Olivia cracks me up!

As I was reading other people's blogs Olivia came in. She said, "Mom, I need to tell you a question." I said "what?" She responded, "I need to take my glasses off (she is always looking for an excuse to not wear her glasses)" I again asked her why, and she came back with, "It is a really scary part of the movie and I need to cover my eyes. I can't cover them berry well with my glasses on." Who is going to argue with that?

ARKANSAS!!!!!

I think we should do a show on mythbusters to dispell the myth that Arkansas would be a bad place to live and visit. Whenever I told someone that we were going on our vacation to Arkansas or that my brother lives in Arkansas they would always say,"Why????" I will not speak for the rest of Arkansas (because I'm not a real fan of Little Rock or some of the other parts) but Northwest Arkansas is awesome. It is not full of hillbillies and backwoods crazy people. If we were ever to choose to move somewhere else it would be here. They have 4 seasons, with beautiful fall and springs, a short winter and a great summer. Everything is so pretty and has that southern charm. They even have great shops and restaurants.



Anyway, we decided to visit over the 4th of July. My brother Mark rented a cabin on the lake where their dock and property is, and we spent the week with them. They have 4 kids the same ages as ours and they adore each other. It is so much fun to be together. We left the cabin last Saturday night and came back to Fayetteville for a few days. We were supposed to leave Tuesday, but instead we let Eric go home by himself. We were able to change our tickets-- for free-- and we are staying until Monday. Here is a few pictures of our week at the lake. My next post will have better pictures from Heather's camera and more of our week after we got back from the lake.
Eric


Olivia for some reason can't pose for a picture without putting up a hand or a foot. It frustrates me every time I try to take her picture.

Carter wanted to move on to wakesurfing, since he had mastered wakeboarding with his daddy. Eric amazes me that he can get up wakeboarding and wakesurfing with one hand and hold a kid with the other hand. He is then stable enough to get them down on the board and fall gracefully enough to keep the kids happy. He even went on the rope swing with one hand and held Olivia in the other.
Eric and Olivia
Austin, Hayden, Braden and Jackson love extreme tubing. The rougher the better for everyone but Hayden. He gets in the boat when it gets too crazy.

The Perfect Lake Day!

June 27th was the first night we spent out at the lake this year. That is so sad. It is probably a record for the latest first lake day for us. Between the weather being really bad, Eric being crazy busy at work and scout camp, we didn't make it earlier. We went out on Friday night with the Guy Family, spent the night, and then hit the lake early. It was a gorgeous day!

Jackson
Hayden
I have never had a kid love water quite as much as Carter. Eric jumped out of the boat to wakeboard, and he chased after him. Eric held him as he got up and then let him stand on the board after he got up. My other kids did this with Eric when they were younger, too. It was always our idea before, and they weren't sure how much they liked wakeboarding with daddy. This time it was all Carter, and he loved it!
Hayden's tooth finally came out! No more Hillbilly.
Olivia and her buddy Madison

After wakeboarding we drove the boat to ArrowPoint for lunch. We had to cut the day much shorter than we would like to make it to the Shock game by 5.

Sunday wasn't nearly as good as our perfect day on the lake. Somehow Carter grabbed a huge handful of bread during the sacrament. He then proceeded to shove the whole thing in his mouth and then gag on it repeatedly as he tried to get it down. I had my hands ready for it to come back out. During Sunday School I was into the lesson and then realized someone's cell phone was ringing. Unfortunately it was mine! I forgot it was in my bag. It wasn't just a regular ring, either. It was an Alicia Key's song. I was so embarrassed. That has never happened to me before. I guess I'm just happy it was not during sacrament meeting.

We had the missionaries over for dinner and I spent the whole night packing and getting ready to leave for Arkansas. Having gone to Silverwood on Friday, then to the lake and then to the Shock game, I was not very prepared. I had so much to do that I didn't make it to bed until 1:30 am. We had to leave for the airport by 4:30, so I didn't sleep much.

We made it to the airport, and the kids were pretty good. Olivia carried her own backpack. As she was walking up the ramp to go through security she said, "Dad, my legs are so sick and tired!" Our first flight all I wanted to do was sleep. Carter didn't want to. The last 45 minutes he finally fell asleep. The second flight he was wide awake. It was a very small plane, and they asked 3 passengers to go to the back of the plane to balance out the weight. The man in front of Carter and me jetted away from us as quickly as possible. I told the lady next to me that she had her chance. She could get away from us. She told me there was no way she was going to the back of the plane. 20 minutes later when she was asleep, she probably changed her mind. Carter looked over, stuck out one finger, and poked her fat roll like she was the pilsbury dough boy. She was not happy! I was a little embarrassed, but I laughed inside. I had warned her.

A Lazy Day at Silverwood

We have season passes at a local amusement and waterpark called Silverwood. The kids love it. We have several friends and family with passes too, so we can always find someone to go with. This day Olivia got a little scared and wanted to sunbathe for a while. She was in the wave pool (with her life jacket on) and my nephew got scared. I was holding Carter, so I grabbed Mitchell with the other hand. Olivia couldn't get to me, because the waves were so strong. She started crying and the life guard jumped in after her. We had to talk to a supervisor. I felt really stupid. Later in the day she forgot the incident and all was good again. Carter loves the wave pool and the lazy river. He just sings "wee! wee! wee!" the whole time.
Hayden with his friend Tanner
Jackson with his friend Christopher