My Cheesy Babies...

Blaze loves to try on and organize the shoe collection. 

This was definitely picture worthy! It's one of the first times that Alanna has let me do her hair for church without throwing a huge tantrum! She got many compliments (positive reinforcement), and now she is okay with me fixing it for church. I've just got to figure out how to make it okay the other 6 days of the week!

 Alanna is showing off her new Fancy Nancy book. The kids all got free books from the library for completing their summer reading program. They also got free tickets to see the local production of Annie. They could have recieved a free flashlight too, but (shhhh) I forgot to take them in to get that. Blaze loves to watch "George Monkey" on the media player. Every one of our kids at this age has LOVED Curious George. He also has a big Curious George stuffed animal from Uncle Andrew that he holds while watching the cartoon. It's too cute :)

Hangin' with Uncle Andrew...

Andrew came to visit one day after school this week. Paul actually called and invited him over to shoot arrows. Paul has been inviting everyone over lately, and they are so nice to actually come over! He'll just take my phone when I don't know it and start making phone calls. Andrew actually had a great suggestion for him - he needs to get a Facebook account to post updates. Then he won't have to call his "list" to let them know about his daily happenings of flipping underwater in the pool, or having a loose tooth :) Anyhow, Andrew brought them some contraband -a big bag of beef jerky! Pretty funny, and they ate it all in one sitting.

 

They played Paul's Lego Ninjago game, and then Andrew came with us to watch Jackson and Paul's last soccer game. He entertained Alanna and Blaze with his IPad, taking pictures and turning them into crazy caricature's. They did get to shoot some arrows, and we learned that Andrew was the "best archer" when he worked at Scout Camp for 2 years! What a great teacher for the boys. He said he is done shooting in our backyard after an arrow shot through the cardboard target and across the street though! What and awesome uncle!

DANGER ZONE!!!!

BEWARE! My boys are armed and dangerous thanks to Uncle Caleb! They have a bow and two sets of arrows that they have been shooting in our backyard constantly the past week. We do supervise them, but archery is kind of unpredictable, especially when involving an 8 and 6 year old. They are SO lucky though, because Caleb has an internship at Easton, a sporting goods company where he designs his own hunting arrows. He was able to make the boys each a $100 set of arrows, which we would have never bought for them! Jackson got the archery bug when he went to Scout Camp this summer, Alanna likes to try it because of the movie Brave, and Paul loves anything mischievous!

Cousins from Oregon...

 James's younger brother, Steven, and wife, Kathy, (and kids) were visitng from Oregon last week. We're glad we got to hang out with them for an evening of playing at the lake and dinner.

 Kyle was too involved in his sand creation to look at the camera, but Karissa was into the photo ops!

 Uncle Steven was a good sport and took the kids on boat rides.

Jackson was digging a hole to China. Acutally, he says, just deep enough to get the "clay" layer. My kids could play in the sand and water all day every day if they had the opportunity!

 This was pretty amazing - a picture of the brothers and cousins (minus Alanna) all together at once!

 Summertime favorites: corn on the cob and watermellen!

 Blaze probably had 7 choco-chip cookies for dinner/dessert. He pretty much gets to do anything he wants around here!

Baby Emilee was only 10 weeks old. What a trooper to take such a long road trip! She is such a pretty baby with her reddish hair and such defined little facial features! We're glad we got to meet her! The kids all enjoyed playing with "boy toys". They said Kyle had been missing toys during his trip, so he was really into all the cars, fingerboards, etc. our 3 boys have!

My kind of camping...

 While James was at Scout Camp, we decided to have our own "camp out" to try out our new sleeping bags. It was one of the best camping trips with kids I've been on :) We set up a tent in my parent's backyard, cooked foil dinners and s'mores on their fire pit, and had the luxury of clean flushable toilets! There is a creek and wetlands in their yard, so the boys had plenty of fun throwing rocks, collecting sticks, and picking up bugs. After I got the kids settled in their sleeping bags, I was able to enjoy some Tim Riggins on Friday Night Lights via our media player! All was well until Blaze woke up an hour later and pushed me off of my twin air mattress!

Great Gran Perkins was still visiting, and Alanna apparently thought she was a comfy pillow! Gran loved it :) We enjoyed watching the opening of the 2012 Summer Olympics. I love London, it's one of my favorite cities I've ever visited. It's always fun to see iconic places on TV and remember the times I was actually there.

 Jackson received his whole Cub Scout uniform as part of his b-day present from Poppy and Grandma Ce-Ce. He is SO excited about Scouts, and he is already working on passing of requirements.

LOVE this picture. I feel so blessed to have 1 great-grandparent alive for my kids to know. They loved hearing stories about her cat and dog back home. She is quite a story teller. I should have taken a picture of the kids intently listening to her!

The Rest of the Party...

We also celebrated Alanna and Peter's b-day. Great Grandma Perkins was visiting, and Cara (Andrew's girlfriend) was home from Chicago. Of course, we couldn't leave out K.C! 

Andrew and Cara got Alanna a set of glow in the dark nail polish! She LOVES it! Once again, Andrew really knows how to shop for the kids! Unfortunately, the memory card I was using to take pictures at the end of the party got corrupted somehow. I had pictures of them painting Alanna's nails - she was in heaven!

 Alanna also got this Hello Kitty backpack, a Monster High Doll (Draculaura), Minnie Mouse underwear, headbands, and a sleeping bag!

Our family makes birthday's so special for everyone! We are so lucky to live close by to celebrate each one.

Grandma Ce-Ce and Poppy gave her a rock star outfit and Barbie guitar. I had such cute video clips of her "rocking out" that were lost. I'll have to recreate the moment!

Peter turned 2! He got a soccer ball, a pirate ship, a batman toy, and a new Sunday outfit. He is looking so much like his daddy these days, especially with the curly locks! I'm so sad that I missed the pictures of the three blowing out their birthday candles! I hope someone else had a camera. I made a red white and blue trifle cake with blueberries and strawberries. We ended the night watching all of the Pioneer Day fireworks from our deck. It's like a second 4th of July celebration around here, and we are in a great location to see the fireworks all over the Salt Lake Valley. I wish I got to watch fireworks on my birthday!



The BEST B-day present...

 We had a big family party for Jackson, Alanna, and Peter. Jackson received a card from Lauren and Caleb and was told that it would be the best present he ever received. Caleb was recording  Jackson opening and reading the card with all of our family gathered around. I knew he had been excited about this card, but I just thought it was because he made it. This is what Jackson read:

" I am so excited that you will be my cousin. My parents are also very excited that you will be a great example to me and they love you greatly. I am not there yet, but I will be arriving in March of 2013. I can't wait to meet you in person!"

Caleb always jokes around that Lauren is pregnant, so I , like the rest of us, were waiting for some kind of trick. Like they were getting another dog, or the date would be March 2015 - something like that. I did get teary eyed, and I am THRILLED that they have the opportunity to be parents! They will be the best! I think my kids are a little disappointed that Caleb might not have as much time to spend with THEM!

 For his real b-day, Jackson requested a cheesecake. We had a "Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake". I'm not a huge fan of cheesecake, but good for me so I wasn't tempted to pig out!  My kids love being able to pick out their cake, and I love making them.

 Jackson only got one present on his real b-day, we made him wait for the big family party for the rest. He is really enjoying his soccer cleats though!