fun times with Ben

We are having a great time with Ben (our brother). We've been bowling a couple of times and this morning we went to breakfast at the Sunset Station buffet - just Joy, Ben and I. We ate and ate and now I don't think I'll be hungry for about a week. The top two pictures were taken at the bowling alley and the bottom two were from Pump It Up. (I should mention that the top two pictures were taken by Zachary) I think that Ben enjoyed bowling more than our outing to Pump It Up but he was very kind and took Caitlin up the big slide a few times. I love the third picture of Caitlin coming down the slide. Everytime whe went down she looked like that - arms out, legs out and when she got to the bottom she always had a big grin but it was hilarious to see her go down the slide. Today Joy and Steve took Ben out on the boat and then we're all going out on the boat on the fourth of July. Last night Steve, Darrel, and Ben went to see the third installment of Die Hard. Then they went and had dessert at the Peppermill. They said they really liked the movie and the desserts were HUGE!! This week we will also be visiting Sky Mania (a huge room full of trampolines -they are even up the walls) and Speed the Ride at the Saraha hotel. I think that overall Ben will go home having had a really good time in Las Vegas.

Aren't brothers great?!!

The picture above is Danny, Dad, Ben, and David. The picture below is Danny, David, and my mom.

Aren't brothers just the best. I love my brothers, every one of them. They all make me laugh and we have such a good time together as a family when the boys are around. I'm not saying that the girls aren't any fun, I'm just saying that having the boys around makes a difference. Having younger brothers has definitely helped me be a better mom. I appreciate my brothers for that, I appreciate my mom the most, but I appreciate my brothers also. I didn't have a whole lot to say on my blog tonight but I wanted to share these pictures with you. I love the picture on the top because it is totally candid and all of them are just playing around and laughing and the picture on the bottom shows just a glimpse of how much my mom loves her boys and her boys love their mom. I hope you have a wonderful day and don't forget to cherish your children (and just for today, cherish your boys especially).

the cutest bum in all the land...

I really hope that I don't get in trouble for posting this cute little bum. This cute bum belongs to my sister, Elise's little girl, Emily. She is a doll and has one of the cutest personalities in the entire universe. She makes great faces and is such a little drama queen and we all love her for that. She brings smiles to everyone she meets. I just want you all to know that she didn't run around naked for very long. After a few minutes we put her swimsuit on but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a few pictures of this adorable bum. Joy has been telling me to post this picture for the last couple of days, so, here you go Joy.

Brothers...Friends

I'm so glad that my boys are such good friends. This doesn't mean that they don't fight or quarrel but it's not often and it never lasts very long. The majority of the time they are good friends and I love that. Look at this picture...I didn't notice until today that Alex is holding Johnathan's hand. When I saw this (this morning) I had a tender mom moment. Both the older boys are also (for the most part) very kind and loving to Zachary and they are so patient with him also. It's not always easy to share your room with a three year old but they do and they love him. I appreciate the relationship that my boys have with each other and I am very grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending me such good, kind, obedient, and loving kids! If you'll please excuse me I've got to go yell at Zach for dumping out all the toys :0)

Family Picture Time

Well, it was that time again...the infamous family picture time. Our family got together this past weekend to take family pictures. It was all my brothers and sisters, their spouses and the grandchildren. We had a good time together as a family but I'm really hoping that the lady we hired to take our pictures got better pictures than I did. I did get some good ones but holy cow was it a chore.

This first picture is all the grandchildren together. We had a heck of a time getting them to all look up at the same time let alone smile.

Here are the four sister together.

These are my boys pretending to cry because Zachary was being weird about the whole picture thing and so we told the boys to cry like Zach...this being the result

This is all the men in the family. The brothers, brothers-in-law and my Dad. In order of appearance: Darrel, Darin, Ben, Danny, Dad, David, Les and Steve.

My mom and dad...aren't they cute??!!!!

The original family

All the women in the family including sisters, mom and sisters-in-law

more photos for you to enjoy

our trip to Colorado

We came

We surprised

We took some great pictures!!

