~Up~*and at 'em*

Emma was happily cruisin aroud in her walker today, and it hit me! She is cruisin around in her walker. Why? shouldn't she still be laying asleep in my arms?





I can't believe that my baby girl is already in a walker! Where does time go? I know that time is time, and that scientifically, time can't go faster than time, but I truly believe something bigger than us is at work, and time is going so much faster! I swear I just had her. She is truly the JOY in my life. I say that about all my kids though. We are going to go swimming at electric city water park tonight, and the kids are ecstatic!

Illegal Fireworks? What's That?

Happy 4th of July! We had such a great time at the parade. We got there late, so we had to sit on the hot side of the street, but thankfully a cloud cover came, and it was quite enjoyable. They didn't throw much candy, so the kids were sad about that, but they handed out popsicles and pops to everyone. We sat with our friends the Giles and the Cooks and the Cranes. I, of course, cheered loudly for the veterans. That is by far my favorite part of the parade. I love to see the little old men who sacrificed their lives so that mine could be better. Whether you are for or against war, we owe those men a lot, and I think they deserve to be stood up for and shown just how much we appreciate them. No one was cheering for them when they went by, so I of course had to make a fool of myself and be the only one cheering. After I started though, others joined in. It's amazing how after 9-11, everyone had such spirit, but now it is almost all gone. How quickly we forget.

We were lucky to get to be close to some trees, and the kids climbed trees and hid in the shade to keep cool, before the parade started. We are lucky to have a great family that has kids just the same age as ours. Porter and Noah are great friends. We went to the Cook's for a BBQ after the parade. They live right on the Missouri River. We went out to light off some fireworks at sunset, and were amazed at the view. It was georgeous, and lasted for at least a half hour. It would have been perfect if it wouldn't have been for the dang mosquitos. They were horrible.

In Montana, there is no such thing as Illegal fireworks. So needless to say, the bigger the better is the attitude here, and picalo petes, and flowers aren't even sold. Everything flies up into the air. The crazy thing about it though is that everyone and I mean everyone goes to the parking lot of K-mart to light off their fireworks before the city starts theres.

We all went, and it was crazy. I have never had so much fun on the 4th of July before. We never could tell when the city actually started theirs. Everyone had fireworks that shot up into the air like the ones that we see in Utah at the firework shows. It was amazing. There were fireworks blowing up all over, and people ducking for cover. I laughed so hard. The kids were in heaven. All around up there were just massive amounts of fireworks going off.

Mara had fallen asleep in the car, and Emma who had slept through all of the other fireworks, woke up and stared wide eyed at the event.

Next year you all need to come to Great Falls, Montana and celebrate the 4th of July with us. You will never believe it if you don't see it for yourselves. We had so much fun.

Dancin' In the Rain~July 1, 2008

We had a massive downpour come through with tons of rain.

We had been so hot, and when the rain came, it totally cooled down the house.

The kids were so excited to see that much rain come all at once

that they decided to go out in the rain and dance in it.

Dancing in the rain was always one of my favorite things to do.
We had to finally end it when the lightning and thunder started coming.

The rain came so much so fast that it created a huge puddle on our driveway that leaked into our basement family room and on into the laundry room. What a mess. We had to sop it all up and then set the fan going to dry out the carpet. I detest water in your house where it shouldn't be.

Addy(my niece) has been here with me all week, and it has been a dang good thing. I spent 24 hours at the birth center on Monday-Tuesday assisting with the delivery of 2 babies. I got to go home to feed Emma and eat dinner at 6:00pm, and then I came home at 3:30 a.m to feed Emma and sleep for 1 hour, then I was back and didn't come home until lunch time on Tuesday. Then this morning I went back in at 2:30am and got to actually deliver a baby at 3:30 this morning. It was so cool. Loved every second of it!!

The kids didn't even know that I was gone this morning though, because I was back by 5:00 am. So Addy and Sam really only had the kids on Monday from 12:30- 5:30. Emma did awesome. She is an angel baby. She drank a bottle for Addy didn't hardly even fuss at all. This was a rare occasion to do that many births all at once, there are only two more due the whole rest of this month.

At Least ???

At least...

she took off her clothes so that I don't have to wash them as well???


I looked out the window and she was playing in the mud pit...naked!
What ever will I do with her. She had only been out of the
bathtub for 2 hours. So back in she went.
I guess I can say At Least!

The Reception

Max told me the worst thing about this whole night was that he had to have pictures taken of him. He said that was not fun at all. As you can see we had to take a lot. He and Caleb weren't so cooperative. I sure hope that there is at least one good family picture in the bunch.

Garrett and Meredith's Wedding Dinner

Grandma C with Cami and Coulsen

My aunts cooing over Emma!

Addy, Michele, Chloe and Sam eating Hawaiian Ice.

Just a snow cone on top of icecream.

