Zipline in Hoonah, Alaska

Here is our last day of excursions! We (Cameron and I plus our brother in laws - Mike, Dan and Stephen - Attila did it later) did the longest zipline in the world - over a mile long starting at about 1500 ft down to sea level. It was a 45 min bus ride up the mountain before a long (almost 2 hrs) wait in line and then 90 seconds down the zipline to the bottom. Cameron probably got to the top speed of 60 mph! Here are some pictures from up on top. There was no time to take any from the bottom since we had to run to the next "excursion" - whale watching! I put the video of my trip down the zipline as a side page element so check it out!

Mike, Dan, Stephen and Cameron looking cool -even though they were really scared!

Waiting in the long line!

Look how far it is down to the bottom!

Time to go! - no turning back now -there are NO REFUNDS!

One Word

Answer the following with only one word.
1. Where is your cell phone? ....................car
2. Your significant other?.......................Cameron
3. Your hair?....................................brown
4. Your mother? .................................caring
5. Your father?..................................giving
6. Your favorite thing?..........................computer?
7. Your dream last night?........................didn't
8. Your favorite drink...........................water
9. Your dream/goal?..............................house
10. The room you're in?..........................office
11. Your children?.....................................cute
12. Your fear?...................................pain
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years...........vacationing
14. Where were you last night?...................home
15. What you're not?.............................perfect
16. Muffins......................................poppyseed
17. One of your wish list items?.................piano
18. Where you grew up?........................... California
19. What you read last........................Friend
20. What are you wearing?........................sweats
21. Your TV?.....................................off
22. Your pets?...................................none
23. Your computer? ..............................nice
24. Your life?...................................great
25. Your mood?...................................good
26. Missing someone?.............................no
27. Your car?....................................Expedition
28. Something you're not wearing?................ring
29. Favorite Store?..............................Target
30. Your summer?.................................crazy
31. Like someone?................................yes?
32. Your favorite color?.........................pink
33. Last time you laughed........................yesterday
34. Last time you cried?.........................?

Sunday's Activities

Sunday afternoon we worked on Collin's science fair project. He designed and built the K'nex car and then we tested it out on how fast it could go on different surfaces. The girls did something they do often and I remember doing lots with Rebecca growing up - looking through a catalog and picking which thing we like best and which is "ours". Chelsea and Morgan do it lots too and Mia is now joining in. Chelsea and Morgan also decided to dress like twins after church and they looked so cute I had to take their picture. I hope they always stay best friends (although they don't call themselves that - they think sisters can't be called best friends) but really they are.

SUNBURN!

So we had record high temperatures this past weekend after having record low temperatures at the beginning of the month. My kids came home from school on Friday and wanted to run through the sprinklers. So out they went (and unfortunately I didn't take there picture) and played and played for hours outside in their swimsuits and NO SUNSCREEN! What was I thinking? My kids never burn and I didn't realize just how long they'd be out there in that crazy heat. That night Collin came to me saying his back hurt and wondered if he got burned? YES he did. He was a red lobster on his whole back! The front not so bad but all I could think was my poor boy just uped his chance of getting skin cancer now! On top of that my family really NEVER burns and I had no aloe to rub on it. The girls all came out fine. Mia and Morg were wearing suits with swimshirts so their back and shoulders were fine and Chelsea spent the least time out in the sun getting wet so only got a little burn that didn't hurt and was tan by the next morning. So needless to say the next day when they went out to play they were heavily coated in sunscreen. Collin was at work with Cameron and his back hurt him all day long. I finally got us some aloe to soothe it that night.

Haley's Goodbye Lunch

Christina, Kristin, Haley, Desiree, Yasmine, Me at Olive Garden (Anna took off before I remembered I brought my camera)

Haley Morales came back to the Tri cities to visit after her husband, JJ completed his MBA at BYU. They are headed off to their new life in New Jersey and I will again miss them being in the ward (not that I'm going to be in it much longer though). They have 4 cute kids that are similar ages to mine and I visit taught her for a while on top of us already being friends. She and JJ called on Thursday when they arrived to find out if there was a ward volleyball game that night. So they came to play and it was fun -and for those who played with us when they were in the ward they know that JJ and I did not get along playing volleyball -probably because we are both too competitive and both wanted to be in charge. They also came to church on Sunday and then Hailey asked us to meet her for lunch today! And now they are off on their next visit before they make their big move. I really hope Haley starts blogging so I can see everything about her new glamourous life just 20 minutes outside of New York City! Not the best picture of us (because we're all really super beautiful in real life). I should have remembered that I threw my camera in my purse while we were still inside.

Weekend News

So I never got around to posting the past few days to tell about all the things that have been going on here. Thursday was the Mother's day tea at Chelsea's preschool. I got to come to class with her all dressed up for "tea." I wish I would have had someone take our picture together with my camera. The kids all sang some Mother's day songs for us plus a few other songs that they've learned throughout the year. We had juice and cake and the teachers gave us scrapbooks of our kids for the whole year. It is so nice and had pictures of all the fun things they've done throughout the year. I can't believe she "graduates" from preschool next Thursday!

Chelsea with her teachers - Miss Teddy and Miss Felicia

Chelsea with her friends - Addison and Logan

The class pets -RATS!

