I love this picture of the kids playing doggies - so fun!

Life is crazy busy, that’s all I can think for a title and why I haven’t blogged in 2 weeks and the update that will be this blog post on this 20th day of September 2011.

Cali woke up with Spots 🙁

We have had sick girls. Life with sick kids is just harder and not nearly as fun or productive. Packer has been begging to go to Trafalga but I couldn’t take a visibly sick child, sorry buddy. We’ve stayed home from church, and I’ve spent lots of time cuddling babies instead of maintaining bathrooms and kitchen. So, Cali woke up a couple Saturdays ago with spots on her back and neck and a pink eye looking goop and a fever so I took her in and the diagnosis was: A Virus, Not chicken Pox and Not Pink Eye, though it looks like both and if she hadn’t been vaccinated Dr thought it looked like Measles. Give her Tylenol and wait it out. Rose has been grumpy off and on all month. She got her 6th tooth sometime recently and I put her to bed with a fever again tonight so we will see what tomorrow brings. Packer didn’t want to be left out of the sickness so he has been nursing his motorcycle burn that he got after a short ride around the block and Benji is also living up any scrape he can. Ben got his cholesterol down with the medication he has been on! yeah! and I am officially anemic says the Dr’s office this past week.

Erica and Lan and I - yes I am short!

Rose and Gentry - go cougars!

Ben, Than and Ryan

The Hancocks came! I have nothing to say about the game that they came for. I fell asleep during the 2nd half and never want to see how the score got to where it did. But we had fun hanging out on Friday and eating way to much pre-game Saturday. Glad 2 of my best friends married each other and Ben actually likes them so we can all hang out 🙂

I got my homework done - POSTER all about Benji!

Benji is STAR STUDENT this week so I have had a ton of “homework”: making a poster, writing a letter and prepping whatever he is supposed to bring for the day. He loves the attention so I guess it is all worth it. Today he brought home his first Chapter book from the library and was so excited to show us. He has also made a new friend at school and that is all he can talk about.

THE END (sorry for the abrupt ending but if I don’t post now I might never post 🙂 cause LIFE is CRAZY and BUSY)

Tay and Cali wrestling

Shannon has been staying at our house for the last week and a half, actually she stayed for the first day or two and then realized that all of the fun is down in Provo. But it has been fun to see her. We had a sewing day where we used our limited knowledge to fix a few items of clothing and she taught me how to make button holes with my sewing machine. This picture needed to be posted for our mothers sake. Shannon heads to Rexburg tomorrow.

shannon sewing, for real

Ryan and Tara moved all of their stuff down from their old place over the weekend. They somehow managed to fit it in our garage while they look for a place of their own. Now we might be officially at maximum capacity around here 🙂

packed garage!

Friday night was our annual Nettesheim Backyard Camp Out. It is a lot of fun. We ate dinner, let the kids run around while we visited and then put a movie on the outside of the house when it got dark. The cousins love this tradition and this year was super fun – (just forgot the camera). Then on Monday we had a Nettesheim Brunch for Labor Day over at Ben’s parents. We had tons of good food and enjoyed being with family. I got my camera out at the very end and got one picture of the Packer age cousins…

micah, packer, sam, luca

Remember how Rose was getting teeth last week, well she also ended up having a double ear infection so she was a beast all week and weekend and is finally back to her happy self. I love her happy self.

my happy girl

in love with this wink

Kylee and Cali wrestling

another year, another derby, … did you know that Ben and I have gone to a demolition derby every summer since 2003!! we are true fans of smashing cars … and I finally brought home the trophy for the first time!

we won! i think Ben was excited to bring the trophy home.

Two years ago we brought all 3 of our kids and they were not good and the derby went until after 11pm and… so last year we didn’t bring any of our kids and it was a wonderful date night with friends but Benji reminded us constantly how sad he was that he didn’t get to go. SO, this year we just brought the boys. Cali screamed as she realized that the brothers were going without her BUT I never regretted leaving her behind. Packer only lasted for the first 15 minutes then he wanted to be on my lap so now I am making a 6 year old and up rule for all future demolition derby’s 🙂

Benji chilled by Dad and faithfully made his pics

Packer was almost to grumpy stage so Ben busted out the Kettle Corn and that kept him occupied for most of the night.

