Are you ready for some football?

Today was the first Bronco game of the year. Boise State University played Idaho State University. Oddly, though we cheer on BSU in our home, my cousin plays for ISU. So, we rooted for the orange and blue, but cheered for one player on the opposing team as well. :0)

Being the fan that Jaysen is, he wanted to have a kickoff party. So, we invited oodles of people and made oodles of food and got ready for the big game.

Do you think we had enough to eat?
On top of the snacky foods, Jaysen decided to break in his new charcoal grill. Apparently the nice gas grill he got for Father's Day last year wasn't going to cut it. :0) {Pictured are Rob, Jaysen and Ryan}

Unfortunately the game was fairly boring as BSU was ahead several touchdowns by half time and ISU wasn't ever able to catch up. Humorously enough, we had ISU alums at the party rooting for their team at the party too {It was Zach and Holly...not that I'm naming any names here...}. :0) I'm thinking perhaps they should have chosen the BETTER team. :0)
The kids had a great time playing outside and in the play room in the basement. Mackenzee was in heaven having so many friends over. As usual, she was sure the party was for her. :0) {Pictured is Cole who decided to make a funny face instead of smile}
Here are some of the kids messing around in the play room. {Logan, Jackson, Landon, Shelby, Maggie, Breanna, and Mackenzee}And, as usual these girls were inseperable. Mackenzee was so excited to be able to finally wear her new BSU cheerleader outfit. She even begged to sleep in it tonight. But, as I have told you all before...I'm a mean mom, so she had to change to jammies. :0) Jaysen has got her saying, "Go Broncos!" and "Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.....touchdown!" all while shaking her blue and orange pom poms. He's already brainwashing her. :0)

Maggie was Mackenzee's quarterback and looked super cute in her little football uniform. It was so nice to have so many kids around that were close enough in age that they each had a playmate to goof around with.

All in all, I think we ended up with about 28 people at our house. It was crazy! But, we had a great time and were so glad we have such good friends to share in our good times. :0) So, we have now officially moved on from weekly golf league to weekly BSU games. It's never ending around here, but it's fun to have something we can enjoy together as a family. {Even if I don't really care about the game even the tiniest bit....}

I have a 3rd grader?

When did he get so old? When did I get so old? Sigh.

Today my baby started another year at school. But third grade? That means he's halfway through his elementary years! Sixth grade will be part of the middle school then, so after this year there's only two more left at Morningside Elementary. For him anyway. As soon as he leaves Morningside, it will be time for Mackenzee to start kindergarten....and then we'll start all over again. :0)

Last Hurrah of the Summer

The last time we went to Bass Lake, I was the only girl to get IN the water. Sure, some of the gals got in up to their knees...but that doesn't count in my book. :0)

My friend Montay even told me that she was going to come and do a cannon ball with me off the dock, but alas....she did not. I told her she was bluffing. She said she really intended to come in....so I called her bluff. I told her to prove it. :0) Aren't I a stinker?

So, I told her that the next day that her hubby, Rob, had off we were ALL going down to Bass Lake for a little dip in the water. NO chickening out this time. We went down last Friday {August 24th}. Wanna know if she did it? Keep reading.....
This is why it's called Bass Lake...I think. No matter...there are fishies in this here water. Landon asked me how the fish knew not to come into the swimming area they have roped off down there. :0) I asked him why he would think that there were no fish in the swimming area and he looked at me with a look of shock as he realized there WERE fish swimming WITH him. :0) Good times....
All those in attendance came suited up to get wet. Even little Sadie was in her adorable little bathing suit. She LOVED the water too. She sat, and then walked through the water and thought it was so great. The other little girls had a great time digging in the sand and splashing around on the shore. The boys {including Jaysen and Rob} swam out to the dock, but Rhett was content to stay with the little girls. Such a handsome kid!
Here are Rob, Cole, Jaysen, and Landon jumping off the dock together. Love this shot! :0)

Landon was dying for me to get a shot of him jumping into the water, and when I said yes, he really made an effort to look good for the camera. Isn't it a fun shot?
Rob took his boys out for a canoe ride as well. It is so pretty down there, I really have enjoyed the time we've been able to spend down there.

