Amusement Park FUN

We had the chance to spend the day @ Six Flags, Marine World today. Our friends, the LaPrays had some extra, free passes. It was so kind of them to treat us to a day of fun. Thank you Keri & Scott. We left @ 9 am & didn't get home until 10 pm. We opened & closed the park today...FUN

First up on the agenda, to ride as many rides,(especially)roller coasters as we could.

The weather was perfect, a cool 85 degrees. We could not have asked for a better weather, considering the 107 degree weather we've been having @ home.

We hit the Shouka whale show.

A few of the kids wanted to sit in the Splash Zone. Not only did they sit in the Splash Zone, but they sat in the front row! They were totally soaked by the end of the show but totally loved every minute of it.




















Keri & I( and a couple of the kids), on the other hand, wanted to stay dry.

Another perk that comes from sitting in the front row is the Chance to be picked for the trivia game. The MC picked 5 people out of the hundreds of us sitting in the stands to play her trivia game. She happened to pick Tanner. Here he is on the big screen.

His question was, "How many times does Shouka brush her teeth"?
Does anyone know the answer?

The answer was D, "twice a day". Tanner got it right & won a stuffed animal(a seal) & a t-shirt. He was thrilled & said he knew the answer because he had read it on a wall, in the park earlier in the day. See, it totally pays to read for fun! You learn something new every day!

We checked out the butterfly exhibit. I have never seen so many colorful butterflies in one place. They were amazing & beautiful.

Last but not least, we were able to track down a few of the characters to get our pictures taken with. Thanks again to the LaPrays for our super fun day! My boys are still talking about all of the rides we rode & what they want ride, over & over again.t ride, over &

escaping the heat

Our little family was able to escape to Lake Tahoe. On the way up, we watched the temperature gage in our car drop about 25 degrees, the Tahoe weather was a perfect 80degrees. We were able to enjoy some fun family time.

The fun started right away :-). The boys had a great time catching rides on the luggage cart. Poor John, it's not like we didn't have enough baggage(as a family of 6) already.



























We loved the condo & all of the amenities(thanks K & F)! Garrett loved the big jacuzzi, John loved the pool, Tanner & Carter enjoyed a football game with about 8 other boys their age, & I loved the kiddie pool for Brody. I only wish that Brody had loved it as much as I did. He didn't want to stay in that area at all. He is fast & was all over the place. He bounced from the pool, to the the jacuzzi, to the playground, then to watch the boys playing football on the grass. I turned to watch Tanner & Carter play football for oh, about 2 seconds & before I knew it, Brody had run over to a birthday party that was just starting. He climbed up onto the picnic table...ummm, did I mention that he is fast? In what, felt like VERY slow motion, I watched him put his chubby little fingers right into t heavily sprinkled, pink cupcake that was adorning the top of the cupcake pyramid. I yelled his name & he was off & running again. I did a quick wave & a sorry to the Mom in charge. Remember, he is fast & was headed right back to the pool. I have never been so embarrassed in my life. I really hope that that Mom knew how sorry I was.

We were able to enjoy so many activities. A few of our favorites included:

Swimming:

Games:

I beat Tanner & Carter @ a game of Scrabble. I tried to get them to play another game with me last night but they declined, saying they didn't want to get beat again.

A walk down to the North Star village:
We enjoyed checking out the village, roasting s'mores & watching a movie under the stars. The boys thought it was so cool to watch Clone Wars, outside.





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We wore these boys out. Here is proof that our boys really do sleep.
These photos were taken 15 minutes into the ride home!






















p.s. it was so hard to drive home & watch the temperature gage go back up. It went from a pleasnt 80 degrees to 106 when we hit our home town! We hope you are enjoying the lazy days of summer.

Green Tangerines Kit Club

It's late...I'm not tired. It possibly could have something to do with that Diet Coke I enjoyed at 9:30 pm tonight. Note to self, limit the caffeine intake after 7 pm. I am up working on my Green Tangerines Kit Club stuff for May. I am having one of those "slow" scrapbook nights. I have been staring at the same layout for a while now. It needs something & it is just not happening at this hour. Maybe the light of day(in the morning) will help OR maybe I am tired & just need to stop fighting Mr. Sandman & GO to bed...who knows? I thought I would take a break & post my layouts from the March & April kits. You are going to get the April layouts first, Blogger is not letting me move things around tonight-ggrrrrr!

April Layouts:













March Layouts:












The Green Tangerines Blog Party is still going on. Head over to the Kit Club blog & answer their question & you will be entered into the drawing for fabulous scrapbook supplies. Hurry over...you have nothing to lose...only super scrapbook supplies to add to your stash.