This year's group: Erika Thal (Sean is behind the camera), Kenzie and Carter Thal, Larry Darbous (his wife and son are somewhere near by, and US.

The official passing of the trophy from last year's winner 🙂

I thought I was going to have a BORING week here at the house while Ben was at Scout Camp. I tried to make plans to go to California or St. George or wherever… if Ben is gone then I should be gone too, right? Anyway, none of those plans seemed to be working out so Ben left on Monday morning and the kids I had a busy 4th of July. We had some errands in the morning and then we played with cousins and stayed up late watching the city fireworks.

my patriotic Cali

the kids getting ready for fireworks

All of us, Rose stayed home asleep with Grandma and Grandpa

One more of Cali cause she's smiling and her hair is almost still combed.

Monday night my brother Ryan and his 4 kids showed up for some fun. The kids woke up Tuesday morning to their cousins here and started playing and they haven’t stopped 🙂

Brinlee playing cars in the water, all of the kids have enjoyed this.

swimming at 10am Thursday

On Tuesday Night my friends from Oroville came to visit! Brittney, Jason and their 5 kids crashed at our place on Tuesday night and Wednesday night so we had 13 little ones running around having fun and staying up way too late.

Pancake Dinner

more pancake dinner, I need the pics from Brittney's camera cause this is all I took.

So Friday is here. Ben comes home tomorrow from Camp Newfork in WY. Ryan is about to make us a real breakfast. The week has definitely been BUSY. I’m glad I stayed home.

My mom wants a blog update. She’s wondering if no posts this week meant BUSY or BORING… I’m leaning towards busy but I’ll let her decide. Here’s the update:

We started the week off right by letting the boys sleep downstairs.

Monday we had the Falabella cousins over after lunch and played and swam in the hot tub all afternoon. We had a simple Family Home Evening and called it a night.

Rose has been grumpy this week. She is constantly moving her tongue over her 2 new teeth and she's started moving around on the floor a lot.

Tuesday we had a chill morning and then we went to the “Beach”. It is a small pond, 5 minutes from our house with a little beach area. We invited Lucie to come so she met us there. We dug in the sand, put our toes in the water, learned the joy of burying our feet, and concluded the fun with a walk around the pond. That night was Scouts for Ben (and Benji) and Pack Meeting for the kids and I (because I am the new Wolf Den Leader!!) I had a 10pm soccer game in which I really agitated the 3 new blisters on my feet – we tied 4-4 after being ahead 4-1 at half 🙁

Wednesday we went to play group in the morning and then I went to a late lunch with Amelia. We downed some Costa Vida at 3pm so I called that dinner and warned Ben that there would be nothing on the table when he got home. We took it easy the rest of the afternoon. We played video games and read books and just chilled as a family until my soccer game at 8:30. The kids all came to watch, but we still lost our first tournament game 🙁 We needed LaNell but she’s off in Kansas doing who knows what! My heals are covered in blisters at this point and it hurts to walk but my leg injury seems to be a lot better. Ben and I finally watched True Grit that night.

Rose and Benji chillin on the couch.

Thursday we chilled all morning and then went to Trafalga in Lehi with Jamie and kids. We rode the airplanes and the carousel. We did a round of outside bake in the sun miniature golf. We played at the playground then the big kids did a round of Laser Tag, Packer did “Glow Up” Golf and Cali and Anna, Moms and Babies watched him. We had to stop at Maceys on the way home for some dinner ingredients and this mom finally did the shop with ice cream cones in hand. I always thought that was a little crazy and it was BUT it tasted yummy and we got our groceries and everyone survived. Dinner was yummy. We watched to see where Jimmer would get drafted and Ben was on the phone all night trying to figure out what to do about Scout Camp cancelling their week.

