They think we're just fishin'

Just a few pics from our last fishing trip with the kids. My dad has a stocked pond just out of town that we love to go to. Usually the fishing is great but this time we only got a couple of nibbles. The kids had a blast though. The boys are getting so big. Ty has got it down and thinks he is the master fisherman and Zach is close behind him. They hardly ever need help. And Allie just wants to swim. She kept pretending to be a mermaid. She is just a little fish herself. Gracie was a trooper and slept the whole time. I can't believe that summer is more than half over. It seems like it takes forever to get here, and just like that it is over. We always have a million plans for things to do during the break and I don't think we've ever come close to completing even half of them.....oh well. We've got 4 weeks left to cram it all in, right???

Love my girls!

I thought my life was complete with my two little boys, but boy was I wrong. These little girls are so much fun, I can't imagine what I would do without them.

Allie just loves her little sister so much. It is the cutest thing to watch her snuggle up to her in the morning.

What would I do without this little nut??? She is the sweetest, most motherly little stinker I know and is soooo full of her little personality it hurts!

And they don't come sweeter than this little bug. I love her to pieces and can't squeeze her enough. She has so much love for her brothers and sister and for her dad and me. Such sweet, sweet, sweet little girls. Life just wouldn't be right without them.

Lovin' those tootsies!

Gracie has a new toy...she just can't resist her toes and feet. As soon as I take off her socks and pants she grabs them and starts playing. Usually she starts munching on them too. Can't say that I blame her. Just look at her! I could eat her up right now.

We got to go to Bozeman a couple of weekends ago for Eli's cousin's graduation. I love his family and we always have such a good time when we are around them. It had been a while since we'd gone up to Montana so it was good to see everybody. As usual, everyone had a great time hanging out, shootin the breeze, eating the best food ever and spending time together. It was fun to take the kids too because they've grown so much since last time. Uncle Matt got a kick out of the boys. There was a lot of family there that we hadn't seen since Eli's grandma's funeral in Colorado 5 years ago and it was fun to catch up. Good times for sure. I can't wait until we can do it again.

Eli's cousin Zalie....the happy graduate!
Aunt Sandy, Zalie, Ronnie and Uncle Paul...bunch of clowns.

Watching everyone playing horseshoes....the weather was perfect!

Little Gracie Bug hanging out in the sun.

Tyler playing horseshoes....he is getting too grown up. No clowning around on this trip. He wanted to hang with his uncles and grandpa playing with the big boys. He loves horseshoes and is pretty stinking good at it too.

This is all Zach did the whole time we were there. He kept trying to land a backflip. I took about a dozen pictures of him and they are all so silly like this. He actually landed on his feet this time, believe it or not.

Anything they can do she can do better....or at least she will try. Our little Allie has no trouble keeping up with the boys on the tramp. This was the first above ground tramp she's been on and it didn't phase her a bit. (did I mention that she may or may not have found a stray beer from a relative laying around and may or may not have chugged way to much of it before any of us realized what was going on? for the record, once she swallowed and realized how awesome it tastes, she does not like it at all and was more than happy to chug the taste away with daddy's sprite).

Three sleepy little kiddos after a long day in the car, sun and pool. So sweet. Then about a half hour later.....

Chaos even as they sleep. I love my kids.

Yellowstone 2011

We went to visit some of Eli's family in Montana a couple of weekends ago and decided to take a "long" cut through the park. I always love it when we go up there. It was a lot of fun this time because the kids loved it...they were so excited about everything. They had their papers out marking off what animals they'd seen and would race to see the wildlife first. It was awesome. We didn't see any bears this time but we did get to see baby buffalo for the first time....so cute! All other cool wildlife we actually saw before we got to Yellowstone and after we left...a moose in Island Park and some Big Horn sheep past the north entrance.

See him right there on the left??? Isn't he cute? Even cuter when he runs.

Little Gracie was a trooper. She didn't make a sound the whole time. She just hung out in her seat and slept while we drove and loved the stroller when we got out. I still just can't get enough of her.

My three little clowns. They had such a good time, and couldn't resist climbing ALL OVER these rocks.

Fun times....I didn't even get my weirdness anxiety with the kids hanging over the rocks to look at the water fall this time. Seriously...this spot has been in too many of my nightmares, this coming from the mom that let her 8 and 6 year old set off firecracker granades by themselves the other day. Maybe I'm finally mellowing out a little. (or maybe it just isn't so scary to me because they redid the overhang...soooo much nicer).

Kindergarten Graduation

Our little graduate. He was so proud, and so cute. He gets so shy sometimes but he was giving it his all during their program. He sang his little heart out. I've teared up at both the boys graduation. It is so much fun to watch them grow up, but so hard. I just wish I could bottle them up sometimes.

Mrs. Judy and Mrs. Dick.

Zach loved his teachers. Mrs. Judy was awesome. I think she loved Zach just as much. He even invited her to his baseball games....he just HAD to get her a schedule so she could come. And believe it or not she did...twice. It made his day. I hope she realized how much it meant to him. The last time was even on super short notice. He was trying so hard to play good for her. It really was so cute. It's cute to me how much they want to please their teachers....

A picture is worth......

Yes...this is Zach after his last game. He was so tired....I think he'd been so tired for about 4 days. I wanted him to take a shower before he went to bed. I was putting Allie in the tub and he kept whining that he didn't want to shower downstairs. He is scared of his tub a little bit. I kept telling him that he needed to because his sister was taking a bath upstairs. The whining went on for a while and I'll admit that I was half ignoring it....then I realized it had stopped and was really quiet. I couldn't hear water running so I figured he had snuck downstairs and turned on the tv....so I went to track him down and get him in the shower when I saw this on our stairs. This is where he was sitting doing the whining. Aparently he was more tired than I had realized. It takes a lot to fall asleep like this. Look at the poor kids neck! After I got Eli to come in and see how he'd fallen asleep we laughed a little....maybe a lot. Then we tried to wake him up. We shook him, moved him, clapped, you name it. The kid was out. I had to take a picture to remember. And what a boy....they just can't keep their hands out of their pants, even in their sleep.