So on Saturday we were lucky enough to go boating with some of our family, including Ciara and Kade, Sam and Stacia, Josh and Amy and their kids. Boating is so much fun as is jet skiing, and we want some!!! Someday.....
My favorite thing to do on the water is get pulled on a tube. I love it when it's going so fast and you are holding on for dear life. Well, yesterday that didn't quite happen, but we did end up under the water several times. We would be going along fine, and then the tube would nose dive into a wave and the wave would come over us and the tube would go under and so would we, although not gracefully! Except Stacia...she managed to remain graceful throughout it all, and even stayed in the tube. Meanwhile Amy and I would end up catapulted into the water, thrashing around and kicking eachother under the water. It's scary being under the water. Even though I knew my life jacket would take me up, it's still scary waiting for that to happen under the dark water. Not to mention my crazy fear of fish. I just picture very large fish swimming under me, just waiting to snap and come and GET ME! Riley LOVED the jet ski. I loved it too. I could see myself having one someday, and thoroughly enjoying it!
Ben was a stud on the wakeboard. We all got a good laugh watching his facial expressions when he would get nervous to go over a wave. But he did quite well!





I think these three guys look pretty cool in their matching life jackets. It was hilarious watching them hold on for dear life in that tube. And then they got brave and started standing up and surfing. Too fun!

Little Kortley is so cute and mellow. She and Riley get along well and they are so cute together. It was fun watching them run around the beach together and get into mischief together. Unfortunately Riley's potty training did not pay off during this boating outing. He has been doing so well at home, but throughout the day on Saturday he peed in several inappropriate places (the boat, Josh and Amy's Tahoe, etc.) And who KNOWS where else.

We had a great time with our friends Ben and Laura the other night (why didn't I get a picture of all of us???). Their little boy and Riley are buddies and had SO much fun together in this little pool. I love how they are holding hands and running! I love the last picture of Riley jumping in, and his little friends tongue is hanging out REALLY far! I love capturing goofy moments like that.

Father's Day Weekend at the CABIN!

Riley was REALLY chicken at first to jump over even the tiniest stream. Then he got REALLY brave and was leaping over water everywhere.

I am SO grateful for my family. I love Ben so much and appreciate his qualities. He is.......wonderful!

I love the picture of Ben and Riley fishing. What a priceless moment captured forever in a picture!
I can never get enough of Riley's cheeks. I must kiss them MANY times everyday. So far he puts up with it, but will he forever? The problem is they may not stay as squishy.

Riley wasn't too thrilled with the life-jacket. I however was
amused!

We just wanted to wash his feet off, since his shoes would somehow disappear five minutes after we put them on him. The body language shows pretty clearly that he wasn't cooperating with our plans of dipping him in the water.

My family!
It was a WONDERFUL weekend. We got there Friday night (later than planned) and worked really hard that night and much of Saturday getting the cabin ready for the spring. It was a massive fly graveyard in there! But it was rewarding to get it cleaned up, get the propane going, get powere going, and get the water going (this step involved lots of spraying water out of different hoses throughout the cabin, and lots of frantic running and screaming by Ben and I trying to turn water off!) It was so wonderful to spend time with Riley and Ben, and also my family.

Livin' On The Edge!

Riley likes to live life on the edge, but unfortunately sometimes he ends up paying for it! He likes to lean forward onto some of his big toy cars, trucks, whatever, and race up and down the sidewalks. With him doing that as a favorite past-time, it was just a matter of time before he face-planted onto the sidewalk. It was heartbreaking when it happened the other day, and you can bet we had him sleep with us that night since he needed extra comfort. He woke up with a swollen eye and a HUGE goose-egg on his forehead. And even more sad...when he cries because it hurts, the tears get into his scrape and make it sting. Poor baby!!! But as you can see, he is still smiling and seems to have forgotten about it. At least until he needs a little extra attention....then he pulls out the sympathy card and gets all the love he needs.

Spontaneous Haircut

Yesterday I was working, and I realized that I have had more bad hair days than good hair days lately. I have let my hair grow out for maybe two or three years now in an effort to get the long hair I had always wanted. So I got the long hair and thought "Okay, been there now, done that. Let's move on!!!" So I called my sister-in-law Ciara and asked her what she was doing that night, and she said "I'm cutting your hair tonight, that's what I'm doing!" She did a GREAT job, and I am loving my new hairdo.

Now to the cheesy picture above. Yes, I took it myself because I was home by myself. I think sometimes it's hard for us mom's to justify pictures of ourselves alone. We always want someone to throw a kid in with us, you know, to justify the picture being taken. Well, to heck with that for once. Here is a picture of ME!!! And yes, I took five and picked the best one. C'mon, I know you all do it too. If none of you do, then just kidding, neither do I :)

Spiderman wants to potty train!

From the time we started our potty training journey with Riley, it didn't take him long to try to manipulate the "go potty for candy system". Before we knew it, Spiderman had to go poo-poo. And when spiderman was done, he of course (as translated through Riley, his translator) needed a potty candy. Yah right, little man. You have to do the doo-doo yourself to earn a potty candy. The potty candy is in a container on the lid of the toilet tank, and surprisingly it didn't take long for Riley to realize that the candy was off limits unless he performed the glorious task of peeing in the potty. And I never thought I would be like this, but yes, I now use words like pee pee, poo poo, and potty because the alternatives just don't seem to fit in my conversations with Riley. And I never knew how really involved you have to be with your child's "anatomy" when you are potty training. The other day it hit me as Riley was sitting on the potty, and I was squatting down in front of him, and we were just patiently watching, waiting, excitedly hoping for his success, and then it happened! And he was so excited, and I was so excited, and in the joy of the moment we shared a kiss over the toilet, and I realized what unique experiences are created just by going through the process of raising a child and teaching them things. He has been SO proud of himself now, every time he uses the potty. And he takes his time picking which color of candy he wants (there are only four colors) so that can drive me nuts. Anyways, we still have a long way to go. But on days when we are home, I can put him in underwear and he will let me know if he needs to go. This is a new adventure for us, but I think we are making progress! But if Riley takes too long or makes us work too hard or clean up too many "surprises" in his underwear, we just may let him potty train the next kid (no that is not an announcement :)