dear mom...

Thank you for letting us invade your house and your pool and your life this whole week.
Thank you for being the best hostess and for loving our kids almost as much as we do.
Thank you for making sure everyone is so cool and comfortable and for always having fresh raspberry lemonade.
Thank you for always just assuming we will be staying to eat and for feeding some of us breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Thank you for having extra men on hand to swim laps with Brax (thanks Bryce). Thank you for letting Braxton stay the night, and the next night, and the next night. He loves you!
Thank you for letting the kids play and for not worrying about what they are getting into.
Thank you for all your help and for giving me a break.
Thank you for letting Jeff play and not worrying about what he is getting into.
Thank you for all the toys you continue to collect so that the kids are always happy and entertained.
Thank you for the time our family has to cool off and enjoy summer nights together at your beautiful home.
For the great entertainment...
and comic relief from the one hundred degree day.
We love you so much!

sounds from the family room

I'm standing at the counter compiling Braxton's sandwich and this is what I hear from the next room...
*Please note there is no one else in the room except for Adelle who is more concerned with the chips that got spilled on the floor minutes before.

"Ok, so team. When I blow the whistle come over here. Ok, ok. Good job. Is everyone here? Ok. So now we are going to our golf game. So what is this? This is a ball, good job. What is this? This is the golf bag (his pillowcase), good job. What is this? Raise your hands. Ok, yes this is the golf club. Good job. Ok so now we will hit the ball into the hole. I will go first. You guys all watch me because you don't know how to do it right. If you watch me, then you will learn. Ok?

The sandwich was temporarily put on hold. I had to stop and note this conversation. Typical Braxton cracking me up.

Saturday...

Saturday was such a busy day. We woke up early and we were constantly busy. It was blazin' hot and we were so tired by the end.
We started with the Old Settler's Parade in downtown. The kids loved this part of the day. We walked down and got seats early because the streets filled up. I told Braxton that if he stood up and clapped the participants would throw him more candy. I think he stood and clapped the whole entire time. Adelle was semi-interested in the parade but had more fun dumping water on herself to stay cool.
After the parade we went to Hovander Park for a Pioneer Picnic. There were games and lots of festivities to participate in. I didn't have my camera for this part of the day but Braxton did the three-legged race with this little girl who was 6 and it was really cute. He was really shy about it.
After the parade we had a baptism to go too of a friend who is in Primary with Braxton. That was a good experience and by the time we got home at a little after 6:00pm Adelle went to sleep and slept until 8:00am the next morning. Whew!

Cornwall Park

So I've always been one of those parents who would never use a leash on my kids....
However, Adelle is borderline leash. She is so busy and such a little dare devil. Instead of a leash I have Braxton who gets to fetch her when she runs off. This is fun for both of them. Who can run the fastest?
Is it bad of me to have watched and taken pictures the whole time instead of getting up to help these struggling kiddos.
Braxton is so sweet. He would wait at the top of the slide for Adelle to catch up and then she would totally ignore him, step over him, and go down the slide by herself.

We love Cornwall park but during the summer it can get so busy. Friday we ventured over there for a while. Jeff was off and had some business to take care of in town so the kids and I played at the park and waited until he was done. Then he brought us lunch and we had a picnic. It was a great day. A little overcast but still plenty warm.

Girls Day!

Saturday some friends and I threw a baby shower for our expectant friend Cassie! It was a total blast!

Here's the momma to be! Cassie and Aaron's baby girl is due in September.
It was so good to catch up in the sun with friends...we all are so busy!
Here's the whole gang.
I don't know which picture is silly and which is supposed to be nice, depends on who you look at I guess:)
Adelle loved being at the party. She is a little party girl and got to stay while the boys went crabbing.
Here she is modeling the mobi with my mom. Shelby came up from Oregon and made Cassie (and me) a mobi. I'm so excited!

"You make me so.....very happy...."

These little smiling pals make me so happy! They love each other SO much and I am so blessed to be their momma! (I didn't even set them up for this picture)

The Perfect Weekend

How can you go wrong with a carton on chips on each hip and a brother to hand feed you?
This is Adelle, showing me to rock as she's about to put it in her mouth. She knows this is "no, no" but enjoys doing it anyway. Stinker!
The beautiful beach at Cornett Bay. If we were not on the boat, this is where you'd find us all day!
We had such a great 4th of July this year. The weather was hot and nice the whole weekend and we took advantage of it. This is us watching the fireworks from our roof. No, Adelle didn't get to come. She was long asleep. This is the first year Braxton has really gotten to see the fireworks at night and he loved them. It was really fun to take him on the roof with us. He thought he was pretty big stuff.


This is Deception Pass. The picture doesn't do it justice. It is a beautiful place and one of our favorites. We spent the weekend here crabbing and camping.
Braxton's favorite thing to do is go crabbing. He and I have it easy, we sit on the boat and look for the pots and then enjoy watching Jeff and my dad do the dirty work.
Here we are making smores. Aunt Angela brought this head light for Braxton. He wore it all night.
This is our family 4th of July shot. A lady driving by our house noticed us struggling to get a picture and stopped to help. I think my corny tendencies are rubbing off on my husband. I had bought these leis at the dollar store just for fun and he grabbed them for the picture. Our poor kids!
This is Adelle taking off her shoes for the millionth time. She would rather walk on rocks and sticks then leave anything on her feet. This girl is a real camper!
Here are the guys on the boat. Braxton went out on the boat every single time the boat left the dock. He is a little boat man!

VIRUS

We have been attacked by some yucky yucky viruses. The reason why I haven't updated is because our computer was attacked and is basically dead! Hope we will be back soon. For now, we are outside enjoying the sunshine and our old fashioned, non-techinical lifestyle!
I've been telling Jeff that I wanted to be more dis-connected....but this was not what I had in mind!