EvEnT 2012 Dinger Style

Mutual was quite the Event tonight!  Sister Dinger and Sister Olesen (Sister Dinger's Sister....have I lost ya yet???) put together an amazing activity for the girls!  

It was about challenges they face!  Each game was associated with a scripture!  The girls had lot's of fun playing!  

You ladies are wonderful!  

Swimming & Sparkles

Candace and the kids are in town for 2 weeks!  Yeah!  Insert happy heart here!  

{ <3 }

We have hung out, had lunch, caught up, eaten sweets, and enjoyed the "normalcy" of being together again!  

Tonight before mutual the kids went swimming in her in-laws pool!  It's so amazing!  I love their pool!  

And hot shot A and hot shot B can jump off the diving board now.  HOLY CRAPPERS!  They are growing too fast!  

Taylor was Burke's tug boat!  

Candace's SIL Lauren comes up from Utah and does "glitter toes" for all the swimming lesson mom's!  She did mine to!  I picked the pink I loved the best and guess what it was called?????

Tourmaline!  Haha!  That's the street we live on!  

Thank You Julius :)

Once upon a time they started construction on a park across the street from Walmart.  I know that cause I go there several times a week!  We talked about it, but thought it would never come!  

But alas, IT DID!  

It's simply amazing!  Boise/Meridian has the best parks in the world!

  {mind you I am not exactly "world traveled".....}

There is play equipment, hills, ponds, statues, amphitheaters, sand volleyball, bocce ball, benches, swings, and a splash pad.  {and much more too}  WE cannot wait to show Grammy and G'ma and G'pa Blue!!

WE finally made it to this oasis!  

{we tried Saturday, but due to poor behavior, we circled back home}

It was SUPER windy when we went, but it was still so much fun! I think you'll be able to tell by these pictures!   

 {spinning and whirling}

 {resting, and flipping}

 {getting whipped with my hair}

 {hanging with Julius}

{making out with Julius.....uh.......}

And the nice lady walking that snapped a picture for us!  

It was a great FHE.  Natalie read a lesson from the Friend Magazine about Heber J. Grant and his coat. It was rather cute! 

Dairy Days 2012

Summer has officially begun!  We as in the Dinger's, Shepherd's, Lord's, Orton's, and Bailey of course!  First we had a good old hot dog pot luck at the Dinger's to start the night off!  We usually get our spots pretty early, so Julie, Bailey and I headed over to lay some blankets down!  But with feeding as many as we did, we were late!  WE MISSED THE MILK!!!!  Whhhhaaaaaa!!  And we had to walk forever cause we missed the barricade by minutes!  It was still super fun though!  The kids all lined up on the sidewalk and scored on the candy!  All my kids got shirts too!  They are cute this year!   

Are you curious to why I have been blogging up a storm as of late?  

Well when I got my new camera and the software that came with it, it took off my iPhone software.  So I could not upload pictures from my phone!  So Jason fixed it for me!  And voila!  PICTURES GALORE!!!!!

Cousin Day @ Eagle Island!

Sam and Dallas had a birthday combo party at Eagle Island!

We had a great time!  The weather was lovely, not too hot, slight breeze!  The water was shallow all the way to the yellow guard tube! Even Graden made it out there!  We had pizza and donuts!  It was a grand ol' time! 

My kids love nothing more than spending time with their cousins!  

The only bummer of the day were the goat heads.  They were SO terrible!!!  

Value Color Run 4 Mutual

Words.  Cannot.  Describe.........

For mutual we did a Value Color Run.  Color runs are very popular right now, and we decided to try one!  Or fearless 1st Counselor Stacy Minor planned out the event.  We met at the Stake Center and told the girls to wear a white shirt, pants that could be ruined, and same with shoes!  The purpose to start in the white was to signify FAITH.  And as they were to run/jog/walk/crawl each lap they were to think about that value.  As leaders we split up and went with them on the laps.  We were to compliment them on their VALUES.  All too often we compliment them on their hair, or shirt, or dress.  But not on who THEY are as an individual.  As they circled the "color station" we spritzed them with water to prepare the shirts for the color.  (We used powdered paint from Hobby Lobby and it works better when some what wet).  For the grand finale of VIRTUE we sprinkled attacked them with GOLD glitter!  

I will say that even though they ran/jogged/walked/crawled an average of 2 miles they were all cheerful and happy to get colored!  

Graden Graduates!

He is my heart and soul.

Ears are for Piercing

When I knew I was having girls I thought.......

"They will be darling babies with cute pierced ears!!!"

{Note to my single YW......that's a discussion you may want to have with Mr. Wonderful prior to having a baby girl....He may have other plans.  He may have a theory that they need to 1.  Be old enough to ask.  2.  Be old enough to take care of them themselves..... you catch my drift.  Hence the theories of MY Mr. Wonderful}

So I carefully pick my battles, and that one was not worth it.  I patiently waited EIGHT years.  After their birthday I started planting seeds about getting them done.  

HOOK....

LINE.....

SINKER!!!!!!!

We went to Claire's on Eagle Rd and had it done.  They did an amazing job.  And I will forgive who ever posted on FB that I should just have it done at Walmart.  I do have some standards people!  ;)

Natalie and I sat earlier in the day and watched YouTube videos of little girls getting it done.  

{Note to self.....may not have been a great idea in hind sight}

Taylor had gotten herself completely worked up over the whole thing.  She was crying before we got there.  

So as you can guess when the gal asked who was going first Taylor instinctively threw Natalie under the ear piercing bus.  

The pictures will tell the following events!  

They have been awesome about cleaning them everyday.  This was how they chose to spend their $20 in birthday money.  Daddy and I treated them to several pairs of earrings (Thank you 10 for $10 sale...), and an OWL earring holder.  In honor of their Mum. 

That is all she wrote......

Memorial Weekend 2012

Camping 101 with the Blues:

1.  Borrow everything from ward members :)

We need to start collecting camping gear now that we can all go more.  

2.  Pack more crap than you'll ever need!  

You never know when you are going to need an "extra" watermelon and such and so on.

3.  Bring a space heater to potentially burn your "Occupy Boise" tent down.

Now, this did not actually happen.  Thankfully.  It was a HUGE lifesaver as Burke and Taylor couldn't figure out how to sleep IN their sleeping bags! 

4.  Go with friends that have a trailer.

They will hopefully take pity on your trembling, frozen 2 year old and let him come in and watch a movie.  

5.  Head into town.

Here you will amuse the locals by dawning antique Nellie Olson hats in musty shops.  

6.  Pepsi.

Bring enough to have one at all times.  You'll need a stiff drink as the neighbor children make BON FIRES.  

7.  Bring clippers.

You know.  So when your baby gets too close to the fire and scorches his hair you can rid the smell from your tent.  Trust me....it stinks.  

8.  Have your twins dress the same. (If you have them...)

This makes for fun camp games as the other campers try to figure out who is who.

9.  Head count.

Don't forget that you came up with X amount of children.  At one point I forgot we even brought Graden.  

AND....

10.  Have enough fun that you'll want to go next year.

But not enough that you do it too soon.