SILVERWOOD

Last Saturday, the 18th, my Dad's work had an employee appreciation day at Silverwood Theme Park near Rathdrum, ID. They opened up the park 2hrs. early for the employees and their families to get a head start on all the rides. Andersen, Travis, Dad, John and Ben went early to ride all the big coasters and they looked like they had a pretty good time.

Here are Dad and Ben on Panic Plunge. Apparently you can really loose your stomach on this one.

This is a video of Ben, Andersen, and John on Panic Plunge. I love that John is kicking his feet, do you think they might be a little anxious?



This is one of the wooden coaster rides called Tremors.






You can get a really good view of the park in the background of this one.






This is just a video I found online of the Tremors ride so you can see what it is like.


Mom, Joann, and I didn't get there until later with all the boys. But they were still able to hop right on some kids rides. I'm not quite sure if Mason enjoyed this ride, but he didn't cry or try to jump out, but he wasn't laughing either.


Campbell enjoyed himself, though.





Here he is on the mini train roller coaster ride. Look at that smile!






Porter thought he was pretty cool being able to ride with out an adult.






This is Campbell, John, Mom, Dad, Ben, Porter, and Jordan having a good time in the Garfield's Summer Camp area.





Here's Campbell on a helicopter ride.











Porter was really getting some air. Nice flying Porter!







Andersen, John, and Ben decided to take Porter and Campbell on Thunder Canyon. This is them getting soaked when they hit one of the rapids. Campbell got the worst of it.


This is all their wet backsides. How refreshing!







Don't worry, I did get to go on one ride, the Antique car ride. There were only 20 people ahead of us in line when we got there, but it ended up taking us 45min to get in a car! Was it worth it?


Sure.








My favorite part of the day, Lunchtime! Longhorn Barbecue catered the lunch and it is the best BBQ you'll ever have (though, I've never lived in the south, not yet)
After lunch we decided it was time to try out the water park called Boulder Beach.









The place was HUGE! This is Campbell and we are standing about in the middle of the park. You can see how far it goes on behind him and the rest of the park is behind me. Unfortunately it got a little cloudy and we got wimpy.



Here is ONE of the kids' areas. Quite the fortress!





This is part of the lazy river where you can float right up to a bar and order your self a drink, or a smoothie. Now that's convenience.





After Boulder Beach we tried to get on the train and as you know from my earlier post this is the point where we lose Mason for a while. But this is a picture of Joann and I and ALL the boys by the train engine.

Well, I guess Porter is not in the picture, but he's not lost, just going to the bathroom.

Overall it was a really fun day and we even managed to tire out the boys so that's always a plus. Thank you Kaiser (my Dad's work) for a free day of fun!

The Worst Feeling Ever

This past week has been packed full of all kinds of adventures so I haven't been able to keep up on posting so I think I'll start with last Friday. It had to have been one of my top 10 worst days and it all started with Porter being sick (throwing up) nearly all week so I was stranded at home and accomplishing nothing. But that morning the boys woke up early because of the garbage truck and the first thing I hear from Porter (he beat Campbell who then said "what's for breakfast?") is "Mason took off his poopy diaper." I trek up the stairs, with Campbell whining for breakfast behind me, to find that it's not just poop everywhere in Mason's crib, but throw up too. He must have thrown up sometime in the early morning because it was starting to crust. So, trying to control my gagging reflexes I strip down Mason because there is crusted puke around his collar and race him downstairs to the bathtub and ask Porter to make sure he stays in the tub. I finally manage to pick off all the huge chunks of regurgitated taco salad (dinner from the night before) from off the bedding and his clothes and start heading downstairs to the washer when I slip and fall the rest of the way down the stairs entangling myself in the pukey-poopy bedding and knocking the wind out of myself. I still have some nice bruises. Thoroughly disgusted and out of breath I gather everything back up and carefully, but urgently, tread down the basement stairs to put everything in the washer because Mason is screaming and trying to get out of the bathtub while Porter is pushing him back in and Campbell is sitting on the toilet yelling for me to wipe him. After wiping Campbell I wrestle Mason back into the water and scrub him from head to toe. Mason hated every second of it, screaming all the way. Of course there were no towels in the bathroom so as I leave to find one, Mason screams louder and slips while trying to get out of the bathtub. I finally get him out and am carrying him out to the living room when Campbell slaps me with a piece of toast wanting me to butter it.

Soon after all that I get a phone call from the lab with results from my blood test a few weeks ago. Nothing is wrong just that my blood came back as O+, but my records show my blood as being O- (which it is), that's what it has been my last three pregnancies. Anyway I had to go back in and have MORE blood drawn so that they can confirm what my blood type is. Idiots.

The next day we went to Silverwood (the largest amusement park in the Pacific Northwest, quite the accomplishment) with my family and LOST Mason. Yes, my adorable 1 1/2 year old. I've lost boys before, mostly Campbell in grocery stores, but I've always noticed right away that one has wandered off. Not this time. There was a good 10 or 15 min (I'd like to think it was only 10) that neither Andersen or I realized he was even gone.