Recipe Share

Time for another recipe. I got this one from my good friend, Jan. She is SO good about trying new recipes. She is even better about sharing them with ME. I made this Lemon Chicken for Father's Day & it was a a hit. I personally LOVE anything with lemon. I served the chicken with Cheesy Potatoes, french bread & a green salad. Enjoy!



















Lemon Herb Chicken

½ cup lemon juice
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. paprika
1 ½ tsp. onion powder or 1 T. dry onion mix
1 ½ tsp. crushed basil
½ tsp. thyme
2 cloves garlic – chopped
¼ to ½ cup olive oil

Mix ingredients together in plastic resalable bag. Place chicken breast in bag. Marinate and turn for 2 hours or overnight. Barbeque.

Off to work

Tanner & Carter were able to go to work with John today. Intel hosted the annual Bring your Kids to Work Day. They haven't been able to go the last two years due to John's sabbatical in 2007 & last year he had a big project due that day.

They left the house @ 6:15 am. Hey, if your going to work with Dad, you leave @ the crack of dawn.















They enjoyed checking out his cubicle & writing on the dry erase board.
















There were several activities for the boys to enjoy today. They played Capture the flag on top of the line graphic lap tops. They versed 12 other kids. This was their favorite activity of the day!














They also watched a Tesla Coils demo. According to the boys it was a cool science lesson teaching them about energy. The coils created lightening.
They were also able to try on the Intel bunny suits, great photo op..I have to give huge props to John. He was so good with the camera & captured the boys day at work.





















They loved going to work with Dad. They enjoyed all of the fun activities, eating lunch with Dad & just being able to see what Dad does all day long while he is away from home! Thanks for the great day at work, Intel!

Happy Father's day...

to the best two Dads ever. First up, my Dad.



















I didn't get to see him on Father's Day but I hope he knows how much I love him & appreciate him.
-My Dad taught me how to appreciate good music in my younger years. Can you say, The Beatles, ELO, Neil Diamond & Huey Lewis(I'm just naming a few)? There was always FUN music playing in his car. Music is BIG part of my life.

- My Dad's love of THE GAME rubbed off on me...I still love to watch baseball games to this day. I don't think my Dad can watch the movie, Field of Dreams to this day, with out shedding a tear or two. Baseball was a pretty big deal @ our house.

- My Dad taught me how to snow ski. He then saw to it that I had lessons every year until I was 12 years old. One of my favorite childhood memories is my Dad coming with me on our youth ski trips(with the church group). I loved to ski with him & was just glad that I could keep up with him. Fun memories.

- My Dad always found a way to provide for our family. As more children were added to the mix(I am the oldest of 5), my Mom decided it was time for a van. Do you remember the VW vans in the late 70's, early 80's? You could get one in brown with a tan top or a lime green one with a tan top. My Mom had her heart set on the lime green one. My Dad sold his white Sunbeam Tiger(a rare car) just so my Mom could have the van of her dreams-LOL!

-One thing you need to know about my Dad is that he will always defend the under dog. He will always find a positive thing about that person & be kind to them when others may not. I have watched him do this during the last few years & it has taught me one of those BIG, life lessons...find the positive even if you don't think you can. I have been so impressed with my Dad during the last couple of months. He has held his head high & has just taken the higher road. Sometimes in life, it is easy to get sucked into the negative things, my Dad has not. He has been been calm, collected, & kind when others have not. I am so proud of him & thankful for his example. Happy Father's Day, Dad! I love you!

Next up is my John, boy.



























(photos taken on Father's Day, this year}

I could not have hand picked or asked for a better man to be the Daddy to my children. I am so happy I get to raise these boys with him. He is their world & mine. Each one of them, upon waking up(every morning) will run into our room & ask if Dad is home. John leaves for work @ about 6:15 am each morning & the boys often miss seeing him in the morning. I know, they know, that he leaves early. None the less, they are still sad every morning when they don't find him. It is fun to witness his homecoming each day. You would think that the boys have not seen him in days. They laugh, squeal, yell his name & run to meet him @ the door. He has the ROCK STAR status @ our house for sure. I am so grateful for John & how hard he works to allow me to be a SAHM by day. It is something that was/is important to me & I am thankful for the opportunity. I am grateful that John is involved in the boys lives. He one proud Daddy when it comes to their sports, their awards @ school, & all of their accomplishments & milestones. John, we love you...we REALLY do! Happy Father's Day to one amazing Dad!