Ham and Terri came to town!

( Actually, Clyde's articulation IS improving; he calls him 'Sam' about half the time now. )

We were very excited that Sam and Terri came up to Boise for Memorial Day weekend. Technically the purpose of the trip was so Sam could take the MCAT on Friday morning, but as soon as that was over we had all sorts of fun. Friday evening my mom watched Clyde and Will and gifted Sam, Terri, Chuck, and myself with a gift certificate to a yummy Mexican restaurant. We had a very fun double date and saw Star Trek, which I really liked.

The next day we 'paid' for our night on the town by helping my mom with yard work for like six hours.

Sam and Chuck worked on this garden area for a bit with some tool things and laid down black fabric stuff . . . can you tell I'm not a gardener? They also worked on the front path.

I weeded the corner garden and took occasion breaks to hug my half naked children.

Terri kept the children happy/fed/watered/sunscreened/entertained/out of the street and cleaned up after me. Can you say short stick? :)

Mama oversaw the whole operation. She's been working a TON on her garden/yard, so she was very grateful to have some extra help to finish some projects.

Will's main focus was staying hydrated and well-rested; he napped most of the afternoon away inside the cool house.

Clyde, of course, was totally in his element: he pulled trash cans,

and wagons,

and took pictures,

and raked,

and played with sticks/dirt/bugs.

All with a broken leg.

Which is why his cast now looks like this. Luckily we go in on Thursday to have it taken off and more x-rays :)

That evening we met my dad at the park for some more fun.

We ate yummy pizza

and played volleyball and tennis.

I don't want to brag, so check Sam and Terri's blog

for the results of our tennis match-up . . .

Grandpa had his hands full with both little boys while Chuck and I beat Sam and Terri on the tennis court 6-3 (Sorry, I couldn't be sure you would really check their blog).

Chuck decided to swing also.

He went REALLY high.

I was pretty sure he was going to fall to his death.

But thankfully he survived! He's so cute; I'm not sure what I would do without him :)

We stayed busy on Sunday too; Sam and Terri went to church with Mama and then we all reconvened back at our house for dinner and Phase 10, which Terri kicked butt at until everyone gave up. After eight hands, she was on phase eight and had only 85 points. I was still on phase three and had 455 points. Ridiculous.

Terri and Clyde spent some time reading,

but Sam and Will both had pressing matters to attend to on their respective computers.

Monday Grandma Pam graciously took the little boys again and Sam and Terri and Chuck and I went shooting! Chuck loves to dust off his guns and Sam was more than willing to give him a reason to.

I'm thinking of getting this one enlarged and framed for my mom :) Just kidding, Mom!

In case rolling up in a station wagon and sedan didn't give us away as less than hardcore target shooters, we sealed the deal with the amount of posing we did for pictures :).

I may have gotten a little bored.

BSILF! Hmm, that doesn't really roll off the tongue, does it? Anyways, I seriously love Terri. Every time I see her it cements my plan to ensure that we someday live in the same town.

And finally, you know how some people post those signs that say "Beware of dog"?

I'm going to put this picture on my front door with a sign that says "Beward of super sexy, armed, and dangerous husband". Pssht, I won't even have to lock my door!

Our super exciting week

Because I'm sweet and thoughtful and don't want Courtney to be bored tomorrow at work, here's a long-winded and photo-filled recap of the last week . . . Family picture after church last week! We went to sacrament meeting with my mom in Boise and then came back to Nampa for the last two hours of our ward, and then we got to talk to Elder Braden! He sounded wonderful, now only seven months until we get to talk to him again :)
Monday night after my final I met my dad at Ivywild where he and some friends were playing tennis, so the little boys and I hung out and watched (and I actually played for a few minutes; it's been a LONG time!).

Will proceeded to walk here, there, and everywhere. I'd retrieve him from the tennis court and put him back out onto the grass, and within like ten seconds he was back on the court. Funny boy.

Clyde amused himself by playing catch, alone, with a tennis ball. Step one: throw the ball . . .

Step two: do a funny half-cartwheel roll . . .

and Step three: repeat step two until you are close enough to retrieve the ball. He actually did much better with the splint that I was anticipating. Sunday and Monday he was happy to crawl all over the house, but by Tuesday he was testing his own limits and putting more pressure on it. Luckily we saw the specialist on Wednesday.