Friday, Today we got up and loaded the van for 7 Peaks! We got there and settled and in the water at 11am and it was PACKED. My kids always want the Lazy River first so we did that and Michelle and her kids were with us. We tried the slides kid area but Cali doesn’t do well in that one so we spent most of the day in the other kid area and in the lazy river. Benji was excited to be able to go with the bigger cousins on a few slides and by themselves in the lazy river. We lasted until about 2:30 and the little ones were exhausted. We love having a PASS this year but so does the rest of Utah. You can expect a crowd. I’m sure it being Friday and 95 degrees added to that but I did run into all of my Robertson Cousins! Ian, Scott, Danny, their wives and kids, that was fun. Now it is nap time. We have a ward party at 6:00 and then we’ll call it a night.

Benj and Lalo floating the River, Carter is in front

Diego and Cody

Packer and Luca

Mia and Cali

grumpy baby Rose

We were invited to Brinlee’s 3rd birthday party at the Clearfield Aquatics Center so we gathered all of our pool stuff and drove up there. We met up with Ryan and the girls and swam all afternoon. Tara brought cupcakes and snacks at just the right time and some of her family showed up and we ended up staying and playing until 5:30. They had a really fun slide, I took all of my kids once but the line was too long to do it a lot. And the little lazy river was a hit for us.

It's hard to take pictures at the pool - Benji is up by the slide, Packer was taking a break with me and Rose. Ryan and Brinlee were on the slide, Marlee was playing with her Grandpa and Cali...

Cali was having a blast playing in the water and then coming and telling me to watch her tricks.

Rose was worn out after 2 hours in the pool in her Whale Floatie but she still hung in there - She is the best.

We got home right in time for me to change some diapers and get changed and head to my 7:45 soccer game. It was our last 3v3 regular season game. We won 5 and lost 1 – not bad for a bunch of “old” ladies. I have LOVED playing with my sister in laws and we adopted LaNell into the sisterhood so that we could win 🙂 We play a tournament next week and then we are done. I don’t want it to end!

After the game I went down town to meet up with Ben and the kids at the Strawberry Days Carnival. He had all 4 of them and they were loving it. They rode 3 or 4 rides and then we got some strawberries and cream and came home around 9:30. I was exhausted. It was a full/fun day.

Benji on the motor bike! He still enjoys the kid rides but is starting to be interested in the BIG ones!

These 2 are the perfect age for this. Cali waved at everyone as they "drove" by.

Last Saturday I cleaned out the hot tub and added fresh FREEZING COLD WATER. We were all out back so I put the challenge out there – “Whoever gets in the water all the way gets 3 ice cream sandwiches”. To my surprise both Benji and Packer ran in and got their swim suits on and jumped in to earn their ice creams! It was fun to see them be brave for once. And I had to do it – I couldn’t let my little guys be braver than me already 🙂 I was going to put the video on but that just hasn’t happened all week so a picture will do.

the freezing cold challenge!

Where did this week go anyway?? It’s already the weekend! One week of summer gone just like that. We had Dentist appointments, I called around on Sump Pump options, We spent Wednesday at Amanda’s house having a backyard water party. I got to meet my new niece Ellie, hair cuts for the boys, a Wednesday Night soccer game, a night at the temple, a little babysitting, watching the NBA Finals and Zombie’s in our down time. Saturday was PJ’s baptism so we spent the day with family and ended with a campfire. Before that we got to have Ryan’s kids spend the night on Thursday and Friday! Today Benji went to Laser tag with all of the cousins for PJ’s birthday. Tomorrow we are going to brave 7 peaks! I LOVE SUMMER.

Who actually buys ice cream from the ice cream truck? No one, right? I mean you could buy each kid their own carton for that price… well Erica does, and she did when we were with her last week and you might be surprised just how happy and fun the ice cream truck can be 🙂 Here’s the enjoyment, oldest to youngest…

Pacen with the snow cone!

Benji also chose the snow cone!

Camry, what is that one?

Packer with the Spiderman!

Claira stole Erica's creamy something!

Cali woke up right in time to steal my fudgesicle!

Gentry stole the snow cone!

Rose got to try the snow cone too!

Oops, Rose is older than Gentry – (1 day) – too lazy to change the order…

Erica was conned into trading with Claira!

Jana didn't want to be the only one without an ice cream picture!

Erica's cute girls giving taste for taste.

We had fun at the park!