Birthdays Galore!

We've had a fun week!  The weather has been hot, so we have really been enjoying spending some time at the pool - we go almost every day, even if just for an hour.  The kids all love it and since most of the kids are fine with minimal attention, and David is much easier than last year, it's a great way for all of us to get outside, burn off excess energy and cool off!  

Anna had her sports camp Monday-Thursday and did some runs with the cross country team on a few of the mornings too.  She comes home on those days rather tired.

Wednesday our baby boy turned 2.  I can't believe it's been two years but I can't imagine our family with out him.  He has so much spunk!  The kids all love him and he is learning so much, so fast!  He talks a ton - unfortunately some of the words he has learned include "NO NO NO" and "MINE" and "STOP IT" and all said very loudly when he wants to have his own way.  We planned a family get together for both kids birthdays on Thursday, but we didn't want to totally ignore David's birthday, so we got a few little cupcakes and let him open his present from Grandma and Grandpa Jones and his present from us.  He loves his tricycle and I just adore that smile!  Watching him blow out the candles was hilarious, but he managed it finally without help from James.  David said he wanted Cookies for his birthday dinner, but mommy vetoed that.

Thursday morning, we had our friends over to swim and then do lunch after.  It was a lot of fun!  Anna wanted to decorate her own birthday cake.  Evie wanted to help.  So they had a lot of fun decorating.  Then in the evening Grandma and Wicket, and Aunt Sandi and Taz and Kai all came up to celebrate and have dinner and cake and ice cream.  Anna chose bean burritos for her birthday dinner and we had that and grilled chicken with salad for dinner.  yum!  

David got some fun toys and had a blast playing with them.  Once again - I just love this little boy's smile!

Anna got some nice art supplies from Grandma and Grandpa (which she has been using almost constantly ever since) and some make up from Sandi and a bike from mom and dad.  Dan wrapped up an old barbie bike for her to unwrap.  Then we explained that we would walk down to Walmart with her in the evening so she could pick her bike.

 We had a nice walk down to Walmart after we got the younger kids in bed.  Dan and Anna decided to pretend to be anime characters  and walk and run like them.  We had a lot of fun walking and talking and goofing off together.

Evie tucked David into the chair with every single baby blanket she could find and then insisted on taking a picture of him - but it was pretty cute, so I couldn't argue too much.

Friday, we had our friends over to play for a bit.  The kids all had fun together and we filled up the water in the water play toy outside, but I didn't have energy to go to the pool.  

Saturday was a fun day of work and play.  Aaron went out and offered to remove tree stakes for $5 around the neighborhood and earned some money.  It's so neat to see him working hard and being responsible!  He's getting so grown up.  Dan took the kids to the pool in the afternoon for a bit while Eileen and I cleaned out the game closet - and now it looks pretty!  

David loves to sing.  And I love to listen to him sing.  He makes these serious faces when he sings and listening to him makes my heart happy!  I got the cutest video of him singing along to "Let It Go" while Anna played on the piano.  I don't think it will fit here though and I'm not tech savvy enough to figure out how to make it shorter.  

Summer Fun!

We've had a fun and crazy week.  Tuesday, we went out on the boat with Grandpa.  Most of the kids just wanted to go on the tube, but Aaron wanted to try wake boarding and he did awesome - he got up, but is still working on figuring out how to stay up.  

Evie wanted to try water skiing again.  She did so good and stayed up for so long - she even let go with one hand and waved at us and put her hand in the water and went outside the wake.  She was on a roll!  

Eileen got her first chance at driving the boat - she puttered around the lake for a bit at the end of the day and the kids all had a great time!  

If that wasn't enough excitement for one week, we also went to the Zoo with Grandpa on Wednesday.  The kids loved getting to see the dinosaurs and all the live animals too.  David loved it all - but it was HOT!  Texas summer has finally arrived.  We tried our best to keep cool, but by 3:00 we were ready to head home. 

Thursday, we had Sandi and the kids over to go swim in the pool and have dinner together.  The kids had a blast in the pool - it was a wonderful hot day - perfect for swimming.  We grilled hot dogs and had potato salad.  It was a fun evening!  After, I headed off to a Relief Society Activity with Eileen and Anna who had volunteered to help babysit.  It was a fun activity!  After, the primary presidency met together for a bit before heading home for the night. 

Friday we had a mostly slow day.  After the busy week, I was eager for a bit of down time.  The kids read, played with play dough, crocheted and we mostly took it easy.  In the evening, Dan and I went to the temple and then to dinner on our way home. 

Saturday was mostly low-key.  Dan took some of the kids to the library to return books and pick new ones.  Anna asked for book recommendations for the reading challenge at the library, so I dragged her into our library and loaded her up with books.  :)  In the evening, we all watched the new "How to Train Your Dragon" Movie together and ate popcorn.  It was a fun family evening! 

