River 2010

Our first vacation for the summer was a trip to the River. We had a lot of fun and missed Honey and Papa immensely. (Note to Papa:I have more pictures to add, but I'm having some pixel difficulty.) I will add them when I get it figured out. Kate skied on one ski behind the boat for the first time. Parker tried it as well, but I didn't get any decent pictures of it. Maggie went on the horseshoe and William ate his first Oreo. He loved it.

Schedule...

I need to get on one.

The house is a disaster.

Something always hurts.

Maggie only has her hair done 50% of the time.

The laundry is overflowing (I swear it multiplies like rabbits).

Time to kick my rear end in gear. Neutral has not been a good place for all involved.

4th

We had our July 4th celebration at Grandma and Grandpa Teeples house tonight. We played minute to win it games, the kids swam in a little pool, we ate dinner and celebrated Matt's 36th birthday. Which is actually tomorrow. We made the kids semi-matching shirts for the day. They turned out pretty cute and were really easy. We all had a great time. And Happy Birthday to my great husband. He really is a gem.

Little Miss Naughty

bitty baby after trying to get the marker off

she now looks like the doll in Toy Story 3

bangs

watercolors

(iphone picture)

it happened, she officially became a three year old

In the past two weeks Maggie:

gave Bitty Baby permanent black marker eye shadow, fingernails, lipstick, ears and some knee decor. (i tried my best to get it off)

painted her face, legs and bedroom floor with watercolors.

got caught in the act of cutting up doll clothes.

put full foundation makeup on her face. (she actually did a pretty good job)

ate three otter pops for breakfast this morning without my knowledge.

CUT HER OWN HAIR!!! She now has bangs.

she is a naughty little rugrat. and oh how I love her.

Kate the Great

Kate turned 11 yesterday. We had a big family party with lots of food and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Thanks to everyone who came and helped Kate have a special day.

I can't believe she is eleven. It seems such a short time ago that she was three and I wondered if she would become a child that I would like (of course I have always loved her). I know, maybe I shouldn't admit it, but Kate as a three year old was difficult. And many many days I wasn't her biggest fan. Thankfully, she has become such a nice young women. Helpful, patient with her siblings, happy, obedient and just an overall joy to have in our family. We're lucky that Heavenly Father chose us to raise her.

Loving California

Anna, Maggie, Paige and Kate

William didn't mind the sand one bit. I was surprised.

But, he didn't love the water.

Parker worked on digging this hole almost the entire time we were there.

Sandy grilled cheese and fries, yum.

Anna, Maggie, Kate, Will, Parker, Claire, Paige, Miller

The Aquarium has seals named Miller and Parker (funny, right?)

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to CA to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Bridget, Paige and Claire, Noelle, Anna and Miller all came too. We had a great time. Albeit a little bit crazy with 6 children three and under. Grandma and Grandpa Miller were great sports to put up with all of us. I guess we didn't give them much choice. ;) Our two big outings for the weekend were the Long Beach Aquarium and Torrance Beach. We had a great time and the kids played really well together. I got to stay for the remainder of the week with Noelle and Bridget and their kids and Maggie and Will. Matt took our big kids home so they could go to school. We laughed a ton and had great visits with some good friends and Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa was especially hysterical the entire time we were there. He even went on a coke run every morning and got me my current favorite Coke Zero. I can't wait to go back.

note: the picture onslaught is especially for Honey and Papa

Camping...

lake mead

9 month old baby

boat

16 hours spent outdoors (mercifully shortened from an intended 48)

60 mile an hour winds...

as much fun as you can imagine in those conditions

definitely a memory made