Iowa City Fair

Last week we went to check out the Iowa City Fair.  Admission was free, but they always get you one the rides.... $3 for one stinkin' two minute ride!  Not the mention the $3 snow cone!  Isn't a snow cone just Ice with flavor?!  The boys had a blast so I guess that makes it worth it.  The highlight was that they each got to hold a real snake.  They also enjoyed looking at all the animals.  I personally can think of a lot things I'd rather spend money on than the fair, but I'm sure we'll be back again next year.

  

 

Favorite Summer Pastime

My kids have become good friends with our next door neighbors who LOVE to play baseball.  It has made a big impact on Landon and Chase during the summer.  We are fortunate enough to live right across the street from some baseball fields so we frequently go over their to play.  Landon does pretty well, but HATES to be corrected on anything!  He is going to be so hard to coach.  Chase will do his best and is so cute while doing it.  Every time he stand up to the plate he starts moving the dirt around to adjust it for his feet.  He probably hits 1 out of every 10 pitches, but is having fun trying.

  

 

Memory Post

The Memory Post- I saw this on my friend's blog then on everyone else's and thought I would give it a try.  If you are an old friend and you are blog-stalking you better leave a comment so I know you are stalking me. For some reason, it makes me feel better knowing who is reading my blog. 

1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! If we're only blogging friends, write about a post that is the most memorable for you.

2. Next, if you feel so inclined, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll be sure to write one about you...!

Sweet little Lando

I forgot to include the highlight of my birthday.  I was shopping at Hobby Lobby (Craft store) today and Landon wandered off.  When I looked around the corner to see where he had gone I noticed him lingering around the card isle.  He than told a women who was also shopping in the same isle that it was his mom's birthday today.  I noticed the two of them looking at cards together, but kept my distance.  After he was finished he came up to me and asked me if he could have $1.99.  Of course I told him he could, so I gave him $2 plus change and he went  to the cashier and purchased the card by himself.  He was so careful to keep me from seeing the purchase so the suprise wasn't spoiled.  He took the card home and wrote in it all by himself and colored it for me.  I have to say that it was better than any present I could have received that day.  Landon is so sweet and it's little things like this that make me so proud to be his mother.

" I love you mom (he signed it himself and also included Chase and Dad).

I hope you have the best birthday ever.  You are the best.

Happy Birthday."

I love this kid so much!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I turned the big 28 today.  For the most part it was a pretty uneventful day, but birthdays by now usually are.  Bryce got home from work at about 6:00 and we went out to celebrate at Texas Roadhouse (one of our favs.).  I don't really have any friends here yet, and no family so I was stuck making my own birthday cake.  I decided I would make the best birthday cake for myself ever and what better than an Ice cream cake?  The kids and I went to the store and picked out all the ingredients: Brownie mix, two different kinds of ice cream, caramel, hot fudge, and ice cream sandwiches.  Chase insisted on topping it with chocolate chips.

If I do say so myself it turned out awesome! 

Amy Wolsey, meet you new competition!

Congratulations!

So my little sis Lindsay is engaged!  We are so excited and we absolutely love her fiance Mike.  We are even more grateful that she didn't marry that looser last year so she could find someone as great as he is.  My kids absolutely love Mike and are so excited that he is going to be a member of our family.  I am so happy for Lindsay and always knew she deserved the best... she found it!  Congrats you two, we love you so much!

This is the only photo I had of the two of them,

it's from the Strawberry Days Rodeo

New Table

I have been bugging my husband about our kitchen table.  It is really old and was really looking like it.  We decided to give it a facelift this weekend and stain the top and paint the rest.  It literally took the whole weekend, but I think it was worth it.  It was fun doing a project like this together.  Neither of us had ever done anything like this so I got online and looked up instruction on how to refinish a table and we went from their.  It really up-dated it and I think it looks great without spending a lot of money.

(I don't have a picture of the table before we started the whole process.  It had a few heat rings on it from hot bowls and the old finish was completely faded.  The table was a hand me down from Bryce's parents and is about as old as he is.)

    This was after the first stripping                            After the second stripping and sanding

After staining and painting

The Final Product!

Happy 7th Landon!

Landon turned 7 today!  This was his first birthday away from family in Utah.  We tried to make his day as special as possible, being that we don't know anyone here yet and the two friends he has made are out of town for the weekend.  I took Chase with me to buy Landon's presents and tried my hardest to tell him that we had to keep them a secret.  I even bribed him with a treat from the store if he wouldn't tell.  He kept telling me that he understood and wouldn't tell Landon.  Of course, the second Chase came in contact with his brother he whispered to him that we bought him "Hulk Smashers".... but it was a secret.  I think Chase was the most excited about them because he kept asking when Landon got to open the hulk smashers so they could play.  How can you expect a 3 year old to keep a secret like that anyway?  Going along with my families tradition, Landon picked out what kind of cake he wanted on his birthday (White cake that looked like a basketball).  I tried my best at the cake and made his choice for dinner.  I think he loved all of his presents and despite only celebrating with us had a great day.  

Landon is such a great kid.  When he wants to be he is the most loving sincere boy you will ever meet.  He loves his younger brother and is great to include him.  He told me the other day that he doesn't want to start 1st grade because, "he'll be gone all day and won't have any time to play with his brother".  He is such an athlete and loves all sports.  He will sit and talk to anyone about his favorite teams and players at that time.  He's always willing to help his mom when it is time to clean up and rarely complains about it.  We love having him in our family and don't know what we would do without him.  I am so blessed to have such great boys, but particularly on this day and I am so grateful for my boy Landon.

Happy 4th of July!

We're not in St. Louis Anymore...

So since we have moved from the big city of St. Louis we have noticed a major change in our surroundings.  Instead of the busy freeway and sirens, the only thing we hear around here is lawn mowers & kids playing.  It is a very nice change.  Since arriving last week we have also seen a rabbit, a deer, this little frog, and a light show of fireflies in our backyard.  I think we're going to like it here.

 

This is one of the little boys in our coldisac, Bryce (5)

During Our Stay In Utah...

While we were in Utah we were able to do a lot of fun things.  We went up for a weekend at Zermatt with John, Tara, and Nash, Bryce did a little fly-fishing with Ryan, the "Sphincter Tones" tore up Provo City, the kids did swim lessons at riverside, they went to the Dinosaur museum with Grandma, Bryce and I went to Mexico with some friends and his family, we hit the Strawberry Days Rodeo with my fam, my little bro Bryan returned from his mission in Argentina, and the Dickinson's had their family reunion in Snowmass, Colorado.  We had a blast hanging with the Fam, but were all excited to start adjusting to our new home in Iowa.  Here are some pics from the events that took place over the last month.

Welcome Home Elder Dickinson!

My really cute little bro Bryan just got back from his mission in Argentina.  We are so happy to have him home.  He is such an awesome kid and we missed him so much while he was gone.  The first thing he said about my kids is that Chase had changed so much and Landon hadn't changed at a bit.  My kids made him a sign for the airport, but had a hard time writing the letters in paint so I quickly did it for him.  If you notice, in my hurry, I spelled "uncle" wrong.  I turned by big "L" into an "E" without even noticing until it was to late to fix.  My boys were so excited to see Bryan, it was really cute.  There were a lot of tears of joy!  Welcome home Bryan!!!

Strawberry Days Rodeo

My fam went to the Strawberry Days Rodeo this year and my kids loved it.  The strawberries and cream were amazing and the rodeo entertainment was great.  Although, I have to say that their favorite part was not the rodeo riding, it was the motocross stunts.  They loved to see those guys do their jumps and flips off of the ramp.  It was so much fun to hang out with everyone and it was just a great night.

Chase (awkward smile stage), Landon, and my nephew Caden

The whole gang: Mike (Lindsay's way cute boyfriend), Lindsay, Me

Papa Tom, Chase, Boop, Jac, Caden, and Landon

Indiana Jones

Chase is a huge Indiana Jones fan.  While Bryce and I were moving he watched the first movie, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and has been obsessed ever since.  One night while we were watching TV and old Star Wars movie was on and he saw Harrison Ford.  He was so excited to see Indiana Jones on the TV, but was confused about the fact that he wasn't wearing his hat.  I tried to explain that it was the same guy, but a different character.  He just took it as another movie Indiana was in, but minus the hat.  The kid is so dang cute!

The bungee cord turned into his whip 

Akumal Mexico

Bryce's family has been going to Akumal on vacation for the last few years.  It's a small area just south of Cancun, but we all love it.  They usually rent a house on the beach for everyone to stay in, but this year Bryce and I went down early with John and Tara and Jake and Jamie.  We stayed in some condos along the beach and the view was amazing.  It was turtle season so you could see where the locals had marked off the turtle nest along the beach.  Every time we went snorkeling we were guaranteed to see sea turtles as well.  It was a nice short, cut short because of Bryce's work schedule, relaxing time with friends and later a day with family before we returned to real life.  I'm sure we will be returning for years to come.

The view from our condo, amazing.

Jake, Bryce, and John just coming in from snorkeling

John, Tara, Me, and Bryce

This is the little taco shop that we all love to eat at.  Not much to look at, but they have great tacos!

Bryce and I on our way back to the airport in John and Tarah's rental car.  We joked that it was the "economy" car from the movie "Just Married".  You can't tell from the picture just how small it is.