Weekend in Midway!

We spent the weekend visiting Jeremy's family up in Midway. We had a great time...it's always fun to visit with family and relax!

We were able to swim,

go for walks,

get out the slip and slide,

fly paper airplanes,

celebrate Ali's birthday with her (I can't believe she is 17!),

the list goes on and on...it was just a GREAT weekend!

Childrens fun or morbid game???

It's probably both but it still makes me laugh!!!

For our morning walks we walk in the cemetery. Some people tell us it's weird but there is no traffic, lots of shade, and it is actually kind of peaceful. The only down side is fighting the evil spirits and the living dead--just kidding-- I mean the sprinklers and most of the time I think they feel good it's just the girls that don't like them!
Well, a couple of weeks ago Hannah read a head stone then her eyes got big and she quickly said "Mom, what does that say?" I read it to her (it said Brewer) and then Wynnie gasped and said "Is Brewer dead?" I explained to the girls that no Brewer was not dead it was just someone elses last name. So now when we are walking they look at all the head stones and try and find people they know!




This head stone said Mary and they thought it was Amare. I know it's kind-a weird but I guess it helps Hannah with her reading comprehension and it gives them something to do (beside complain) when we go on our walks!

Water fun!!!

Susie took us to a REALLY cool park today! This place had everything...a little water...a little playground...a "bigger" playground. All the kids found something they liked and had a GREAT time! (minus the sun screen in the eyes--Sorry Hannah and Sophie, it said it was tear free! Note to self: a sun burn on the face is better than sun screen in the eye--I think that is from Confucius and I'm not sure it is true!) Here are some pics...I'm sure we will be going back here A LOT this summer--it entertained the kids and it is free what more could we ask for!!!

Here is Bruce and Sophie playing on the play ground. They didn't really like the water part too much (Bruce started liking it more toward the end but Sophie really didn't care for it--she loves pools she's just not so sure of the squirting water!)

Here's Hannah, Wynnie, and Jared having fun with the squirting water--they all loved it!

Here's Susie trying to convince Sophie to come play in the water: she brings her over, she shows her how fun it is, Sophie even puts her hand in the water, and then Sophie quickly runs away to the dry play ground!! (Notice the plastic bag tied around Sophie's cast--REAL dorky and it didn't even keep the water out!!)

Here's everyone having fun!

Work on the fence continues...

and continues...and continues (someday we hope to be done with it!) Jeremy and I went out this morning (before it got too hot) and worked on the fence. You can actually start to see how nice it will look once we are finished (whenever that is.) Here some pictures so you can see our progress:

Here's the girls supervising the work (they are actually having their breakfast on the back porch!)

Here's Jeremy hard at work drilling and screwing the boards up to the fence.

Here's the girls and Jeremy standing by the one section we (almost) got done!

The missionaries also came by to help us with some yard work. We tilled up the park strip (this has be bothering Jeremy for quite some time now) and moved some of the dirt to the back. Here's some before and during pictures:

Slumber Party!

My little girl is growing up! Last night Hannah went to her first slumber party. One of her friends, Eliza, is moving soon so they had a party for her birthday. I can't believe Hannah is getting so big. It is amazing to me that she will be 6 in a month! Where does the time go? I can't say this wasn't hard for me (not as hard as her first day of kindergarten--but still hard.) Wynnie was having a hard time with it too. Her and Hannah do practically everything together (especially now that Hannah is out of school.) And it seems lately Hannah has been invited to do more "big kid" stuff--this is where their 18 months difference is a little more challenging. Hannah had a good time at the party, Wynnie had a good time hanging out with us and Brucie, and I had a little break down at about 10 pm and almost had Jeremy go and pick up Hannah (but I didn't and it was OK!)

OUCH!!!

Yesterday when I went to change Sophie's bum she ran away from me (this is a common game she likes to play) and when I reached for her arm she crumpled to the floor and started crying (this is not a normal part of the game.) So as we went about the morning I noticed that she was favoring her right arm. She wouldn't reach for anything with it and she just looked weird trying to do stuff with her left arm--something wasn't right. My dad was over so we examined her and with all our medical background put together we determined she probably needed to see a "real" doctor. The doctor sent us to the hospital to have an xray and sure enough she had a break in her radius! Poor baby! & just in time for summer(stinky cast, no swimming, STINKY cast.)



As you can tell by the picture Sophie DID NOT like the cast on!!! As the doctor was putting it on she kept kicking him (and the nurse) and swinging at them (she may just be a boxer when she grows up!) When they were done she grabbed the cast and started pulling on it as hard as she could. When that didn't work she started gnawing at it with her teeth (I don't know, she thinks she's a beaver or something!) Still no luck so she started hitting me with it (Yes, a cast to the face does hurt--quite a lot!!) The doctor told me "It may take her a while but she will get used to having it on." Trusting him I dragged her out of the office (kicking and screaming and swinging her cast at me) and sure enough when she got up this morning she doesn't even seem to notice her cast at all. We always figured it would be Wynnie getting the casts--I guess Sophie's going to give us a run for our money too!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy 55th Birthday Grandma!