Sunday was wonderful!  I headed out early to go to ward council - the Lord has organized His church in such a wonderful away - it's amazing to watch so many people work together for the physical and spiritual welfare of others!  After, I took off my primary hat, and put on my chorister hat.  I had a musical number in Sacrament meeting.  I wasn't sure how well my voice would work since it's still not back at full strength, but the song went well - I picked one that wasn't as vocally challenging and I made it through with out my voice cracking or cutting out or dying.  :)  After Sacrament Meeting, I changed hats again back to primary for the second hour of church.  The kids are wonderful and it's been fun getting to know them and work with them.  Dan spent a lot of the last 2 days baking.  He made Lemon Meringue Pies and Breakfast cake and fresh bread.  The whole house smelled SO YUMMY!  We invited our friends the Gustavesons' over to help us eat some of it and play games.  We had a great time! 

Busy Summer

We've had a busy summer so far.  Eileen and Anna were at girls camp until Thursday afternoon.  They both seem to have had a great time.  They came back full of the fun stories and full of excitement.  

We finally got James his bike - he was so excited and all he has wanted to do since is ride his bike.  He loves it - and of course Evie is a bit jealous since her bike is not so new any more.  It's been fun watching him so excited to ride his bike though.  

We missed the girls this week - I had a hair appointment on Tuesday and the four younger ones all got to come - thankfully they were well behaved while they waited for me to get it done.  

We spent some time in the pool most days - but I finally had to tell the kids that I wouldn't take them to the pool unless it was over 85 degrees outside - it's been unusually cool so far this summer.  Friday morning, we had our friends the Carpenters over to swim and play.  It was a blast! 

Summer is Fly Season in Texas and with 6 kids running around, and leaving doors open, we have a TON of flies in the house.  David's new favorite thing is to walk around trying to hit the flies with the fly swatter and saying "get the flies!" over and over again. 

Dan's company had a big work event this weekend - they were putting on a conference and so Dan was out late Friday and all day Saturday. 

Saturday was rather insane.  I had to be at Cub Scout Camp Saturday morning, so Eileen and Anna were left in charge.  The took the kids to the splash pad nearby and Aaron and I had fun Canoeing, Fishing, and Shooting bows and arrows and BB guns.  He had a great time (mostly - he didn't catch any fish when most of the other boys did and that upset him quite a bit for a little while.) Then when I got home, I picked up the kids, and we went to our friend Patty's birthday for a bit.  It was winding down by the time we got there, but we wanted to stop by and celebrate with him a bit.  Then we went down to my parents house, my mom was watching Taz and Kai while Sandi and Jon were at the conference, and she thought Taz and Kai might like some more kids to play with, so we headed down there for some swimming and playing and had dinner there before taking Taz and Kai home and then heading home our selves.  Then we got the kids to bed and I headed out to get some groceries to get us through the weekend. 

Today was Father's Day - Dan's gift still hasn't arrived from Amazon.... so I'm kinda failing in the gift department lately....  But we did a biscuit breakfast with peaches and honey butter and I got him a little bit of chicken seasoning.  Church was great - Anna gave a great talk and James gave a great talk in primary.  I had fun filling in for singing time in primary.  In the evening, my parents came up for dinner and we had a fun time eating and chatting.  Then after getting the kids to bed Dan and I played a few games of Dominion with Aaron - each of us one a game, and we had fun.  :) 

The Cabin and Home

Monday morning bright and early, Dan and I headed to the airport - I stopped in Colorado and he continued on to Texas.  I picked up the older girls and we got some supplies before heading up to the cabin to meet up with the rest of the kids and Grandpa.  There was still a bunch of snow on the ground around the cabin, but the weather was finally warming up!  We had a fire and toasted marshmallows for s'mores - David loved it!  

We spent our days doing crafts and playing around the cabin.  David wanted to go on walks and point out all the rocks and he loved it when he figured out he could load the back of these toy trucks with rocks and then dump them out and start all over. 

Anna and I went to run an errand into Fairplay and on the way back, we saw a moose!!!  Since we hadn't packed well for such cold weather - Grandpa helped out by hitting up some thrift stores for boots and sweaters - among the other wonderful things he found - he found this epic sweater for James!  James loves it!

We spent a bit of time down in Breckenridge and the kids got excited because we all got to ride the trolley car. 

We got to see and visit with Kay for a bit but she wasn't comfortable with staying the night at that high altitude.  I was surprised at how quickly I got tired too - I should remember by now, but each time it gets me.  It was beautiful up there though - the aspen trees still hadn't realized that Spring should have come - I haven't ever gone up so early in the season before.

Thursday we headed back to Texas - the big elevation drop was a bit rough (especially on me with my head cold) but we survived the trip and it went by surprisingly fast. 

Friday was a laundry and grocery day, so it felt like a Monday, but it wasn't.  The kids were all excited to get back home and to be able to go in the pool again. 

Saturday morning, Anna and I went down to my mom's house to work out a bit, then we had to spend the rest of the day with me napping and the girls getting ready for Girl's camp - they had an activity for that in the evening and then headed home. 

Sunday was great!  Church was great - the talks were wonderful and we enjoyed talking about them with the kids later that evening.  Primary was a bit rocky - we are just getting things organized with new teachers, so it took a while to make sure that we had teachers everywhere they needed to be.  Otherwise it went pretty well - hopefully things will start to run a bit more smoothly now! 

This morning I found out that Sandi had to put her sweet little dog down last night - he's been having a lot of trouble breathing and he wasn't eating - my heart breaks for her - he was such a sweet dog and I know she is hurting. 

James lost another tooth today - I had him say "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" and it was the cutest thing ever.  He was very excited!  We also had some friends over for dinner and games - it was a lot of fun, but I'm afraid I wasn't a very good hostess since I'm still not quite feeling up to par....

Colorado and Idaho

We have had a crazy busy week!  Monday morning, we met up with Newell and Becky and Natasha and Eldon at a park for lunch and playing.  The kids had a great time, they had an old metal merry-go-round that Eileen had a blast on.  James didn't like it nearly as much.  

After, we headed over to Stuart and Rebecca's for a Memorial Day party.  We had a fun time playing Bocce Ball, Croquet and ping pong.  We had yummy food, great conversation and a lot of fun!  After, we walked to get some ice cream with Stuart, Rebecca and Thomas, then headed home.  

Tuesday, we headed down to Colorado Springs to visit with Sister Cottrell.  We had a fun time at the Ghost Town museum - David loved the stuffed buffalo - he kept calling it a cow.  The kids had fun panning for gold, Eileen and Evie even found a couple little flakes. 

After, we ate our lunches and then we headed to Garden of the Gods for a little bit.  We walked around the visitors center, then walked along one of the trails for a bit - David LOVED all the rocks - he was in seventh heaven.  Then it started sleeting, so we quickly headed back to the car before heading home. 

In the evening, I went to visit my friend for a bit - it was so nice to see her and chat with her for awhile.  Her kids are getting so big and David was a big charmer! 

Wednesday morning, I packed up the kids and their lunches and we went to the Denver Aquarium.  It was a beautiful and fun aquarium.  The kids and all mostly had a great time - David was a little bit afraid of the really big fish and sharks and didn't much like the really big tanks either.  I took the kids to the 4-D little video after, the older kids loved it, but it was a bit much for David, he curled up in my lap while I covered his eyes.  He was really sweet about it though. 

After, we headed back to the house and spent some time at the park.  

Thursday, we tried to go to the book fair, but it wasn't open yet - I can't read websites very well... Then after lunch, we met up with Grandpa and went to Cold Stone for ice cream and then to Barnes and Noble.  David loved Barnes and Noble and loved Grandpa - he kept calling him Papi. It was really cute!  

The kids all had a blast picking out their gifts, except Anna who couldn't decide on anything... 

Thursday evening, we went to the Pavillion behind the Laredo building and met up with friends for a pot luck dinner.  It was wonderful seeing friends again! 

Friday morning, we dropped kids off - Eileen and Anna stayed with some friends and the younger 4 stayed with Aunt Tina and Uncle Frank.  They have been having a great time - though I think Eileen is feeling a bit overwhelmed.  I've been missing them all though.  Dan and I got on a plane to Idaho and headed to Gene and Ann's house.  We had time to unpack and have some dinner before heading to the baptism of Jessica's dad - it was beautiful.  It was also beautiful to see how the two families are embracing each other! 

Saturday morning, we headed to the temple for the wedding.  The ceremony was beautiful!  Then we had a luncheon for close friends and family.  Finally we went to the beautiful reception in the evening.  Tasi's family is partly from New Zealand and Jessica's is from China and the whole reception was a beautiful blending of traditions from both cultures.  It was amazing! 

After the reception, we headed to Sarah and Rob's house for a fun evening of chatting, celebrating Sarah's birthday and just being together. 

Church today was wonderful - we had a great discussion in Sunday School which we then managed to continue through the rest of the day.  Dan and I spent the rest of the evening with Gene and Ann - playing games, eating yummy food and chatting about the gospel.  We got to go to Olivia's Seminary graduation and all in all, it was a wonderful day!