And now...for what you've all been waiting for.....{drumroll please}

She did it! Kudos to Montay for proving me wrong. :0) This shot is too funny....we are both mid-inhale and have the faces to show it.
Montay, I cropped this picture just for you. Because I love you. :0) But seriously...don't I have great cannonball form?

Any of you that are wishing to out splash me....bring it on. :0)

Thanks for a fun night at the lake Dixon's! This was probably the last time we'll make it out there this year as school starts tomorrow and the lake closes down next weekend. :0( Off to the next phase of the year. It's kind of sad to say goodbye to summer, but I'm ready for school to start and for the routine of the school year. It doesn't mean that it has to start getting cold though......

Landon's turn

I did this with Kenzee a few days back and thought it would be fun to see what Landon had to say as well. It will be obvious to you what his mind is usually focused on. *sigh*

1.What is something mom always says to you? "No"
2. What makes mom happy? "When I'm good and take care of my sister"

So how come we struggle so much in that area?
3. What makes mom sad? "If I'm mean to Kenzee and put her head under the water a lot."

After which he looked at Kenzee and said, I love you sweetie! Yes, yesterday he almost drowned his sister at Bass Lake. He is still feeling the effects of the lecture he got from his mom apparently.
4. How does mom make you laugh? "tickling me"
5. What was mom like as a child? "good and respectful"
I'm going to let him continue thinking that FOREVER!
6. How old is your mom? "29"
7. How tall is your mom? "42 inches"
8. What is your favorite thing to do? "play video games"
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? "play with Kenzee"
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "movie star"
Is he saying I'm overly dramatic?
11. What is your mom really good at? "Yoga on Wii Fit"
And let's not forget about Hula Hoop!
12. What is your mom not very good at? "Wall climbing"
Yeah, but just wait until I get bit by a spider and become Spidergirl!
13. What does your mom do for her job? "gonna be a feelings doctor"
14. What is your mom's favorite food? "fish! {he laughs} you totally eat cereal a lot"
Isn't he so funny? He knows I don't like fish. And, as I said before....I've been eating a lot of cereal lately....
15. What makes you proud of your mom? "when she let's me play games a lot"
Really? That's it?
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? “Minnie Mouse because you are both talented at gardening and like to be cute."
Interesting explanation on that one....
17. What do you and your mom do together? "play Wii Fit"
Are you starting to see the trend here?
18. How are you and your mom the same? OK...he seriously had to think for a LONG time on this one. Afterwhich he finally said, "I don't know...play outside or something"
Apparently we are just SO different that it's hard to find any similarities between us.
19. How are you and your mom different? "I'm good at video games"
20. How do you know your mom loves you? "She gives me hugs and kisses all the time and I HATE IT!"

Doesn't it just make your heart melt?

Garden Goodies

I took these pictures tonight while we were out at my mommies house. :0) Mackenzee LOVES to look through our garden with me and her dad. She thinks it so fun to find new sprouts of veggies coming up. My mom's garden is bigger than ours and she planted green beans this year, which basically means you can pick almost every day because they grow NON-STOP. Kenzee and I went out to visit my mom last week and my mom took her out to look at the garden and you'd think that Mackenzee was in heaven! :0) She had so much fun picking green beans. It was like she was finding treasure. Sadly, I didn't have my camera.

BUT! We went out to my mom's house for dinner tonight for one last hurrah before school started and I remembered to take my camera this time. It was inevitable that Mackenzee would want to head out to the garden again, but this time Papa took her and Landon out to find some "treasure". Both kids had so much fun finding, and then picking green beans. Who knew that one little patch of ground could be so much fun for two little kids?

Happy Birthday Rita!

I'm a couple of days late posting this....

