We have a friend who’s granddaughter knows how to play the viola, and since we didn’t even know what one was we asked her to come play it for us!
She was really good and played a few tunes for us, even some we knew!
Each of the kids had to take a turn also.
It was a fun little evening and I love being able to expose the kids to different types of instruments and music. It was great!
Ki and Jason came to our house on the way to Washington. It was fun to have their family come and play. Claire Bear just cant get enough of Dal (as she calls her). We spent Sunday at Sara’s house playing with all of the cousins. Everyone gets along great and we had a fun time. Always sad it is so short!
That’s a lot of kiddos!
We loaded up the Suburban and went to the Brown Reunion in Montana. We were stuffed to the gills! needless to say we bought a hitch carrier for our Telford Reunion the next week!
The kids traveled great, it took about 5 hours and they didn’t get out of the car once! We only stopped once in Arco, that has got to be a record for our family!
We had the best camp site, it had all the facilities you could need. We were glad to have water and electricity to keep us warm at night. Grandpa Nielson didn’t come until the second day but Claire Bear warmed right up to Uncle Mark, he was a great stand in until Grandpa got there.
After Grandpa got there Claire and Dallie were in all sorts of traps, tricks, and invisiblism they could create. They had such a fun time together with their Grandpa teasing them.
It is always good when we get to see Grandma Ruby. She is so popular around our house. We talk about her a lot, so it was fun to actually get to see her for a few days. We also got to go to Aunt Sandra’s beautiful cabin in the woods. It was really neat!
I have a picture just like this when Claire was a baby when we went to the Big Brown Reunion in Utah.
The kids (minus Rett) with two Grandma’s. It is so fun to have so many Grandmas!
Grandpa N made a kiddy pool for the littles. The raging river was just too much for us and this worked perfectly to cool off in.
We went down to take a dip in the river but it was too cold for us! It was by this huge pretty rock though.
Rett wanted in so bad, but didn’t stay in, it was like ice!
Summer got coerced across, possibly pushed across, I’m not sure how it happened, but it took for EVER to get her to come back, it was super cold water!
And it was quite a little swim in a fast current.
She finally did it with Uncle Jason’s help.
We had a great time, and good visit with family we don’t get to see to much. Plus all of the sisters (and Mom) were there so it makes it all worth it!
Ashley is our little farm chick, she loves all things country! She has started to gather the first of the eggs from her chickens. I think only one is laying so far, you would think they were golden eggs by the kids reaction everyday. It is fun to find the treasures!
She is asking to drive the car, 4 wheelers, and lawnmower all of the time which is really good most of the time. She did have a little mishap with the lawn mowing though:
She would NOT pose for a picture, she begged me not to take one, but the nice Mom that I am couldn’t resist! She had almost finished the entire yard, which is like a two hour project when she didn’t turn quite sharp enough and crashed right into the shed. I am sure she wasn’t paying attention, she gets singing, WITH actions and forgets to pay attention. I told her she is still hired and probably wont EVER be fired no matter how many times she crashes the lawn mower!
Ashley is also babysitting more and more. She has even babysat all of our kids (including little brother) and has sat for Aunt Sara twice now. She does a good job entertaining kids and keeping the house clean. It has been great for us to be able to have her help so much. Ryan asks to take a kid every morning and I don’t ever let her go, much to her dismay. She is too much help!
We had some of the Telford’s over for a BBQ Wednesday night. It was a picturesque night for me. I kept taking mental pictures of all of the little kids running and playing together. I think summer time makes me feel nostalgic and sort of dreamy. I have been wanting to bottle up moments and kids as they are happening around me. I just feel this time slipping away faster and faster. These kids are growing too fast! Rett climbed right up to the little kids table and sat up so big! All of the kids are so big. Kaleb is exactly a year ahead of Rett, it is amazing how much difference a year makes when you are a baby!
The big kids table. We had some foot races after dinner and the little brother smoked his big sisters. It only happened once though, I am pretty sure it caught the girls of guard so Justin didn’t win another race the rest of the night!
Then into the fireworks. We finally found something the kids like (they are getting better at sparklers, if they are fully clothed and shoed!) They liked the pop its that you throw on the sidewalk and they pop. Everyone got really into that except Claire needed some coaxing from Aunt Sara.
Worms,
More Pops,
Sara made this pretty flag cake, I have seen them before but never in real life, it was awesome, and yummy!
On to the big fireworks and sparklers. Grandma and Grandpa T came too.
I love the 4th it is a great time to be thankful for our free country, and to thank those who have helped to make it free!
We wanted to go to a parade really bad this year so we drove down to the Rupert parade. It was the biggest parade I have ever been to! It was great, the kids loved it too.
Rettster is still not feeling good, this has gone on too long! Poor baby boy!
We ran down to Utah for a day last weekend. Luke has turned 8 years old so we went to be at his baptism. It was a great time. Mom and Dad stopped and drove down with us which was really nice. We enjoyed playing at Aunt Sara’s new home. We loved the area, sidewalks, park and mostly cousin friends! It was great! The kids played and played until dark and then they went inside and played some more. Sara had some fun balloons that could fly high so we were running all over trying to catch them.
Bret and Jen showed up just in time for some more cousin fun. Luke was “racing” them down the street. Sara lives on a street with 5 (I think) other (really quiet) houses. We played in the street and sidewalks and only saw uncle Bret’s car. It was perfect!
The kids liked Luke’s hex bugs.
We had a fun visit.
Jen got a hold of my camera and took pictures of the adults, how dare she!!
I cant leave the magic valley with out breaking down. Thankfully it happened Saturday morning after the baptism and Dad, Bret, and lots of other men helpers fixed us up and sent us down the road!
My poor suburban has served its time I’m afraid! We had a great trip and were glad to get to see Sara and Luke and especially see Luke get baptized. It was really a nice day.
Justin hauled a root beer all the way home from Lukeys house and put it in his window to save for later. Little brother discovered it way up there and climbed on the tractor stool and dumped it all over himself!
I had just taken him out of the tub and only had his onesie back on. I was worried it was throw up, he hasn’t been feeling very good lately, so I was a little relieved to realize it was only a shower of root beer! Back in the tub he went!
