has been away from home alot this summer but I guess that is what happens as they get older. In a way I think it is preparing us for when he goes on a mission. Only 4 more years!! Unreal!

He had an absolute blast at Scout camp this year. It was really nice because he has already earned his Eagle so he was able to do whatever fun merit badges he wanted to do and just relax and enjoy his time there and that is what he did. He still came home with 4 merit badges but they were Rowing, Sailing, Fishing and Wildlife and Archery. It was a great time because it was a multi-stake scout camp and even Brother Dahlquist, the General YM President, came up for a day and spoke with them and shook each of their hands. Matthew was giving us some grief about going but I know that he is now very happy that he did but we are glad to have him back home.

Unfortunatley when he arrived home yesterday no one was here to greet him. Our ward Primary had a family beach day that we were at and then after that we had to chaperone a Young Adult beach party that evening. So we were gone from 9am that morning to almost 9pm that night. It was a very loooong day but a fun one. But Zack was just chomping at the bit to get home and see his brother, I love the fact that they really missed each other. Matthew and Zack might fight alot but I know that they are best buds and it thrills me when I see them show their brotherly love. And I love that when they are apart they usually end up purchasing something for the other one or making something. This time Matthew bought a Camp Kern hat (looks like a beret) for Zack and Zack saved half of a candy bar for Matthew and had made him a card that he sent to Matthew up at camp. I relish in the thoughtfulness that they have for each other but one question...where's my gift?? Just kidding. They really are wonderful boys!!

Broadway Zack

Every year our Young Adult Branch puts on a Musical Review and this year the songs were from Disney movies. We have so many talented Young Adults and they are the ones who do everything from building sets to choreography, to the beautiful singing. This year they needed a young boy for two of the performances so Zack stood up to the plate and said he could help them out. He got to play the young boy from Mary Poppins and performed the song "Spoonful of Sugar" and he played Mogli (?) from Jungle Book and performed "Bare Necessities" with Baloo. He had a great time and thought it was pretty cool hanging out with the young adults at the rehearsals and at the after performance Cast Party. It was funny though because last week I

asked him if he had the songs memorized and he says "Yeah, no problem Mom. I know Bare Necessities and I have got the song Cupfull of Sugar down." Ok I thought except for it is suppose to be 'spoonful' of sugar! He is a crazy one!

He actually loved getting up on stage and performing some of his famous Zack dance moves such as the heel click, the sprinkler and the running man. He even had to get all 'miked' up which was a real task because in the jungle scene he was only wearing his shorts. They did a great job hiding it though because I could not even see it, his long hair came in handy because they hid it under his bangs. We kept his hair growing for the part but now we can cut it. Yeah! It is way too long!

It was a great experience for him and he is quite the performer!

Here he is with Brandon Harris who played Baloo-


Here he is with Tracy Labrum who played Mary Poppins-

Cousins

Growing up I really missed out on the fun of having cousins that I was close to. I had cousins (not many) but none of them were very close to us and it wasn't because my parents didn't try. We would go visit them but they never made the effort to visit us or get too close to us so we really missed out on that cousin friendships. I am so happy that my parents have made every effort to make sure that we are all close as siblings and that our kids are really close and my boys have the best cousins. I love it! Their cousins range from my oldest nephew who I believe is 33 down to the youngest who is 8 and there are alot in between. They now have 13 second cousins (and growing) that they have fun with. And I am just talking about my side of the family so they have more from Adam's side. I am so happy that they get to experience these great times with their cousins and to nourish those relationships that mean so much.
We just had two of their cousins stay with us for a week while their Mom was at Girls Camp and we had such a good time. It was fun to have a girl in the house and yes she did bring her Barbies because she knows Aunt Pam loves playing with Barbies...especially Barbie hairdresser. We had a great time swimming, bowling, backyard campout on the trampoline, ripsticking, video game marathons, playing games, etc. I love that my boys love their cousins!!