Happy Birthday Hannah #7

For Hannah's birthday, she really wanted to go get a mani-pedi.   No complaints here.  We went to a place in town that has a kiddie chair.  It looks like a huge bear.  Its just her size and she can watch a movie too.  It was kind of exciting though because they started the water in the tub and walked off and it overflowed all over the floor.  I wasn't sure how to turn it off and finally the ladies came and cleaned up the mess.  Oops!  Here are her cute toes and fingernails.

Hannah wanted this M&M cake.  It has m&m's on the outside and when you cut into it, more m&m's spill out.   The poor cake was trying to break apart from the weight of the candy though.  It was a pretty yummy cake though and she loved it!

We invited my family over and since its Liam's birthday too, we did a 2 for 1!   Hannah and Liam are like twins separated at birth.  They are 15 min. apart.  They compliment each other too.  

Hannah is so smart and loves music.  She dances and sings and likes all things girly.  

Happy Birthday Hannah girl!

First Day of School 2013

First day of School 2013.  

Garrett is in 6th grade at Ammon Elementary.

His teacher is Dr. Willey

What a handsome kid.   New contacts for a new school year!

Ryan wishes he could go to school too!  One more year buddy.

Hannah is in 1st grade the year.  

Her teacher is Mrs. Stanger.

What a beautiful girl!

Look at those tan legs!

First day of school is always so exciting!  Glad they are happy.

Here is Hannah, waiting in line to go into her new classroom.

Garrett gets to do crossing guard duty as a 6th grader.  He thinks he is pretty big stuff!

Ryan is excited for them, but sad to see them go.  Welcome to school, 2013!

Bear Lake

Lately, we have tried to make a trip to Bear Lake every summer.  This year we went camping with our friends the Hopkins and also met up with my brother Doug and his family, along with their friends Mark and Misty Richardson and Joyce and Carlan Mullen.   Tons of fun.  Doug brought a boat borrowed from a neighbor and we rented a stand up paddle board while we were down there.  Here is proof I was on it.  It was fun but took some getting used to and finding your balance.  The very next day, though, I was kneeling on it and was kind of getting off/kinda getting bucked off and was in some pretty shallow water.  I put my right leg down to catch myself and ended up twisting my left knee (still on the board) and spraining it.  (MRI and Physical therapy to follow in the fall for me).
Anyway....

It was still very fun to be at the lake.  Warm water, not very many people, sand, sun, relaxation.  My kind of fun.  I love that it is so shallow that I don't worry too much about the kids.

The kids mostly hang out in the super shallow areas anyway.  Its warmer there.  Here is Karsten, Blake and Jayden.

Here is Creedance and Hannah, also enjoying the shallow water and warm sand.  

Ryan in the warm water too!
They played a lot on the boat and I have vidoes of that to prove it.  Just can't figure out how to get them on here!
Anyway...can't wait to go next year with my family!

Happy Birthday Blake #2

My baby turned 2 on July 25.  What a sweetheart!   He is so into trucks and trains and anything with wheels.  The bubble lawnmower from grandma was a big hit! 

Who can resist that face?   He really wanted this rubbery alligator for his birthday so Garrett drew an alligator on his cake.  He carries that thing everywhere!

Waiting for his presents.  No peeking!

All my kids.  Look how tan they are!  This is Blake's little train he got for his birthday.  He loved it!   It was hard to get all 4 kids to look the same way and not be silly.  See Hannah's face?    At two years old Blake is a sweet little boy.  He loves doing whatever big brothers or his sister are doing.  He loves animals, but only to look at in a book.  Don't even think about bringing a live animal near him.  If you ask him "who loves you?"  He'll say "mommy do."  or daddy do or whever is asking him at that time.  He's clever that way.  Well guess what Blake?  Who loves you?   Mommy do.

