War Paint!

As I was sitting on the steps watching the kids play and talking with Julie, Shayne approached me with a wet piece of chalk. Before I knew it I was her art project. She was so cute with her compliments and her praise as she colored on me, saying things like "your doing good, mom" and "you look so beautiful" and "almost done...". I just couldn't help but let her finish. After She was done with me I volunteered her to work on Julie. She returned to my face at one point making it darker and bigger then her original lines hence the reason my face is way blue-er than Julie's. We decided that it was war paint and we kept it on for several hours after that. Thanks, Shayne for my beautiful face. :)

As we posed for the picture I realized that Shayne was in it as our artist, Julie and I had our faces painted but Payton didn't quite fit... so I borrowed shayne's chalk and helped him fit in a little.

Summer fun

Shayne coloring with chalk on the wet patio out back.

She's becoming quite the artist and her imagination for

what's she's drawing is getting good too.

Julie remembered that she had a raspberry bush yesterday evening and went out and picked all the ripe ones...

Gabe was more than willing to relieve her of the bowl as soon as she finished picking.

Here's happy little Payton Michael playing in the water and showing off his teeth for the camera.

Easily Entertained...

We had a little kiddie pool set up in the yard the last couple days and it was getting pretty dirty so I dumped all the water out on the patio. It didn't take Payton long to realize the fun a person can have in a puddle... He stayed there and splashed for a long time just as happy as can be.

Here's a picture of his saggy drawers. I also took this one to show how he's already climbing and pulling himself up on things. He's mastered the first step and can just barely get himself up to the second. He's really only been crawling pretty good for a week or so. This is a lot more progress this quick than either of my other two did. He's one determined little guy.

What do you remember??

Okay, so as I was checking Amy's blog last night I found this little game. Feel free to play it if you want.

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.So let's have it! Don't be shy! What do you remember? Anything funny, embarrassing, silly...

Summer cut... finally

I have been needing to cut Gabriel's hair for the last few weeks but couldn't find my clippers nor the time to do it. But on sunday after we left the cabin from our reunion we went to my grandma's house in Idaho Falls to visit her. It was there that I asked my brother, Josh, to finally get rid of that floppy hair that had been decorating the tops of his ears. In usual form, he put up a good fight and it took several of us either holding, or distracting him. I'm so glad its done, and he looks so handsome. It really makes those blue eyes stand out.

Our Family Reunion

Last Thursday we started a new family tradition. Every year, in the past, we've gone to a family reunion on my dad's side of the family. Well, we started to realize that we were getting kind of big enough with just us. So we decided to try having our own family reunion with all us siblings and our kids this year. I have to say... it was so awesome! We decided to go to Victor, Idaho to a cabin that we rented there... and it was beautiful! It had 4 really nice bedrooms and 5 bathrooms and enough room everywhere else to put air mattresses for the rest of the adults. Then the kids just scattered about on the floors of every room. We had such a great time, we went to a parade on the morning of the 4th and did our own fireworks that night. On the 5th we went to String Lake at Teton National Park. We did crafts and played games and mostly just enjoyed each others company. It was a great weekend and I hope we do it again.

The Cabin in Idaho

Our home sweet home for 4 days... So beautiful!!

Day at the Lake

Hollywood

Um... Yes, She is posing!! Hence the reason that her nickname is Hollywood. But she sure is cute, huh?

Peas in a pod

I guess a visit with family just wouldn't be complete without a good picture of grandpa and gabe. Gabe is grandpa's shadow from the minute they get together. He woke up in the morning, every morning, for the past week and said "I need my gampa", and throughout the day if they were seperated he'd say "I gotta go find my gampa". He completely adores him and I'm pretty sure that the feeling is mutual. I think dad likes to be adored as well. Thanks for all your help with my little stinker, Dad. Its amazing how much difference it makes knowing that one of your kids is always being looked after, it really lightened my load.

Shayne and Gabe Havin Fun!

Just some random pictures of Shayne and Gabe while at the cabin in Victor, Id. The of Shayne on the right side was a posed shot by her... She had just put lip lip (lip gloss) on and she asked me to take a picture of her "beautiful lips". Oh dear! I may be in trouble in about ten years.

Just the Four of us

So, after we took pictures with the entire family we took individual family pictures. I'm not possitive but I think Gabriel was about done. These are the ones we took of the four of us, the bottom one is probably the best but its hard to say when there's a screaming kid in all three... Ahh the memories we make. He'll love that one when he's in high school. :)

which one?

K. Here's the better of the two family pictures we took... its the same picture but one is turned to that antique black and white where you can still see who is wearing red, white or blue. But here's a little poll: which one would be better blown up to like an 8x10??

Grandma Brenda's House

Because our family reunion was in Idaho we were able to visit Grandma Brenda (Matt's Mom). We went for lunch and visited for an hour or so before I had to take off with my family. The kids were great with her and recognized her as their grandma as well which meant a lot to me, and her as well, I'm sure. They were also able to see their cousins on that side of the family, Devon and Devery, as well as their aunt and uncle. The picture on the left is blurry cause I was trying to snap it quickly before Gabe jetted out of the picture again, but I posted it cause it was the only one with all 5 grandkids. Thanks for a nice afternoon, Brenda. I know the kids really enjoyed it.