Tuckered out

A few weeks ago after a crazy morning playing I told the kids they could go play downstairs after they finished their snack, and I went upstairs to check a few things on the computer or something. Anyway, quite a while later John came up and asked why Sara was sleeping in the chair. Well, when I went down to see what chair he meant, this is what I found! Notice the spilled water and unfinished snack! Needless to say, some days my little Sara still can't quite make it through the day without a nap!

Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime?

Here are a few pictures that show what we've been up to lately...a lot of time at the pool, a trip to our fire station, getting ready for church, and a fun barbeque at the lake. The kids have so much fun wherever we go, and ask every morning, "What day is it today? Where are we going?" It's easy to have fun with these two silly turkeys around!

Flashback to 2001

In honor of our upcoming 7th anniversary, I thought I'd go back to the "beginning" and put up a few of our wedding pictures--do you think we've changed any?

It's so strange to think back on that time of our life, and what stands out the most to me right now is how different it was without kids--simpler in many ways, but infinitely less rich. I am so blessed to be a part of something bigger than just me, and I love Jared so much for giving me that gift. I don't want to get too gushy, so that's all I'll say here. Thanks for "listening."

Our cabin trip of 2008

So, I think pictures are always the most fun, and so I'm going to put up some more! Just to try and keep things a little organized, I'll put up just some of my favorites from our trip to my family's cabin in Island Park in this post. I'll post lots of other favorites soon. Here is a picture of the cabin from the lake, and it may be hard to see in the picure, but notice the crazy paintball course all over the lawn. I actually wish I had been brave enough to try paintballing sooner, because I had a ton of fun, but I felt a little bit safe in the snow suit I wore!

Anyway, I didn't actually take a lot of pictures this time, and we never got any group pictures this time because we weren't all there, so I'll put up our picture from last year...we're so cute!

John pretty much kept himself entertained for the 1400 mile drive (each way) with just a ream of paper, a blue crayon, and his big imagination! I must say, he is quite the artist. He loves to draw Disney's "Cars" characters and especially sharks. Poor kid had to draw his own movie instead of watch one on a DVD player, but I don't think he's the worse for it.

And of course our sweet Sara was an angel as well. I actually think she was kind of sick on the drive out, because she literally just sat staring ahead for hours, which was handy, but kind of sad. However, much to the relief of all involved, she seemed to enjoy this trip much more than last year, when she just couldn't seem to stop crying. Whew.

Here are a couple pix from Yellowstone, which is so amazing if you have never been. Jared and I love it so much, and it was really fun this year trying to find a lot of animals for the kids to see--which of course we did! 3 Bears, a They are very into animals, and their favorite book is an animal atlas that they want us to "read" to them often. Some of Sara's first words included flamingo, bald eagle, buffalo and others--not just cat and dog for her! :o)

Some of the other highlights of the trip that are not pictured include the many paintballing games, including Jared's topless version (I'm not sure if his wounds have healed yet), the great food, watching the rescue crew come home from getting Joel and Logan and their Honda Pilot out of the mud--which sounded like a lot of fun actually, Arrowleaf ice cream (I know it's not called that anymore, but I like it better that way), shooting the shotgun and actually hitting some shells, hearing Steven Covey teach his talking stick communication ideas in church, listening to my witty family tell stories, trying the Jim Shumway challenge--which hurt a lot, actually hanging out with my sister for a while without doing work (while on the boat--she did plenty of work most of the week), watching my husband throw himself, Lauren, Noah, Nikki, and Megan over the railing from the girls loft onto ten mattresses, and then watching the dust fly--gross!, watching my kids having the time of their lives playing with their cousins, and all in all, just having fun with family. What a gift! Here's to the cabin!

My little Cars fans!

Here are my funny kids doing their best Tow Mater impression--he is the tow truck in the movie Cars that drives backwards using his mirrors if you aren't up on your Cars trivia.