To Grandmother's House We Go

My cousin (& Rick's 10th cousin), Jayne, stopped to stay the night last on Monday on her way to St. Louis for a friend's wedding.

On Tuesday morning, just before hitting the road again, she asked if she should take any kids with her to see Grandma. At first, I didn't think much of it, but then all of the kids really wanted to go. Andrew got his shoes on immediately & was so ready! We tried to quickly pack up Lexie so she could go & then Joseph insisted he would be alright to go. So, we packed him up as well. Andrew was sad he couldn't go (he had his trip bag all ready & didn't unpack it for 2 days) but gratefully, our neighbor asked if he could come over & play. So, Andrew wasn't around when Lexie & Joseph left.

I can't believe I let them go! We all missed them terribly, but they got spoiled rotten on their trip & loved every minute of it! On the way out there they had fun in the car & stopped & took fun pictures! And Jayne even let them pick out gum & their own gatorade! (They still talk about it.)

They did fun crafts every day with Aunt Janae & Grandma everyday! They played lots, watched movies, went to the museum with Uncle Nathan & lots of other fun things!

Uncle Nathan even got Lexie a cake so they could celebrate her birthday early!

They came home last night & brought along my cousin, Jessie, Jayne's sister, with them. It was great getting to see both of them & chatting with them. They kids had a blast with Aunt Jayne & Aunt Jessie, as they now call them. They stayed for Church Sunday morning & we had lots of twinner looks going on (it was so cute)!

Thank you so much, Mom, Janae, & Nathan for taking such great care of them in Kansas & entertaining & spoiling them so well. And thank you, Jayne & Jessie, for taking such great care of them in the car & letting them watch movies & talking with them so much! They love all of you so much & every day since I've heard something about one of you & this trip. Thank you so much, Jayne, for offering to take them in the first place on this special trip! They had an absolute blast! Thank you all, so very much!

Another Lost Tooth

While Lexie was in Kansas, she lost another tooth! It was crazy how different her smile looked after not seeing her for a few days! But, she's still as cute as ever!

We Miss You, Too!

We're so excited to see you tomorrow! We're so glad you guys are having so much fun! Thanks for being so good & be great helpers. We sure miss you, too!

Love,

Mom, Dad, Andrew, & Eliza

Where's the Pause Button?

It's offical, Eliza is 9 months old! She's growing up way too fast. But we all still adore her & she adores each of her siblings. With Lexie & Joseph visiting Grandma & family in Kansas, it's really hit me how integral each of the kids are to the family & play such a special role in it. We sure miss them but are excited for them to come home. It's been great having some one on one time with Andrew & working with him. But he sure misses his big brother & sister. He was not meant to be the oldest child at all. We're grateful for each of our kiddos & have wished for this pause button many times. But, there also hasn't been a stage we haven't loved with any of them. We love watching them learn & grow & their talents develop. We're excited to see what the next 9 months brings for them. (No, that's not an announcement.)

Callings: Past, Present, Future

I had an interesting discussion this week.

Swimming

We've done a ton of swimming this summer. Unfortunately, I always forget to take pictures. The older 3 kiddos have loved their swimming lessons this year & are getting better each time.

Today we went swimming at the neighborhood pool of one of our friends. The kids had a blast. Andrew loved chillin' in the pool.

And Lexie & Joseph loved going down the waterslide. They did that over and over for about an hour & a half of the 2 hours we were there.

Summer sure is fun! I'm gonna miss all of this when school starts again.

Top of the Morning...

Our breakfast was sure happy to greet us this morning.

Well, maybe not every ones...

But it sure was yummy!

Blast Off!

We had a great afternoon taking turns blasting off Joseph's rocket. Andrew's was definitely the best. It went up on the roof. You gotta love fun quiet afternoons like this.

Yay For Green!

Our grass has never been greener (well, maybe when we first planted it, but this has gotta be close).

(Eliza is usually clothed-she soiled 2 outfits & that was good enough for one day.)

The kids love to play out back & I love watching them be goofy! They really have great imaginations. I hope they keep them for many years to come.
Some daisies & day lilies.


Sister loving her brother!

