Summer Vacation - Part 2 (Indiana)

From Oregon we flew to Indiana, where we were able to spend a few days with my whole family in a couple of cabins near Bloomington.

The kids love to get rides from my Gran on her walker. 

My younger brother built these cool launchers that shoot off soda pop bottles. 

These 3 little girls were born within 2 months of each other. They were so cute together!

We always do a big family birthday party at our reunions. This year my sister-in-law had us create a "quilt cake" together. Such a neat idea! 

Our final day together was spent at a nearby lake. 

Even though we had sand and water and canoes and kayaks and jet skis, all Brenna really wanted to do was swing at the playground. Oh well. 

I just couldn't get enough of these 3 cuties!

My sister and my niece made plans for the kids to act out "The Three Little Pigs" (performed by the 3 little girls) and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (performed by the 4 older kids). They were darling! I guarantee you have never seen a more adorable version of "The Three Little Pigs" than this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRNovg83EBk&feature=youtu.be

Other fun things from the reunion included lots of fun time playing with cousins we hardly ever see, the celebrity game, extreme water in the face, tasty food, highlights of each individual, birthday presents, whip cream wars, Brenna floating away with her pool noodle, and, once again, just being together with family.

We also had a fabulous Star Wars movie party, but it deserves its own post. :)

Summer Vacation - Part 1 (Oregon)

We spent 10 fabulous days in Oregon with the Burnetts to kick off our summer vacation. Here are some of the highlights:

Nana (Russ's mom) had to work the day we arrived, so we surprised her during her shift on our way home from the airport.

Kaylee turned 8 the beginning of June, but opted to wait until we were in Oregon the end of July to be baptized so that more family members could attend. 

She was especially excited to have her cousin Bekah there. Kaylee and Russ flew to Chicago 2 years ago to attend Bekah's baptism. 

We brought our XBox Kinect along so we could play Just Dance with everyone. It was a huge hit! 

We loved eating as many blackberries as we wanted. 

And those 35 lbs of blueberries were awesome!!! 

The cousins got to ride one of the horses that is stabled in the barn on Nana & Papa's property. 

Brenna and cousin Elise had SO much fun together. 

We all went swimming at the Aquatic Center. Kaylee got brave with the waterslides, and Ashlyn went off the diving board about a dozen times. 

The trampoline was a frequent hangout for the kiddos.

As was the tire swing.

 Kaylee got to pick out brand new scriptures and case following her baptism.

Nana's iPad was in high demand. On the airplane going home Brenna was bored and she shouted out, "Does anyone have an iPad?" 

Papa (Russ's dad) let the girls take turns with him on the riding mower.

One of the best parts of the trip was seeing Grandma & Grandpa Foley (Russ's maternal grandparents). They just moved to Oregon from Miami a few months ago. We have only seen them a handful of times in our 9 years of marriage, and this visit was the first time they got to meet both Brenna and McKell.

Other highlights of the trip included: special Nana dates and Papa dates, movie parties, playing in the water at the park, seeing extended family, talent show, playing the piano, blueberry picking, lots of playing with cousins, yummy food, and just the wonderfulness of being all together!

2013 Swim Lessons

We were so pleased with the swim lessons the girls did at the local pool last summer that we signed them up again this year. Kaylee and Ashlyn did 2 weeks in Level 1 in June. And we did a second 2 week session that just concluded. The older girls were in Level 2 this time and Brenna got to try the Preschool 1 class.

Here's cute Brenna during her class.

Everyone's favorite part of lessons was going off the diving board. 

They started out jumping into the arms of a teacher and having some help swimming back to the side, but by the end of the 2 weeks they could do it all on their own!

Here's Kaylee going in.

And here's Ashlyn doing one of her "tricks". 

 This girl has so much personality and spunk! She's always fun to watch.

On the final day of lessons the little ones got to try out the diving board as well.

Here's Kaylee doing the front crawl.

And here's her back stroke.

Funnies

While driving somewhere with the girls one day Brenna wanted me to go faster and encouraged, "Beat up that car!"

The girls always insist on having water filled sippy cups when they go to bed, and some of them have taken to requesting ice in their water. One night I was admonishing Brenna to stay in her bed, as in, not to find excuses to come out multiple times. She made sure her sippy cup had ice in it, but then thought up, "What if my ice melts? I don't like water by itself."

The other day Ashlyn was working on some sort of project and we were discussing how awesome it was going to be. She proclaimed, "It's going to blow your head up!"

One morning Brenna came into our room about the time Russ was getting up. He lifted her onto the bed then knelt down to say his morning prayers. Brenna started to talk to him but I quickly shushed her and said Daddy was saying his prayer. Brenna reverently responded, "I hope he's praying to God . . . in the sky."

Tonight when I was putting Brenna to bed she said, "You're my favorite Mom in the wholest world." :)

Hand Me Down

Some outfits are just too cute not to pass on . . . and on . . . and on.

4th of July

We had a great Independence Day this year, filled with everything good about summer holidays - family, friends, food, fun, and fireworks.

We started the day off in classical 4th of July fashion with a ward breakfast at the park. Gotta love red, white & blue french toast!

It was super humid, and McKell was crying out for her nap, so we didn't stay too long.

After the breakfast we prepped the house and yard for friends to come over.

Here's my patriotic Jell-O. So pretty, right? Kaylee insists on having it every year.

Around 4:30 or 5 the friends started showing up! The kids played outside on the trampoline, the slip n slide, and in the wading pool.

We ended up with 5 other families here, a total of 26 people partying at our house! After dinner Russ informed all the adults it was time for mandatory participation in Just Dance 4. So fun! After the dance party we finished off the evening with ice cream, of course.

At the last minute the girls persuaded Russ to take them to see the fireworks (he was hesitant because he still had to go to work normal time Friday morning and he didn't want to be out too late - luckily, they were still home by about 10:30).

Hooray for holidays!!!

Sweetheart

I found this little gem when I was sorting through Ashlyn's kindergarten work.

Dear Mom and Dad

I love you with all my heart