Solar Eclipse

As most of you know there was a Solar eclipse on Sunday. We just happen to be lucky enough to live a mere 20 minutes from what was deemed the "sweet spot" for viewing the eclipse.

We had front row seats in Grandpa and Grandmas pasture. Grandpa being the very wise man that he is ordered us all official Eclipse viewing glasses online. Saving us hours of standing in lines before they were all sold out in town.

Here's Kolby showing them off.

Dewey's birthday was yesterday so we squeezed in birthday cake along with our Eclipse watching.

Happy Birthday to my darling hubby!!

Since the glasses were big people size and the boys have little people heads there was much sliding on and off of glasses. Grandpa came to the rescue with baseball hats to hold the glasses in place.

Dewey also built a very official eclipse viewing devise. Also know as box with a hole in it. This was Lukes first choice for watching the eclipse.

Dewey took a bunch of pretty cool pictures during the eclipse, this is one of my favorites.

Ok so there is a real trick to taking photos of a Eclipse. Me with my severe lack of knowledge on all things photographic did not do very well. I finally figured out that if I held the glasses in front of the camera I could get something like what we were looking at.

Are you ready?????

And the total full eclipse, ring of fire is the official term. (I think)

Pretty cool huh? An amazing thing to watch, right up my nerd alley. I'm so thankful we were able to experience it.

Quick catchup

This post will lovingly be called information dump :)

In the past week....

One child has eaten cat food.

One child has drank out of the guinea pigs water container.

One child watched a seemingly innocent kids show with monsters in it and is now convinced there are monsters under his bed. Meaning there are 3 of us that have not had a full nights sleep in a week. (fun fact I am not one of those people that can sleep 4 hours a night and wake all perky and refreshed)

The kids now have friends that come over to play. I won't even get into (too much) how I am so not ready to have them playing on their own with friends. Even so I have given them a pinch more freedom, as long as they stay in the fenced part of the yard. I do realize its a healthy part of growing up. But still.... So at least 3 times a week our house and yard is filled with 4-5 screaming running, jumping, laughing soccer playing boys. I have stocked up on Popsicles and Dewey built them a soccer goal. Their playground is a work in progress.

It seriously just occurred to me yesterday that while I am falling woefully behind in cleaning the inside of my house the outside is now filled with weeds. Pretty sure neither area is going to magically take care of itself.

I know I totally missed a Mothers day post. So to all you wonderful mama's out there....

Much love and hugs from us. I hope you had a perfect Mothers day.

My boys spoiled me with breakfast in bed. Kolby and Luke decided I would love pancakes, scrambled eggs and strawberries. They both helped Dewey in their own ways, it was DELICIOUS. We spent the afternoon at Grandma and grandpa's having a mothers day BBQ. Very nice relaxing day.

As I am behind in pictures I thought I would post these super cute ones from a few months ago.

We bought these hats in Jamaica for the boys. While we were there our driver taught us the word "Irie" he said it was a staple of the Jamaican language.

This is the official definition....

To be at total peace with your current state of being.

The way you feel when you have no worries. "Everything is irie mon"

I think its perfect for me to remember this during this time in our lives.

This is the boys showing off their hats while saying "Irie"

I saw this on Pinterest and had to smile.... reminds me of someone I know ;)



Virgin River Gorge

After the past few weeks we have had we needed a little getaway. I came up with the brilliant idea to drive to Mesquite NV (about an hour and a half away) to place a bet on the Kentucky Derby. Having bet once in my life on the Derby it seemed a fine idea. But more importantly it got us out of town and down into some serious warm weather. Se we researched and by research I mean I looked at the pictures of the horses and said "ohh  that's a pretty one, I pick him" Dewey put a little more effort into the whole process. We had our picks and off we drove. The boys and I went to an arcade while Dewey headed to the sports bar. (I bet you   thought we dragged the kids through the casino to the sports bar....ha nope) The boys had a blast spending $10 to win .5 cents worth of little toys. It was actually a pretty cool arcade they had skee ball, remember that game. I swear at one point I had mad skee ball skills. Without realizing it I must have lost them because that ball went nowhere but the bottom hole. Kolby and I mostly laughed at each other while Luke did really well. 

Dewey came and found us and I asked how the betting process went as he did not look thrilled and brimming with winning anticipation like I expected..... So....um....apparently they do not let you bet on the Kentucky Derby this far in advance (one week) oopsie. Oh well live and learn. But I 100% guarantee that the pretty grey horse I liked is going to win now that I don't have any money on him. 

Part of our plan was to stop in the Virgin River Gorge on the way back home, we even brought swimsuits for the boys. Can I just say it was PERFECT. 80 degrees and the water was low and slow and oh so warm. The boys had a BLAST. I know I have mentioned (at least 102 times)  how much I love desert water but this place is one of my favorites. Tons of red sand, and no rocks. 

Dewey tried to show the boys how to float in the slightly deeper part. I love that he gets in a plays just has hard  as the they do. 

Kolby preferred to "float" with his belly touching.

 Isn't this place beautiful? Probably the last time we can enjoy until next year. It gets to be oh I don't know 130 degrees at least in the summer. I mean it is the desert. So I'm happy as can be my betting ignorance led to such a fun day :)

Busy busy busy....

Now I know that some people are masters at fitting in 1002 things into their 24 hours...... I am not one of those people. I know that some love and even thrive on running from place to place with a never ending list of things to do. Also not me. So on weeks when this just happens to be the case for our little family I fall behind on our blog and DO NOT whatever you do look at the inside of our house. 

So a little wrap up of the past week or so. 

Luke was is a Shakespeare play at school. A little background, our small town is known far and wide for our yearly Shakespeare festivals. Its actually a pretty big deal and the pride of all who live in the area. So not all that strange for Luke's  class to put on "A midsummer's night dream". This has to rank as one of the cutest stinkin things I have ever seen.

And these kids were Ah-mazing, they knew their lines and parts and just acted their little hearts out. 

I'm happy to say that Luke was not in the least little bit afraid of being in front of a crowd. So comfortable in fact that he would say a line then bend down to fuss with his shoes, totally unconcerned with all the eyes watching him. To me this is a wonderful thing, I wish I had even 10% of that kind of confidence. I have never said any lines in any play and to this day I'm petrified to be in front of people. And I am about 106 years past first grade.

They performed their play at the actual Shakespeare outdoor theater. If I was really smart I could tell you the official name but that's just not the case so you'll just have to use your own Shakespeare knowledge and kinda picture what it looks like. Grandpa met Dewey and I there, I think its safe to say we all LOVED it.  

Next was the Relay for life walk. Some of my friends asked me to be on their team. As I have never met a person  who has not been affected by cancer including myself I readily agreed. It was a moving and amazing experience.

When they lit the bags there was not a dry eye in the place. Each of the bags had the name of a loved one written on it with a light inside. Heartbreaking to see enough of them to circle the stadium. 

My team was on the small side so I ended up staying from 6pm until 6am walking. Yes sir 12 hours, up all night walking..... I'm happy to say I made the commitment and I did it.....and its yet another time I felt my age. 

Next up was our towns Spring Home and Garden show. I was on the planning committee so loads of time on the various zillion boring and mundane tasks that it takes to pull off a successful show. And WOOP-EEE it was last weekend (meaning its OVER and DONE) And it really was a success we doubled our attendance people seemed pretty happy, what more could I want. 

Hopefully now I can breathe for five minutes and maybe dust a thing or two in my house. (ok we all know there is no dusting getting done, but laundry for sure)