Secret Service Agents

I was visiting with one of my sisters-in-laws when she told me of something her husband was doing with their kids. He had issued them spy cards and they were working as a team to solve puzzles and doing service acts.  I decided to take his idea and change it a little to better fit my abilities and my kids! I loved the idea of having my kids work as a team to accomplish something and that they would accomplish that by serving others. 

So I came up with the theme of Secret Service Agents. I made a list of 11 "missions" or service activities ..one per week during the summer break.  I tried to keep them pretty simple since my kids are small.   I thought it would be cool if the mission would be have to decoded someway but I couldn't get the invisible ink to work right...they were excited anyways!  I tried to keep it as secret as possible and not have them know that I was the Special Agent in Charge.  

Our first mission was to pick up trash around the neighborhood...It made a really good FHE activity! 

After completing the mission, they each drew a picture of them completing the mission, placed it in our spy box ( a plastic pencil box that I wrote Spy Box on...nothing fancy here..) and then place it in the mailbox with the flag up so the Special Agent would come and get the box and deliver our next mission.

This was the flag that I used to alert the kids that they had a new mission. I hid the spy box and then left a 3 clues that lead them on a treasure hunt to find it. They loved that part! 

I then had them decipher the message... a simple letter for letter decipher... A=Z...B=Y...that kind of thing! It was a great incentive to have them get their chores down so they could figure out the missions. 

With each completed missions, they got a puzzle piece to some great reward...a night at the local swim park! 

They loved this activity and it was excellent for teaching the value of service and pushed us out of comfort zones! 

Bill Cosby!!

When Anthony and I heard that Bill Cosby was coming to town, we immediately set out to get tickets! We love watching the Cosby shows and youtube videos of his acts! The show didn't disappoint! We were laughing so hard at one point that we had tears! It was fun night and one that I am glad that we got to experience! 

We didn't even mind that we had to park almost three blocks away just to be able to get into the Hart Building! 

Cress Creek

With 8:30 church we find ourselves often looking for things for our family to do after church that are still Sabbath Day worthy. This summer day we decided to go for a "hike" at Cress Creek. It was perfect! Paved all the way and just long enough for my kids to get a test of hiking! They loved playing in the water on top and even got a shoe full of mud once! 

Anthony taught everyone how to whistle with this strange weed! They were thrilled! Me...not so much...but was thankful when we got back to the car and the whistles had to stay where they found!

Matthew being silly and helping himself chew...I had to add just for the fun of it! This kid is always looking for a laugh! 

Matthew's 3rd Birthday

My baby boy turned 3!! 

I made the "mistake" of promising my kids homemade baked doughnuts on their birthdays in an effect to make their day special. This has turned out to be more work then I thought and have since convinced my children that chocolate chip pancakes would be just as cool!

Present time! Good thing that he has so many older brothers that are willingly to help him!

Not quite sure if he liked this or not! It was a need at our house because they were always fighting over shovels and buckets! He liked it a lot more later! 

By far the best present...even though the tent poles got bent within 24 hours...sigh..oh well!

Anthony even had to get in on the action! 

It was a little harder then he thought to crawl out of the tunnel!

Happy Birthday, Matthew! I love you so much and am so thankful for your easy going nature that has made it possible for this mommy to survive! You have a easy laugh and always know when I need a hug and a I love you! 

Father's Day

Anthony is sometimes hard to buy for! All the things that he would like to have are kind of out of my price range. So he asked for cash this year so that he could save up for something big! I tried to at least make it look attractive! 

Showing the boys how a level works! Anthony is starting to get more handy around the house so I thought I would help encourage that! 

His favorite trail mix!

And a binder full of questionnaires answering questions about Anthony! It turned out so fun and I plan on doing it every year and filling the binder so that we can see how the answers improve. 

And finally ending with a hug! 

The day wouldn't be complete with making silly faces! 

Julia thought he needed a little extra help!

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is often celebrated the same way at our house. Two of my brothers birthdays fall on Memorial Day we usually celebrate by having cake and ice cream! This year was no exception!

Here's Shaun blowing out his candles! 

And Glen his! He is always the most dramatic of them all! 

On the actual Memorial Day we decided it would be good to go to a cemetery and talk to our kids about what the holiday was about. Since we weren't sure where any of our Rexburg relatives were buried we went to Goshen to were the Monson ones were.  This is my Grandpa's grave. He served in the Navy for many years! 

The famous glowing Monson headstone! There something like limestone in the stone that makes it glow at night! 

I am so thankful for all those that have died for our country and helped to make it as great and wonderful as it is! 

The rest of May!

The rest of month was filled with end of the school year activities and of course graduations! 

My wonderful niece Shila graduated from Seminary and High School at the end of May. We weren't able to make it the high school graduation but were there for the Seminary one. I was so moved by the strength of the youth as they bore their testimonies. 

Jillysa..one of other nieces. 

James...the baby of the family

Had to include some of the outtakes! 

Finally a perfect shot...kind of!

These are all the youth that were in the same ward as Shila! 

Peter and Andrew set up a sitting arrangement on the couch downstairs. 

Peter got to sit on the highest portion, followed by Andrew, and then Matthew was on the bottom. We found him sleeping like this one afternoon! That kid can sleep in any position! 

Julia was caught not sleeping but playing Mommy! She likes to watch me put on my makeup and mistook my lotion for foundation.  Not sure if she was upset because she made a mess or because she got caught!