Wednesday was Jaysen's mom's birthday. Kenzee and I thought it would be fun to take her out for lunch for her special day and so we made a date with Grandma to eat at Johnny Carino's. I took Mackenzee shopping for Grandma's birthday present and she had so much fun looking at all the things in the store trying to pick what she thought would be best for her grandma. She finally decided on a bracelet. She was very excited. And, when we went to another store to buy a present for my neice, Whitney, and she saw some princess bracelets, she HAD to have them so that she could be like grandma. :0) Humorously, as soon as she showed grandma that they were the same, she didn't want to wear the bracelets anymore. Go figure. :0)

So, happy birthday Rita! I hope you had a great day. We really enjoyed having lunch with you. Especially Kenzee. She thought it was pretty special that we got to all go out together.

Inside the mind of my 2 year old

A couple of my friends have done this on their blogs and I thought it was a cute idea. Mackenzee is just 2 months away from being three years old. Crazy huh? Here's how her little mind works...

1.What is something mom always says to you? "Get Out of here"

I don't remember saying that....I swear!

2. What makes mom happy? "playing"

Really?

3. What makes mom sad? "Toby bites you"

Yes my daughter still remembers the dumb dog. Though he never bit any of us, so not sure where that came from.

4. How does mom make you laugh? "Go on a bike ride"

Which we have done a whole TWO times this year. I swear she has laughed more than twice this year! Maybe we need to go out today....

5. What was mom like as a child? "little"

I have such a smart girl!

6. How old is your mom? {held up four fingers}

Though younger is supposed to be "better" I don't think I want to be four....Jaysen would really be robbing the cradle then!

7. How tall is your mom? "BIG!" {arms up in the air}

I'm glad she was referring to my height and not my weight....

8. What is your favorite thing to do? "watch tv"

Wow...that makes me look like such a crappy mom. Sigh. :0)

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? "tickle Landon"

????

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "my bed"

Really...her bed is just a toddler bed. We did get new sheets for it, but that's about it. Kind of boring really.....

11. What is your mom really good at? "computer"

Perhaps I spend a bit too much time in my little cubby hole back here. :0)

12. What is your mom not very good at? "beating Landon"

She is not referring to physically beating my child, though I'm not good at that either. :0) She is referring to playing the Wii with him. And really, I'm not very good at beating Landon. It's true.

13. What does your mom do for her job? "computer"

Though it's not my job, I tell her I have to do my HOMEwork on the computer. So, it is work, I'm just not getting paid for it. :0)

14. What is your mom's favorite food? "cereal"

I've been eating a lot of it lately....

15. What makes you proud of your mom? "she doesn't frow tings"

Something we ALL should be proud of right?

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? “Spongebob. I want be Dora."

Ok, so we don't even WATCH Spongebob at my house. But apparently I must resemble the creature? I don't know. I figured she'd say I was Dora...but nope. She's Dora.

17. What do you and your mom do together? "go bye bye"

It's her favorite thing! :0)

18. How are you and your mom the same? "love each other"

My favorite answer of them all...

19. How are you and your mom different? "I'm good"

Kind of an interesting answer...apparently she thinks I'm bad then? Hmm...

20. How do you know your mom loves you? "play with me"

We do have a good time together...most of the time anyway.

Bass Lake Barbecue

Friday was Jaysen's last day of his "vacation" time. So, we decided to invite some friends down to Bass Lake to have a bbq and swim. Unfortunately, this is what it looked like when we got there....
I realize the sky looks blue....but there were MUCHO clouds and it was raining with thunder and lightning. So, much to our frustration, we were not allowed to get in the water.Kenzee took that opportunity to convince Ian to slip her a chocolate chip cookie behind the Momma's back. Shame Ian!

See the raindrops on the water? The kids were going crazy because they weren't allowed to even get NEAR the water. If they got any closer than Maggie is in this picture, they yelled at them. Sigh.So, Jaysen lighted up the barbecue and got the burgers, dogs, and ribs cooking. There was a patch of blue sky headed our way, so we hoped that by the time we finished eating it would have cleared up enough for them to let us in the water.
So, with the babies chilling... {pictured are Tatem and Sadie...we are minus miss Sophie in this picture}
And the grown ups chatting...

the kids decided to make the most of it and build sand castles while they waited. {from left to right...Kenzee, Cole, Abby, Landon, Maggie, and Rhett}

Just as soon as we were done eating, the Gods smiled upon us and LOOK! Blue skies! This is the Perrine Bridge for those of you unfamiliar with Twin Falls. This is the view we get of the bridge from down in the canyon. Pretty isn't it?
So, we took to the water....some stayed ashore....the rest of us swam out to the dock for a few cannonballs.
Sadly, not long after the skies cleared....the clouds came back along with more lightning. So, our time in the water was over... :0(
We were hoping it would clear up again, so to pass the time we played a bit of volleyball. It was boys against the girls. The boys team {as pictured} consisted of Cole, Rhett, and Landon.