We had a wonderful time on our Colorado weekend. It was so hard to keep our weekend to Elise's house a secret for so long. Joy and I wanted to tell her so many times but we resisted and she was so surprised. Mom was there and so was Missy so we spent the weekend with all the sisters and mom. We had the most wonderful time. We sat around and visited, we sang, and on Saturday night we all went out and got pedicures and out to eat. We need to make that a tradition. It was such fun to be with all the girls again. We have such a good time together. This week will be pretty laid back for me and then this weekend we're heading up to Utah for family pictures. It will be really fun to see everyone again. Have a good one!

our new couch and unfinished floor

I just thought you all might like to see our new (used) couch and our new (not quite finished) laminate wood flooring that Darrel and Steve installed. I think the flooring looks awesome and I'm so proud of Darrel and Steve and the good job that they have done. He and Steve have worked very hard to get this done and their hard work has paid off. Darrel is still going to install the baseboards for a finished look but isn't it just beautiful. This floor and the new tile that Darrel is going to lay in the kitchen is going to make it very hard for me to put this house on the market. It's turning into a very, very nice house.

Today was a fun day. I spent the morning working on Father's Day projects and then this afternoon and evening we were able to go see Grandma Noble one more time before she leaves and swim one more time. We waited until the older kids got out of school so we could all swim together. Joy and I even donned our swimsuits and got in the water. With the temperature pushing 110 degrees it was a cool, refreshing way to spend the afternoon. We have enjoyed our time with Grandma this week. We hope she has a safe trip back to Utah.

plum wore out

We went swimming this morning at the "cool pool" of our friends and Zachary got plum wore out. I was putting away some laundry upstairs and when I came down this is what I found. He was so tired. I also noticed that he is getting big. He used to fit right into that chair and now he's sprawled all over it. I can't believe my baby looks so big.

Today I'm trying to clean and get some laundry done. I'm looking forward to a fun weekend. It will be nice to have Darrel home and just be able to chill. He will probably want to lay tile this weekend so we can finish all the projects we've started in recent weeks. We're getting closer to having a completed house again and it's nice.

We bought a couch yesterday off craigslist. It seems nice, it will be good for that room. It just needs a good cleaning. The couch is cream, wrap-around, and has recliners at both ends. We also got all the pillows that they had on it and that was nice. I fell asleep on it last night so I can say with full authority that it is pretty darn comfy (which was the goal).

Tomorrow we are going over to see my grandma again. We are going to go a little bit later in the day and then take the older boys after school so they can see grandma and go swimming one more time before Larry (my uncle who owns the house) comes home. It's not that we can't go swimming after he comes home but we love to see grandma, she is the real reason we keep going back there. Aunt Carol left today and Natalie left last night. Grandma was alone today but we'll keep her company tomorrow.

I better go and get my boys ready for scouts. See ya!

sleeping kids

A couple of nights ago Zach was awake and keeping the other boys awake so I made him come into where I was in the guest room so he would go to sleep. I basically did what I was going to do on the computer and ignored him. When I turned back around this is the sight that greeted me. It was just so darn cute I had to take a picture. And for all those people out there who actually read my blog I know that my dog is fat. Haven't you ever heard it said that dogs match their owners. I know that Shelby matches me. We're both lazy and love food. Someday I'll be skinny again but that dog will always be fat and I know this, I am not in denial so you can save your comments about my fat dog and just give me some about that cute boy sleeping next to her.

Saturday

On Saturday we went to my uncle's house who lives here in town. My grandma is there dog-sitting for them while they are on vacation. The Laytons and the Webbs went over there to keep Grandma company and to swim in my uncle's pool. The kids had a grand time and we had fun visiting with Grandma. I took some good pictures of her. I'm going to try and put them on a nice background and then I'll show you some. The kids swam for hours and "without a nap Zach" totally passed out cold asleep on the way home. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a nice afternoon. We might go back tomorrow with just Zach, Caitlin and Daniel while the kids are in school and Joy is working. I'll call my Grandma in the morning and see what her status is. Oh, and I guess I'll also have another child that I agreed to watch for the next couple of days. She can come with us too.

