What we bought on Ebay...

Most of you know that Matt has had quite the little/BIG obsession with eBay. There was a time in our lives when the most random of things would be shipped to our house...no joke...For example...I came home one day and found an enormous package on our door step, way too heavy for me to pick up. Matt's reaction to the massive box, "oh good the industrial strength power washer I ordered from eBay arrived". In Matt's defense I have thoroughly loved having the industrial strength power washer, but wasn't expecting one to arrive on my door step. And it wasn't just the buying I had to watch our for, Matt was into selling on eBay as well. Back during Matt's eBay obsession, if I wasn't seen using an item in our house at least once every 48 hours it was liable to be up for auction the next day on eBay. But I thought this crazy obsession was over and done with. So when Matt yelled up the stairs to me one night,"Hey Aim, get down here and have an open mind". When I came down stairs and saw that he was searching eBay for a Mini-Van I thought Matt had completely lost it! But as I looked at the car he was right...it was the price range we were looking at, and it had all the features that we wanted. In our defense it was a dealer selling it on eBay so we did all the transactions through the dealer but yes we did have to click on the "buy it now" button.

I can't believe we own a Mini-Van!!! No matter what angle I take this picture it still comes out looking like a Mini-Van.

Call us what you want we deserve it...hypocrites, sell outs, ect... We swore we would never be a Mini-Van family. But here we are eating our own words. I called my Dad when we were thinking about the Mini-Van purchase. Our conversation went like this..."Dad I'm a sell out, I swore I would never buy a Mini-Van". His response, "Aimee come on your just getting older, more mature, more practical". My response to him, "Dad you totally just gave me the definition of a sell out!" I tried to tell my Dad my integrity was on the line. But after I got off the phone I realized I needed to just suck it up and get the Mini-Van, because that is what works best for my family right now. We have only had it a couple of days and it really is SOOO convenient to use, and we can each bring as many liquid beverages as we want (it honest to truth has 17 cup holders). Even Matt, who you would think could never been convinced a Mini-Van is the way to go, is really impressed by all the "bells and whistles". We love our new Mini-Van...but just for the record we both cried a little when we signed the papers (JK).

Summer Days

I can't believe we have had weather in the 80's lately...LOVIN' IT!!! Here are some pics of us enjoying a perfect Summer evening at the park...

Any tips on how to stop a thumb sucker? And how weird is Brock's technique?!

It was so random...some lady had like 3 massive birds and she was letting/encouraging the kids to hold them. Calee of coarse now wants a bird.

Good-Bye 1999 Explorer

Well it finally went! I wish I could say it has been a good car but I would be lying like crazy. We had to put in a new transmission at 69,000 miles (yeah I know huh?!), it has had so many weird things go out on it (2 of the doors don't lock or unlock...yeah I know). I have had to call upon neighbors and friends for the use of their cars when mine wouldn't start for whatever reason. Finally this little Explorer gave out for real (at 93,000 miles...I know huh?)...I was driving down a residential road going maybe 25 miles per hour, and the car just started to shake and went totally dead, I had no power steering and no power period. I coasted the car to the side of the road, it was still shaken', put it in park and yelled, "hurry kids get out!". Side note: A long time ago I saw a friend's car have the engine go up in flames (Oh yes Lindsay...I still remember that day in the Target parking lot!)...Maybe I didn't need to be quite so dramatic, but I wasn't taking any chances. The diagnosis...Crankshaft sheared off front of motor, major engine damage, advise customer (that would be me) needs replacement engine, customer (me again) declined repairs at this time. Dang straight I declined repairs are you kidding me? So good bye Explorer we had a lot of good memories in you, but not enough you were still too young to throw in the towel like that!

Now here comes our new dilemma what car to buy next? A SUV (gas guzzler), a Mini-Van (Yikes, we swore we would never own one), a Cross-Over (possibly too small)? Yeah we are totally drawing a blank with this one, but we have to make a decision soon!


This is the only picture I could find. This is when Matt and my Dad drove from Utah to Virginia in the Explorer.

Getting older...

My birthday was last month. I was lucky enough to have my Mom in town! I had a great day!! My Mom spoiled me, Matt spoiled me, the kids spoiled me (I loved all the extra hugs and kisses I get on my Birthday), and friends came by with cards, yummy things and beautiful flowers! I felt pretty darn lucky! So it really came as a surprise (after my Mom left town) my friends threw me a surprise birthday party. How cute are they!!! I had such a great time...I didn't get home until 3:30 am the next day! These gals sure know how to party!

Brock 18 months...already!?!

