Family time

Chelsea & her kiddos stayed with us for about 3 weeks.  

It was a very FULL few weeks since, between the two of us, we have 8 kids ages 6, 4, 2, 1, & baby. 

BUSY is the word to describe it!  We had fun, though, playing outside (when it wasn't raining), jumping on the tramp, and going going going.  I'm sad we didn't take more pictures, but we honestly fell into bed exhausted every night. Getting the kids fed, off to school, and through the day was enough. :)  

We really loved getting to spend so much time with her and the kids.

We took the kids on a walk one day after we'd been stuck inside for awhile due to rain. It was a much needed breath of fresh air.  We had fun and got done just in time for more rain to hit.  The kiddos looooved the trail:

hiking stick a must:

 Chels & her cute kids:

Ryder & Reverie are little buds:

Callen enjoying the ride:

 Syanne:

Slow pokes with their sticks:

 Tave found a TON of sticks to throw off the bridge into the water, love this kid:

Stick dropping with Ryder:

My Tave always, always finds me a flower. I love how sweet and thoughtful he is and I love this little sign of spring:

These kids had a blast together. Here as a rare, quiet moment when they were exhausted enough to all sit down and watch a show. I LOVE this picture:

The dynamic duo...oh can you see the mischief in those grins?!

Sweet little Nea, I love that she warmed up to me and loved to snuggle:

Last year, when I had Callen, my  mom was going to come help me and stay for awhile. But her back went out and she ended up having to postpone the trip...until now! So we got a fun-filled week with Nonny-Kare. It was much needed after the crazy-hard semester Jeff has had. We didn't see him much and we were all ready for it to be over!

My nice camera is in the shop...so I forgot to take pictures...I'll have to get more from everyone else. We had a fun girls movie night, lots of hang out time, and lots of talking and playing. It was such a good visit...THANK YOU MOM for all that you do!

Nonny Kare was the popular request for bedtime stories:

And we got to see Mckenon really quickly on his way up to ID for school.

Okay family, I need the rest of the pics from the trip!!!!  

Love you all!

Zoo Day!

Jeff had to work over spring break (almost done with the doctorate degree, yipee!)  but I made sure we took one day to do something fun as a family. We talked my two sisters into coming, also, and made a day of it.  It was CRAZY busy, but the kids loved it anyways. :)  I'm getting the rest of the pics from my sisters...but here is my little fam having fun:

We love the new polar bear exhibit (but didn't get a shot of the bear, oops)

Ryder loves being carried in this:

Always one of our favorite animals:

And then the boys all requested individual pics with Dad...I think they miss him, he was the highlight of their day!

I love these monkeys:

August's Everyday Moments

August has been a strange mix of happy and sad moments.  Sad that we moved from good friends. It is always so hard for me to change. A new home, new neighborhood, new ward, new new new. I love it but I definitely don't love feeling a little lost.  

But mostly, it is full of happy:

Happy that we have this little guy in our lives, he is such a joy

Happy that we have cousins close by again. Oh how we have missed cousin playdates:

and happy whenever we get a moment with this man:

I love these every day moments that make up our lives.

Birthday bash with the cousins!

We celebrated Weston's birthday with the family a few days late. It turned out SO awesome since we were able to have a relaxing afternoon with just family.  

Since Tave's birthday was right before the baby was born, we hadn't given him his 'big' gift.  We finally ordered it through Amazon and gave it to him earlier in the day. It turned out perfectly- both boys had some thing fun and new to ride outside:

Uncle Shawn came to celebrate with us, the boys sure love him:

Me & Tanneah, Chels & Callen.  These two will be best buds soon:

We went on a treasure hunt to find the party favors:

He was THRILLED to get a scooter and couldn't wait to try it out:

Blowing out the candles:

Chels, Rob, Syanne, Aydrien, Reverie, & Tanneah. Love them!

All the cute kiddos, I love that everyone has a buddy their age!!!

We love our cousins and can't wait for Mila & Kapria to get here so we're all together again!

Syanne's Birthday Party!

We celebrated Syanne's 6th birthday while my parents were here!!  

She is such a fun, sweet, spunky girl and we are so glad she is our niece/cousin. 

Syanne, we love you- Happy Birthday cute girl!

Grandma & Grandpa with Chels & Rob's kiddos:

Grandma & Grandpa with my boys: