What a great summer it has been, and now we are in the snow... Go figure. School is back in, and the home is much more quiet now. We did a big push on remodling the home and the last few months have been slow.
Tayla is enjoying kindergarten, she is doing well... I met a old friend of Christie's and she has been able to tell me lots of Tayla stories. She laughs and you know that she is so happy to hear stories about when she was young. If any one has any stories that they can share about her, experiences that she had or her personality, if you would reply to the blog and share them that would really be the neatest thing for her. The upper photo is showing Tay after playtime in the sand, she was covered! Then you have her little feet...Don't you just love kids toes!
These are some Holly hocks. I don't know how many are familiar with these wonderful flowers but I planted some years ago so that I could show the girls how to make Holly hock dolls. they sure spread, so next year we will keep them contained to the backyard and not the front. I forgot that they got so tall and will spread like crazy, but they are fun and easy to grow.
This is a Shasta I believe...
Here is the front walk being reconstructed, it took all summer but is done and beautiful, my Dad does fabulous work... You can see the out of control Holly Hock flowers along the porch...
Tay blowing out her candles on her family dinner party.
Here is with Grandma Lisa, what a great visit, we look forward to next year...
We got her a baby doll and of course now it sits in a basket ignored!!!
Here she is opening her gifts...
Man it's hard to be a kid and someone else's birthday, teaching our children to be supportive observers takes a lot of work... But they do well don't they?
Here is the kitchen with a little more progress. My Dad absolutely hates the black on the cabinets. He let that be know very vehemently. But the green he went hog wild over. So that was nice. The wood floor is wonderful, spills clean up so easy, the only downfall is that it shows the dirt very easily, but I would do it again!
This is my Tay... I couldn't tell you what was making her happy at this particular moment, but when she is happy her whole soul lights up. She is a joy to be around when she is happy. She is going through the five year old phase of talking incessantly... One day I said to her "Go tell daddy all about it, he would love to hear about." Scott heard me and said "No! I'm good, tell Mom!" Sometimes I just have to tell her that were are going to have quiet time for a little while...
If I pull out the camera she wants to do pose after pose...
They were having water fights...
Here is the cousins and Esther...
This is with Cousin Will, They were sharing Skittles and chatting about this and that.
While my brother and his family were visiting from Seattle we went on a picnic up the canyon.
Here are a group of us.
Here I am no makeup, no contacts, a lazy summer day...
This is Grandma Judy and Logan
Yes, I guess I have a thing with feet. These are Elijah's...
The river behind the picnic area made for a lot of supervision of the kids, it was swift and high.
Everyone decided that Scott looked like a jack-o-lantern in this shot...
Here We are at Bear Lake again and I have the baby Logan!
Here is Asami, my sister-in-law.
What a great Mom she is! And anyone who could put up with Kim my brother is a saint in my book. Kim took this particular shot.
Love the beach and Bear Lake is so great because it is so shallow for way far out there.
We were at the park and a stream runs through it that the kids like to wade in and tube down. The water was particularly high and Kim (brother) tubed down it and got swept over and cut his knee on the rocks, so here he is being doctored by Michelle and Joy (sisters). He was going to be deployed weeks from then and we teased him that he would be in trouble if he injured his body because now it belonged to the Army!
Joy (sister) and Paige (niece)
I had a most amusing thought the other day... I went to the family room and saw a banana peel on a stool and thought 'Oh I can't wait until they all outgrow this' (leaving garbage lying around) and then it occurred to me that about that time Paige will just be starting with her own kids.... THAT put a smile on my face!!!!
Kim (brother) and son Logan.
'Bik'ing Kims head.
Fathers day... Breakfast in bed for Bob (brother-in-law)
Scott's breakfast for Dad's day...
We had a joint Shay and Will birthday party during their visit.
Playing games at the party...
Tayla wanted to get Logan to sleep so she put him on her lap and sat there for sometime until he zonked out...
Elijah and Malachi played baseball this year. This is Elijah sliding into home, he was safe, they won the game.
This is so them, all the time wrestling. Scott informs me that this is the way he and his younger brother were. They wrestle to show there love, but let me tell you there are days the love is spilling out all over the house and furniture and then the love is lost on everyone else and then the mom gets mad and then 'ain't nobody feelin' the love.'
Here is Malachi up to bat.
This is just before the front walk was removed to be redone... The weather looks so nice compared to the snow that I see out my back french doors as I sit at the desk and type this!
Paige taking a summer drama course at the university. They put on a performance at the end, it was so fun and the talent of these kids is astounding!
more follige...
Ah the green green grass of summer...
The girls have training wheels on and you know how that goes, they broke off easily and so in desperation they both learned how to ride with out them by the end of summer....
This was soooooo funnny!!!!! I had to run into the house fast to grab my camera. They had gone up the street to a vacant field and it was a wet summer. I think if I remember right Cris started it (on far left) and soon the other two joined in. Nick got it the worst (middle) and as you can see Elijah and Cris are happy and Nick didn't crack a smile, of course it could be that it is dusk and the sun is down, it is getting chilly and the mud is drying. He may not have been able to crak a smile is his life depended on it... I wonder if they noticed smoother, softer skin afterwards...
Nick going on home....
Well, I could make promises to do a better job, but so far I have been sporadic, so just check in now and then, I would certainly like to do better, but make no promises. Hope your summer was as wonderful as ours....