We love you!

We went to her house to wish her a Happy Birthday & to help with some yard work (she can't be in the sun because of her Chemo.) Mechelle and Aaron tackled the weeds in the park strip and pretty soon the kids joined in to "help." Hannah and Payton helped out with some digging and the younger kids mostly played in the water!!

Family FUN!

Last night we had a B-B-Q at Ryan's house. It was fun to spend time with the family! We ate some GOOD food, played a little flag football & Bocce, visited, and just had a good time! Here are some of the high lights of the evening:

Having FUN!!!

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The Football game

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Bocce

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Father's Day Feast!!!

The girls spent all afternoon "making" us a picnic in their toy room. They invited us up for a Father's (and Mother's, so you can come too mom) party. We all put on our fancy hats and had a good time eating plastic cake and cookies! The girls are so cute! They LOVE their dad! And he is so great with them--I'm glad we have so many smiles and giggles in our home!

Jeremy is such a good dad. It takes a special man to be the father of so many girls (I've been told that by more than one person--and it is so true!) You can tell the girls mean the world to him--the way his eyes sparkle when he talks about them (as any proud fathers should.) The way he explains things to them and answers their never ending questions about anything from bugs, to how does an airplane fly, to why does it rain and every thing in between! I'm glad they have him in their lives, he is a great example to them of what a man should be! I'm glad that he is mine and I'm grateful that they get to call him dad!

Painting with Grandma

Whenever Grandma Nancy comes into town the girls LOVE to have her draw, and draw, and draw, and paint, and draw some more for them. She is a childrens book illustrator (and very talented) and they take advantage of every opportunity to have her draw for them and teach them how to draw. They have learned a lot and love to spend this time with their grandma.

bugs, bugs, BUGS!!!

Grandma Nancy came to visit today and she brought a bug collection for the girls. To say they love it would be a huge understatement! Aunt Mitzi helped her collect all the bugs and they put them in a cute box for the girls--these are definitely TEXAS sized bugs! The funny thing is Hannah, our princess girly girl, who absolutely HATES bugs when they are alive (she screams and runs away from ants and box elder bugs) wouldn't put the bug collection down! She carried it everywhere and wanted to show it to everyone. When I put her to bed tonight she said "Mom, where's my bugs? I need to say good night to them." And Wynnie, our SUPERman, who is a little more accepting of bugs when they are alive--she will at least come kind-of close to look at them--liked the bugs but didn't want to get to close to them! We spent a good part of last night outside turning over rocks in the flower garden looking for bugs to add to the collection (unfortunately it hasn't been quite warm enough and we weren't able to find any--but I'm sure that "Bug Collecting" is going to be a popular activity for us this summer!)

Back yard Fun!

FUN in the sun!!

Here are some pics of the girls playing in Mech and Aaron's backyard--such fun--if only that playset would get ALL the way put togeher :)

NOT so fun!

Hannah stepped on a goat-head (I absolutely hate those things!) We must have them all over because we are always finding them around (usually in the bottom of our feet!) I'm not sure if the girls can't remember "goat-head" or if it is just a game for them but they seem to call them every other animal. We've had camel-heads, whale-heads, horse-heads, etc. It used to take me a while to figure out what in the heck they were talking about, now I just know when they say "I stepped on a (fill in the blank)-head" it means I need a big hug and a kiss and possibly a band-aid.

Today I went to day camp with our activity day girls. We had a fun time learning about the temple.

Mechelle watched the girls for me and when I got back they were out back helping get the sail boat ready. (I think they are taking it out on Saturday!) The girls had a fun time playing on the boat--I'm not sure they were much help!

"There is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

Ratty (from Wind in the Willows)

Mechelle was trying to clean out the box elder bugs from inside the boat, but as we looked around there were a TON of bugs "mating!" She joked that if her boat didn't already have a name she would call it the "LOVE boat!"

Here's the bugs on the boat--you can't see them too well but there were TONS of them all over!

The kids all seemed to have a great time! I'm sure they can't wait until the boat is actually on the water not just on the trailer in the backyard!

Here they are making their best pirate faces!

A sailor’s joys are as simple as a child’s.
- Bernard Moitessier

Here are some more pictures...I told Mechelle I'm glad we have friends that have fun "toys"...it will be fun to go sailing with them!

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do than by the things you did do.So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor.Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

--Mark Twain