Yummy Toes

Visit From Friends

One of my favorite things that happens during the summer is when Sheri comes and visits with her family. I love these pictures that we take every year and see our growing families--in stature and numbers! We only had 9 of our 10 1/2 kids this year. Next year, Sheri is trading me in for a trip to Estes Park. While I don't blame her, I will miss our visit.

Love

Mr. Ben can not get enough of Lu-Lu. He adores her and she adores him. Ben was spending some quality time with her today since he is leaving in the morning for scout camp. Oh how we will all miss him!

2 Wheeler

Today was the day that Lydia learned to go from training wheels to independent biker!

Party Time!

I learned last year that Piper needed to have a birthday party this year--to save me from the tons of questions about when her party was going to be. We had a slip and slide water party. The kids played on the slip and slide, a little kiddie pool, and also whacked a pinata. It was so fun to see her so happy playing with her friends and being a total ball of energy. I think it was a success--she had fun, and it was totally low-stress for us. These outside parties are the best!

River Day

Today we took Dallin, Ben's friend, with us to the river. The kids all had so much fun with him being there. The kids got to go tubing. Grant went with Trevor and Karmin. Here they are going for the second time right after they got dumped:

My happy place:

She's 4!

Piper is 4 today! A Birthday day is always an exciting day. Her siblings were very disappointed that she wanted watermelon for breakfast--instead of something they thought was yummy like crepes or pancakes. She thought Lydia had a great idea for her Birthday menu so Piper also wanted to go to McDonalds for lunch and have homemade pizza for dinner. Also she wanted cake for dessert. I don't know when the last time we had cake for someone's birthday was (I have trained my children well).

Oh Miss Piper.
According to Piper...
Her favorite color is pink. Strawberries are her favorite food. She wants to ride a big bike when she grows up. Shea is her best friend. Her favorite thing to play with is a mermaid. Her favorite movie is Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Her favorite game on the iPad is Jake too. Her favorite treat is cupcakes. Her favorite thing to do is play with "friends, and dad, and my family, and mom--I love mom."
According to my observations...
Her favorite color is pink. Grapes and watermelon are her favorite foods. She would do well being a music composer when she grows up because she is constantly singing and making up songs. I think Alana is her best friend (they are pretty much partners in crime at church--and anywhere else that we should practice reverence). She loves to play with rocks, and hold rocks, and sleep with rocks. Her favorite thing to watch is "Team Umizoomi," and her favorite thing to play on the iPad is a princess matching game. Her favorite treat is not cupcakes because she usually only eats the frosting, she is more of a candy girl...fruity candy. She does love to play and have fun and is a very happy kid.

Smile!

This is how she smiles apparently:

And don't even get me started on the pictures of her I find on my phone!

4th of July--Take 2

We spent Independence Day with Grant's family. The kids enjoyed playing and swimming with their cousins. It was a fun day to just hang out. We brought Raider out because last year he didn't handle the fireworks so well. This year he seemed to do a lot better. We stayed late and watched the neighbors all set off their fireworks. The kids have never seen fireworks up close, so they thought that was pretty cool. It was fun to see the fireworks above the water.
Happy Independence Day!

4th of July--Take 1

Since Grant had Friday off, we went up to the cabin--where it was very quiet. The cabin is on a huge lake that usually doesn't warm up too much. But with this hot weather, it was amazing. Trevor and I even went in the water and stayed in the water...that is how warm the water was. We enjoyed the day visiting, playing, fishing, and swimming.

Zzzzz's

I think she was tired:

Liddy-Pie's Birthday!

Today she is 6! We had crepes for breakfast, went to McDonald's for lunch, had homemade pizza for dinner, and had pumpkin pie for her cake.
This spunky girl keeps us on our toes. She loves to be loud--she has one volume level and she is pretty much always there. She loves to talk. She loves to help me cook, and she is an amazing eater. She goes through different phases of things she likes and dislikes, but even then she eats really well and is always willing to try new foods. She loves to do math. She does workbooks and computer math programs on her own free time. She loves to be involved and be with friends. She still adores Karmin, but is also finding it is fun to play with Piper too. Lydia likes to run and hide when Daddy comes home, so he can come and find her. It is like their own little mini hide-and-seek game every day. She doesn't like bees, and she isn't too adventurous, but that is fine by me!She wants to be a teacher when she grows up, and can't wait for 1st grade to start.