4th of July

Yes! The 4th of July has finally come and gone and now it can officially be summer in Washington!

We had a pretty fun 4th this year- kept it simple because I had to work the day of AND the following morning at 5am. We still didn't get to blow too many things up but I foresee years of this in our future so I can be patient on this. I worked in the morning and then we headed to the Green's for a nice BBQ...although we realized when we were eating that we can't really call it a BBQ if nothing gets BBQ'ed... because we had Ribs for dinner. But they were far tastier than any BBQ so all was well. The boys played in the sun and bounced around in the bouncy house all day and nobody got hurt so it was a glorious day :)

After dinner, we headed to another BBQ event at our friends Felicia & Brian's house for some fireworks. The boys were in total awe of the fireworks! Tristan would say "WOAH.... WOAH....WOAH" after each firework and Ryan was clapping after all the pretty ones! He wouldn't even let me cover his ears. This boy is growing up too fast, I sometimes force him to cuddle with me for long amounts of time so that he knows he is going to have to stay my baby for awhile.

Tristan even did his first Sparkler-- which I was VERY surprised about. Tristan is not the toughest little kid out there and he tends to be a bit on the sensitive side, so I thought he would freak out about it but he totally loved it. This is a good sign for his future because I have every intention of getting him riding a dirtbike by age 4 so he might as well give up on being a wimpy kid.

The adventures of buying our 1st Kiddie Pool

It was hot today. Like, really hot.

For Seattlites at least.

Each summer, I have passed these cheap little kiddie pools and thought briefly about owning one but never really had an extreme desire to because my experiences have been that they get all sorts of nasty in them.

Now that I have 2 boys, I have learned that the nastier the kids can make something, the more fun they seem to have with it.

We had invited one of my coworkers and her family over for a BBQ playdate today, so I went to Fred Meyer after work to pick up the makings. I stopped at home to pick up Ryan so that Eric could mow the lawn while Tristan was napping. As I'm pulling in to the parking lot, I see the sign. $9.99. For a pool? 10 bucks for hours of entertainment? I'm in.

(Turns out the small one is 9.99 and the big one is $20. BUT STILL- 20 bucks is a steal, even if you only use it one summer)

I get what I need and find my way to the customer service desk to inquire about how I get one of these bad boys-- and most importantly how do I transport it home in my economy friendly little car. Apparently it's illegal for them to help you tie the sucker down, but they could hoist it up on the roof for you. So I think I jimmy rig the thing on top of my car pretty good and a couple of guys ended up helping me anyway which was good because I was still in my work clothes (which are all black) and I was drowning in my own sweat and I get ready to leave when I suddenly realize that I have tied my door shut and will now have to climb in via the window with all these people watching.

Alright, I can live with that.

I climb in and take off.

I get about 3 minutes away when the sucker blows off the top of my car and I have to pull over, climb out of my car window on the side of the road with people buzzing by me, chase down my kiddie pool, carry it back and try to figure out a better method for tying this thing down, and then climb back in through the car window again. I'm sure I was quite a spectacle.

I'm still debating whether 20 bucks is a steal...





....All in a day's work.

My Honey-DORIGHTNOW List

I use to wonder why my mom would say that I made her nag. She'd say something to the tune of, "Please don't make me nag" and I'd think... ummm, then don't. Ya know? Like, how do I make you nag? I never got it.

And then I got married. And now I'm singing that tune.

50% of our conversations go like this:

"Eric, will you take out the trash when you're done with that"
"Uh huh"

10 minutes later...

"Eric...can you please take the trash out"
"I will, I just have to beat this level first"

20 minutes later...

"Hey, can you make Ryan a bottle and then take the trash out"
"Uh, yeah. Sure"

Makes bottle. (Because said child is screaming on floor)
Goes back to video game.

"Eric. TRASH."
"Dude, first you tell me to make Ryan a bottle and now you're telling me to take the trash out!"
"I asked you to take the trash out first, 30 minutes ago"
"It's only been 10"
"Eric, just do it"
"Ashley, calm down. I'm doing it"


I really, really thought my mom was crazy. Which is terrifying, because I still do. Does this mean I'm going to be crazy my whole life? Or does it mean my children/husband are going to think I'm crazy my whole life and put me in a nursing home because they don't want to deal with my demands?

Word to the wise... when your wife asks you to do something, it's because she wants it done right now. RIGHT THEN AND NOW. Not tomorrow, not in 10 minutes, not next week. NOW.

My life lately via Instagram

An array of Instagram-ers over the last few weeks:

Pantry Makeover!

My pantry needed a makeover!


Before:

PURE CHAOS.

AFTER:

I should have taken a closer picture of the snack shelf (the middle shelf) when it was actually SUPER organized. This is hard to keep extremely organized because we fly through snacks so fast and they are constantly changing. This shelf could also use some work- thinking 2dimensional...we'll see. 

