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The kids and I spent all last week in West Virginia visiting Mom and Dad. Joe had to work in Alabama for the week so we headed there while he was gone. They came to visit us last weekend and we had a good time. Joe and Dad got to work out back clearing out some of the woods behind our house.















They did a great job and it looks really nice. Joe did his best attempt at Diego for the kids!
















Mom, Maggie and I enjoyed sitting out on the deck while they worked all afternoon and Owen slept. Saturday evening Joe and I headed out for a date night and went out to eat and to see a movie. On the way home we decided since we were free for the night to stop by Nick and neila's and visit with them awhile. We ended up not getting home until about midnight, I couldn't do that often but it was nice to have a full evening out kid free. Sunday we went to church and out to eat and then headed home to get packed up. Mom and Dad left when we got back and Maggie insisted on going home with them, when Owen saw her getting packed up with MiMi and Jaja he wasn't about to stay here with us, so they both packed up with mom and dad and went on ahead. I had a nice peaceful drive home and listened to the radio staion I wanted to the whole drive!

We had a fun week in Poca, although it was a little more hectic than usual. Mom and DAd are having their kitchen remodled, I mean TOTALLY gutted, walls knocked out and all. they are about halfway through but there is no kitchen at all aside from a fridge and the kitchen is right in the middle of the house so the construction zone is right in the pathway from TV to bathroom. (for those of you wanting to see the progress here you go.....














So we pretty much planned to be gone most of the mornings which isn't hard when I am home since there are a ton of people to visit. We slept at Jim and Patti K's Sunday night and the kids were glad to spend some time with Jim. They think he is so funny, and I think he is pretty fond of them too. :) We went to visit my friend Karri and her little boy Nicholas and also got to see her new baby Landon! (he is about 2 weeks old) but for some reason I forgot to take my camera and get pictures of the kids together. Her parents live on my parents street (we grew up together) so we got to see them a few times when they were out visiting as well) The kids had fun playing together and I always love getting to hang out with her. She is one of those friends that no matter how long it's been since I have seen her we just pick right up where we left off. We went out to visit my grandparents one morning and also went to see my Aunt Pat and Uncle Frank. The kids had so much fun there playing on the hill.


















They would run up and down it over and over and they also had fun with Aunt Pat playing ball. I am sure she slept good that night. They also loved making over Lucy, the dog (or "MUCY" as Owen called her). Owen was determined to feed her his bottle or some kind of snack before he left. I got down to Josh and Tab's to visit with Judy a few times which was nice and also got to see Emma quite a bit. She is so cute and has so much personality already. I wish I had thought to get a picture of the 3 of them, but I will have to remember next time(remind me Tab). Tab and I also got out for a girls night, we did miss Amanda being there as well, although we enjoyed our cokes and fries and not having to watch her eat salad and drink water. :)
Maggie and Owen had fun playing outside and Maggie got to play some with McKayla across the street which she alwasy enjoys. Without the kitchen we got to eat out every meal, which I don't mind. :) I got in all my favorites and the kids of course got their fair share of Dairy Queen. :) (Amanda...need I say it? BEAUTFUL) HAHA





















We got to spend a little time with Amanda before she left Tuesday for Canada. Maggie was sad she had to go and thought it would be a good idea if she just went with her. :) If I had obliged I am sure Amanda would have thought it was a good idea too. They got in plenty of quality time before she left and a few spoonfuls of cookie dough. I also took a little time to myself to get my hair done while we were in. I got it cut about chin length and really like it. I will get a picture on here sometime. Friday morning the kids, mom, and I ran a few places before we headed back home. The trip home was no where as easy as the trip in. About 30 minutes into the trip my airconditioner quit working. I left in the heat of day, about 1pm so it was so so hot. I rolled the windows down but then the kids couldn't hear their movie playing and Owen cried about the entire 3 hours home from being so hot and miserble. I stopped and got them a milkshake to cool them down but at some point Owen decided to dump his all over his lap, which meant he was hot and sticky now. Anyhow, we were glad to get home to our aircondioned house and to see Joe. We got home about the same time and decided to take the kids to the movies to see Shreck 3. Owen had never been to the movies before so we weren't sure what to expect but he did great aside from being pretty chatty at the beginning. He kept saying, "Daddy, I want to watch Cars" And then everything that showed up on the screen he would say, "Oooohhh, I like that." We thought it was pretty cute but got him some popcorn to hush him up since I am sure the others didn't think our little guy was as adorable as we did. Maggie loved the movie and the popcorn and snacks equally as well. I wasn't crazy about it for the kids and don't think we will be seeing it again, but I don't think Maggie liked it enough to ask to so that is good. We just hung out at the house yesterday and the kids played alot upstairs. At one point Joe and I heard Owen sining the clean up song and new that had to be bad news. He had dumped out a whole box of teddy puffs on the playroom floor. He was singing the song but as you can see he made no attempt to pick them up.










Today we went to church and Owen did super. He didn't cry at all after I dropped him off and played the entire time. So that was a huge step for him. After church we came home for lunch and Joe took Maggie fishing while Owen and I napped. Maggie caught 2 fish in about 5 minutes Joe said. After getting the fish so fast she was bored and didn't want to fish anymore. He took them to the park tonight while Neila and I walked. Tommorow we are having a cookout with Nick, Neila, Carson, Preston, Shannon and their girls, Bella and Kylie. Well, that is what has been going on with us. The pool is opened now so that is where we hope to start spending lots of our time.