A little Slip and Slide Fun!

Our kids wanted one last summer fling before school started, so we invited about 20 families to join us for a Family Night Potluck with a little slip and slide action. The kids had a lot of fun slipping, sliding, crashing and racing down the 100 foot long slip and slide.

Buddies Ky and Chase

Buddies Alaina and Shavon

And the award for the best fall goes to... Chase Kissell

Hudson couldn't wait for his swim suit. He just jumped right into a bucket of water and had a blast splashing around.

After dinner a few of the dads were ready to get wet so they came over to play with the kids.

Going for a ride!

Once the Adults took over the slip and slide, the kids had fun playing in the sand or shall I say MUD.

AND THEN THE REAL RACES BEGAN!!!

That's right, Dans cheating, and it's caught on camera. 

Even when going  down solo the dads remained focused and intense. After partially loosing his shorts on the last try, we think Jason is just praying that all will go smother at the end of this ride. 

Helping Hands!

Thus Ended The Summer Fun!! 

Dan has issued the challenge for the next time around. He dares someone to come take his championship belt away. Competitive? Maybe just a little!

It was fun! A big thanks to all the families that showed up to enjoy the fun. 

Total Bummer

So I know I just announced that I'm pregnant but it looks like this is going to be miscarriage #2 for the Ostler's. Disappointed doesn't begin to describe how I feel right now. This pregnancy was such a lifesaver for me. It was what was helping me get over my last miscarriage. It was giving me something to look forward to and in all honestly I was super excited. Now it has just left me wondering what I'm doing wrong. I thought after having 5 healthy kids I had this whole having babies thing down. What am I missing? Is it because I'm fat? Do I need to become a perfect mom to the kids I already have before I'll be given anymore? Do I need to have the eight passenger car actually purchased before I get pregnant with #6? Are my hormones out of whack? Is my body done having kids? (It seems a little early for menopause) 

I feel really sad and frustrated knowing there are more spirits that need to come to our family but not knowing how I'm ever going to get them here. I know this happens to everyone and that if I keep trying it will eventually work out. But I still have the emotions now. I still want the children now. I still don't like going through this and I defiantly want off this emotional roller coaster. 

I guess the Lord knows that the timing isn't right for this to happen quite yet. That is my only saving thought. God is in control. I just need to take a deep breath and keep putting my life and health together so that when the time is right in God's eyes....I will be ready and able for the children that are supposed to be mine. 

Phantom of the Opera

Dan and I had a great trip this weekend to Portland with Mike and Karri Stoker. We left town around 1:00 on Friday, got to our hotel with enough time to get checked in and all dressed up for a fun evening. We had dinner at the Marina Fish House which is a floating restaurant there on the river. After dinner we were off to Phantom of the Opera. It was our first time seeing it live and it was awesome. I couldn't believe the vocal talent on stage. The songs are so hard, yet they all hit EVERY NOTE! And not just hit the notes. They killed it. The performance was really fun to watch, and  I loved the theatrics and sets. 

The next morning we went to the Portland Temple. We did a session there which is always a joy for us. We love that temple and have a ton of personal history there. I was endowed there and prior to the Tri Cities getting our own temple, we actually attended that temple very regularly. With friends in Portland we found it really fun and easy to justify going there instead of Seattle when the time came to go and serve.

On the way home from the temple, we hit an outlet mall and did some shopping. The Stokers ended up with a bag or two of something, but Dan and I left with only a smoothie. Fun Times none the less. 

PHANTOM WEEKEND WAS A HUGE SUCCESS! Cant wait to do it again. 

Silverwood

Silverwood here we come! I mean CAME! That's right, we hit the biggest amusement park in the region with our kids and our good friends Annette and Jacob Rose and children. 

The kids had a lot of fun getting warmed up on all of the kiddie rides.

Then it was off to Coaster Alley. We had a blast riding all of the biggest and best coasters and thrill rides. 

The Newest roller coaster is called Aftershock. This one that takes you up 20 stories high, dangles you face down for a few seconds and then drops you into a free fall straight to your death. I mean.....drops you until you think you are about to die, when suddenly it whisks you into a double loop twisty thingy at mach 5 speed. Then rockets you back up the same 20 stories and suspends you in air with your back to the ground this time around. And of course, drops you back down the death drop (backwards this time), only to take you all the way through the ride backwards this time. YEAH WE DID IT! A couple times in fact. And even our 5 year old wanted more of it. Rock On Hailey!!

We got a little wet on a few of the rides as well.

And we made sure to hit the kids section of Boulder Beach, the water park there. 

With train rides consisting of cowboys and train robbers, magicians at the pizza parlor, and an ice skating show we were non-stop having fun this whole weekend. 

The Roses hooked us up with a really cool condo that we would love to stay at again. Especially if we could stay longer to enjoy the pool, golf course, racket ball courts, and more. 

By the time we were driving home, we were worn out. 2 full days at an amusement park can take it's toll. But we enjoyed every minute of it and would totally do it again.

Power Outage

Tonight Dan and I were in the middle of watching the "So You Think You Can Dance Finale". With 30 minutes left in the show and the winner still to be announced our power went out. We were having a huge lightning and thunder storm. Dan ran to the garage to grab some candles and flashlights and by the time he got back with all of them the power turned back on. 10 minutes later it went back out again and stayed off until about 3:30 am. Sitting inside with the violent lightning flashing through the windows made our house seem like a haunted house from out of the movies. Scary!

Dan thought it looked awesome so he talked me into going outside to watch the lightning for a while. We watched it from the front porch for a while and then went to the backyard to check it out. When we stepped out onto the deck we noticed some of our patio furniture was missing. The wind had picked it up and thrown it into the yard. It was now 20 feet from where it was supposed to be, on the deck. The metal all twisted and mangled and the glass table shattered. Sad thing is I just bought this patio set about a month ago : ( UGHHH! After picking up the glass by hand, raking, and mowing Dan still had to vacuum the grass with the shop vac to get all the pieces of glass out. What a mess.

The rest of the night was spent reading Eclipse (Book 3 in the Twilight series) by candlelight so I can get onto book 4 which just came out last week. If you haven't read them yet you should really give them a try. It took my friends about 9 months of telling me to read them and then just finally handing me the 1st book and saying read it for me to actually get started. I actually don't like reading much but I can't put these books down. Love Them!

Oh, you thought I was joking about reading without any power, did you? Nothing a little flashlight and some candles can't overcome on a night with no lights. 

Interesting night all in all. 

LAUNDRY

Can anyone relate?

(The sad thing is I still have 1 load in the washer, 1 load in the dryer, and 2 still needing to be started. UGH!)