Friday I took Collin, Regan, Ben and Kenny Strong to see the movie Speedracer at the mall. The girls went to play with Rae and Cams. I felt like I was in the car with older boys because they started talking about girls and cell phones and dirt bikes. But it was funny and Collin later told me who he liked (I already suspected and would have picked the same girl for him to like). When we got home the kids were all playing outside and Collin and Regan came up with the bright idea to throw a HUGE dodgeball at the girls who were jumping on the trampoline. Well, Collin got Chelsea down on his first throw and smashed her lip, cutting it open and gushing with blood and another place under her nose. I was up stairs and Cameron was trying to clean her up. When I came down he decided we had to take her to the ER. I wasn't so sure but didn't want to be responsible for her having a horrible scar that I could have prevented. So Alex along with Mason, who had just left, came back to babysit while we went. 3 hours later the Doc said they don't usually stitch lips and it would be extremely painful and he'd have to put her out if we really wanted that done. But he would glue the big cut under her nose. So that's all we had done and he said no matter what we did they would scar! So for days Chelsea has now looked like she has snot running out of her nose because of the glue and the cut under there. I think she'll remember that trip to the dr. for a long time. We didn't get home until after 11 pm extremely tired.





Saturday night Cameron and I took Val and Jane out to dinner for Mother's Day at Applebee's. We had to be quick because they had to get to the airport to welcome Calvin home from his mission that night. Collin babysat the girls so we chose not to go because I wasn't ready to leave them more than the hour and a half that we'd already been gone.

Mother's Day was a bit more hectic than usual but overall it was nice. Before we left for church the kids gave me their gifts that they'd bought the night before with Cameron. They got me a really nice stereo thing for my ipod, a mossimo watch, a few bags of m&ms, and some chapstick. I bought myself some flowers on Friday while at Costco because they were too beautiful and inexpensive to pass up. Plus if anyone ever decides to come look at our house I think fresh flowers look nice. After that we rushed off to Pasco to go to Calvin's mission homecoming. Yes, he spoke in church only 12 hours after getting home!! Mother's were honored and at the end we all got a yummy dove bar! Then Morgan, Chelsea and I took of to go to our ward. So again after sacrament meeting I was honored with a box of chocolates and then after primary to patuna plants to take home. Cameron took Collin and Mia to Othello after the homecoming to check water and then we met at Courtey and Bev's house for a homecoming dinner for Calvin. Nice that I really didn't have to make any dinner (I did bring a broccoli salad but I bought the kit from Costco and just threw it together when I got there). The kids all had a good day playing with their cousins and friends. Cameron went home and took a nap and I played with the kids. My kids loved the new ipod player and danced around for me. Chelsea as usual killed everyone in the Memory game. She has amazing skills for remembering where we turned the cards over. I stayed up that night watching 5 hours of TV in 3 hours! Isn't that pathetic. But it was the 3 hr Survivor finale - I can't believe Parv won plus Desperate Housewives and Extreme Makeover home addition. Boy - do I love DVR. Cameron didn't stay up to watch it all with me. He missed out though. So that's was our weekend news.

Our backyard

One thing I will miss about this house is the nice fenced backyard. We've had lots of fun times back here with friends and family. And I was so happy when it finally got fenced all the way around so I didn't have to worry where my kids were when they played out there. I think the grass looks so lush and green right now (time for Collin to mow again today). I'll miss my cute little dogwood tree too.

Collin's 10th Birthday!

Collin turned 10 YEARS OLD on Sunday! I can't believe I have a child whose age is in the double digits!! That means I'm already like 25. Kidding. But really I can't believe how much he is growing up. We had the Bybee family and Grandpa and Grandma Calaway come over for a homemade pizza dinner. Caden Bybee and Collin are 2 years apart in age but they are so much alike. Both are die hard farm boys who know more about what is going on in their Dad's farm than their Moms do. A lot more. They both are know how to fix things and run equipment and love their outside tractors and the homemade implements they help their Dads make. They love their 4 wheelers and it will be so sad when we move even farther away from them soon. Back to just Collin. He was pretty easy to buy for since he just wanted lots more K'nex. He just got a new 4 wheeler so what else could he really ask for. He is a hard worker and I'm so glad he's part of our family. I can't believe my little 5 pound 3 oz little baby has grown so much in so many ways. Happy Birthday, Collin!

Doesn't this look like an ad for Ranch dressing or is it and ad for John Deere Tshirts?

Can you believe this is the best picture I took of his cake? I took a movie when he blew the candles out but no picture of him with his cake. Of course, he had to light his own candles.

Nothing to do with Collin's birthday although this was taken there but the girls and I finally made flower hair clips inspired by Bec and the hair blogs that we've been frequenting. So you can see in this picture and the present picture the cute flowers my girls sported for the first time.

Our Movie Star

Today is career day at school and Morgan decided she want to dress up as a fashion model/movie star. We decided to try a new hairdo for the occasion. It was my first attempt at rag curls and I've learned that I need to be better next time about keeping the sections the same size. But she still looked fancy and cute. Collin was going to dress up as a farmer but changed his mind in the morning when he didn't want to wear is farm boots to school and wear a button up shirt like Dad. Today he brought in donut holes to school to celebrate his birthday which is on Sunday! I can't believe he is going to be 10!!

Here is a picture of my clean family room. I hope we some buyers here to look at it this weekend when it is offically on the market since I've kept the house super clean all week!!