Monday, August 31, 2009

cousins from "ootah"



Last weekend we had visitors from "ootah" as William calls it. Grandpa, Nana, Taylor, and Emma came to visit. The first night when we got to their hotel room he said, "we in ootah??!!"

Emma and Will swinging away.

Taylor singing snap that monkey to Henry

The beloved squirt park

We had it all to ourselves on a saturday afternoon-what could be better?

She was thirsty I guess.

Pure excitement

I just love to watch kids play hard and have fun.

Smashing Taylor on the swing.

All dressed up for church-they look like a bunch of angels.
Thanks Nana and Grandpa for all the fun!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Beach 2009

Our Annual Andros Family Beach Trip


The Beach

The House

The Family!!!
Back Row: Marcus (empty shirt), Dad, KC, Ben, Nick
Next: Mom, Megan, Evelyn, Carrie, Cris, Meredith
Bottom: Bethany, Stella, Chloe, Mitchell, William, Sam, David, John, Henry

We had a great time and spent lots of time just playing as a family.

We even tie-dyed our own shirts this year.

Packing is exhausting!

On our way there...Bonneville fish hatchery, where we saw the sharks (sturgeon)

William headed straight for the water-I swear the kids don't feel the cold!

Monday night, Nana had family home evening. We talked about all of the missionaries in our family and where they served. They loved the flags, and all raised their hands when she asked who was going to go on a mission.

This is where Henry spent most of his time.

John too!

What a cute boy, I wrote his name, but he did write lots of unintelligible things in the sand during the week.

Running in the pools to his heart's delight.

These three boys were a riot down at the beach, they played so well together, the ran and ran, dug in the sand, splashed in the water and just had fun. The next few are all of them.

I don't know what William said, but Mitch was tickled.

Pulling their boards.

Running in the water.

First day down in the sand.

One cool drizzly day, the kids played bocce on the front lawn and Papa gave out candy for prizes.

Favorite toys of the trip on our only sunny day.

This year the kiddos got in on the crabbing, they loved the boat. William came home and said, "mom! I saw the crabs-big ones!" They also saw a starfish and a bald eagle too.

This is how William rode the waves-with his favorite playmate doing all the work:)

Dave dug great big piles of sand to entertain children with. John doesn't seem to mind either!

Nana and Henry watching the fire.

We tried out Jiffy Pop this year, which come to find out when you read the package-silly thing to do I know, is actually meant for a stovetop. We had some successes and some not so much successes, but it was fun to watch!

We had our cookout over the fire our last night there.

Inside the Devil's Punchbowl.

Great tide pools!

John did a lot of this...

Henry too, he likes to let his head fall back at a perilous angle.

Feeling the beachy breeze blow through his hair one last time.

John just can't seem to stay awake-I think the ocean puts him to sleep!

Dave catching a wave.

Papa's admirers

One last time down to the beach.

On the way home we saw Multnomah Falls with Nana and Papa (and smashed a penny, of course)

What a trip-we were so exhausted afterward that it has taken two weeks for me to unpack, settle, and post pictures! We can't wait for next year, we miss the beach already! In the car on our way home, just a few miles from the beach, William asked, "we go to the beach today? pretty please?"

Friday, July 17, 2009

Pictures, pictures, and more pictures

Time flies when you're having fun...

John, 2 months old

Henry, 2 months old

Blessing outfits (not on their blessing day, but oh well...)

William's beautiful smile

John and Henry don't want to be left out, so they smile too!

William is NOT afraid of water or jumping into it.

John and Henry's first time in a pool-they loved it and stayed in longer than I expected.

Here's what they did after their swim-just completely tuckered out, so cute. They are such wonderful babies. I was able to swim for another hour or so. I kept looking at them asleep and thought over and over how did I get so lucky?

The first time all 8 of my parents grandkids were together (we should've put Carrie's belly in the picture so we could get all ten:)

Showing off their red, white, and blue for the fourth.

Their swimming suits!

Sam, William, and Mitchell at the parade, sporting shades.

William a the squirt park having a blast.

My babies are such good sleepers. This looked really uncomfortable to me, but they didn't seem to mind. They still sleep in one swing, and they usually sleep 6-71/2 hours! They are wonderful and so nice to their mama.
I can't believe they are 3 months old tomorrow, I feel like I just blinked and 3 months has gone by! John weighs in at 11lbs 121/2 oz and Henry is 12 lbs. 14 oz. they are changing right before our eyes!

I love that Dave fell asleep and John, who is usually asleep, is bright eyed and bushy tailed! This is how we feel a lot of the time, being sleepy is just part of the deal, and we love having all three of our little munchkins around, we are really blessed!