We were trying to meet up with my sister and her boys and my brother to go on this train ride so I was on the cell phone trying to figure out where they were. We were in this massive line being herded onto the train when my sister confessed they weren't even in line. Still sorting things out on the phone we finally found a vacant seat. Since she hadn't gotten in the line there was no way of making it on the train so her and my brother just took pictures of us from outside the train. Not even they realized that Mason was missing from the pictures. As the train was finally ready to leave the train station I realize that Mason is not sitting in either of the benches we have occupied. I shoot up asking Andersen, "where's Mason?" As I start pacing the train car the people in front of us say that no kids passed by in the front or the back. It suddenly hits me that Mason never even made it on the train! Now we have the conductor helping in the search and Andersen is running here and there trying to find where the information station is in the park to see if someone found him and took him there. The whole while I'm stranded on the train because Porter, Campbell, and my nephew Jimmy are still sitting there and my sister and brother have walked off by this time. Trying to suppress all the horrible scenarios that are flooding my mind, I rack my brain to try to remember the last time I saw him. It didn't help that that day happened to be a record breaking day in the park with 10,400+ people in attendance. As Andersen runs past the train I yell to him that the last place I remember seeing him was where we had ditched the stroller to get on the train. Nope, not there. My stomach at this point was about to jump up my throat as I envision some stranger walking right out of the park with Mason. I have no idea at this point even where to begin to look for Mason. How far can a 1year old get in 10min? As I look at the hoards of people walking by on either side of the train I just about loose it when Andersen suddenly appears back on the train with Mason in his arms.

Everyone nearby congratulates us on finding him, the train starts up, and I quickly sit down so that no one will see me tearing up. I don't think I've ever seen Andersen holding him so thightly. Where was he? Inside the train depot. Andersen spotted him just as a security guard was bringing him out to take him to the information building. I can still feel my stomach turn just thinking about it. Our number one question, "how could we not even realize he was gone for a whole 10min!" All I know is that we must have a whole hoard of angels looking out for our boys. So even though I may have some rough days like Friday, I would NEVER want to loose any of my boys. I love them too much. I cannot imagine our family without a single one of them.

Nerd Test

This was on a friend's blog and I had to see. Apparently half of me is nerd. Just so long as you all still love me...

I've Been Tagged

So here are the goods...

4 places I've worked:
1. Geppeddo's kiosk in the mall
2. Other Mothers used baby clothing store

3. Bakery worker at Albertsons
4. BYU Career Center-Helped set up interviews and manage the online recruiting system.

4 movies I can watch any time:
1. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

2. The Greatest Game Ever Played

3. Pride & Prejudice (the A&E version)

4. Sabrina


4 places I have lived
1. Spokane, WA

2. Rexburg, ID

3. Provo, UT

4. Surprise, AZ

4 TV shows I love:

1. Lost

http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index

2. Everybody Loves Raymond

http://www.everybodylovesray.com/

3. So You Think You Can Dance?

http://www.fox.com/dance/

4. This Old House (or pretty much anything on the DIY Network)

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tv

http://www.diynetwork.com/

4 foods I love:

1. Pizza

2. Red Robin Burgers

3. Kung Pao Chicken

4. Sunday Pot Roast

4 websites I visit daily:

1. Blogger

2. http://www.google.com/

3. Gmail

4. http://www.comcast.net/home.html

4 favorite restaurants:

1. Thrifty Scottsman-Spokane Valley, WA

2. Cafe Rio-Provo, UT (but there is an EXACT knock-off in Coeur d'Alene, ID called Cafe Chulo)

3. Streets of New York-Surprise, AZ

4. Milk Bottle Cafe-Spokane, WA

4 places I'd rather be:

1. At the Temple (it has been so long since we've been able to go)

2. Anywhere with a beach and some sun

3. In an air conditioned house

4. Camping

4 of my favorite things to do:

1. Playing games

2. Volleyball

3. Being crafty

4. Reading a good book

4 things I want at this moment:

1. Personal Chef

2. Shoulder massage

3. Not to be pregnant anymore

4. Porter to stop puking

4 people to tag:

1. Joann

2. Angela

3. Kelli

4. LoriAnn

Blanket Fun

Last Sunday we were over at my parents' house for dinner. But what happens when 4 grown men have nothing else to do? Why not grab a big blanket and throw the kids around? Well, here are some pictures of them doing just that. This is my Dad, my brother Ben, Andersen, and my brother John.

It started out a little primitive. Here they are trying to toss Porter up, but my nephew Jimmy decided to hitch a ride on the side of the blanket. Luckily he didn't get hurt, but he did catch some air.

Here is Campbell, although he didn't get too high because he wouldn't let go of the blanket.
Porter on his way up.
Now that's some air!
Nothing like a little terror on a kid's face to make you giggle.

And of course they had to let Mason have a turn, but they went easy on him.
I wanted to take a picture of Andersen and I for our anniversary last week, but Andersen couldn't resist holding the pitch fork and standing in front of the corn.
This is a picture that Andersen took. I was relaxing in Andersen's new leather chair and Mason just had to wiggle his way in beside me.
This picture of Porter I took when I found him sacked out in Mason's crib. I thought he was upstairs playing, but apparently all his friends tired him out. It took me a while to find him 1) because I wasn't looking for him in Mason's crib, and 2) he was pretty well camouflaged by all the stuffed animals. :0)