Utah visit part 1

We drove to Utah for my niece Oliva's blessing and decided to stay with my one and only sister Rachel. Her place is so cute and we loved spending time with her and Matt.

Sophia LOVED her cat Rhino and Rhino LOVED all the attention he got from Sophia (I think).  Brandon and Sara loved playing with all the cats, and staying up late watching movies.

The next morning we went to Hogle Zoo and played with the water ball, watched the bird show, saw lots of animals and rode the carousel.

We were so busy while we were in Utah Sophia had to nap in the van or the stroller.  Thankfully she is so easy going and even though she didn't get her usual 3-4 hour nap she was still very happy.

School supplies and the new mechanic

You are looking at $140 worth of school supplies.  Even when notebooks are only .10 cents and markers are only .25 cents it adds up quick.  I'm glad we're done having kids because I don't know how I could afford to send any more to school.

The check engine light came on in the van and stayed on for about a week-  I went to Auto Zone and they checked it for free. Ben looked up the code online and figured he could fix it himself to save some money.  First he took the part out of the van and cleaned it to see if that would fix the problem.  When he was putting the part back in one of the bolts broke, but he got another one, so it was all good.  When I was driving around the next day the check engine light came back on, so Ben decided to get a new part and just replace it.  He called all over town and finally found a place that had the part, so he went over and picked it up.  He got the new part put in and everything is working fine.  I am so proud of my new mechanic!

Bear Lake 2010

We had so much fun at Bear Lake this year!  We found out that Sophia LOVES ketchup.  She had Ritz crackers and ketchup for dinner- healthy I know.  I'm the best mom ever!

Brandon was a big help this year and was always asking if there was something he could do for us.  He really liked helping Grandma make breakfast and he helped put up and take down our tent.

Sara had fun laying in the sun and snacking.  I was totally awesome at reapplying the sunscreen, so none of the kids got burned!

Sophia loved playing in the sand.  As long as she had a shovel and a bucket she was happy.  The hardest part was keeping her paci and sippy cup clean because she kept throwing them in the sand.

Isn't this the cutest picture of her sand covered tushie?  She wanted to get Daddy, but she couldn't keep her balance in the water so she wouldn't go out very far.

The kids talked Aunt Rachel and Uncle Matt into making a sand castle with them.  It turned out amazing with a moat and everything!

My cute nephew Mitchell loved chasing the seagulls!  He would throw food to lure them close then chase them away over and over again.

All the kids loved getting in the water, some more than others, even though it was really cold.  Brandon really liked going out deep with the adults and Sara stayed in the shallow water so she didn't get too wet.  We all had fun and survived the huge storm that drove everyone into their cars Saturday night- good times!

Catching up

I haven't been able to post lately because I didn't have my computer to upload all my cute pictures.  We sent it in to apple and of course they couldn't reproduce the problem.  Whatever.  Here are some recent pictures so I can get caught up.  I found this binkie I had bought for Brandon and gave it to Sophia.  She didn't notice, but the kids thought it was hilarious!

This is one of the best parts of summer; sno-cones!  We go at least once a week and Brandon always gets root beer as one of his flavors with sour shock.

Sophia still loves books and Ben decided to join her on her little couch and read one to her.

Almond Joy pieces is Sara's newest favorite treat.  She left her door open and guess who wandered in and found them?  She was eating them as fast as she could before I took the bag away.  When she was done she refilled the bag with some of her cheese crackers.  Sara thought there was some chocolate left inside until she opened the bag to eat some.  Ha, Ha, Ha!

Sophia has discovered babies and loves to carry them around or push them in her stroller.

She also likes to kiss them and give them hugs.  How sweet!!

Sophia likes to think she's a big girl and sit at the table to eat.  Usually she eats more food if she can do it herself sitting at the table.  We have been very busy this month, so there will be many more pictures and posts coming soon!

My new niece

I have a new niece!  She is so beautiful and her name is Olivia Nicole Esau.  It was fun holding her and Sophia loved seeing and touching the baby.

Ben was very nice and gave everyone a turn to hold the baby.  I made a few bows for her that turned out so cute!  She is a very snuggly baby and loves to be curled up.

40th Anniversary surprise

Ben's Mom and Dad have been married for 40 years!  We threw them a surprise anniversary party and family reunion.  They had no idea that we had been planning this for over a year and they would not stop calling to see if their kids could be in town this weekend.  We had to lie and come up with things we had going on, so we could not be there.  I redid their wedding cake and they loved it!

All but one of the kids were there, so we did some family pictures.  From the left is Monte, Misty, Ben, Craig, Illona, Jared, Tara and Heather.  Ben's sister Tonya couldn't make it, but she would be between Misty and Ben.

Each family choose a color so we could do individual family pictures as well.  This is Ben's older brother Monte and his wife Kim with their five kids Britton, Chandler, Kaitlyn, Sydney and Connor.

This is Ben's older sister Misty and her husband Tom with their five kids Alex, Brooke, Christopher, Timothy and Jacob.

Here is our cute family!

This is Ben's younger brother Jared and his wife Noel with their three girls Ruth, Joyce and Aubrey.

This is Ben's younger sister Tara with her husband Nat and their  two kids Jeremiah and Raiah.  She is also very pregnant with their third and they don't know what they are having.

This is Ben's youngest sister Heather who is not married yet.  We had such a fun weekend and it was great visiting with family we don't see that often.  Love you guys!

4th of July

Sara got to walk in the parade this year with the Girl Scouts, so we got up nice and early and I dropped Brandon off with some chairs to save our spot.  I then had to get Sara to the float and drive back to Brandon.  It was really cold and we didn't have any blankets, so Brandon curled up in his jacket while we waited FOREVER for the parade to start.

It was fun, but we were at the end of the route, so there wasn't much candy left for the kids to collect.  Sophia was bored most of the time and it was hard to keep her contained and busy.  I had to walk around with her a lot!

After the parade we went to our friends house for a bbq and fireworks.  They have a tradition where everyone brings some fireworks and they set them all off at the same time.  Of course the kids love it and we have fun visiting with friends.
Since I got up so early I got to take a nap for a few hours before heading out to another friends house for another bbq and to watch the big fireworks display.  The kids love playing with each other and running around the soccer fields.

Sophia loved the fireworks and even though it was cold we stayed warm under lots of blankets.  The kids were very tired when we got home so we went straight to bed.  Overall we had a busy, fun day!