Priesthood Commemorative Campout aka Fathers/Sons

Brett, Justice, Michael and Ryan braved the grey skies to attend the annual Father/Sons Campout now known as the Priesthood Commemorative Campout. Politically correct title, I guess. That way ALL the men & boys feel welcome! They do have a small fireside with a speaker about the Priesthood Restoration every time so the Priesthood title is fitting. They did a campfire dinner and stayed up way too late! In the morning they did fishing and shooting. A Father/Son Paradise!

P.S. I didn't remind them to take the camera so... you know what that means. No pictures of the fun! But here's what the sunset looked like out towards their direction. I guess when it's all men--Ya get what ya get!!! LOL It was a pretty sunset though so enjoy! and imagine what it'd be like camping under it! ;)

Fargo Favorites #37

1. Wind through the trees

Although the wind in Fargo can be fierce and annoying, there's nothing like laying outside on the grass and watching/listening to the wind rustle the leaves of the trees. I love it. It's so relaxing!
2. Big Boss Grill
I caved into an info-mercial and bought the Big Boss Grill. I try hard to not buy all the things that make me go- "Wow! That looks neat!" But this one is right up my alley. A multi-purpose way (I love it when something serves more than one purpose!) to cook food FAST! (What I hate about cooking the most is how long it takes to make something that whiny people don't eat or taking all that time so that people can inhale it before I even get to sit down to dish mine up. ARGGG!) The Big Boss Grill may just replace my George Forman Grill, my sandwich maker and my waffle maker. Look at me- simplifying and cleaning out the kitchen all at the same time. So far- we have done yummy omelets and home-made mini-donuts! Both were a huge hit. Hopefully we keep enjoying it. I'll let you know how the griddle, the grill, the sandwich maker plates work for us! Wahoo!

Don't our donuts look awesome? ;)

3. Summer Playgroup @ the Park

We started our Park rotation for our weekly playgroup this Wednesday. During the Summer, we replace our Mommy & Me Playgroup for some time at a few different community parks. It allows for all the extra kids that are out of school, gets us out and helps us to enjoy the good weather while it lasts. Monday and Tuesday were SOOO hot but when Wed came the clouds came with it. Stinky Mother Nature! We decided to go anyways but went late. (Hoping the sun would come out but it didn't) Turned out that we had 9 families come. Yeah! Perhaps we will all brave whatever weather she throws at us!  

4. Summer Sleep Schedule

Yeah! Summer is here!! Now this IS my kind of schedule. Late nights and sleeping in. Wahoo! Our family's been staying up til 10:30 or so. Guess I wish we could get the kids down a bit earlier but they are ALL sleeping in until 9 or later. I usually have t wake Liberty up around 10:30 or she'd sleep till noon. Is she a teenager yet??? LOL. All I have to say is... I love the SUMMER!!!!
5. Empathy
I don't feel that Brett travels all the time but he does his fair share. That's for sure! One thing I love about Fargo is that it seems that lots of us have hubbies that travel. It allows us to have a bit of empathy for each other and I think makes us more mindful of each other. Fargo friends are the best!

 How's YOUR

Attitude of Gratitude

this week?

Community Play Day

Fargo is one of the most Family-friendly Communities ever! After school got out, I started checking out free things we could do this summer and let's just say--- I wrote on the calendar at least one thing (more often than not-2 or more) on almost every day clear until mid-August. Crazy, huh? I actually stayed up late one night this week while Brett was out of town and typed it all up for my lady friends. I finished at like 3 am and thought I better wait until the morning to send it. I don't need them to think I'm any more crazy than they already know I am! LoL It ended up being 4 pages long! Things included lots of reading programs with free Library activities, free or $2 movies, our Park day, swimming at Buffalo River, Free Zoo days, Block Parties, Art Classes, Storytimes, Water Games, Pioneer days and Community Play days!  To my Fargo friends- don't say I never invited you to anything!!!!! LOL  Well today, the kids and I got chores & piano done and decided to check out the Community Play Day @ Rhealt Farm. It was pretty fun!
They had a free art activity, the Bubble Man as entertainment, a bounce house and tons of Garden games. We even ran into the Prices and Brady fam. The kids always love being with friends! Check out some of our fun!
Art Project:

Bubble Man Limbo:

Dinosaur Walkers:

Bounce House:

Other Garden games:

What a fun activity!

Thanks, Fargo!

Lumas

As you know, we have a Wii. One of the games that the kids like to play on that Wii is Mario Galaxy. Well, on Mario Galaxy, there are these cute characters called Lumas. So, my kids think that they need some lumas of their own. And I guess they figure- how can they get some? Oh, I know... Mom could make them, right??? Oh no! It's a double-edge sword having kids that think you can do anything! LOL Well, it took me forever [not because I couldn't make them but because I'm a procrastinator] but I finally got them done. The kids LOVE them and they ARE very cute, if I do say so myself!

The kids have now made/tied backpacks for their Lumas out of the leftover fabric and carry them everywhere they go!

The Larsen's ool!

Welcome to our   ool!

*Notice their is no "P" in it.

Let's keep it that way!*

LOL. McKenzie and I think we should put that quote

in really big vinyl on their garage next to the pool.

After much discussion and tons of work, the Larsens put in a pool. The house had a pool when they bought it but the people selling the place wanted an arm and a leg and their next born child for it so their deck has had a big hole in in all Winter. Well, ALL the kids are sooo excited! Ry's been filling it up and empty-ing it and filling it back up (some of the poles slipped out wrong) What a pain! But it's gonna be so much fun.
Pool Partay at the Larsens!!!!! They invited us (and some neighbor girls) over today for FHE dinner and activity while the pool is being filled up.  The kids had a blast despite that the water was like 30 degree from the hose!!! Silly kids! At first everyone could touch the bottom so all the kids were in and out. They put in the little slide, had races, made up dances and just enjoyed getting wet. Some played in the sprinklers under the tramp or laid out to dry on the deck. Thanks guys for letting us come play, for feeding us and letting us stay for a movie and popcorn. You are awesome!

Dutch Oven Cooks

Let the Dutch Oven Season begin!!!! Jerry & Brooke were nice enough to invite everyone (like the entire ward) over to their place tonight for the 1st Dutch Oven Party of the year. Yummmy! There were so many people- maybe like 65 people. Crazy but fun!  The Cooks backyard is so much fun. Kids & adults (seriously anything kids can do the adults can do as well) enjoyed the Zipline, the swings, the trampoline, the sandbox, the food, home-made rootbeer, friends, bubbles and an all guy game of Lightning on the basketball court. What a great night! Let's do it again soon.

We LOVE Dutch Oven Season!

1st Day of Summer

With our 1st day of summer vacation, we decided to take advantaged of a FREE Red River Zoo day! Due to our extreme weather here, it has a limited amount of animals but just enough to make it a fun outing. The day was perfect! Warm enough to make you want to be outside but a bit of a breeze to keep you cool. Yeah!
Here's some animals we saw:

We met up with Haylie & Ali for her 1st trip to the Zoo. They had face painting so all the kids got decked out with an animals. We got to see a Small Mammals Animal Show where we met up with the McPhersons. We also briefly got to see the Tuckers and the Smiths. So fun to run into friends!

They had free Carousel rides for the kids. It went super fast! "AHHHH! Let me off", says the Mom. LOL Before we left, the kids all got to pick a backpack out from the Sponsor. We are going to use them as our "Summer Fun Packs". Yeah for free stuff!

What a great day for the Zoo!

The Red River Tigaloo:

Let the Summer fun begin!