We spent some time decorating the guns with stickers and markers and then we commenced spy training in which they went through a serious of training exercises to make them spy worthy.

1. Code Breaking: I gave them three different codes to break...Morse code was a little difficult for 6-7 year olds so we helped them out a little.
2. Memory training: I brought out several spy objects on a tray for them to look at for a few minutes and then they had to list them from memory.
3. Pass the Dynamite: I made a fake dynamite with a timer. We set the timer and whoever had it when the "bomb exploded" was out. This was a fun one and they kids took it pretty seriously.
4. Target practice: The kids got marshmallows and tried to shoot the "bad guys" aka balloons with their shooters.
5. Laser-beam Avoidance: We set up a laser course and the kids went through while trying to avoid touching the laser beams.
6. Bomb Squad: We placed a bunch of grenade balloons and the kids got ten seconds to pop as many as they could.

Then we ended with a bomb cake!! All in all, the kids had fun. We were really excited that our friends Katie, Zach, and Hazel from Provo came too! Thanks Katie for all your help getting ready for the party!

  Gone are the days when I can choose my kids costumes. This year I wanted all of us to be mummies...my kids had other ideas. Eliza wanted to be a nice witch and Caleb wanted to be a leprechaun. Poor Oliver got stuck with a chicken....which, by the way, was so adorable except for the fact that he was mistaken for a girl a few times.

Jason didn't have a school break this summer so the only way we were going to see family this year in Utah and Montana was for me to drive down by myself with the kids. I researched online for a couple of weeks and gathered all the best tips and tricks to keep kids happy on the road. Well, thirty dollars worth of candy and prizes and 15 hours later....we made it in one piece with everyone still happy (well, Oliver started going down hill the last half hour). The best tip of all was leaving at 4AM when the kids were still sleeping. We had lots of fun, got way too hot, spent lots of time with family and friends, and realized after the fact that we hardly took any pictures. Even Jason was able to fly in for a few days.

You may think from looking at the pictures that the weather was warm and the water decent....but no. It was barely 70 degrees and the water was so cold I wouldn't even put my feet in it. Our kids however, had other opinions.

I do whatever it takes to get this little boy distracted enough to let me cut his hair. I was even okay with him dragging his sucker through the cut hair on the table....that is, until he decided to share his sucker with me. Let's just say that more than one of us was sticky by the end.