July 31st to August 14th

 August 14th:

On our way back to Utah.  The car was dead.  We were somehow locked out so we
could not jump it.  It was insanely hot.  And I was crazy sick.
I was not a happy camper and a little

on the frustrated side.  But, those little ones did not seem to care.  They ran
through the splash pad for almost two hours before we were able to finally
have someone come open the car and jump start it.  Half of our drive home, done.  

August 13th:

First try:  All three boys were up.  They quite loved surfing and decided they may

need to do it more often when we get home.

August 12th:

August 11th:

 August 10th:

August 9th:

We're back!  On the "bo-bo".  In Lake Powell.  Our most favorite summer vacation.

August 8th:

Liberty Park rides.  The old vintage rides somehow always end up being

the best kind of rides.

 I have to share these pictures because they make me laugh so hard.  Baby girl

LOVES, like loves more than anything to go on 'rides'.  She laughs and

giggles the whole time the ride is going.  I have never seen a child so excited

to go on the merry go round before.  

I mean look at that face.  Pure joy.  And the faster the better.

 And then.

The ride

STOPS.

And she becomes devastated.  Every. Single. Time. 

August 7th:

Happy wedding day to Alex and Christal!   We are so excited for them.  And

so happy Christal is a part of our family.  

August 6th:

 August 5th:

August 4th:

A hike up to donut falls.  Crazy children decided it would be an adventure

to go underneath the falls.  They froze the rest of the way down the mountain.

But, according to them, it was worth it.

 August 3rd:

A rainy day.  We took the kids to a bounce house.  She was kinda

obsessed with the slide for a little bit.

 August 2nd:

Children's museum at Thanksgiving Point.  It was amazing.  But it was way 

too crowded for me.  Like so crazy crowded I will never go back.  

August 1st:

Zoo day with cousins.

 July 31st:

Savvy and Remi.  Bestest little cousin friends.

July 17th- July 30th

July 30th:

What you don't see is her jump/slide off the wall two seconds later.  Girlfriend

has no fear.  It must come from watching her brothers do dumb things

on a consistant basis.

July 29th:

That view is the one thing I really, really miss about Utah.  The mountains being only

a stones throw away.  There are hundreds of incredible places waiting to be explored.

You don't realize how you take it for granted until you are gone.  

July 28th:

We spent the day at Snowbird hiking, riding the alpine slide and coaster

dozens of times and just having fun.

June 27th:

Maybe I want to move back here just a little.  Sniff.  Sniff.  I miss my people.  Today

we got to play all day long with some of our most favorite Utah friends.

(And if that face does not make you smile, we cannot be friends anymore.)

Girlfriend thinks she is old enough to do what the big kids can do.  She would 

scream to go down the slide, which Cole would, of course, do what she told him

to.  They would fly out the end of the slide, Rems would flip on her back and wait 

for Cole to pull her to the edge, only to run back up the stairs and do it again.

Poor Cole.  He was a really good sport that day.  

Look at all those kids.  A few years ago, there was less than half that many.

First love.  First kiss.

July 26th:

Our stop on the salt flats has become one of their favorite things to do on

our road trip to Utah.  This time around, we somehow ended up on wet salt.  

There was salt everywhere when we got back into the car.  All up pant legs,

in shoes.  It flew up on the back of the kids shirts when they were running.

Needless to say, the car was quite a mess when we made it to Utah.

 July 25th:

We are on our way!  We stopped in Reno overnight to break up the trip.

Tomorrow:  Utah, here we come.  (well.  Me, Cole, Crew and Remi.  Jeff has 

to work.  And Jake is at scout camp all week.  They will join us next week sometime!)

 July 24th:

I quite love them.  I quite love the how the only girl thinks she can keep up with 

those three boys.  And she holds her own pretty well already.  Considering she

is boss and she knows it.

 July 23rd:

We spent the afternoon creating masterpieces of our family:

 July 22nd:

Ice cream with friends in this awful heat?  Yes, please.

 July 21st:

Trying to fill each and everyday with something to entertain four children.

