Thursday, July 29, 2010

32 and Not a Day Older.

Mike hit the big 3-2 today.
Happy Birthday!Pretty sure he's making 32 look hot.
Just getting better with age.

So for his birthday we showered him with love and a big candy-gram. Nothing says I love you like all of your favorite candy. We hope you had a wonderful birthday Mike!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Since.

Since we've been home (has it really almost been three weeks?!?) things have been busy.
We've been...
  • Readjusting to schedules, nap times, bedtimes, gym time and daddy going back to work.
  • Loving EVERY minute of gym time we get. I've been maxing out my two hours each day for awhile now.
  • Catching up with friends and play dates.
  • Refinished, strip, stain and sealed, the front door of the house.
  • Mike finished up the playground he built from scratch in the backyard. Sunday morning Carter woke up, looked out his window and exclaimed, "there's a playground in MY backyard!"
  • Took Carter to the pediatrician once.
  • Made 16 bows and a few flowers clips for my niece in Seattle.
  • Loads and loads of laundry.
  • Have discovered Boars Head American Cheese and Provolone make the most fantastic grilled cheese sandwiches on fresh Sourdough bread. (Thanks for that one Lisa.) Since then I believe we've been to our local deli twice a week to restock our supply. Highly, highly recommend this!
  • Took the boys on our first family dinner and movie date. We saw Despicable Me and went out for BBQ. Carter and Owen did awesome during the movie. Did help that they devoured almost an entire bad of Twizzlers during the movie.
  • Not cleaned enough to keep up with the craziness in our house.
  • Dealt with rainstorms/thunderstorms almost daily. But the grass looks great!
  • Have watched Toy Story 1 and 2 WAY TOO many times.
  • Purchased Buzz Lightyear undies for Carter.
  • Dealt with three year old melt downs almost non stop since we got back. I think I left my child in Idaho and came back with a new one. Including not wanting to go to nursery anymore- this is a first for that one!
  • Taught Relief Society last Sunday.
  • Uploaded and edited my blog posts from 2009 into a blurb book. Ordered the completed copy tonight, 240 pages of the Dille's. Can't wait to see it in person. :)

The Playground.
Mike did a great job, designing and building it. We bought the slide at a garage sale for $2 and that's what started the project. We still need to stain or paint it. It's been raining too much this past month to get it done, but looks like the next week will be hot and dry. Adding painting to our list for the weekend.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

The A.

We went to Utah State on our road trip last month.
We also took the boys to see The A.
Maybe someday they'll become True Aggies too.
(True Aggie =Kissing a cute girl on The A at midnight on Homecoming or a full moon)
Just like me and Mike.
Carter on The A with a view of the Quad in the background. My favorite part of campus.The boys outside of the Taggart Student Center. How great are those flowers?Can't visit Logan and not go to our favorite place, Old Grist Mill. Love everything about this place, fresh breads, sandwiches, soups, pumpkin squares, cookies and everything delicious. I haven't eaten at Subway since then. I do believe they may have ruined me. :) We really need one of these in Texas. Making it to Logan was one of the highlights of our road trip for me. We drove by campus, our old apartment and a few of our favorite places, it was so nostalgic. Can't believe that is where all of this started. Just a cute boy in soccer gear chasing a freshman girl down the soccer field to say hello. College changed everything. We have such good memories of our time in Logan and it was fun to take our kids there and revisit those feelings and places. Makes me think to myself, I'm so glad he picked me. I'm so glad we did all of this together. Maybe in 15 years we'll be dropping one of our boys of here as well for their own college adventure and we'll get to experience it all again.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Grandparents.

