Grammie & Grandpa Visit

Grammie and Grandpa came for a visit this week. We have been counting down the days to their arrival for a couple of months. We were EXCITED to finally see them.

We have had fun spending time together! We were constantly on the go, never sitting down until late at night when we climbed into bed. Mom and I spent most of the time getting my house put together. She has a great eye for knowing where things should go, and I love how everything turned out. She did a Great Job! Thank You, Mom! And thanks to Grandpa who spent hours hanging shelves and pictures for us.

The boys were especially excited to play with their two little puppies Sophie and Mandy. Matthew spent most of each day in the backyard playing with them. Thomas was also excited to see them, he would constantly go to the window and call them.



Grandpa and Grammie taught the boys how to walk the dogs on a leash.




Surprisingly, it didn't take long for Joshua to warm up to the dogs. He is my boy who is terrified of dogs, but by the end he wanted to hold them.

Grandpa taught the boys how to arm wrestle.



He gave all the boys lots of bull rides. The pictures don't do the rides justice. The boys giggled and laughed so hard.



He did running races with the boys. (My boys have their Grandpa Marcusen's genes in them. They love to do running races. They will do them over and over again for hours.)



Grandpa was super fast, but I think it was one of my boys who won the race! I think it turned out to be a close tie though!

We also went to the elementary school and launched a super cool rocket that had two airplanes attached to it.



And we even managed to squeeze in a hike.





In the end we were sad to say goodbye. We wished we could of kept them here forever.

Frederick Keys Baseball Game

Matthew and Christopher's school participate in a Keys to Reading Program every year. In the spring the boys had to read four books to earn a free Keys baseball ticket. However due to the boys sports games in the spring we were unable to attend the scheduled game for our school. The good news is that the Frederick Keys will honor those tickets for other games throughout the season. So with summer wrapping down, which means cooler summer evenings. We loaded the boys up and headed off to Frederick, Maryland to enjoy an evening baseball game.

We love going to the Frederick Keys Baseball games. We always sit to the side of first base or third base.

The boys bring their mitts and spend the entire game on the side of the field trying to catch foul balls.

We usually are pretty lucky and end up with one or two balls. At this game, which went into over time, we were able to get three balls. An older boy caught one and gave it to Christopher because he already had caught one. Matthew caught one that a player tossed over the fence. And at the end of the game when the players were running off the field, one player tossed a ball to Thomas which we ended up giving to Joshua. The boys were so EXCITED!

We were disappointed that we forgot our pens or we would of gotten the balls autographed.

At the end of the game the three older boys enjoyed running the bases.

It was a fun and relaxing evening.

Peaches

I was so excited to find two peach orchards on our way to the lake. We bought three half bushels. I spent that night and the following day boiling peaches, slicing and freezing them. Matthew was a huge help. He spent pretty much the whole entire day helping me.

He peeled the skins off and mixed the peaches and sauce together. He also helped to put the peaches in the freezer baggies and then into the freezer . Throughout the day Matthew would sneak a peach here and there. We enjoyed spending the whole day together talking about random things that interested him. At one point we talked about different inventions we could make with peaches. We had some pretty strange concoctions.

Cunningham Falls

This week I took the boys to the lake at Cunningham Falls in Maryland. It is a beautiful state park about an hour away from where we live. The boys enjoyed being buried in the sand and building sand castles. Matthew spent four hours trying to catch the small fish in the lake. Christopher was put in charge of building a huge pond in which to put the fish that Matthew caught. Joshua and I played a game of Beach Volleyball, while Thomas played with his trucks in the sand.

We actually took a little detour getting to the lake. I wanted to go through Hagerstown, so I could shop at the Children's Place Outlet store. We scored big time. We found shirts for $3.99 and shorts for $2.99. What a Bargain! The boys and I had so much fun picking out shirts and shorts.

After shopping we stopped and had lunch. Then we headed off to the lake cutting through back roads to get there. On our way we found two peach orchards. I ended up buying three 1/2 bushels of peaches. Yummy! We were so excited to find the orchards.

Ice Cream

You Scream, I Scream we all Scream for Ice Cream!


One of my favorite things in life is Ice Cream. I can never resist a scoop of ice cream unless it is Chocolate Ice Cream. My favorite kind of ice cream is one I can only find at Paces Dairy Ann in Utah. They are called Rainbows. Um, Yummy! It is a mixture of vanilla ice cream and a slushy drink. You can get the slushy in either lime, orange, cherry or grape flavor. I think the best Rainbows are the cherry flavored ones. Although Ryan would argue that the grape one is the best. My favorite kind of ice cream is probably Oreo and even just plain vanilla ice cream. I also like the new American Idol yellow cake mix flavored ice cream.



Well, I have had my eye on this Soft Ice Cream Maker throughout the summer. Finally Ryan bought it for me. YEPPY! We have had so much fun making ice cream with it. It has three different containers attached to the machine in which you can add mix-ins to your ice cream as it is dispensing. I wish I would of taken the cute pictures of the kids eating their ice cream cones, but I am to busy enjoying my ice cream. Since we use it almost every day, I will hopefully capture some pics next time.

Cunningham Falls

This week I took the boys to the lake at Cunningham Falls in Maryland. It is a beautiful state park about an hour away from where we live. The boys enjoyed being buried in the sand and building sand castles. Matthew spent four hours trying to catch the small fish in the lake. Christopher was put in charge of building a huge pond in which to put the fish that Matthew caught. Joshua and I played a game of Beach Volleyball, while Thomas played with his trucks in the sand.

We actually took a little detour getting to the lake. I wanted to go through Hagerstown, so I could shop at the Children's Place Outlet store. We scored big time. We found shirts for $3.99 and shorts for $2.99. What a Bargain! The boys and I had so much fun picking out shirts and shorts.

After shopping we stopped and had lunch. Then we headed off to the lake cutting through back roads to get there. On our way we found two peach orchards. I ended up buying three 1/2 bushels of peaches. Yummy! We were so excited to find the orchards.

Ice Cream

You Scream, I Scream we all Scream for Ice Cream!


One of my favorite things in life is Ice Cream. I can never resist a scoop of ice cream unless it is Chocolate Ice Cream. My favorite kind of ice cream is one I can only find at Paces Dairy Ann in Utah. They are called Rainbows. Um, Yummy! It is a mixture of vanilla ice cream and a slushy drink. You can get the slushy in either lime, orange, cherry or grape flavor. I think the best Rainbows are the cherry flavored ones. Although Ryan would argue that the grape one is the best. My favorite kind of ice cream is probably Oreo and even just plain vanilla ice cream. I also like the new American Idol yellow cake mix flavored ice cream.



Well, I have had my eye on this Soft Ice Cream Maker throughout the summer. Finally Ryan bought it for me. YEPPY! We have had so much fun making ice cream with it. It has three different containers attached to the machine in which you can add mix-ins to your ice cream as it is dispensing. I wish I would of taken the cute pictures of the kids eating their ice cream cones, but I am to busy enjoying my ice cream. Since we use it almost every day, I will hopefully capture some pics next time.