What a beautiful weekend. We went to Maria's house yesterday for Serenity's Birthday party. They have a big pool, 3 feet deep, and of course the twins wanted to go in right away. I didn't realize that they had such a deep pool, I was thinking kiddie pool, so Derek had to run me home to get the life jackets, we had walked. Derek had gotten some thick plastic sheets and laid them out so the were going down the hill. The kids had a great time on that. Derek would set one of the twins on a big inflatable shark and help them go down nice and slow. Brenden didn't really like it all that much, but Logan being the dare devil he is couldn't get enough. When we got home I was getting the boys ready for bed and saw that Logan's shoulders were all red, I forgot to put sunscreen on the boys! Logan was the only one who got really burnt, Layne just had more freckles pop out. I feel so bad.

Busy, busy, busy! Layne has been going to reading club for a week now. It is really hard to get 3 kids up, dressed, fed, and out the door by 7:40. I am so glad that this is only for 2 weeks. Since it is only an hour and half each day I have been trying to find errands to run every morning since it doesn't pay to go home.

Tim had to work late tonight so after the twins and I picked Layne up from Tae Kwon Do we went over to my moms house. Joe was there too so we decide to walk down to one of his gardens and see how everything was coming. As we were walking Brenden fell behind a little bit. He started running and saying "grandpa Joe wait, grandpa Joe wait" He ran up to him and held in hand the whole rest of the way there. It was so cute! I am so thankful that he fits right into our family.

It was fun weekend. Kara's wedding was great the weather was perfect! It was great to see all of Tim's family and get to spend some time with Mandy and Ryan.

Layne hasn't been feeling well, tried , cranky and a yucky nose. His finger is also infected. We had been treating it at home since Last week Wednesday and it just wasn't getting better so I took Layne to the doctor tonight and he has a staph infection in his finger. They gave us some oral antibiotics, so I hope it gets better soon.

My mom's birthday is on Saturday. Joe and mom invited u to Joe's lake cabin for Saturday night. Tim can't go , he has to work but I think I will take the boys myself. On Monday Brittany, Abby, and Daulton are coming to stay with us for 2 nights. Layne is really looking forward to that.

We had a great 4th. We went to the big parade in Mandan. We sat right at the beginning because the parade is so long, when it was over we drove over to the other side of Mandan to go to Art-in-the-Park. When we got there the parade was just barley beginning. It was really nice because there weren't very many people at the park, so we got our lunch right away and look at some of the booths before it was over.Later on Saturday night we went to the capitol grounds to watch fireworks. They had the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony playing so we went up at about 9:00 and listen to them for an 1 1/2 and then watched the 15 minute firework show. Logan kept saying he was scared but then he would say he wanted more. Such a funny kid! When we got home we decide to have a "sleepover" in our room. On Sunday we bummed around and I made a big breakfast. It was a really fun weekend!

Yesterday my sister Katie came up with her 2 kids (still getting used to saying 2 kids). We had planes to go the zoo, have a picnic lunch, and then go to the amusement park. When we were getting ready to go Layne started complaining that his side hurt. I didn't think much of it and figured when we got to the zoo he would for get about it. But I was wrong. I ended up pushing him around in the stroller while the little boys walked. After we left the zoo we went to eat our lunch and Layne was crying in pain and wanted to go home so we ended up leaving the park and taking him home. Once we got there i gave him a laxative and some Tylenol (I thought he was just constipated) he threw up twice and laid on the couch all day. He woke up in the middle of the night crying and cried on and off for a couple of hours. When he got up this morning he felt better, but was a little tried. So I hope he is all better because we have a wedding to go to this weekend.

I love Portland! I had the best trip and I really fell in love with the city! On Thursday afternoon when I arrived Bob and Judy Luebke picked me up from my hotel and we went to the rose gardens with their son and daughter-in-law and Pastor and Michelle. The gardens were beautiful, but it was a little over cast so the view wasn't as great as they say it is. After a whirlwind afternoon they took me to the convention center for my delegate meeting and opening worship service. The worship service was amazing they had drummers from Neah Bay Washington mission perform during Communion. The rest of the convention was just as wonderful. Jan Struck was there again as a humerus interrupter. I was very surprised that she remembered me from the ND convention she attended. When she saw Debbie she ask if I was there. Friday night Heidi Floyd spoke about her battle with cancer. She was so wonderful! Well everything was wonderful!!

On Monday Debbie, Michelle, and I took a wine tour. We went to a sake brewery and 2 vineyards. It was so beautiful. At the sake brewery we actually got to take a tour of the facility and see how it was make. The wine tours were great, got to taste all kinds of wine and discovered that I really hate Piont Noir. It was such a great trip and I would love to go back and see all the things I didn't have time to see.