Build it and they will come....

Ben is a really big push over when it comes to buying, building or making things for the kids to play with.

So one day when he had a wild idea, (I personally thinks he get this trait from his father) he decided to build the kids a play house.

So by the seat of his pants, he got some wood and started to build, yes I will admit it might be the fanciest thing on the block, ( i will get a hold of it and try to add some cute touches).

I will also admit I was skeptical, but the kids love it, a few boards some cut outs for windows and voila'.

He then decided to add a slide, some monkey bars, a disc swing, mini climbing wall with a poll to slide down and a rope to climb back up.

Alivia got to choose any paint color on the wall at home depot, except for pink and she chose the color called asparagus.

Some touches that will be added some trim, shutters, and window planter boxes.

So any neighbors that have maybe drove by and said what is that giant green thing in the Whidden's back yard, it is a playhouse in progress:)

Also we had to re-engineer the deck the wind, when it comes was reeking havoc on the deck and so we put (or should i say Ben) benches around the deck. I got to paint them.

And our car is going to be okay, hallelujah, we were semi-car shopping and it was expensive. So the Saturn lives for now.

While we were carless we borrowed my mom's car to drive around for a few days and Ben took it to his softball game and yes you guessed it, it got hit by a softball. It shattered to sunroof window. Every place quoted 700$ and so my dad to a pick a part place and found a sunroof glass for 160.00 YEAH!!!

We have been blessed though lately, it all could have ended up being a lot worse....

Summer almost over???

This week or last week should I say of course has flown by......got me thinking of the song by Trace Atkins, about making sure you don't wish the days away.....I will try and find it and put it on the blog.

The list of events our car died, or is on the on the staircase towards heaven. We are having it looked at tomorrow and it is not fun to be a one car family again. The main reason, driving a suburban around town AIN'T CHEAP!!!

Ben's parents are in town, YEAH.......the kids were so excited for them to come, we jumped the gun and told them they were coming a few days earlier than planned. They decided to take a detour to San Fransisco and so the kids couldn't understand what was taking so long and when they say them they were so excited. Alivia especially I really have never have seen her like that, she wanted to impress them so much. As we were getting ready to go to the airport, she got her new dress on with her nice black shoes, she wanted me to curl her hair (and she does not like her hair curled often).

She was so excited and she had such a great time with them here. She thinks her papa is so funny, he made the kite go over the fence and he loves to horse around with them. We love having them come all the way from Canada, I always feel such a loving spirit when I am with them and appreciate who they are and the example they show to us. I appreciate the talks we get to have, the human pretzel we get to witness;) and the love they show the kids....

So just a few more random things, I was walking through the airport the other day and saw a familiar face, Louis Van Amstel he looked at me and I looked at him and smiled he smiled back, like "oh she recognizes me" . He was adorable!!! A few people I have had on my flights....

Margo Kidder (from the first superman with Christopher Reeve)

Glenn Close (she wasn't very nice, I think it was because I did not recognize her and she knew I didn't)

John Stockton ( he was SO nice, and had a really cute family)

The Subway guy that lost all that weight Jared something, he had way to big of an ego if you ask me.

A few apostles. All really nice of course, most of them sleep.

A few popular athletes, I had no idea until my crew told me.....I still don't even remember their names.....

The blonde triplets, that posed in playboy, I didn't know who they were OF COURSE....but my crew did and they were freaking out:)

Christie Turlington, a super model, she was eating a cinn-a-bon I thought that was so funny for some reason.

One funny story though, one time I had a full flight of Japanese tourists and they were all flying to Jackson Hole and the interpreter asked me as we were descending into Jackson said, they would like to know where is the hole in Jackson....

Also Ben told me a funny story about someone who came into Target. Marie Osmond was paying for her items and her credit card didn't work, so she told the cashier to put this number in starting telling her a credit card number. The cashier told her she couldn't do that and she said, don't you know who I am, I am Marie Osmond.........um yes, but we still can't do that.....(it probably was Donny's card;)

Kess as the kids like to call him..

Here is a video of our little Kessler, getting so big and so cute.

We love him so much....

HOT!!!!

I sure do LOVE summer and I also love my part time job.

