4th of July celebrations!!!!

I've decided that the 4th of July is up there with Christmas. There's lots of family time, lots of celebrating, and lots of fun!!!!

Our fun started on Friday evening at a cul de sac in our neighborhood that throws a BIG party every year. Lots of snow cones, bouncy toys, hots dogs, face painting, live music, ice cream, cotton candy, popcorn & BIG fireworks made for TWO happy little boys. It really was an amazing party. I loved that they lined their street with numerous flags...it really was a beautiful sight.
On Saturday we started our cold morning with the parade. Landon spent much of the time snuggling with me but Jaden was in the thick of it & loved every minute.

Afterwards we headed to my parents for a yummy BBQ. My parents have a small pond that the kids decided they wanted to play in. It was so funny to watch them. At one point Jaden was jumping from the shore, missed the middle of the raft, hit the side, & did a back flip into the pond. He bounced up quickly shouting "I'm ok." Landon spent time on the 4-wheeler with daddy & napping.

That evening we decided to do the melaluca fireworks. Two cranky boys made us decide to leave early...they were tired.On Sunday after church we headed up to Island Park. It was nice to breath fresh air & spend time with family. Of course, we had to include fireworks in the fun since my boys can't get enough!

Thanks everyone for a FUN weekend! Can't wait until next year.

Cute Moments!

I love capturing fun moments on camera!

The other day I was watching my friend Jenn's kids & I had her leave her car seats in case I had to go somewhere. The kids all wanted snow cones (I have the best Sugar Free ones if anyone wants to try them) so I made one for everyone. As I was cleaning up I looked out the window & saw this....I was laughing so hard. They were just chilling in the car seats eating snow cones.
And meet the newest employee of MV Auto Buyers! Today I told our employee to take the day off & I'm working at the dealership. Jaden has joined me this last hour & he thinks he runs the place. We are getting lots done! If you need a new 7 seater, check out this one...I love it & am tempted to buy it for myself. AND since you know me I'll give you an even better deal although we have it listed way below blue book!

Food Storage Ideas

I'm sure I'm not the only one that finds food storage a little intimidating & overwelming. It's not supposed to be that way but I really want my food storage to serve a purpose & not be items wasted in the future....I'm sure we've seen some people that have items in food storage for 30+ years that in the end having to throw it all in the garbage...my goal is to not have this happen but to have an organized food storage that I use, keep track of, & know exactly how often I should be using it.

So...I came up with an idea that works for me, isn't overwelming, & won't break the bank. It's starting out small.

Every week I'll create a menu that only requires items from future storage. I'll make sure I have the supplies for 6 meals made from this menu. For example, this week is mexican casserole. There are two items (cheese & sour cream) that in an emergency I may not have so I put these on a seperate line since I'm NOT going to make sure I have enough of these for 6 meals:) If needed, I can omit these items & still have a very healthy & good meal. The 2nd part of my plan is to go through my food storage, subtract what I already have, & determine what I need to buy this week (each week I'll buy what I need for my 6 meals). I've put this on a spreadsheet and my meal I put together will add to this to determine total what my storage needs.

Are you following me so far???? I plan to create 30 meal plans. So in essence when I'm done I'll have a 6 month supply of food we already eat...food I can rotate into our nightly meals so we keep it fresh & in use. When I pull the item out of storage my spreadsheet will tell me I need to buy more:) There's more....the mexican casserole will last my family for 3 meals so with leftovers we actually have much more then 6 months worth of dinners. After I'm done with dinners I'll begin to focus on breakfast & lunch (so far, in an emergency we'll be eating bread & oatmeal for those meals w/ peanut butter & Jelly).

I hope this is the magic trick to finally get my food storage to where it needs to be!!!

Happy, Happy, Birthday Jaden Dear!!!!

Happy Birthday to my favorite 5 year old! He's so special that we had to do lots of celebrating.

Yesterday we did his cake with family and we gave him his new BIKE!!!! His old one was getting small & we wanted him to have a bigger bike in his favorite color. He was so excited & I was too....it will make it much easier for him to keep up with me on bike rides and I can barely pull him in the bike trailer anymore (my legs burn like crazy).

Today, his actual birthday, we had a bunch of little friends over to celebrate and it was a PERFECT day! Lots of swimming, games, a pinata, endless sno cones (some kids ate like 6, sorry moms) and lots of running made for a really fun party. Once Jaden opened his presents he was ready for everyone to go home so he could play with them but we reminded him that he had to wait until everyone went home. He's officially played with every single one...and he got alot!

We love you buddy! You are such a smart boy & you test my knowledge daily. I know you have any amazing future ahead of you & I'm grateful I get to be your mom as your enjoying it:)

Bribery

Jaden hates riding in the car. He whines about it & it can make for a very frustrating ride.

Unfortunately I've been doing a few dealership things this week that has required some driving. It makes me feel better as a mom if I'm including my children in my efforts then leaving them with a babysitter BUT today after another trip to Pocatello (took one late last night) Chris & I were feeling a little guilty. That's where bribery came in. We told Jaden that we'd go to Ross Park & go to his favorite McDonalds ever. They have a free basketball game that he loves!

As we were driving Chris & I were discussing the hope that the boys will reflect back on these experiences with fond memories. The dreamer in me conjured up an image of a dealership worths millions & the boys sharing memories of when there mom & dad were just starting (and making mistakes, but hopefully they don't remember that.)

So, I think we were forgiven for taking them on another road trip....at least their smiles say so. And the lazy river....loved it! It was relaxing! I think I'm a little lazy for wanting to stay there the whole time.

On the way home Chris & I were discussing another business venture we may be part of & we laughed about the massive amount of research we were going to need to do & the places we'd have to travel to get it. These places too would put a BIG smile on our boys faces...if they can get over the time that it takes to get there:)

Thank you Grandma Murphy!

Today Jaden got a package in the mail. He ran to the door & asked "who is it for"? When I had him read the label he was very excited.

After he opened the package I asked him who it was from. He said "I bet it's from Grandma Murphy".

Jaden celebrates his 5th birthday on Monday & is soooo excited to have the addition of this rocket at his Birthday Party. If you recall he fell in love with a similar rocket when we visited Washington.

He had to invite some friends over to celebrate his new present! Here's some pictures for your enjoyment!

for daddy!

I think that Chris is missing the boys a lot...and of course he's missing me a ton too:):):) Today he called several times asking us what we were doing....after several times of him asking if I was taking pictures I asked him if wanted me to post pictures:) I think he's my biggest blog fan!

So here's some of our fun today!

I had to head to Blackfoot to pick up a car at Auction & my friend Jenn came to bring back a car...thanks so much! We decided if we were going to drag the kids to blackfoot that we better make it fun so we took them to blackfoot lake. I thought the chilly breeze would keep them out of the water but they loved it! It took some bribery to get them to leave.

Yesterday I took the kids to tautphaus park & Jaden saw that they had the rides going. I told him we'd go sometime...I didn't realize that sometime better be soon or else he'd keep asking. So this afternoon I took them for some fun on the rides. Landon was so brave to go on them himself. It's so fun to watch them be independent, pay their tickets, & pick their ride...I just LOVE them!