The girls team included myself, Montay, and the little girls Kenzee, Abby and Maggie {in the boy team picture}. Since we didn't keep score, I don't know who won. I don't know that many points were actually scored, though in the picture above Montay totally scored on the boys. It was wicked awesome...... :0)

The skies never cleared up for us, so we decided it was time to call it a night. It was such a nice evening though. We can't wait to do it again!

Cousin Lovin'

Mackenzee holding Jeremy, who is now 4 months and almost as big as she is! :0)
Mackenzee giving Gage a little cousin lovin'...he doesn't usually mind though.

Mackenzee loves to go to her grandma and grandpa Burnham's house on Sundays. It's always so exciting for her to play with her cousins. As the boys are the ones that are closer in age to her, she usually ends up running around with Kaden, Gage and Jesse. But, she loves to play tickle games with the older girls as well. :0)

Family Vacation 2008

We decided we better do something before the summer officially comes to an end. So, we figured we'd head on up to Boise and play up there for a few days. We went up on Friday night so that we could get an early start on Saturday morning.
We headed off to the Boise Zoo first thing Saturday morning. This was Mackenzee's first time going to a zoo, so we thought it would be fun for her to see the animals.


Our favorite part was the penguins. There were so many of them in the tank, and they were being so silly swimming around. Mackenzee thought they were a hoot, too. Landon's favorite part was the Komodo Dragon. It was HUGE!
After that we met my parents up in Horshoe Bend for a Wild West Shootout train ride. The train ride was about 2 1/2 hours and traveled along the river. It was gorgeous scenery. The actors were a couple of "bad cowboys" as Mackenzee called them, a Sheriff and his deputy.
The bad cowboys were arrested for trying to rob a bank, and they were on their way up to the jail. In the process, the two of them managed to get the deputy's gun. So, they were able to tie up the law enforcer's and get their handcuffs off. They then "robbed" the train {We were given fake money at the beginning}. The sheriff and deputy managed to break free and there was a shoot out off the side of the train. {We stopped at that point, and that's when they hopped off the train.}
Landon and Mackenzee got to interact with the actors as the whole thing progressed. The older cowboy asked Mackenzee in the middle of his tirade if she thought he was mean. She was so shocked she could only stare at him. Landon refused to give his money up to the bad cowboys when we were robbed and so the older one took his baseball cap instead. :0) Landon ended up deciding the money wasn't worth it, so he traded the money for his cap.
It was such a fun train ride. The kids had a good time, and it was a relaxing ride. It was really nice to sit and chat with my mom too. We were so glad they came along for the ride. It made it more fun that way. :0)We were pretty pooped after all of that, so we had a fairly quiet evening at the hotel. The kids loved the pool and as we were close to the theatre area we could walk to Pronto Pups and get corn dogs and their amazing Strawberry lemonade for dinner. So good! :0) {Never thought I'd say that about a corn dog!}

