Visitors

Kristine and her son Spencer drove from Washington to visit us.

My Mom and Dad rented a big van and came to visit us, too. They brought Valerie and her two boys, Charlene and her two kids, Calli and her son Derik, Janiel and her baby, and Kim.

And my brother Erik and Tasha and their two kids came.

19 visitors plus our family of five all in the same house.

Here are half of my parents grandchildren.

It was funny watching all the grown-ups with their cameras trying to get a good shot. The kids never sit still.

 

Me and my six sisters. It was so good to be with them. I wish we lived closer.

The Death Ride

The death ride is over. B did good, he was well trained it was a success. It was a long day in the saddle. 129 miles and 15,000 feet of climbing, 5 mountain passes and elevations up to 8,700 ft.

I'm so proud of my man. People were always stopping me at church to tell me how good my husband looked. I like it when people tell me my husband is hot. Once I told a friend that her husband had great hair. She gave me a funny look and I got the feeling she felt threatened by my noticing. All I could think was, "Dude, you should be proud that your husband has great hair. He's YOUR husband!"

I'm proud of B's perfect smile and good hair. Not to mention his perfectly blue eyes. He is so super strong. Seriously. He's a manly man.

But the best thing about him is his strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He leads our family by his righteous example and he does his best to be obedient to God's commandments. We've been so so blessed because of it.

I love him. Next month we've been married ten years. TEN YEARS!! It feels like two. The time has just flown by and sometimes I feel like I'm still just getting to know him.

Thanks for staying with me, baby. I knew when we were dating that you would always love me, and it made me feel safe. You are "home" to me. I'm so glad that we're together.

The Notary

We met with a Notary recently and all three kids were with us. We tried to keep them occupied with candy and toys while we tried to take care of business. They did fine, but once the Notary took out her stamp to do her job, Edmond saw it's capabilites and his eyes widened with excitement. He asked for some paper to draw on so I handed him some from my purse. He immediately grabbed the notary stamp and before anyone could say anything he quickly notarized his drawing paper.

All us adults looked at each other and then smiled. The boy had found his dream job.

He quickly notarized his drawing paper several more times, and was very official and business-like about it. He'd found his niche.

Summer has been...

 Summer has been filled with moments like these. Scarlett and her Daddy laughing and playing together.

The boys making endless projects with legos and these waffle thingys. Their favorite things to make are planes, jets, and robots.

 Huge swimming groups at our house. This kids have so much fun with their friends.

Little girls in pink.

Little boys who wrestle and run around the house all day long.

Pigtails and books.

And a pumpkin pie on the day it rained. We were reading the book "Halloween Pie" and the boys decided they wanted one. So we made a pumpkin pie. The boys helped with the whole thing. They love to cook. Sometimes we'll turn on the Food Network and watch whatever is on. The boys watch it like they're watching Octonauts. They love it. When I try to turn it off they say, "No, wait Mom, I want to watch her make cupcakes!"

B took the kids on a bike ride and they picked wild blackberries. Today we were mounting our bikes in the driveway and the neighbor lady asked Edmond where we were going. He said, "We're going on a bike ride, but just around the block. We can't go very far because the baby in my Mom's belly makes her feel sick."

My neighbor raised her eyebrows and looked at me and said, "Was that a secret?"

"No." I laughed. "I'm pregnant again and it's no secret."

Edmond has an obsession with balloons. He's constantly blowing them up. The other day I couldn't find the boys and I finally went out to the garage and found them using the bike pump to blow up balloons. Edmond held the balloon up to the hose while Charlie pumped the handle up and down. Teamwork.

Edmond also likes to take them oustide and fill them up with water.

Scarlett and I taking a nap together. I'm holding her and she's holding her baby.

We're cute like that.

There are no words to describe the beauty I see here.

These curlers stayed in for about five minutes.

A rare Saturday at the splash park with cousins and Daddy didn't have a bike ride and joined us.

The Bike Parade

 It wasn't a bike race. It was a parade. But if you ask the boys, it was a race, and they won.

They were so proud of themselves for "winning the race".

That day I made some patriotic oreo truffles

And B took the boys and cousin Spencer to see fireworks while I stayed home with sleeping Scarlett. B said the boys "ooo'd and awed" through the whole thing. They kept jumping up and pointing and laughing at each one. They loved it.

The Train

 Papa gave the boys a train that he had bought with B when B was a little boy. It's an heirloom and super special. We set it up in the boys room and they played with it for about a month, until Mommy got sick of not being able to vacuum in there so we took it down with promises that we would set it up again at Christmas time.

The boys were up there every day playing with it and wearing their little conductor hats.

 Scarlett was a good girl and never touched it. She just sat and watched it go around and around, saying "Choo choo choo".

 The boys made a tunnel for it with a diaper box. They were so proud of their creation.