July coming to an end!

Blayne came home late from work the other night and hollered at me to come down stairs and bring the camera! We had this little visitor hanging out on our Welcome sign next to out front door. I'm surprised it stayed there as long as it did. My kids were all already in bed so they were bummed when all they got to see were pictures!


We stopped by my parents last weekend, of course we can't leave until G'pa gives everyone a ride on the four wheeler! You'd of thought, by the way they were screaming, that they weren't having fun! The screaming continued as we pried them off of it to get them into the car.

July has been an extremely busy month for our family. I'm hoping August is a little more quiet especially since I will be sending not 1 but 2 kids to school in the fall. This last weekend we took a trip to OMSI with some friends. The kids had so much fun, we were slightly out numbered, 4 adults to 8 kids! I think my kids could have stayed there all day long. So many things to see and stimulate their growing minds. Gavin and Maddy both managed to get soaking wet playing with the boats in the water.




Last week sometime I mentioned to Tori, "when I was little we would go down to the duck pond and feed the ducks. So don't throw out that bread let's save it to feed the ducks." I haven't heard the end of it since. So after OMSI I promised we could go feed the ducks. I think the 15 minutes they took to use all the bread was better then the four hours we spent at OMSI. They had so much fun! It brought back so many childhood memories, the days with no cares or worries!


Blayne and Gavin went to the annual Fly-in Cruise-in yesterday. We have only entered four car shows with our VW and yesterday was Blayne's fourth trophy. He placed for "Best Foreign". I love the appreciation we continue to receive from people, strangers, that they can appreciate the time and work we put into restoring Blayne's bug. Good job babe!



All and all it's been a great month. I'll let you know for sure after our drive to Boise this upcoming weekend. Oh yeah! My friend and I bleached Blayne's hair, it's white!

Visiting the Temple

We were out in Beaverton on Saturday so we stopped by the Temple on our way home. I was having fun taking pictures with the girls when Blayne and Gavin joined us. I took a few pictures of the kids together then he was taking some pictures of the kids and I. After a few shots Victoria started screaming! Finally when she calmed down so we could comprehend what she was saying we'd figured she got stung by a wasp, then to top it off it got stuck in her hair! Blayne finally got it out and smashed it. Poor girl! We watched her closely -- seeing my little sister is allergic to yellow jackets, it's better to be safe then sorry. She was more calm than I would have imagined.
On a side note, I got some really cute pictures!







Tori wanted to take some pictures of Blayne and I. She got a few good shots but this one was the best. It's not very often I can get Blayne to sit down and take a picture let alone have it turn out.



I took these pictures of the kids at the reflection pool. I love pictures that show the sun shining on the temple, it is so beautiful. My kids are at the bottom they are just very little.




Then Blayne took over, he is a fan of using the repetitive shot mode so I have to go through several pictures to find the best one. I can't complain, I'm usually the one behind the camera and always get left out of the pictures. This photo shoot didn't last long, this is where Tori got stung a few shots into it.



Since Tori got to take pictures I promised Gavin he could take some too. So while Blayne was walking with Tori to calm her down, Gavin took over the camera. Apparently we need to work on him. He needs to know we actually need to be in the shot. Give him a break, he's only 5!

Mud Pies!

Our family went to Prineville a few weekends ago to visit Ashley and Jake. It was hot so we broke out the new kids pool Ashley bought. After a few hours of playing in it I captured a few incriminating pictures. The kids ended making the pool a murky swamp by making mud pies and putting them in it. I'm not quite sure what they were thinking..............but they were having fun!

Another bang up 4th of July!

First off, Happy Birthday to the best husband ever! Today he is lucky enough to share it with Shannon and Truman's new baby boy, Owen. Born 4th of July afternoon, WOOHOO! Good job sweet boy!






Once again things were bright, busy, and LOUD on our street! It's great to live where everyone enjoys it rather than calls the cops on each other, been there and done that.

We had G'ma Mary, G'pa Doug, Jake, Ashley, Emily, Abram, Aimee, Curt, Emily, Ryan, Nathan, Katelynn, Brianna, Chelsea, Kristen, Tony, and every neighbor in a 5 house radius hanging out with us, BBQ'ing and lighting fireworks in the street.







All in all it was a great 4th of July. Now we are looking forward to having Monday off to recover before life starts again tomorrow. Thanks to everyone that helped to contribute to making Blayne's birthday a great one!!! Plus we are going to see that new baby!!!