Sunday we went to Roaring Springs and took to the water slides. I don't have the pictures of this adventure yet as I took a waterproof disposable camera and haven't gotten the film developed yet. We were there for a good 5 hours and were pretty water logged by the end of the afternoon. Landon went on every single ride there...some twice. I was truly impressed with him. He normally shies away from anything that might be scary, but he went for it. He even rode the BIG one that looks like a human skateboarding ramp. Though, when he was done he said he didn't want to do that one again. :0) Mackenzee just liked to sit on the beach of the wave pool and splash around. So, Jaysen and I took turns going down the slide with Landon while the other splashed with Kenzee. We had such a good time.
That night we went over to Jaysen's aunt and uncle's house for dinner. Dennis and Janie have dinner every Sunday for any of the Burnham kids that live around there. Similar to our weekly dinner at Jaysen's parents house. Janie went all out because we were coming and made tacos and fajitas for Jaysen. He was in heaven. I was so mad that I left my camera in the hotel, because she let Mackenzee help make homemade tortillas. Janie is from Mexico and so she cooks authentic Mexican food. So good! Mackenzee had so much fun with a little junior rolling pin making her tortillas nice and flat. After she was done with the first one she said, "Here grandma!" to Aunt Janie. Janie ate it up. It was really cute.
The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins too. Mackenzee took to Scott and Jamie's youngest daughter, Cameron, right off the bat. She called her "my friend" instead of using her real name. :0) Landon found a friend in Scott and Jamie's oldest daughter, Caitlyn. It was a really nice evening chatting with Jaysen's cousins and just hanging out.
Monday was Boondocks day. :0) This is an annual thing for us. We go every year to Boondocks just for Landon. He loves it there. This year, my sister Crystal came and brought her kids along. It made it so much more fun.

The bumper boats are always a favorite and Landon is mean with the water gun. I took Mackenzee in with me, and because neither of us were too keen on getting wet we travelled around the perimeter of the pool and watched the water fight going on around us. :0)
So that Crystal could go play with her kids in the water, I sat out the second ride and held little Paige. Crystal was way more fun loving on this ride than me. :0) She fought right along with everyone else and got pretty wet in the process. :0) The kids were all pretty wet at the end of the ride. But, they didn't mind. It was pretty hot outside, so it was nice to cool off.
Landon is big enough that he gets to drive a mini kart all by himself. I'm so glad we have many more years before he is really allowed to drive. :0) We were SERIOUSLY disappointed to find out that none of us could ride the real Go-Karts as they had just painted the railings around that area and so the ride was closed until the paint dried. Serious bummer!
All of the kids had fun play mini golf. It was so funny to hear Riley say, "What's this?" when he was handed the putter. Yeah....they don't golf in their family. :0) There were a few hole in one's and a couple of really close one's too. By the way...if any of you decided to go and play here...watch out for the shooting sprays of water on the 18th hole. Wish I had been given the heads up. I was sprayed right in the face. ;0)

Part of the package deal we bought included tokens for the arcade inside. I think this part was the kids favorite overall.

Kenzee and Riley really like the Spiderman car ride. They each took a couple of turns cruising with Spidey.
Apparently Mackenzee really LOVES Spiderman. We'll have to watch out for that one!
Yes, mommy help Kenzee play some of the games. We cheated. So sue me! :0)
Look at Landon's stack of tickets! They traded their winnings in for "fabulous" prizes at the prize counter. They had so much fun picking out what they wanted. :0)

Afterwards we went back to the hotel and had some pizza delivered for all of us to eat. And then, as promised, all of the kids got to take a dip in the pool.

Monday night, Jaysen's cousins wife {did you get all of that?} Jamee was kind enough to take me to Archivers to do a bit of scrapbook shopping. No kids even! I was in heaven! I got so much cute stuff too. I can't wait to use it! Afterwards, we went to Papa Joe's for dinner. Scott and Jamie's family, Kevin and Jamee's family, and us got a nice little corner room and had a good time eating HOT wings {I'm not kidding either} and other yummy food. It was really nice to hang out with everyone one last time.

Tuesday Jaysen went golfing with his cousins Scott, Kevin, and Nick. As we had to check out of the hotel that day, I took the kids to the mall for some power shopping. Can I just tell you that shopping for 5 hours with an 8 year old and a 2 year old is NOT fun. Actually, it could have been a lot worse. The kids were pretty good to me, and I couldn't blame them for being tired of walking around. I was getting tired. But, we were stuck until Jaysen finished his round of golf at 4:00.

I did get a couple of really cute pairs of shoes. :0) Oh! And the new 'Breaking Dawn'. Don't tell me the ending! I had to read my school work first so I'm just getting to it. It was hard to put it down last night. :0)

Anyway...we had such a good time. It was so fun hanging out with each of our families on the trip. Though I must say that it is definitely good to be home. :0)