It has been so hot, I think I forget how hot July is....last night I went to Phoenix, Arizona and it was HOT!!! we got there at 11:00pm and it was still 102 degrees....(Jenny I don't know how you do it)

I never cooled down until I got in my car this morning and cranked on the a/c and had it blow on my face the whole way home.....

Also I thought I would post a little video of the kids, whenever you ask them if there is a problem they for some reason think it is hysterical.

Cooper will be so mad at me some day for this...

We have had a lot of fun in the sun this summer and some of you know I tan very easily and so does Cooper.

I was rubbing lotion on his back today and was amazed at his little tan line, so I thought this is blog worthy and told him we were going to take a picture of his back I did want him to think that taking "nakkee" pictures is okay.

I put the leaf on there an idea from my friend Stacy and as she would say "hubba, hubba"...

Update

So finally I am able to sit down and blog about this C-razy week.
I love my calling, it is a fun calling, but the week of an activity is really busy.
I feel I procrastinated a little more with this activity, we had a meeting with the activities commitee and the primary and all of the sudden it hit me, how much stuff still needed to be planned out.
I didn't sleep very well, Thursday night or Friday night for that matter. I even had a dream about the activity.
If you are wondering, what was the activity, it was a breakfast, bike parade (which I have not been to or participated in, in a LONG time!!!)
The kids decorated their bikes etc... and the Bishop led the parade, it was so fun.
A few people said you are so calm, how come you are so calm.....oh I wasn't calm inside. I always worry about the food and I secretly watch people walk by with there plates, I never look at their face, I just watch how many pieces of bacon they are taking, and I am FREAKING out. Thinking to myself, I didn't budget for them to take 2 pieces of bacon....ahh.... I mean who eats just one piece of bacon??? right, so I don't blame them.
But people are so nice and say that it was fun and that it was a good turn out, which to me is success....
I have not taken any pictures lately, I seemed to misplace my memory card. I did find it finally after the activity.....
Other than that we have been having a great summer, we have a big slide in the back yard that ends up in a pool and quite a few neighbor kids come over and it is a blast. We just need some shade to take a break from the heat.
Ben's latest project is a playhouse for the kids, I will take some pics and post them later, but it is really fun and turning out to be cute. I was REALLY skeptical at first, I will admit. But Alivia is in heaven she takes all of my stuff outside to clean her house, my broom and dust pan, some dish towels, she wanted to take some rugs and plants to put in there. She also made sure we put her picnic table on the deck Ben made for them, so she can go eat her food up there.
This summer has been one to remember, we have seen a few movies and gone swimming, gone on a trip, played in the backyard with lots of friends. We are trying to go to Lagoon before school starts, for Target Lagoon day.
Alivia is SO excited for school to start, we got her a new back pack and some new clothes for school, she can't wait....
This week should be a little less busy, but hopefully just as fun....
Cooper is doing really well, he doesn't like to play outside as much as Alivia does, Bauer however loves to be outside, he just can't always keep up with the big kids.
Kessler is doing really well, he is a big boy just under 16lbs, and is so happy. He giggles and loves to cuddle, he now will lay his head on your shoulder and just look around. He also loves to still be wrapped up in blankets, you can calm him down really quick if you have a blanket and a soother (pacifier for you American's).
I am so glad to be their Mom, I am so lucky and blessed, I am thankful everyday, for the joy they bring to my life!!!

Mercy

I was driving the other day stopped at a light waiting for it to turn green, and then a loud bang I looked up and a man was just hit on his motorcycle.
I can't even describe the feeling that I had. I jumped out of my car and ran over to him and knelt down by him, it was so chaotic and scary I had this OVERWHELMING sense of helplessness....as we were waiting for the ambulance to get there, I just kept telling him, he was doing fine and he would be okay. He was barely breathing and still face down on the hot pavement. As I knelt there looking at his helpless body I could smell that he maybe smoked cigarettes. I had a prayer in my heart, Heavenly Father no one is perfect, please help this man in his desperate time of need. I was on the verge of tears knowing that he is one of God's children and we are never perfect and hopefully the day, when we are in a desperate time of need, Heavenly Father will grant us the mercy that we will so desperately need.