Striving to be a better mom

Dr. Phil says "There is no reality... only Perception"
I am always reminded of this when I talk to people about their life experiences. We all can learn so much from each other's Perceptions.
I would like to learn from all of you who view my blog. so please take the time to post a comment for me. (none of your mom's view my blog so please post freely)
No matter how great of a mom we all had growing up, she did things we absolutely did not like and will make sure not to do as moms.

But more importantly our Mom's did some really great things for us too, ones that we want to carry on and instill in our own children. So this brings me to my point of this post: Will you all please post something you liked AND did not like about your mom. Or even traditions that you had.
My hope and point of this post is that this will make me realize things I could be doing and things I shouldn't do in raising my own children.
Thanks,

Different kind of Tag

It's another tag, but this time, it's for ME!!

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses...

OUr 4th of July HOliday WEEK...

Ok, so we have really been enjoying the hot weather
we have our own little froggie pool for our yard, and a splash park to go to if we get too hot. I would never complain about hot weather though, I love it and would love to live in it all year. seriously I miss St.George.
Anyways, so every year Livingston (the place we first moved to in Montana) has a pretty good parade. Since all of Tim's family came up and were there, I drove over there to go on the 2nd.
mmmmm Cotton CAndyHaven just liked the candy and Horses, but was otherwise confused by it all :P

I heard about a family renting a bounce house for the fourth so I looked into it and got one for us this year since all 6 siblings (16 grandkids) and parents in Tims family were going to be here. Everyone pitched in and made it well worth the money.
Everyone was allowed in. even big kids like Tim. Haven even liked it. Seriously it was awesome you all should look into getting one for your next family get together. Later that night of the 3rd we had a huge family game of kickball . It was a blast, except we all fed the mosquitos for the year in 2 hours.
Then on the actual 4th of July we always have a big pot-luck Bar-B-Q. (which ruined my diet for the day cuz there is just too much good food) at Tims brothers house. Haven learned to climb stairs, which must be a natural instinct kids have cuz she has never been around stairs. Here she is in her cute 4th of July outfit. The best part of having the 4th at Tims brothers house is that he lives up on a hill at the edge of town, so you can sit on his deck and watch the entire valley's fireworks as well as the Rodeo's and usually the millionair that lives up the mountain from him and then around 10:30 we do our own. IN Montana you can buy some serious fireworks, no dinky little fire crackers. like the big gun kind. kinda scary what a kid could get his hands on. but anyways, its awesome! an Ideal location for seeing alot of fireworks.


Then on the 5th we all went to Ennis Lake, it was unfortuanately overcast but still not too cold, unless you fell in the water. eeeek's!! But TIms dad has a boat and this awesome tube that we all took turns on.
Then Sunday they all went home , but Monday tim had the day off so we went up to another lake called WAde Lake, it is pretty. completely surrounded by mountains and crystal blue in parts. Some of tims local family were camping up there so we just went up for the day.

Me getting a tan :)
Making Tin Din's. yummy!

Haven Loved the Hammock they had set up.
She thinks she is pretty cool sitting on things alone now a days.
Carter making Lava lake for his dinosaurs with the water from the lake. OUr 4th WAs ALOT of FUN, m However it was a little too much of unscheduled/car naps and late bed times and junk food, so It is nice to be back to normal now. (Carter And Haven Relaxing watching Cartoons in our nice cool apartment)

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Mom and Dad's visit

first of all let me just say this My mom and Dad are soo nice. they go and visit and help move every single one of their kids, no matter how far away they live. I know it cost them a small fortune in gas to come visit me, but they do it every year.
We took a drive out to the Madison river. which is well known for fly fishing accross the nation.
Jordan and Carter played every day all day. Jordan is a good cousin to have around.
one evening we walked over to the pond near my house and fished and played around on the hill. Carter asked grandma to race with him and jordan down the hill. so not being able to resist any of her grandkids sweet requests my mom agreed. so here they are just out of the gate. now let me just mention Carter is 4 1/2 Jordan is 11 and my mom is 61 (sorry mom, everyone knows you look great and if they know your age then they really know you look great for your age :) )
Both Carter and Jordan get going too fast and fall down
And Grandma wins it all!! ha ha sweet victory. now you see why I mentioned the ages? I am glad my mom is healthy enough to play with her grandkids like this. they love it!!

playing red light green light. Carter got to me first just as I turned around.
"RED LIGHT" carter says
if you are in my family you know about "THE CUP"ok now this is a very famous cup. It is my dad's cup that he takes, literally eveywhere with him. It has changed over the years but he always has a large cup filled with Ice and a small amount of some beverage. the beverage has also changed over the years depending on what drink my dad is addicted to. it used to be grape juice, then it was some low fat peach juice stuff, then it was diet cherry vanilla dr. pepper, now it is diet coke with lime. Or sometimes just ice to chomp on. for some reason all the young grandkids are drawn to the cup, and beg and beg grandpa for sips or bits of ice. and he does share, but here he is hiding it in this tree , otherwise it would all be gone. my Dad is soo funny, I love him and his quirky habits.
before they left we went to the Museum of the Rockies. Carter has been here 3-4 times so he just wanted to hurry through it( my dad was really interested in the dinosaurs and the earth formation exhibits. But Carter was too excited to see the REAL MOVIE COSTUMES from some popular movies. especially star wars. I guess I wasnt supposed to take pictures as some lady rudly commented as I took this picture, but Carter is sooo into star wars right now, it was awesome for him to see the real costume they used in the movie from the 70's, I had to have a picture of atleast this one.

Thanks for visiting, Mom ,Dad, and Jordan.