Today we had a nice lunch at Joy's house with Grandma, Aunt Carol, Natalie, Leilani, Bam and their 5 kids. It was a house full of people but we all had a good time. There was shrimp, pork, rice, potatoes, watermelon, grapes, rolls, homemade bread, pasta salad, and for dessert we had strawberry shortcake and brownies. It was a fun day today. We loved visiting and the boys really enjoyed their cousins. I'm looking forward to a good week.

random thoughts

What possesses people (mostly photography type people) to take pictures like this? I was in Arizona, walking with my sister in law, we were engaged in conversation and all of a sudden I stopped and took a picture of this tree. I was almost compelled to take the picture, I couldn't help myself. Is it the tree? Is it because the tree is dead? I don't know, I can't tell you.

The top photo is the original and the second is the one I changed to sepia. Which do you like better?

I know this is a random post but that is how I felt this morning...random.

the tree house is so high

Who knew that the tree house would look so high to a three year old. I mean it's been a long time since a tree house has looked so high to me. That is why it's been so fun for me to see the pictures that Zach took. All these things from a different perspective...so fun. Anyway, I'm scheduled to give blood this morning but there is only a very small chance that my iron will be high enough to donate so
I'm planning on going over there and then coming right back.

Darrel and Steve have done wonderful things to my house. We are laying laminate flooring down in the front room and the dining area. It's only about half done but it looks awesome. As things get closer to completion I'll take a picture and share. The other thing we're going to do is lay tile in the kitchen. It will make a big difference to the look and feel of the house.

This afternoon we are going swimming at the fun house of our friends. My boys are so excited, especially Zachary. He wore his swimsuit all day yesterday. He didn't take it off once. He even wore it to bed. He wanted me to take him swimming all day but I didn't have time so we are going this afternoon. It will be fun.

Tonight is game night and I'm so looking forward to it. I really love getting together with this group of friends. We have great time together and it is such a fun thing to look forward to.

Gotta go!

My new favorite picture

This is my new favorite picture. I gave Zachary my camera and he took some very interesting shots. Everything was with his perspective. I didn't notice this shot until I got the camera back from him. I love this picture. What a great kid picture. I can't believe it's such a good shot and he's only three. I just love that kid!!

The Old House

This house belongs to Darrel's mom and dad. It sits behind grannie and papa's old house. This is the house that Darrel's dad was born in. I think it is the coolest looking house. This house has character and history. You can just close your eyes and imagine all the things that this house has seen. "If only walls could talk" is a saying that I've heard quite a few times but with this house I wish walls could talk and tell all the stories hidden within. Anyway, I love this house and just wanted to share.

the dentist

We went to the dentist this morning because Alex needed to get some cavities filled. He was given some "happy gas" to help him stay calm through the procedure. It didn't so much work for him. I had no idea that he was so anxious about this appointment. The dentist had to spend some serious time trying to get him calmed down. It was the first time that he was numbed up for a procedure and afterwards was talking really funny. He didn't want to go to school and get made fun of so I let him come home. I told him he had to work on his city report for school. I took his homework to school and found out that his class had a substitute so I didn't feel so guilty about letting him stay home. I've got Joy's kids today so she can work. Daniel is upstairs playing the x-box and Caitlin is opening and closing the doors on my entertainment center next to where I am sitting and laughing her head off...it's very cute.

Tonight is RS Enrichment. I think it will be fun. I am really starting to enjoy this ward and the friends that I have made. I'm looking forward to getting out tonight. Darrel is going to take care of the karate pick up for Johnathan.

Last night Alex got whanged in the nose and face at gymnastics with another gymnast's foot. It looks like he might have a black eye because of it, but it doesn't appear as if anything is broken. He is being a trooper.

Gotta go and change a couple of diapers...bye!

Father and Son

I took these pictures when we were at the St. George temple waiting for Brianna and Nathan to come out after having been married. Every time I look at these pictures it brings a smile to my face. I am so lucky to have such a good husband and my boys are so lucky to have such a good dad who loves them so much and is willing to play with them and show them how much he loves them.