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.

phone pictures

Here's a few more pictures from my phone. I actually just switched my phone out a couple weeks ago because it was having problems and I lost a ton of pictures when they switched for a new phone. Now that "new" phone has been having different problems so I got yet another one and didn't wanna lose the few pictures that I had. My phone doesn't take very good pictures but they're better then nothing. Three of these are from the lake with the Reynolds in Vernal. I couldn't get Shayne to hold still long enough to get one of her but the boys were a little easier of targets.

Mobility

Okay, so I switched phones, again, and didn't want to lose the few pictures that I had so I sent them to my email. Unfortunately my phone doesn't take the best pictures but they'll do for now. This picture was a moment of "how did you do that". We went to McDonalds one day and got the kids happy meals on the way home from somewhere. When we got home Gabriel had fallen asleep in the car so I rolled down the windows, parked in the shade, and sat on a blanket just outside the car to have a picnic with Shayne and Payton. Well, I decided that the short nap Gabe would obtain in the car wouldn't be as good as I'd like, so I went to the car to wake him up and returned to a huge mess. My little Payton was not quite as immobile as I thought. He had squirmed over to my hot mustard sauce and dumped it everywhere. He was still sucking on the little dipping sauce cup when I got back! And so it begins... ha ha.

Clean up, Clean up... everybody do your share.

A couple days ago I walked outside to check on the kids and saw that they had completely taken the sidewalk chalk to Jeff and Julie's grill. Well a couple days later it was still there, funny how that happens, and I remembered that I hadn't gotten to clean it up yet. So I filled up a bucket of water and gave the kids each a wash cloth and they took care of business on their own. They actually had a good time doing it too. It was just so cute seeing them working together I had to take a picture.

You Are An ENFJ

The Giver You strive to maintain harmony in relationships, and usually succeed. Articulate and enthusiastic, you are good at making personal connections. Sometimes you idealize relationships too much - and end up being let down. You find the most energy and comfort in social situations ... where you shine. In love, you are very protective and supporting. However, you do need to "feel special" - and it's quite easy for you to get jealous. At work, you are a natural leader. You can help people discover their greatest potential. You would make a good writer, human resources director, or psychologist. How you see yourself: Trusting, idealistic, and expressive When other people don't get you, they see you as: Bossy, inappropriate, and loud

What's" Your Personality Type?

Weekend away

So this last weekend we loaded up the car and took a little road trip to Vernal, Ut to see my good friend Shawny and her family. We got there thursday night and left on Monday. We had so much fun and it was so great to see her. She has three kids too and they all played great together. We did so many fun things while we were there... Friday we played in the yard and the kids got all wet, then that night we went to a bbq for dinner at their friends house. It was a blast. Saturday we went to the lake just outside of town. Their friends had a boat and we all had such a great time. Sunday we went to church then they had a family birthday party that we all went to. By Monday we were all worn out but we still wanted to go more... we were going to go to the dinosaur museum there but it didn't work out... so we headed home that evening. Thanks so much Shawny and Kelly for an awesome weekend. We had so much fun and we can't wait to come bug you guys again.

Friends and Fun!

Gabe playing in the sunshine. Yeah, I think he got his mother's skin. Sorry little man.

































This picture is actually evidence. You see, at the end of the day we all got a bit sunburned and I thought I was being so careful... Payton was sitting in the shade to the left there but apparently I didn't take the sun moving so much into account. D'oh!






The kids had so much fun just playing in the water in the yard. Shawny filled up the kiddie pool and put it at the bottom of their slide and the kids dumped buckets of water down the slide to make it slippery. It was so much fun, especially when my little ones didn't land on their feet at the bottom. :)
































Here's Dason and Shayne on the swings. They are a week apart in age and Shayne was so glad to have friends to play with. She actually got along really well with 5year old Makayla... Girls stick together you know.




















We had a picnic on the lawn while the kids played and at one point after they all were about done with their food, I got up to take pictures of all the kids and turned around to see Shayne and Gabe feeding the dogs some Cheetos, in turns... "There's one for you, and now one for you..." It was one of those chuckle on the inside but have to be stern on the outside moments.

COOL DUDE!

Ya, those are mine!! And I'd claim them anyday!

Lemons or lemonade?

I was talking to my friend yesterday and I was pointing out how she always takes the "lemons" in life and turns them to "lemonade". I made the comment that I needed to be better at that, along with lots of other things. However, a small opportunity came about this morning that gave me the chance to improve on this matter. As I was making breakfast I gave the kids yogurt to hold them over. I'm not sure what it is about yogurt, or applesauce, or even dips for that matter but something about them says to little kids "please use me as paint instead of food". This was the case this morning with the yogurt and despite my attempts to controll the situation it ended up in hair on clothes and there was a masterpiece on the table and even floor. A real work of art! This is the part that is kind of lemon-y. So I take a deep breath and open the back door and send the kids out while I try to clean up the mess. I'm aware that I still have to clean them off too when I remember the conversation just yesterday and the thought hits me that maybe scrubbing them off with a wash cloth and mumbling words of bitterness isn't the only option here. Instead I filled up the kiddie pool in the backyard, put on swimsuits and showed the kids their first water fight. The kids had such a blast and Shayne even got pretty good at getting me with the sqirtter. Thank heavens the Lord gives us little prompts each day to help us work toward becoming better people. And thanks Camille for being such an example to me!

Happy Fathers Day

The kids had such a good time working on their gift for Fathers Day! Well at least Gabe and Shayne did... Payton's patience wore out by the time we took pictures. I know its a little dorky but I figured its something that he can keep and look back on when they're bigger. When I showed Shayne the pictures before I loaded them on the computer she said, "Dad is really gonna love his present!" It was really cute how excited she was, I only wish we would've gotten it mailed and to him in time... I actually thought that Fathers Day was next Sunday so in my efforts to be on the ball I barely made it in time to take pictures and send them for Fathers Day. Sorry Matt! Happy Fathers Day anyway!

Nice Wheels!!

Thank heavens for craigslist...

Gabe is a fanatic about wanting to drive. He wants to drive my car all the time so when Matt was here last week he got the idea of looking for a two seater hot wheel. He was gonna get them a new one and then we found this one on craigslist and its just perfect for them. This picture has them sitting backwards of what they ususally do though. Gabe usually HAS to drive and Shayne has legs long enough that she can reach the pedal from the passenger seat. Its just perfect for the two of them! They've already had so much fun together playing with it.

Helping with breakfast

The other morning while I was making breakfast the kids found some "hats" in the cupboard. Luckily there were two or I would've been breaking up the fight over who's turn it was to wear the hat. Ha ha...

And the moral of the story is... I have no idea what I made for breakfast that morning but thank heavens for sweet little senses of humor that remind us that it doesn't really matter anyway.

P.S. Don't worry we washed the bowls when they were done.

Good Choice Chart Update

Congratulations Shayne!!

Shayne has been working really hard on her good choices and since her first accomplishment of getting to go to ice cream she has since gone to the store to pick out a small prize, got to download a new episode of one of her favorite shows, take a trip to the pet store (twice) and finally she reached her final goal. She had helped me come up with the prizes along the way and the final one was to go to the movie theatre and watch Kung Fu Panda. I'm so proud of her for all the improvements she's made! Great job Shayne, I love you sweetie!!