Tucker & Carter...and Olivia too

We watched Carter and Olivia the other night so Eric could take Sharlene out for her birthday. I think its easier for both of us when friends are over. Tucker isn't bored with just me and I can get some things done while he is playing with friends. Its a win-win situation, really! :)

I had seen Carter wear this cute Star Wars t-shirt a few weeks before and thought it was so cute. So the other day I was at Target and saw that they still had a few left. I couldn't help but get one. :) Well Sharlene brings Carter over that night and what do you know...they are twins! :) It was too cute. The rest of the night was me trying to get a good picture of them together.

I think Olivia was getting jealous that I was taking so many pictures of the boys, trying to get a cute shot of them in their matching outfits. So I had to get a few of her. :)

Yes, this is the state of my garden box this year. I haven't had a green thumb this year like I did last year. Maybe next year. :) You can even see some of the onions from last year sprouting again this year, I am sure they are nasty! :) Tucker loves it as his dirt box.

Ben came home from work and was playing with the boys. Sharlene, if you are wondering why Carters shirt is stretched out, I got the evidence right here... :) Ben would try and grab them as they ran away from him. After this, both of their shirts were stretched out. :)

This was a typical shot of when I was trying to get a picture of the boys. Olivia kept running right in front of me doing something crazy. I thought it was so funny! :)

Olivia was being a monkey the whole time and kept on wanting me to take pictures of her climbing our swing set.

I am all about exchanges like this. I will gladly watch my friends kids for the night if it means that I don't have to worry about a babysitter when we go out on another night. :)

Our day with Grandma...

Tucker and I headed down to the Tri-Cities last Saturday to spend the day with my mom. We had such a great day! It was absolutely perfect. Kelli and Keyton were going to meet up with us, but couldn't, so we got grandma all to ourselves! Tucker was in heaven. :) Our first stop:

Chuck E Cheese for lunch. Our friends, Cherie and Carly came with us on the way down and ate some lunch and played with us at Chuck E Cheese, before heading out to do their own family thing, so it was fun having a friend for him at Chuck E Cheese.

We dropped off Cherie and Carly and headed to the Columbia River Temple. I didn't realize how beautiful it is! I thought it was just like Spokane's mini-Temple. But is is not. It is absolutely gorgeous!!! We spent a lot of time just walking around it and enjoying the beauty of it! The weather was gorgeous!

While we were walking around, we found a little bunny just hopping through the Temple grounds. Of course, after that it became Tuckers mission to find that bunny again to play with it! (He never did!)

This is Tuckers pose he did after I asked him to pose on the bench for a picture. I think we have a natural model on our hands here! :) I was laughing so hard when he did this!

After spending most of our afternoon at the Temple, we went to the church bookstore-which if you know my mom is a must stop in Tri-Cities- did a little shopping, and then headed to PF Changs for dinner before leaving to head home! YUM!!!

It was an absolute perfect day with grandma!

Thanks mom!!!

You know those types of friends...

You know those types of friends, that no matter how much time has passed, you pick up right where you left off?

Darci and I were roommates at Ricks College ELEVEN years ago!!! I can't believe it has already been that long! Sheesh...I'm getting old! :) We had so much fun together and for some unknown reason, totally lost contact with each other for years and years. She even lives here in Washington state.

Here we are as roomies, SO SO SO long ago...

Look Darci, we even liked to wear matching green back then! :)

Well, through modern technology (blogging, facebook, you know...) we have gotten back in touch and she even came out to visit me for a few days! We had so much fun and literally picked up right where we left off. It was SOO good having her here. We packed a lot of fun in our few days together. Late night chats, just like the good ol' days, some jewelry making, a little shopping, some ice-cream eating, and just a lot of catching up!

She brought her four year old daughter, Cassidy with her and Tucker loved having a new friend. They seriously got along so well and had a great time together. We had to stop at Baskin Robbins.

We did a lot of trampoline jumping:

and especially these two...

Ben had to show off his mad skills...because there is nothing sexier than a grown man who can do better tricks than a four year old on a trampoline! :)

Sunday afternoon we literally came home from church, spread out a blanket on the back yard and stayed out there ALL afternoon, until the sun went down. Ben made us hamburgers and milkshakes and we were set. :)

We, of course, had to bust out the old photo albums. Funny thing, I was a lot skinnier in those college pictures, but Darci is skinnier now! How does that work? Not fair!!! :) And she's tanner...and has whiter teeth...and ok, you get the point! She's fabulous! :)

While we were doing that, these kids had a jam packed day of:

swinging...

bubbles:

more ice-cream...

more swinging...

taking turns on the power wheels: (that was out of battery, so they had to push) :)

It was really cute to watch them together, they became fast friends...

Our night ended with milkshakes, and it couldn't have been better!

Tucker was sad to see Cassidy go the next day, as was I, so they protested by getting in our car:

Thanks so much for coming Darci! I am so so so glad! It was just what I needed to reminisce and re-connect with a great friend! It's now my turn to head over and visit her and her family and I can't wait!

...

Speaking of old college roommates...funny story.

Three years ago I am walking the halls at church and run into my old college roommate, Cortney, from BYU-Hawaii. Shes from Alaska, and I, again, hadn't seen or heard from her in years. Her and her husband live in Spokane and they are in the ward that we share the building with. A few months ago our stake did some major ward boundary changes. Because of those changes A LOT of my old friends are now in her ward and so we have, again, all of the same friends. It has been so much fun hanging out with her again!

Here we are in our house in Hawaii... I can guarantee you that I just jumped in this picture before it was taken, I definitely wasn't in the kitchen much, but Cortney on the other hand is an excellent baker and was always cooking. In fact, she now makes cakes for a living! And she is awesome.

Cortney's birthday was last week, so we all got together to celebrate! It was a lot of fun with a lot of WONDERFUL people! :)

Happy Birthday Cortney!

These boys...

My friends Sharlene, Megan and I all have boys the exact same age. (within a month) It has been so much fun over the past few years to watch our boys become little buddies. Tucker loves Owen and especially loves his Carter! :) A few months ago we started a play date rotation. So every third Wednesday I have all three boys at my house for a few hours. These boys love each other and I love watching Tucker interact with his little buddies. They don't always like sharing :)but for the most part they love each other and get along great! They're just boys, so anything outside having to do with dirt or cars or bugs makes them happy.

Or in this case, ice cream...

I love these boys...so cute!

Camping Pyper style...

We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful area!

I love to be outdoors, but many of you know, my husband...not so much! (when it comes to camping anyway) So I was really excited when he wanted to head up to Liberty Lake Park to meet up with some friends who were camping. We didn't end up camping, but we went out and spent the evening with them and just enjoyed the great outdoors! :) And I was happy because it made Ben realize that camping doesn't always include bear attacks and scary woods in the middle of nowhere. It can be fun and enjoyable! :) So hopefully we'll be heading outdoor more this summer. :)

Tucker and Carly had a great time playing and exploring together:

even inside of Jason & Cherie's camper!

We found them in bed together...should we be worried?

Ben and Jason played a little catch:

Tucker playing with Jasons fishing worms:

The boys at the fire:

Tucker & Ben cooking their hot dogs:

Nothing beats a beautiful sunset around a campfire while roasting marshmallows! :)

(I was so mad when we got out there and I realized I had forgotten my camera! So these are taken with my little point and shoot camera.)