Where has the time gone? Brock has brought such an element of sweetness into our lives...it's hard to think of a moment without him, but it's also crazy to think about him being 18 months already (July 19, 2008)! Thank goodness he is the most amazing snuggler any Mom could ask for so that makes it a little easier to see him get bigger...come to think of it I have a house full of fantastic snugglers, the kids sure know how to suck up to us! Along with turning 18 months another milestone comes our way...the NURSERY at church. The thing is, Brock and I don't spend a lot of time apart...Oh Brock was just fine in the nursery, it was me in the hall wanting to get back in. Brock gave me a little tender mercy on the first day he was legal to go into nursery...during sacrament I was of coarse walking the halls with our little Brock and as we were looking and talking about all the pictures on the walls Brock said "Jesus" for the very first time (as he was pointing at a picture of Jesus)...I soon felt much better and realized he really did belong in the nursery singing the sweet songs and learning about Jesus with other toddlers his age. Thank heaven one of my best friends runs the nursery and does such an AMAZING job!...Really not one moment is lost in there, she even reads a book pertaining to the lesson during snack time! So Brock is in FABULOUS hands and I am so grateful to the wonderful people that run the nursery in our ward! Brock has been going to the nursery now for 3 weeks...and it has just been a coincidence that they were short staffed 2 of the 3 weeks and I "had" to volunteer to stay (I totally jumped at the opportunity)...but the 1 week he was in there without me, he did fabulously...and I booked out of Relief Society to greet him at the door, but Matt had the same thing in mind and beat me to it (this kid pretty much has celebrity status in our home). So it's official Brock is growing up on us!

Here are his stats at his 18 month check up:

Height: 34.75" (97%)

Weight: 27 lbs. 2 oz. (50%-75%)

He's still perfect!

Brock's 18 month pics...

Here is a picture of our little man after church today. The afternoon church really messes with the nap schedule!

Keeping our boat afloat...Thanks Grandma!

Matt and I had our wedding anniversary this July and decided to celebrate...so Grandma Z came into town to help with the babes. Matt and I run a pretty tight ship and the mere fact that she could keep our crazy boat afloat is quite impressive. The kids were busy making so many different crafts and having a great time playing with Grandma, when the kids went down to bed Grandma focused on making curtains for Calee's room (they are so adorable!). Thanks so much Grandma!!
Grandma and the kids time together:




Gavin hard at work! Our kids use hemostats for everything (thanks to their Dad). Gavin and Calee can handle hemostats really well...we're thinking Surgeons.




Bracelet making...Since Grandma showed Calee how to make these fun bracelets, she now wants to make one to match every outfit.

How adorable are these curtains?!! I love them. They have the cutest little flower buttons.

Matt and Aimee time together:

We didn't take our camera with us to any of our activities...it was a "kids free, camera free" time. So all the pictures below were copied off the Internet.

We went to see Jim Gaffigan (Our VERY favorite comedian) on July 18th. For those of you that know his material, know that we laughed our guts out the whole show! For those of you that don't know Jim Gaffigan...check his stuff out (very clean). We have one of his DVD's "Beyond the Pale", and we can't wait to buy "The Sexy Tour". Seeing him perform live was too good, if he is coming to a town near you...GO!!!

After Jim Gaffigan's show we checked into our hotel for the night...We stayed in Richmond's Historical Jefferson Hotel. This hotel really is so gorgeous! And guess who we saw leaving our hotel?...Oh yes Mr. Jim Gaffigan himself...I wanted to run up to him like a crazed fan, but decided against it (I'm sure he was in a hurry to get to his next gig in NC for the following night, not that I knew where he was going or anything).

The next morning it was off to Busch Gardens with just us two. We rode all the big coasters a bunch of times. Our favorite hands down is "The Griffin"(pictured above).

Matt had a random day off in the middle of the week, so we sneaked off without kiddos and spent a wonderful day at the DC Temple.

We are so lucky we were able to have Grandma come in, so that Matt and I could have this fun time together. THANK YOU GRANDMA!!! COME BACK GRANDMA!!!

Peach Pickin'

On Tuesday we were lucky enough to have Daddy have the day off from work. So we decided to make a fun day of it and go "Peach Pickin'" at Chiles Peach Orchard...so off to Crozet, VA we went! The kids loved everything from the ride in the wagon around the orchard to picking all those beautiful peaches, Matt and I loved it too! The smell in the orchard was so fantastic! The Peaches were beautiful...we ended up with 28 lbs. We ate frozen peach yogurt and peach slushies...both were SO good! Talking to some of the locals from Crozet they suggested on our way back home going to a pizza joint called "Crozet Pizza"...HOLY SMOKES that was some good pizza! This is a definite thing for next peach season! But for now it looks like peach pie, peach ice cream, peach crisp, peach bread (I'm going to attempt it), grilled peaches, and just plain old fantastic peaches for the Toomey family for the next little while.