Free bowling was on the bucket list today.  I kind of love Jake's face in the background.

July 20th:

Uncle Bob has front row seats to some of the Rivercats baseball games in Sacramento.... right

next to the players dugout.  He was nice enough to invite us to the game one day.  

The boys were in a little bit of heaven with free

baseballs, high-fiving the players, getting those baseballs signed and 

getting a glimpse of themselves up on the jumbo-tron numerous times.

July 19th:

A pit stop on the way home from gigi and pa's house.  A beautiful, small lake 

hidden up in Tahoe.  Remi was soaked and covered in mud within the first three 

minutes, but who is counting, right?

July 18th:

I promise I dress her.  She just tends to be filthy dirty by the end of the

day and tends to take all of her clothes off.

 July 17th:

These two.  They make me crazy.  They are the best of friends.  We are constantly 

asked if they are twins.  Crew is quickly catching him in height.  The older they get,

the more the look alike... which is weird because Crew was a spitting image of Jake

when he was born.  They are attached at the hip and fight like brothers do, but more

often than not, you can find them outside with a basketball or soccer ball in hand.  Or 

even in the playroom quietly playing together with toys.  Maybe not quietly... 

but playing.

July 8th- July 16th

July 16th:

I promise you this kid will one day give me many gray hairs and ulcers.  

We had his oncology appointment today.  Everything looks really good.  

Blood work came back fantastic.  The only concern right now is he is not 

gaining weight like he should be.  The last year or so, he has gained only two 

pounds.  Some appointments, he has even lost weight.  We meet with 

endocronology in a few weeks and hopefully they can give us some more

answers on his growth and weight gain.  The good news is, we will see

oncology every four months from here on out and come May, they are talking

about seeing him YEARLY!  What in the world?!  I cannot believe we have made

it this far.  I am only having a slight panic attack that we will not have his blood

tested more often than once a year.  But, this is what we have been working

towards!  

July 15th:

Eleven years ago this itty bitty six pound two ounce baby was placed in

my arms.  We cannot imagine what life was ever like without his smile around.

He has more energy and life in his little finger than I have in my whole body.  There

are days I will make him go run around the block, or jump on the trampoline

200 times because he can't seem to stop teasing and just needs to move.  He is

incredibly smart and funny.  He loves to read.  Which is leaps and bounds from a 

few years ago when we had to bribe him to read a few pages in a book.  He loves

sports and is by far my most competitive child.  Beware if he loses.  It is not a 

pretty sight!  He is the most loving and giving child in our home and thinks of

others before himself.  It has been so amazing to see the type of person he

is becoming.  And we are so proud of him.  

Today for his birthday, he wanted to go to the lake, of course.  So that is what

we did.  He informed us it was "the best birthday I have ever had!"

July 14th:

Ironically enough, two days before my children decided to turn off all the lights

in the church gym and play tag, I thought to myself, "it has been so nice!  We 

haven't been to the emergency room in so long!"  Apparently I forgot to knock

on wood.  Jake ran into Cole's head in that dark gym running as fast as he could.

It might sound bad, but at this point, stitches and broken bones are more

annoying than anything.  And of course his nose was broken.  And of course, because

his name is Jake, he had to have surgery to get it fixed.  

July 13th:

Love bug.

July 12th:

The boys are having a grand ole time with gigi and pa and we 

have the whole week to ourselves with this little love.  She is a busy 

little thing, but we really cannot get enough of her. 

(She is obsessed with 'pack-packs' and wants every bag put on her

back just like you would a backpack.)

July 11th:

July 10th:

Another Saturday.  Another swim meet.

I love this picture.  I was not able to pull my camera out quick enough, but Jake

had his arm around Cole giving him a last second pep talk before he swam.  

It is so fun to watch them compete together and cheer each other on.  

July 9th:

I quite love this blue eyed blonde haired child of mine.  He can't stay

clean to save his life, but he makes me crazy happy.

July 8th:

All four of my little people.  Oh, how I love you.  Even on the days

when you make me crazy.