Home for the Holidays....

Apparently I haven't been blogging and keeping up with what we've been doing, so mom and dad, this one is for you....... We took a family staycation and I forced Buddy to hold my hand......

 Then we forced him to sit by a man made pond when a perfectly good pool was nearby.....

 Then I forced family bonding time by having a gingerbread house construction competition.....

 The elf apparently did not win!!!!

 The family went to a steam night hosted by Buddy's school, he won a drone.....

 We think it may be the sweater.....

 Buddy was recognized and received a Den Chief Service Award.....(I'm still not sure why, but cool, nonetheless).....

 Buddy finally got a mountain bike that doesn't hit his knees compliments of one of Shane's coworkers that is retiring and moving away....

 I made a tree out of my hair.....

 mostly because I can......

 Buddy and I went to Utah to go stand in some snow......

 We found pigs.....

 go carts.....

 a shooting range ....

 a rock climbing wall....

 an escape room.....

 a magical pillow.....

 did I mention the shooting range?....

 An indoor obstacle course....

Then we found more snow than we wanted to....

Buddy had grand ideas to go snowboarding every day....then he found out that snow is cold.......

Well, at least we marked off one thing from our winter Utah excursion....

That would be the lights at temple square, I guess we could mark off visiting with family, but I didn't write it down, but hey, the family that freezes together, stays together?....

Mostly because they froze that way, but hey, they still stick! So all in all a super fantastic, better get back to blogging more often, day!

Bonded....

Buddy's been sick for the past few weeks, which means we've been doing a lot of this.....

Since I didn't think the cuddles were close enough to celebrate my love for my sicko, I had to start wearing my new birthday shirt so everyone would know!!! Everyone in my house that is, since we haven't left the house in two weeks....Yep, Shane, Buddy and I all now know that I love Buddy and I am his mom....we were a little uncertain before the shirt!!! 

 We left the house today to go to a Boy Scout Camporee. Apparently they thought since there were going to be 20 boys using axes, saws and knives it would be a good idea to have a medic nearby. Buddy earned his Paul Bunyan Woodsman badge, and I've earned.....

I'm not sure what I've earned, but from the rain and cold up at the campsite, I think I might have earned pneumonia!!!! So all in all a super fantastic, getting better just in time to be sick again, day!

The week of poorly planned parties....

This week was somehow poorly planned. Buddy's birthday was on Monday....pretty certain it falls on the same day every single year since his birth, so I'm not quite certain how it took me by surprise.....but somehow, here we are! 

 Buddy got guns for his birthday......I hope he won't need therapy......

He also got the gift of oral health..... 

 Shane and I make great parents....one of us may be a little more creepier of a parent than the other!!

We took him out to dinner and then made him do his homework.....because school work on your birthday is the best!!!!!! Two days later was Halloween.....weird how that one crept up too.....I had planned on making a Captain Hook costume where hook was getting eaten alive by a crocodile and swallowing Captain Hook. Sounds awesome, right. As you can see by the pictures below, my amazing plans didn't happen....matter of fact his costume this year was such a fail that he actually requested to wear his pink bunny costume to school instead....

 The upside, he asked me to wear mine too. Later in the day, we headed to one of his BFF's house for their annual Halloween pre-trick or treating party. After another costume change of course!!!

Buddy had asked me last week if he could host a haunted house instead of going trick or treating this year. If you know me, you totally know what my answer was!!!! I was wondering how the haunted house would go down since I finally broke and let him watch an episode of Stranger Things and he couldn't even make it past the first 10 minutes and it was only last year he actually finished reading Harry Potter because it was so scary!!!!! Anyway, since we were super behind in the actual making of a haunted house, me mixing the blood was the only picture I got! I lost my voice by the end of the night, apparently scream-talking like a crazy person does a number on your vocal cords! Buddy had one friend that joined us with the scaring of others at the beginning and by the end of the night we had 13 kids joining in the scare ring....

 I'd call it a hit, I'm not sure what this guy would call it though....

 Last night was Buddy's birthday party....once again, it was like I was thrown off guard or something about the yearly bash throwing event!!!! We had wanted to take all of the kids to see the new Johnny English movie and out for Taco Bell (Buddy's favorite fine dining experience)....but the movie isn't playing anywhere on this island....and it took until this past Sunday night for the workers at the theaters to get Friday's list confirmed of all new releases. Basically we invited a bunch of kids for a huge time frame for Friday not knowing what we were actually going to do, because apparently we like flying by the seat of our pants around here!!!!!! When we found out Johnny English wasn't being released, I planned a party. Then I talked to Buddy about my party schemes.....he wasn't too jazzed about my party thoughts, he just kept giving me his puppy dog eyes telling me that "all he wanted to do was shoot for his birthday". Really?????So there goes the new party plans......which of course involved shooting....

and tomahawk throwing, and sledgehammers...

and goofballs....

and goofballs with beards.....

 and night games....

 and Uno for the vision impaired!!!

Buddy had a great time, I'm pretty certain his friends had a great time since they didn't want to leave!!! I guess we'll have to unplan a few more parties in our future! So all in all a super fantastic, glad no one shot their eye out, day!!!

Cuddles...

Sometimes you just need some extra cuddles....

So all in all a super fantastic, I can even cuddle in my sleep, day!

Dress up required!!!!

We woke up at the butt crack of dawn in order to go play in the mud.....thankfully Shane remembered we had team shirts just for the occasion....

Then we headed home to shower up and don on our next team uniform.......

Team Peter Pan..... 

 Apparently Buddy didn't get the memo.....

 Oh well, he seems to fit in with this scraggly crew.....a bald Robin Hood and Pantless Captain Hook? Something weird is seriously going on in Neverland  these days! 

So all in all a super fantastic, on to the next thing.....a haunted house for Buddy's birthday celebration, day!

Breakin' it!!!!

Buddy had fall break last week.....we decided to break it in in style by taking a few victims , I mean friends to Waimanu with us!!!! I think this may be my new favorite school break tradition...

Then, that weekend we started another new tradition...

Volunteering for the Ironman.....I'd call it a success, well, I would is the term.....except for the 2nd degree burn Buddy got around his neck because his mom is totally lame and brought sunscreen, but didn't put it on him. Seriously, lame mothering if you ask me!!!! Buddy still loved it and asked if we could do it again next year.....next year I'll be better  prepared and I'll make him wear a turtleneck!!!! Ha! So now we're back to the grindstone, tomorrow is a mud run and our ward Halloween party hosted by the Primary.....now I'm questioning whose bright idea it was for me to be in charge of it....stinkin' Primary President (FYI, that's me)???? So all in all a super fantastic, 10 more days till my favorite kid turns 14, day!