Me and Sam's Kids

 At the beginning of summer Sam asked if I could take their kids the weekend of Amanda's birthday so they could get away. I said yes. I was glad to have them. They never ask and I sure love those kids. I was excited for the adventure and some quality time with them.

I spent the night before at Dan's house. This worked out because I woke up and went on a very early morning bike ride before I picked up the kids. I figured I better get my exercise in while I can!

 I picked them up at their house on July 31st, Amanda's birthday. I picked them up because I wanted to use their van. It is so much easier to have a van with three kids. It was great!

The first thing we did is meet up with Hannah and swim at her Aunts house. Her aunt has an awesome pool and because of corona virus none of us had really swam in a pool all summer. We had so much fun. It helped that it was almost 100 degrees at 10am.

 Audrey was in such a good mood. It was the happiest I had ever seen her. She was having so much fun!

Moki swam so much. She was in heaven. She is a great swimmer but isn't always super excited. This day she was in the water the entire time. Maybe it was the heat?

All three kids played so hard. Hannah's aunt also has a playground and so the kids did that as well. It was fun to have a space of our own to swim and play for a few hours. We left when we were all starving. We picked up Little Caesars and headed back to my place. We chilled in the afternoon because it was soooooo hot. The kids watched a movie and I napped. After dinner we ventured out to the park by my house. It was fun but it was still super hot. We didn't stay too long but got some energy out before bed. It was a first great day!

Saturday we hung out at my place in the morning. The kids did activities indoors. Then we headed to Dan's after I got breakfast cleaned up. Dan was a champion this weekend and helped a ton. He watched the kids while I exercised, which meant I stayed sane. The kids played at Dan's while I biked for an hour and a half. We then had lunch at his house. Saturday evening was Hannah's baby shower. It was at a park/splash pad in Vineyard. It was still super hot so that was great. Emerson was in heaven. The kids played so hard until it was time to go home and get ready for bed. This was also the day of the poop incident. 

As I was leaving the park I felt like my shirt smelled super weird but I wasn't sure why. Once we were home Audrey announced that she had pooped. Most the time this is just something she says to get her diaper off but occasionally she has actually gone poop. This time it was legitimate. The unfortunate thing was that she was wearing a swim diaper so she pretty much had poop specks all over her body. The kids needed a bath anyways so we headed up to the bathroom. The boys got right in the tub but she was throwing a major fit. Finally I left her sitting in the bathroom to run the poopy diaper downstairs, it was very stinky. It was also the smell that was all over my shirt. . . . boo! I came right back upstairs and Audrey had pooped on my bathroom mat. Then she had knelt in it. The boys were laughing. . . until Andrew started dry heaving because of the smell. Audrey on the other hand was freaking out. I got the boys out of the bathroom and Audrey in the tub. I still had to force her in, obviously at this point a bath was not optional. Luckily after the crying bath it was all cured with some homemade ice cream. It was another fun day with these cute kids. There were definitely more hiccups this day. Emerson fought me every time we left somewhere and everyone was tired. But we survived.

Sunday we did church in the morning. We took the sacrament with my usual Sunday mid-singles group and then went back to my house for the lesson. My lesson was good for about 5 minutes:)

Emerson is hiding behind Andrew because he did not want o be in the picture.

I was very surprised little miss Audrey agreed to wearing a dress. She looks so cute!

It was so hot so we spent the day playing inside. Then we headed to Dan's for dinner. After dinner Anthony and I snuck away for a hike up Bell's Canyon. We were definitely gone too long because I got the kids to bed super late. That was MY BAD!!!!

The hike was nice though!

Monday was my last day with the kids. The kids woke up and played while I did some chores. 

We headed to the rec center early. The outdoor kid pool is open for 8 and under two hours earlier than the rest of the outdoor pool stuff. We got there one hour before everything opened. It was great! It wasn't very crowded and the kids had a blast. We took a lunch and spent close to 4 hours there.

Andrew kept helping Audrey but half the time he was almost drowning the poor girl:) The kids played hard.

At noon all the outdoor pool attractions opened. Andrew was so excited about the slide. He did it on repeat. Emerson also wanted to try the slide. I took him one time and he loved it. Then we realized he and Andrew could ride together. They spent the afternoon going on the slide together and they were seriously the cutest!

 I hung out with this cute girl.

We had so much fun and were so tired. After swimming I tried to convince Audrey to wear this cute outfit I bought her for her birthday. She wanted nothing to do with it. Little stinker!

Audrey was so tired after the sun and swimming. She took over a two hour nap. I eventually woke her up so she would go to bed that night. She is so cute when she sleeps.

We played and had dinner at my house before returning the kids home to their parents. It really was a fun filled few days. I was exhausted after. It takes a lot of stamina to always be on your A game with kids. I love these kids so much and am always grateful to spend time with them!