Where have I been?

I'll tell you where.  I've been fishing on the Kenai river with friends:

Berenice and I always get caught matching!

(pardon the 6:00 a.m. look we have going - I left my house at 4:50)

Berenice, Kaarin, Kristen, and I were the first to head out fishing.

Holly stayed behind and napped with Berenice's baby Kenai.

Kaarin caught the first fish - too tiny to keep.

Our guide was Dave Goggia of Hooky Charters (the same one we had last summer).  He was my fellow seminary teacher this year.

Then we traded Bere for Holly.

Holly caught a ginormous - oh, the correct word is "trophy" - trout within minutes of stepping in the boat.  It was too big to keep.

No other fish were caught, but we had a great (but chilly) time!

An eagle's nest.

Before that, Doug and I finished the swing set.  The boys have been having a great time and they play on it for several hours everyday.  

Before:

(well, a day into construction)

After:

The morning after we finished, I could hear screaming from outside.  It sounded like Nolan's normal "Brenden is torturing me" scream, so I ran outside and I found him screaming "This is SO MUCH FUN!" on the glider with Brenden.

Ethan immediately climbed to the crow's nest.

Brenden even pushed Nolan for a little while.

The final step (still to come) is to put sand in the sandbox under the playhouse.  There is a cute little deck with a picnic table under there.

The day after we finished, we had a big BBQ with friends so that everyone's children could try out our new toy.  After that I had an all mom sleep over (with the small addition of two nursing baby boys).  I don't know why they are called sleep overs - there was very little to no sleep for most of us.

One of the evenings that we were working on the swing set, Doug came in the house to check on the boys and he found quite the party going on:

Ethan sleeps in the bottom bunk at night, but had climbed in his crib so he could reach the sunglasses.  They were then dispersed so the party could ensue. 

I have been painting Nolan and Ethan's bathroom.  I will upload pictures if I ever finish - who knew orange paint took so many coats?  I am on #3 and there will be at least one more.  Doug has been building shelves in the garage so that someday we might actually park a car in there.  Mandi is still holding her breath for that day, I am sure.

Other than that, I play mother daily to several neighborhood boys.  Today I was fed up and tomorrow they will not be invited in.  They have become all too comfortable here.

This one's for Sabrina: