Dads day off....

Buddy and I played hookey from church today so the boys could spend their last day off of school/work together before we head off to Utah.....

 I think it was time well spent......

At least from the way I look at things! So all in all a super fantastic, dads rule, day!

Big girl panties....

I picked up a shift at work for today, which unfortunately coincided with Buddy's Ho'lolaulea program.  After tears were shed, I put on my big girl panties and sent out a plea for someone to please take a picture of my boy for me. I am overwhelmed by the response from many mommas! These are just a few of my favorite pictures!!!

Heck, one mom even threw in this one from the class Christmas tree that I hadn't seen.... 

Yep, the kid with the goofy face is Buddy (as if you had to ask). Anyway, it was AWESOME!!!! I am so blessed to have so many fantastic friends to fill in the gap....and blessed to have such a photogenic kid (refer to above picture). So all in all a super fantastic, Okay Utah you better get ready for us because we're heading your way in less than a week, day!!!

All grown up....

The boys left this morning to go shooting....Buddy put on his big boy pants and grew a beard (apparently) for the adventure....

I got to stay at home and study for my ACLS recertification tomorrow. Lucky me!!!!! Thanks to my IBS and my intense fear of ACLS I end up losing weight every two years in the process of studying and then testing for it!!! I'm wondering if my place of employment would be down with me renewing every three months as part of a special weight loss regime? In other news, a friend of ours was in town and we shamelessly used him for his resort pool privileges...

Apparently, part of those privileges included free use of floating bean bag chairs...which were AWESOME!!!!! In other, other, other news, 

I think Buddy may need to start sleeping with his ears taped up at night in order to avoid relentless teasing over those huge Yoda ears he's growing these days!!!!! So all in all a super fantastic, growing up, day!

Takers...

Lately I've been sending my Webelos out to job sites to learn someone's trade....

This way, someone else gets to teach, the boys get to go on a field trip and see something cool and I get to be super lazy.....It's a total win-win scenario.....

Errrr, well, at least for me! So all in all a super fantastic, just kidding, that tire was already flat, at least that's what I'm telling myself, day!

Director's cut...

The boys living in my house are making a movie.....

According to them it's an epic adventure film....according to me it's full of guns, guns, more guns, ridiculously loud sound effects and a few ninjas....so yeah, I'd call that pretty epic and adventuresome! Scene one was completed today....it only took 4 hours. Not sure how many scenes these boys are planning, but if they keep this pace up the movie will be completed in about 20 years....so that ought to be fun! So all in all a super fantastic, making the director's cut, day!

Jaws of Life...

Thank goodness we have some friends staying with us so Buddy can attempt to try out EVERY SINGLE TOY that they own....

FYI-he totally got stuck in this one and I had to use the jaws of life on him!!!! What a goober! So all in all a super fantastic, I think we had another growth spurt, day!

Closed in....

I've been a little slacker on the blogging lately. I started working as a school nurse during the week...while keeping my regular job at the hospital (well, if we want to call working when and if I want to at the local hospital a regular job, which I totally do...it makes me sound really busy). Buddy is also receiving his Arrow of Light at the end of the month so I've been coordinating a  celebration to top all celebrations with that (trust me, there is a beehive hairdo and stomp rockets involved...it's going to be good)! Also, our old neighbors sold their house and moved in with us on Thursday and will be hanging with us until they move to Utah this  summer!!! We've been a little busy....and Buddy has decided to make himself at home....at our home in someone else's home......tricky isn't it? In other news, Buddy decided he should post this on my phone so it will be show up EVERY TIME I USE MY PHONE!!!!!

 He's swell that one! Honestly, every time I look at it, it reminds me of a horror show with a drowning victim, which of course makes Buddy laugh. Nice kid that one! Thank goodness I believe he's pretty portable these days....he even travels with his own box so when I decide to kick him to the curb he can travel in style!

So all in all a super fantastic, catching up, not slowing down, day!!!

Oh boy.....

It's too bad our family doesn't like each other!!!!

We should probably work on that! So all in all a super fantastic, just worked 16 hours so that's all you get, day!

Best Dressed!

Every night (okay, not every night), I put Buddy to bed, read him a bedtime story and then cuddle him while reading my Kindle until he falls asleep. Lately I've been reading some  (let me insert here before your mind starts wandering) clean romance novels. When Buddy got himself ready for church this morning, it made me wonder if he was reading over my shoulder when I was cuddling him to sleep?

Ah, it's Hawaii, who needs a shirt and tie anyway? So all in all a super fantastic, loving the effort, day!