I had arranged for Cody to come be my 'mother's helper' at the doctor's office since Chuck had a midday meeting, but something came up last minute so I got to manage alone. Thank goodness for the double stroller!

The boys amused themselves while we waited for Dr. Shea - Will checked out the content of all the drawers

and Clyde created a little obstacle course under the exam table. Dr. Shea came in and removed the splint, and Clyde walked and jumped around the room with no problem, yay - no cast needed! Dr. Shea sent us on our way with the instructions that if Clyde started limping at all, however, we'd need to bring him back in for a cast.

The little boys and I played outside the doctor's office for a bit while we waited for Chuck to come and meet us for lunch. Clyde was quite delighted to have two bare feet :)

I don't have any pictures of the next adventure, but when we went to lunch we discovered that my car wouldn't start! Always a sucky feeling, but it really happened in the best circumstances: Chuck was there, he had his truck, and his next meeting didn't start for another couple hours. So Will and I took a nap in the backseat of the car while Chuck and Clyde played hero; they discovered it was the battery, tried unsuccessfully to jump it, and ended up getting a new battery altogether. So glad I wasn't alone when it happened!

Thursday morning Clyde hopped out of bed and . . . limped. It was hard to see since he was still running around and playing on it, but he was definitely putting more pressure on the left leg. We kept making him walk slowly back and forth between us, which he thought was a really silly game, but it made it easier to see the limp. So it was back to Dr. Shea that afternoon! The nurse gave Clyde a rainbow of options for his cast, and he picked purple, despite Chuck and I both saying "What about blue, buddy? Or green? Do you want red like Lightening McQueen?" But purple it was. . . I figure I've always emphasized a balance between 'girl' and 'boy' things and encouraged Clyde to just be himself, hence his love of his play kitchen, play stroller, and his assortment of trucks and balls, so I shouldn't be surprised or alarmed that his current favorite color is purple :) Plus it was Quinn's favorite color forever - it still may be. . .

Clyde did really well while Erin put the cast on.

She attempted to talk to Clyde once, at which point he promptly put his fingers in his mouth, his current "I'm shy/scared of pretty girls" coping mechanism.

Dr. Shea drew the broken bone and wrote 'ouch'; the cast also now says CLYDE, WILL, MOM, DAD, and ABC.

That night we headed out to the church-run orchard in Caldwell to help thin the apricot trees with a couple of other families from our ward. We hadn't been out there before, so it was nice to go with people who knew what they were doing and could make sure we weren't ruining the trees!

The apricots are still pretty small right now, but it still felt wrong to pluck so many off the branches and toss them on the ground; we left them spaced about three inches apart. It's necessary, though, otherwise the branches will be too heavy as the apricots grow, and they won't be able to grow as big and healthy and delicious :). It felt like we were there forever (thanks to Troy's boy scout-like commitment to finish a job once started) but we finished all of the pink and blue team trees - six total.

The kids did really well, considering. Good thing there were lots of sticks and cast-off apricots to play with!

Will wasn't too sure about the terrain but played for a while before wanting back in the stroller.

Hallie, on the other hand, was totally in her element. She kept scooping up handfuls of dirt and then rubbing them in her hair; it was hilarious - mostly since I wasn't the mom who had to take her home and clean her up!

It was definitely hard work at the orchard - I really felt it the next day - but we're excited to go back and help more; it's such a great and very needed program.

Friday night the little boys and just hung out and enjoyed the fact that my school semester is completely done; I e-mailed my last paper Thursday night a little before midnight. Will's latest favorite thing is talking on the phone:

"La da da da da da da da"

He prefers my cell phone, of course, and has actually made a few calls . . .

Clyde chose to amuse himself by spinning around on the office chair.

Saturday we had planned on going to our ward BBQ and carnival, but instead Chuck and Clyde and I all ended up with some sort of stomach flu. Awesome. Will had been a little sick on Thursday evening, so we're blaming him :). My sweet mom came and plucked healthy Will out of our sick house and took him home with her last night, thanks again Mama! I thought I'd be more emotional since it was the first night I've ever been away from Will, but I was too sick to be sad - and I knew he'd be better cared for away from me! Today we're all feeling a bit better, thank goodness.

We're glad we got it out of our systems, though, since Sam and Terri are coming next weekend! This week I'm looking forward to some spring cleaning, no homework, and lots of long walks with the boys while the weather is so nice!