I love the green & am grateful for all of the rain we've been getting! There have been some awesome lightning storms. And hopefully all of this rain will keep our water bill down (since our hose was on all night one night-not the smartest thing we've ever done). Anyway, we love green!

Stairs, Check!

This little girl is a cruiser! I can put her down in one room & before I know it she's in the next. She is fast! I should get her on video sometime soon. She's learned to pull herself up on the couch & beds to standing position. And tonight while I was making dinner she learned a new trick of which she seems quite proud, but I'm not so sure I'm ready for.

Yep, she's a climber! And why she thinks it's fun to crawl up sideways I have no idea. None of the other kiddos ever attempted this, let alone on their first day. But she went up a few steps like this & it freaked me out.

And I know we've said this, but this little sister adores her big brother, Andrew!

(Especially when he shares banana with her!)

Trip to Idaho

We enjoyed a week long trip to Idaho to see Rick's family. We spent the first few days in Meridian at his parent's & brother's house. On the trip out we finally stopped at Shoshone Falls. Rick's been wanting to do this for years. Last year we tried but there was a fire which closed the roads to it. But, we finally made it. It was pretty.

The Falls.

Looking west down the Snake River.

Our cheesy boy.

We spent a quiet Sunday with everyone & got to meet our new cousins, the triplets. They are 2 weeks younger than Eliza.

Joseph & Tyson.

Lexie & Aniston.

Andrew & super happy Tyson.

Lots o' babies: Lexie, Bergen, Aniston, Makenna, Eliza, Cheryl, & Tyson.

Liza loving Aniston (I think).

Then we enjoyed the 4th. The kids played games & went swimming. (Again, I'm terrible at remembering to take pictures of everything! Rick's mom took a ton & one of these days I'll bug her for some...) Here are the kiddos in their festive wear.

Here's Liza & the triplets in their stroller.

On Tuesday, we all headed up to a cabin in Tamarack, ID until Saturday. The cabin had a theater room with a stage which the cousins immediately decided to use for a talent show. They made little signs & handed out tickets. They had a great time putting it together. Here are some of the videos from our kids. Lexie also sang "Families Can Be Together Forever" but I haven't edited down that one yet.

Here's Joseph & his finger puppets.

Here's Lexie doing some of her dance recital dances.

Here's Joseph doing some of his memorized scriptures/Articles of Faith.

Here's Andrew doing his favorite scripture. Unfortunately, I can never get him on video doing it 100% correctly, but that is alright, he's still cute.

We did lots of fun things (of which I have no pictures) though. We did puzzles, played games, ate yummy food, went swimming, sat in the hot tub, went boating & tubing, played with cousins, did lots of crafts with Aunt Stephanie, rode bikes & scooters, were silly, colored & so much more!

We went for nature walks & collected lots of wild flowers. The kids loved pressing some of the flowers with Aunt Stephanie.

Here are most of them at the end. We also saw some deer & humming birds on our walk & I saw a fox one evening walking by the cabin. Gotta love nature!

It was fun seeing everyone. It's amazing how much family we've been able to see in just a few short weeks! Thanks for a great vacation!! Summer is so much fun!

Trip Thru Utah

We went on a trip out to Idaho last week but to split up the long drive we spent some time with Cheryl's family in Utah. We had a great time playing with so many cousins. The kids loved having so many to play with and cater to their every desire. I didn't get too many pictures but we went swimming, went to a talent show (& the kids & some cousins put on their own as well), went on walks, played outside, got nails painted (they thought that was so awesome!) & just enjoyed chatting with everyone. Thanks for the wonderful hospitality!

This is a picture of the crazy hail storm we went through near Price.

Another highlight was getting to meet our new little cousin, Natalie. It's crazy, she's my baby brother's baby. Who told him he was old enough to be a Dad? Eliza & Natalie are a day under 5 months apart.
Lexie enjoyed holding her.

And Eliza loved her as well & liked giving her lots of kisses. (I know it looks like she was trying to eat her & I think Natalie got a little nervous. So funny!) It was really cute.


We also had to take pictures in their twiner outfits. (We're sad we missed our other little cousin, Josie, so they could have been tripleters in their outfits.)


I'm sure they're going to be such great buddies as they get older.