This is the "Dinner shelf" I have anything here that I would typically need to make my decision on what to cook. Need to purchase more of the OXO containers (the ones in the back with the white lids)-- because they are life changing. Seriously. Also, buy them at Costco vs. Anywhere else. Saved me $20/ per set of 5...which saved me 40 bucks in the end. So I spent the 40 bucks I saved on these green Target bins that were on clearance:

Now if I owned this home, I'd have taken out all the shelves and painted the inside white. There is nothing better than a white pantry, in my opinion. I am however, considering adding shelf liners to these shelves because this is just sad. On the hunt for some cute ones.

This isn't too pretty but it's the bottom shelf and it's where we're keeping our stock for now. So anything that we have in large quantity. Obviously, we like dog bones around here. 

This could use some improvement, but it's the baby shelf. The spinning food rack only cost me 10 dolla! Good investment I'd say.

As you can see, the top shelf still needs work and I could use a few more OXO Containers. But I'd say it's a vast improvement. And it is definitely making it easier to shop, cook, snack, ETC.

Wahoo! What do you think?? I like it so far, even though I know it's not complete and could still use some improvement. 

Called to Serve

My baby brother was called to serve a 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to Concepcion, Chile. Wahoo!!! Goooo Brettski!

Want more info on what that entails? This should answer any questions you have, but if you have more feel free to contact me and I'll do my best to fill in the blanks ;)

He left just over a week ago. It is all very surreal. This is the 5th Jory kid to go on a mission. I remember sending and picking up older siblings on missions, but this is what I expected of them... they were the older ones so naturally they get big and get married and have babies and it's all very normal. It's when your YOUNGER ones start doing these things that it's time to start using the wrinkle cream, because it means you're old.

In typical LDS fashion, we attended Brett's farewell talk in sacrament followed by an Open House. What could have been a better Father's Day/Farewell gift to my brother AND my Dad than to bring my long lost brother along?

 It was so good to have everyone together and send my little bro off to become a man. I mean, I suppose he became a man when he turned 18, but if you've ever met a returned missionary, you know that the mission is where they really become a man.

On their thrones, awaiting guests.

Dad & Ryan were in total harmony. They just hung out like this.

In typical Clint fashion.

Next time Uncle Brett see's these boys they'll be soo diferent! 

On Juggling...

Each Friday night, I crawl in bed while it's still light out and I don't feel like a loser at all.

Ok, maybe a little. If I'm completely honest with myself I can admit that yes, it would be nice to have a night out to hang out with friends or go on a date with my husband... but when I've tried, I'm struggling to stay awake past 10pm. 

So have you been wondering where I've been? Just because the blog had paused for a breather during my extremely hectic schedule doesn't mean I did. I get up at 4am every day to get to work by 5am, stay till 10, come home to get the Hubs and the kidlets, go back to gym, workout, run errands, come home...crash. I would normally use this time to catch up on blog posts but I just haven't been able to do it. I NEED a nap by this time. I'm starting to wonder if I will ever have a day where I don't nap. 

After nap, I'm busy trying to maintain the house and keep Tristan from feeding Ryan and Ryan from getting into everything he isn't supposed to touch. I'm dumbfounded at how many toys you can place in front of a baby and have them still crawl to the cords under the computer table. Ryan has also been full blown teething lately so we've had blow out after blow out... literally, EVERY diaper for at least a week. So needless to say we've been washing sheets like crazy. On a brighter note, I've finally found some friends that are members of LA Fitness AND want to workout. It's great! So we've been trying out some of the cardio classes they offer at night. By the time we get home (depending on class) it's time for dinner, bath, pj's and story time. I get about 1/2 hour to pick up the house and do dishes and then I too crawl into bed. And that's just a typical day-- throw in anything else (relief society activity, visit teaching, personal training, home project, play dates) and I'm on overload. 

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love it. I love my new friends, I love our new ward, and I love this town. I mostly like my job ;) and I love that my boys are becoming little people who are the best of friends. I love that they're having new experiences out here and they seem a lot happier. 

I'm just tired. 

Does anyone else feel like they can't keep up, or am I just getting lazy? 

A little bit of what we've been up to: 

(More later on my baby brother's Mission Farewell, Pantry Reorganize project, and some house updates...)

Ward pancake breakfast at Lake Meridian-- Tristan playing with his new friend, Felicia. (Ok, MY friend but he thinks it's his... I guess can can share.)

getting a little snuggle time in with my baby :)

Playing with the Green's :)

Typical boys

Tristan's NEW Bike. I'll take better pics later, but it's so cute-- it looks like a little dirt bike :)

Playtime with the Hilary's.