Other August Events...

Sweet little Alyssa.. My brother brought my niece out for a visit, and of course we all just ate it up. She is so stinking cute, love holding her and cuddling her..

 Jade just loves her

Such a cutie.

Smiles...

 Grandma & Alyssa...

 Cole & Alyssa...

Courtnee & Alyssa...

Ryker thought he should be the only one to hold her. 

Starting School!!

Cole, 4th grade.

 

Courtnee, 10th grade (gasp!)

 

Stockton, 9th grade..

 

Love these kiddos, and they completely color coordinated their outfits!

 

Jaden, Kindergarten..

 

Jade and his little friends, Emmy & Eden..

 

Ice Cream Anyone??

Spent our Saturday night at one of our old time favorite ice cream joints.. Leatherbys.. Oh my it was so yummy..

Levi... Think he can eat all that??

Courtnee's brownie sundae..

Yummy Miss Courtnee..

Think he is a little excited??

This Carmel is liquid gold.. Not even kidding... TO DIE FOR!!!! I seriously almost drank it with my straw.. Courtnee was sicked out.. :)

My yummy turtle pie..

Ryker and Jaden enjoyed play dough ice cream..

Cheese fries, the best in town..

The Up House..

There is the coolest house not too far from ours, they have made it into an exact replica of the house off the movie up.. Too cool..

Family...

I am so thankful for my Mom and my sisters.. I love them so very much. I am so lucky to have them living so close to me and my kids. I love the closeness that we all share.. I love that we can laugh together, cry together, talk about everything and love every minute of it... Thanks for always being there, for being my MOM, my SISTERS, and my best friends... :) I love you guys..

My Brother...

I am not sure why I don't talk about him much, and I have rarely mentioned him on my blog, and I feel bad about that.. It's not that I don't love or miss him, I do very much so.. We both live very different lives in separate towns and I don't get to see him very often but I have never stopped missing or loving him... With that said, I was able to spend Thanksgiving with him and I must say it just made me realize how much I do miss him. I wish he could see my kids more, and us see his kids. I miss him teasing me, and my sisters. I miss him being there for family dinners, for birthdays, for holidays.... Well I just plain miss him. It has been probably 10 years (maybe more) since I have spent Thanksgiving (or any holiday for that matter) with him, and I miss that... It is both of our faults that we haven't seen each other in so long... I guess we both have just gotten busy with life and have both been slackers... It was one of the best times I have ever had with him and his family... He was so cute with Jaden, taking him out and letting him feed his cows, letting him handle the puppy as he pleased... My kids (the boys especially) just love him... It made me realize that we do need each other in our lives, even though we have different lives, it is OK... We still need each other.. I know that it meant as much to him us being together as it did to me... We went up to the mountains and took some much needed family pictures(will post some soon).. It was awesome.. The kids were great, the weather was great and all of the pictures were great... Something I will treasure forever... My family said it well, that it was like "going home" for Thanksgiving, it really was... Thanks family for a wonderful holiday...


My brother and his cute family...

The Walnut Tree

We went to my Grandma's the other night to have a birthday dinner with her, and my Grandpa asked the kids if they would help him get all of the walnuts down from the tree... Man did they have fun playing in the tree, trying to help him get all of the walnuts down.. I think at one point Levi was clear to the top trying to shake down more nuts... Fun times with my grandparents... :) Too bad all of our trees are tiny... What a great way to entertain the kids for hours...

Villiage of the Trees

We were able to sneak away this past weekend for a fun getaway. My aunt owns this amazing RV resort up in Idaho and invited us up for the weekend. It is right on the Snake River (hence the fishing), and is just beautiful... My cousin and his family who live in Idaho, met us up there to hang for the weekend... I wish we lived closer to them and could see them more often.. It was great fun seeing them again.. It was a little bit cold the first part of the day, but then warmed up for the evening... The kids had so much fun fishing, riding in the golf carts, chasing squirrels, and well just being kids... My Aunt has these ice creams in her store that look just like a frozen potato (if you didn't know better you would think you were eating a potato) that were so yummy, thanks Aunt Colleen for introducing them to us....Nancy and Levi were nice enough to let us borrow their tent and air mattresses... It was the first time in a tent for all 6 of us... The kids were beyond thrilled to be sleeping outside in a tent. Although it dipped a bit colder than I had packed for, (not enough blankets) we still had a blast... As we were cleaning up to come home my kids were already asking me when we were going back... There will definitely be more trips for us up there. It was a nice little getaway for us. Thanks everyone for a great weekend, and thanks Uncle Doug & Aunt Colleen for having us, it was tons of fun...

Life's little blessings...

I am reminded every single day how sweet (or not so sweet some days, he he he) children are, and right before my very eyes they grow up. I am truly grateful for my children. Some days life gets the best of me, and I take that for granted. Then I see these sweet little faces and it puts everything back in perspective for me, and I realize how blessed I really am!

Lucky me :)