Family togetherness

One night I came home from work and found Blaine and the kids wrapping our dining room table in plastic wrap.   The kids were so excited, asking if they could get out ice cream yet.  I was confused but soon found out.  We were going to all have some ice cream.  Blaine dumped it on the table, poured chocolate sauce on it and everyone took a spoon and dug in.

The kids were loving this!   Coolest dad ever!

I have to admit, it was lots of fun!   And easy clean up-love that!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday to my Dad (in July!)    The coolest guy I know!

Happy Birthday Garrett!

Garrett turned 11 this year.  On his birthday, we had a party out at the fishing pond.  He invited his friends, we had lunch, did a little fishing and a lot of swimming.  Perfect fun for 11 year old boys!

Garrett and Bridger

Colton

Topher

Karsten

The whole crew:  Noah in back, Karsten, Topher, Garrett & Bridger in the boat, Colton floating in the front.

The boys swam and swam and swam.  We had a hard time getting them out, they were having so much fun!

After dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe, we went back home and enjoyed the fabulously warm evening.  Grandma and Grandpa Purcell came over and showered Garrett with some fun t-shirts and new church clothes!   Garrett got his other presents from the family as well, including getting contact lenses!  (I was so excited when I got contacts and Garrett was very excited too!  He had an eye doctor appointment the next day!)

Grandma brought bubbles for everyone!

Hannah got Garrett some Jones soda, his favorite!

Grandma and Grandpa had dinner of leftover sandwich (from the birthday lunch at the pond).  I had to include this picture of my dad talking to Blake.  Its classic!   Overall, Garrett had a great birthday spent with family and friends!  Happy 11th birthday Garrett!!

Lovin' Summer!

Right after Memorial Day, the weather got real warm.  Hey, when you are used to 60 degree weather, high 70's feel like a heat wave.  I can't remember how warm it was this day but it was in the 80's at least.  Time to break out the kiddie pool, water slide and lawn chairs for sure.

The kids sure thought it was warm enough to be playing in the water and lounging in the sun.  Me too!

I love seeing my kids hang out together like this!  

Love these guys, especially like this.  Playing together, hanging out in the sun! 

We love summer around here and this was just a small taste of how much we lived in swim suits this summer!

Garrett's Arrow of Light

In May, Garrett received his Arrow of Light award.  

They had a special ceremony for it.  There is a wonderful family in our district that puts on a great ceremony, filled with lots of Native American stuff and explains everything to the boys.  Very cool.

This is the group that puts it on.  You could get your picture taken with them.  Garrett was kind of embarrssed to do this but I'm glad he did.  I think its a great picture!

Later that month, our pack had a bridging ceremony for the boys turning 11.  Garrett got a new scout shirt and a new neckerchief for this event.  There is a lady in our ward who has hand painted the neckerchiefs for many many years for the scouts. No two are alike.  I am glad Garrett was able to have one of these special items.  Here is Garrett with Grandma Purcell who came for the bridging ceremony.

Garrett with Mom and Dad.  We are so proud of him.   As a webelos scout, he earned all 20 activity pins.  That's a huge accomplishment and we know he'll do well as an 11 year old scout and beyond!

Blaine's trip to Washington

Ok, I wasn't going to write about this because I wasn't there but the pictures are too pretty to not share.   

In April, Blaine's sister Rachelle got married up near Seattle Washington.  Blaine, along with his sister Shareese and brother Clifton, his wife Jenn and their sons Brandon and Gavin drove up to see her get married.  It was a quick trip and while they had a good time, they were exhausted when they got home.  I could not go because I had to work.   Here is Rachelle with her husband Darren.

During the time they were in Washington, there was a tulip festival going on.  They drove around and saw fields of flowers-daffodils and tulips everywhere.  I wish I could have been there to see it!

Field of daffodils.  It was raining, obviously.

Pretty barn with tulip fields.

Rows and rows of tulips.

They went to this place called Tulip Town.  Little Holland knock off, I think.

More tulips.  I love seeing all the colors.

So pretty!!

I wish my garden looked like this in the spring!