Mara with her bracelet and chapstick that Aunt Michele gave her

Ryan with Mara and Chloe, Maria's youngest.

Mini-Mike(Miles) showing us his right gun! His left one needs some work he says! He was a crack up. He kept showing us his shimmy and then he decided to do a break dance and spin on his head. He put his head on the ground and started to spin, but his head stayes in one place while his body spun. He got up and said "that freakin hurt." I laughed so hard.

The boys got the coconuts from the table decorations when it was all over, and cracked them open. Sam thought it would be funny to put them in his shirt. The only problem was that he put them way down, so it looked like saggy boobs. We jokingly told him he neede a boob lift. So he lifted them.

Who knew that I lookes so much like my mother? I saw this picture and was floored at how much I look like her. Good genes mom! Thanks for giving them to me! I've always thought you were beautiful! Maybe I can look as good as you when I am ... Oh, maybe I shouldn't announce that you are 65 publicly.

*Lagoon*

We decided since we were here, we'd better go to Lagoon! It just seemed right. For me and the kid, not Ryan. He doesn't so much care for Lagoon, and I have to say in my old age, once a year is all I can handle. We got there early, and waiting was so hard fo the kids. They were so excited! We went with Wade(Ryan's brother) and Cherish and there kids who all just happen to be the same age as my kids. We also got to take Greyson and Chloe my nephew and niece. It was tons of fun. We have a rule in our family that every year you have to try a new ride. The kids get to pick individually which ride will be there new one. I only do this because I know that they will like them once they try them, they are just scared to

try them. This year they did great! They tried lots of new rides! Music Express, Spider, White Roller Coaster, Scrambler, and their favorite...Cliff Hanger which I went on and hated, but the kids road 5 times. Sam has had a quesy stomach in the past so I died when I saw that he was getting on music express. I thought his ride riding would be over, but he didn't get sick... a first.

Mara loved the rides and had a nice scrape on her face from falling off the little plastic horse at YiaYia and Papou's(which she pronounces poo-poo) Just a nice lovely scrape all over her cheek for family pictures. She loved bulgy the whale the most. Emma just hung out in the stroller and was an angle baby as usual, and besides being completely hot and tired and worn out, I think we all give it a two thumbs up. Max was my little dare devil, and was totally upset that he couldn't go on the Wild Mouse and Spider. I hate to break it to that kid, but he's got a good loing while to go

before he is tall enough for those rides. Thank you YiaYia and Papou for the tickets to Lagoon. We had a great time, and are so thankful to you for the fun memories!

Utah Means...Family!

We left Friday June 20th to come down to Utah. The kids were so so good in the car. I love road trips it was 8 uninterupted hours in the car with my kids and my husband. It doesn't get that much better. Ryan did have to pull over once, Caleb and Max started hitting each other, and Ryan and I were watching them in the mirror thinking that eventually they would work it out or stop, but they didn't. It was the first time that Ryan actually had to stop the car and end it. It was so funny though, because there was no yelling , screaming, or crying, just fists flying. So Ryan just casually stopped the car got in the back and split them up. Poor Noah had to be the mediator the rest of the way and sit between them. Sam gets that duty on the way home! (he will not appreciate that at all) Caleb was pretending to be asleep in the car, he even got the drool hanging out of his mouth. It was so funny that I laughed and took a picture. He just kept pretending the whole time, he never once cracked a smile. What a goofy kid.
Ryan's parents have been married for 40 years, and we had a surprise party for them at Ryan's sister Tami's house, and we didn't get one picture, but we were so glad that we got to be there for it. One of the hardest things about living so far away is that we miss out on a lot of family functions that we would love to be apart of.

We went to see Ryan's grandparents! They live in Kaysville, and we think the world of them. They are always so kind to us and our kids. We know that we are overwhelming as a whole, but we are so grateful to them for giving the kids popscicles and letting them play with the toys that Ryan played with there when he was a kid. Ryan love his grandfather very much and is alway saying that he hopes to be more like him. We love you Grandma and Grandpa Passey! Thanks for being such good examples to us and for helping us so much!

While we were at the Passey's, Ryan's uncle

Brett and aunt Nadine came with Emily their little girl. She is so sweet and she and Mara took turns playing with the shopping cart. We are so grateful that Brett and Nadine let us play with Emily. She is such a great addition to the family.

We loved hanging out at my mom and dad's house. There was definitely a house full. I went outside because I thought Ryan was out there taking a nap, but unless your definition of a nap includes four kids crawling on you, he wasn't. Tuesday before the wedding reception, there were 9 adults and 11 kids all trying to get ready and take baths and showers. It was like an assembly line. Put 3 kids in the tub, wash one, dry one, put another in... I have decided I do well with chaos. I think it makes me more efficient. Ryan on the other hand enjoyed a day of golf with his dad and brother, and that was great with me. He does better without chaos. He is so great to help though, and is amazing to put up with me.