Better things to do!

Buddy got to "kidsit" (as in babysit) a few of his friends today. They wanted to go to the skate park to run around like chickens with their heads cut off....

Mission accomplished! In other news, yesterday, we went to a friend's house to help with some home repairs....

As you can clearly see, Buddy and I are extremely handy at repairs!!! Heehee! We are very thankful for Shane and his handiness....even if he does get a little too "handsy" sometimes! So all in all a super fantastic, chicken running, day!

UGGGGHHHH....

I finally got around to taking a few pictures of our remodeled house. I'll post way more fantastic ones to do Kirk proud, but after teaching 25 kids first aid (although with a crowd of 25, I'm not sure I taught much of anything), these will have to do in the meantime. Trust me these pictures DO NOT DO JUSTICE TO MY AWESOMENESS, so here is a little snippet of our basement. First up, our Yellow Room (cause we're really creative with our room names)....

Shane's cave....

 The blue room....

 Our awesome kitchen....prior to the remodel, the kitchen ended at the stove. They added not only new and awesome countertops....but more cabinetry, oh, and a whole new entrance into my house! I knew knowing cool people would pay off some day!

Now for the piece de la resistance....our built in boogie board holder!

 One of the dad's that came over to bring his daughter to the "crazy first aid class" (because I'm pretty certain it wasn't just first aid I was teaching), looked at our custom build and said..." now that makes me feel like I'm in Hawaii"! Errr, the dad was born and raised in Hawaii, but I feel the exact same way! I mean really, who doesn't need a custom built boogie board holder???? In other news, I found this while trying to find my nursing graduation picture for nursing appreciation week....

Pretty certain that trumps my nursing picture hands down! Even if I am wearing a NURSE'S CAP AND A NOSE RING in my picture!!!! So all in all a super fantastic, looking good, day!

Exhaustion.....

The last of our visitors left last night. This visitor had the unfortunate lot in life of being a Master Carpenter AND Shane's Step-dad. Unfortunate for him since the whole lower level of my house has been remodeled on his non-vacation/vacation.....extremely fortunate for us and our outdoor shower (this picture is before it was completely completed)....

My house looks awesome....it also looks messy, very, very, very messy, thus you will need to wait one more day before I start the onslaught a ridiculous amount of photos from our remodel (too bad I wasn't smart and took pictures beforehand so you could see the amazing awesomeness that is Kirk!!!! Honestly, I feel like I've stepped into a Pottery Barn with how crazy cool my entry way is. So here is your final warning to rest your eyes!!! So all in all a super fantastic, hoping for the cleaning fairies to come in the night, day!

Family History....

Buddy and I were invited on a multi-family hiking trip by his BFF, Not one to turn down.....well, basically anything, especially when it's with the aforementioned BFF, we joined him at the obsidian mines.....I think it was truly just a ploy to get some free labor off of the local neighborhood kids....

Buddy did his miner great-grandfathers proud with his obviously inherited awesome abilities with swinging a hammer (although, I'm going to believe that the great granparents are up there shaking their heads going "seriously, you want to do that for  FUN?????". Of course the boys had a blast exploring...

 and trying to set off avalanches.... Here they are right before they started pummeling rocks at the cliff above and beside me. Thank goodness I have the reflexes of a cat (OK, an ox) so I could literally run for the hills before the hills crashed on me...they of course thought it was hilarious!

They also had a great time dawdling....

Yep, that's them way back there. I actually got to the car and walked back to keep them focused. Turns out that when you get easily distracted by shining things when you're near an obsidian mine, you can't seem to walk two inches without stopping and exploring. Turns out that when you stop every two inches on a 2 mile hike your short jaunt turns into an ETERNITY! So all in all a super fantastic,  got to tell some stories about Papaw Huff and his awesomely missing his toes due to a coal mining accident, day!

Smoking guns.....

Buddy had a field trip today. They learned the important art of fishing....

Buddy mostly learned the important art of being a goober....

and the extremely important art of making the stinkiest fish chum....

Trust me, you are missing out not being able to smell the stench of this stuff. Nothing quite says odorific like sardines, tuna, squid, peanut butter and bread!!!! In other news, we've been renovating our basement to do vacation rentals out of. In other, other news, Buddy DCFS may be contacting us shortly about the child labor laws....

FYI- it looks really awesome and I will be posting a bum load of pictures when it is complete, so start resting your eyes now...you have been warned! In other, other, other news, contacts are a lot more difficult to place when you won't really open your eyes!

So all in all a super fantastic, needing an eye crowbar for Buddy, day!