Some of the things we love grandparents for...
Baking snickerdoodles with Grandma.Playing with Grandpa and the McDonald cousins.
Carter reading the funnies with Grandpa Dille. Although, the boys aren't pictured here we were all there for the rockets. Mike, Val and Paul had a good time setting off the rockets and the boys loved watching them fly and fall.Grandpa Val, finally got his new dream car. He's been talking about it for years, and we're all very excited for him. Mike even volunteered to help him wash it while we were there. Val took Mike and Carter out for a drive in it too, Carter says "it's fast, fast car."Always entertaining and spoiling the kids. Here they are on the sidelines of the minute to win it tournament entertaining the little ones.
Brian and Jarom McDonald, Val and Charlotte, Owen, Brooklyn Dille (Bryan and Nikki's little girl), and Brenda Dille.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Dille Clan.

Each time we visit we try to capture a family photo. I'd call it a family self portrait. Paul sets up the tripod, times the camera and we pile in for a photo. Quite entertaining to watch I'd imagine as we try to corral so many little ones, and big ones for the matter. We take several photos and usually get about one good one. I thought these three deserved an honorable mention.

Cousins Landon McDonald and Carter, both age 3. They played so well together again. Which makes going home that much harder. It would be nice to have cousins to play with for the boys. We are now the only ones not in the Boise area, which also makes coming home to Texas harder. Families are home. Makes me miss my family back east and my sister in Seattle. You can't help where life takes you. Sometimes I feel like we are just along for the ride and with this market you stick to where you have a good job. If that means being away from family a bit longer than that is what our family needs to do.
We miss you all.
All of you, Dille, McDonald, Anderson, Mouser, Nelson and Schroeder.
Hugs, A


Saturday, July 17, 2010

Ruckus.

Uncle Paul bought a Ruckus (scooter) a few months ago. While we were in town Mike and Carter became big fans of the Ruckus, which became very apparent after seeing the tire tracks in the yard. First ride on the Ruckus with dad, wearing Paul's helmet.
Another ride for the boys. Every time Paul came over with it, my boys took it for a ride.Owen wanted nothing to do with the scooter, he's not a fan of anything that moves-merry go rounds, swings, trains, or scooters. Carter on the other hand LOVED it. I see a scooter somewhere far in his future. Maybe when he is 16 we can talk him into one of these babies instead of a car. It's a sweet ride. Thanks Paul.
Here's Mike and Carter on their first ride around the driveway.

Friday, July 16, 2010

The Fourth.

We spent the 4th of July at the house in Idaho with some of Mike's family. It was pretty low key, but still a lot of fun. We had a few fireworks, sparklers, poppers, good food (lots of good food the entire trip), good rootbeer, a mad badminton tourney and then watched fireworks on the front steps of the house. Sometimes even the most understated of celebrations are the best.

July 4 Festivities.

Fourth of July festivities began Saturday morning at the Caldwell American Heroes Parade.

Carter waiting for the parade to start.
The Boys and the Dille Grandparents. Carter and I, before the parade.
Mike and Owen watching the parade.
That afternoon we headed to another small town in Idaho, Melba, for it's fourth of July activities. This time Paul and Brenda came along for the fun. We had some great tacos, corn dogs, and potato tornadoes (only in Idaho I'm sure) and spent some time strolling through the craft booths. The best part for the boys, hands down, was the little train ride. They spotted it from across the field the moment we got there.

Carter and Owen getting ready for the train ride. Happy boys. Owen loved the choo-choo and was SO excited about "driving" it. Until...
It started to move. Then the melt down began. One lap around the grass and Papa came to the rescue and pulled him out while the train slowed down. Thank goodness for papa.Carter went for the entire ride. Here's his happy face right after and just before asking papa to go again.This picture made me laugh. Here's Carter pointing his "pistol" at Paul I'm sure. Really, Carter is all boy and we can't figure out where he learned this one. We are constantly telling him not to point it at people, but that he can shoot the sky like Woody in Toy Story. Of course he's sitting on Brenda's lap here as well, he absolutely adores her and spends ALL of his time with her when he can.*Special thanks to Aunt Shala for the AWESOME monkey fourth of July shirts.