July birthdays

We celebrated all the July birthdays yesterday. My cousin Michelle had her 3rd baby (Maysa) on the 4th, and my sister-in-law Michaela had her 2nd (Holly Capri) on the 5th. I have family members with birthdays on July 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7th now. Sheesh! I am amazed that my grandma sends cards to all her kids, grand kids and great grand kids. I can't even keep track of my immediate family.

We went to the park again. Played with squirt guns.

 And played on the swings.

 Ashlyn played with her tongue a little more. She had her tongue out in about half the pictures I took!

 Toki loves Ashlyn, and pushed her around the park. Dallin did too and almost ran her right into a stream.

 Sorry, I just can't get enough of this girl.

We head back to Idaho tomorrow. Driving this time. We will split the trip up into two days for our sanity. Even though we aren't going back to much to do, we are excited to get back to Idaho. We've missed our friends and our own beds.

Special people

We went to see my grandparents today. I really want my kids to have pictures with their great grandparents. I don't have any with mine, I barely remember them.

Both grandma and grandpa use scooters to get around. She had polio and my grandpa had a stroke. The kids love hitching rides. Even Ashlyn.

4th of July weekend

I took pictures of my brother-in-law's family this weekend. They are a good looking bunch

 aren't they? See more here.

 

We did a little bit of running around and some swimming.

 Played with Ty, their cousin who just moved to Washington. We won't see them again til next spring probably. :(  The kids are eating tres leches cupcakes. It is our tradition on Nate's birthday.

Happy Birthday Nate

Nate is 29 today. Yep he is a younger than me. He will be about 30 when he starts his career. Wow, it has been a journey. A wonderful one. A lady he worked with at this last affiliation couldn't believe he was in school with 3 young kids. We wouldn't have it any other way. I already know we will look back on these years as some of our best. We've truly enjoyed the struggling student years.

 With the holidays I like to make stuff for the kids to wear. I made this pillow case dress for Ashlyn and the ties for the boys to show our patriotism. I thought it would be a good day to take a picture after church since we were all matchy.

Fun in the sun

We played in the pool today with Chawna's kids.

One of these days Ashlyn will rip out my earrings.

I don't have many pictures of myself with Ashlyn, so I handed the camera over to Chawna.

I could kiss these cheeks all day. But it gets old for her.

There is that tongue again.

Yummy!

Guess whose toes these are. Dallin's. I was painting my toenails and he REALLY wanted his done. Grandma painted Tanner's blue, so I went ahead and painted Dallin's. Tanner's polish came off within the hour after Nate told him toenail polish is for girls.

Here is Chawna's clan. The white girl is Carmalee, Chawna's sister. Funny, she is the same age as Chawna's her oldest daughter Aili who is almost 10, making Carmalee Aili's aunt.

Tongue tied

You won't see Ashlyn with her tongue in her mouth these days. She can curl it, roll it and stick it out.

Kid time

We've been going to Kid Time again. It was in the 90's yesterday and then it was raining today, so we kept our activities indoors.

 Ashlyn has a new buddy. Herself. She was cute. Kissing herself and laughing.

 Shopping

 Scanning me

Cousins , grumpy girl and Bears. Oh My!

My parents live out of town on 5 acres of beautiful land full of trees, wild flowers, and wild animals. We hear coyotes at night sometimes. My cousin killed two bears on my grandparents property (which is a couple miles from here) in the last couple months. Here is a picture.

THIS is why I don't let my kids play outside without an adult. I don't know why I was allowed to when I was a kid! Mom!?!  :)

 This is the boys with their cousin Joel.

 There are some fun props around here. Oregon is beautiful. I would much rather be a photographer here than Idaho.

 

 The boys all wanted their shirts off. It was pretty warm. Can't blame them.

 Ashlyn would NOT smile for me. Stinker. I had to get Dallin to make her.

 

 Love this old truck. I don't know what is going on with the paint.

 Girly Girl.

Any computer nerds out there know how to make high quality pictures look high quality on my blog??? They look great printed and on photoshop but stick them on a blog and they look funky. Ok, only the very observant would notice.

30 is the new 20

Didn't you hear? Ha ha. I am OK with 30. I feel better now than I did when I was 20 actually. Nate and I went and took pictures of each other since we are both celebrating today, with it being Father's Day too. I hate sharing my day with the Dads. Oh well, only happens every few years.
Happy Father's day, Nate. You are a wonderful dad, who obviously enjoys fatherhood.
You are a natural. We love you!

 It is easy to be a goofy poser when it is your husband behind the camera.

 Nate did a pretty good job, I think.

The kiddos

It has been a challenge getting a good picture of all 3 of my kids.  I love this one though.

The boys got Ashlyn cracking up when they blew bubbles.