Summer is Over

Summer is over for us. I survived! I survived kids whining that they were bored or hot. I survived the fighting that comes with boredom and being hot. Now the kids are back in school. Yay for me! Actually the kids were pretty excited too. They were also nervous since they are going to a new school. Hopefully they'll come home and say how great it was and that they already have a new friend in their class. I can be positive and hopeful some of the time!

Here they are in front of the school mascot. Paige did not want her picture taken! She was feeling apprehensive.

We stopped to play at a park after dropping the kids off at school. Romney just can't pass by a park with out playing.

Now for a little back tracking...

For the 4th of July we attended the parade in Basin City again. Small town parades are the best. They still throw candy which the kids love! We also got ice cream bars from the Dairy. It was a hot day and it felt very refreshing to have to the fire department go by spraying water. Paige loved the horses!

My sister, Nancy, and her family joined us and we met up with my other sister, Karyn and her husband, Jason. After the parade we headed to Moses Lake for good food and lots of fun.

In July, Joe and I were in charge planning the family reunion for Joe's parents and siblings. We were really excited about it and had fun planning out activities to keep the easily bored children busy. I was so busy setting stuff up and getting ready for the next activity that I kept forgetting to get out my camera. Then when I finally did I discovered after taking just two pictures that both of my batteries were dead. But, my wonderful sister-in-law, Heather, sent me a bunch of great pictures that she took. Thank you!! We played some kid-friendly baseball. Even I took a whack at it once. Actually I did hit it (I wanted to use the T-ball but they wouldn't let me). The little kids were so cute playing.

Jacob up to bat.

We went on a nature hike to hunt for things we could make into intruments.

Here's Joe helping to create something.

Here they are with their intruments going on a little parade.

Joe arranged to have Smokey the Bear come visit. They kids thought it was great!

Some of the grandkids waiting to go on a hike.

A little fishing pond. This picture must have been from the beginning because it didn't take long for the water to be quite muddy. Some of the kids didn't want to stop.

Everyone loved adorable baby Clara

After camping in the mountains for four nights we headed back to Oakley. There were a couple extended family reunions with a bunch of people I didn't really know. I also discovered that Joe is pretty much related to nearly everyone in Oakley. :) We watched the 24th of July parade and then a fireworks show that night. It was very fun and the kids had a blast.

Sometime (I lost track of time this summer) after returning from Idaho we headed over the Vancouver, Washington to spend a day at the beach. It started out a little overcast but turned out to be beautiful and sunny. It was really the perfect temperature. The kids just ran and played all day long. That evening we built a fire on the beach and roasted hot dogs and made smores. We pulled some big driftwood around an area that looked like an old fire pit so we would have something to sit on. One of the logs was charred in places so the girls put their towels over it and sat down. Suddenly my sister, Nancy, noticed smoke coming up behind her daughter. She went over to take a look. Her daughter stood up and they picked up her towel. There were pretty decent sized holes burned right through it!

Rebekah loved the ocean. She would walk right into the waves.

Nancy, looking so chic in her hat, and Tommy.

Romney just squealed with delight at all the waves.

Time to dry off and warm up a little.

I think they were trying to build sand castles and be mermaids.

I thought this looked liked Jacob dragging a pet around. It certainly kept him occupied for awhile. Such interesting things in the ocean. Oh yeah, another thing which we didn't catch on film was a big fish that just jumped out of a wave and onto shore next to Jacob, Joe and Adam. I don't know...it could just be a fish tale.

Keepin' it Cool

It was so hot! We didn't really realize that until we were halfway into our walk. We played at the park for as long as we could stand and then had to drag Romney away. On the way home we drank all our water and tried to stay cool thinking about how we were going to put up the slip and slide and the wading pool when we got back. Even I had to try out the slide in this heat. Thankfully no one was filming that! It was a little painful. I am obviously not a kid anymore. That is made all too clear to me all the time. Rebekah loved the slip and slide. It was more of a crawl and slide for her.

Hair

I was feeling bored with life and needed a change. So, I asked my sister, Karyn, to cut and highlight my hair. I love the cut. At first I felt like there were a ton of highlights and really blonde but now that I have gotten used to it, it doesn't seem like all that much. This isn't the best picture to show off the cut but I had Jacob take the picture. Also, I wanted to show Rebekah's adorable little piggy tails!

Do you remember?

Do you remember making forts and tents out of blankets when you were a kid? I remember dragging the dining room table chairs into the family room and making huge tents (and huge messes). At least the tents seemed huge to me back then. My kids made this tent outside with patio chairs, blankets and towels. They had so much fun and played out there for quite awhile.Romney apparently had so much fun he got worn out. We couldn't figure out where he was (an all too often occurrence) until Paige found him taking a nap out here. I had to get the camera and take a picture.

Bouncing Baby Girl

Rebekah had gotten bored with her exersaucer so I traded it with my sister for this jumper thing. She loved it (for awhile). She got so excited jumping in it and laughing!

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Jacob turned 11 on June 11th. We had a little surprise party for him at a park. Two of the three boys came. I'm thinking the third boys mother never got the message from her husband. We also had Aunt Karyn and grandma and grandpa Hull there. We ate grilled hot dogs, chips and soda. I brought carrots for the adults. ;) As you can see in the video I made an ice cream cake. It was barely surviving the heat and I got pretty chocolaty. But it was a delicious request from Jacob.

Here he is opening some of his birthday gifts with his friend, Jacob T., and 2nd cousin, Tate, watching. Oh, and in case you were wondering, it was crazy hair day at Tate's school.

Oh, boys! So easily amused! So gross!

They were so giggly in this video they had me laughing, too.

The kids had fun playing badminton. I was going to have them play water balloon volleyball but they though a water fight would be more fun. It was fun but sure ended quickly!

Whoopsie Daisy

Paige took Hip-hop dance class this year. She was excited to find out the first day there were a couple of girls she already knew in her class. Her is a picture of Paige with her friend Natalie.

At the end of the year there was a recital. I took a video of her performance. Sorry it is a little shaky and I can't zoom in with this camera. This is from her dress rehearsal. She got a little lost on stage this night but did awesome at her other 3 performances! In fact their group did so good during the practices they only had to do it once while some of the other groups with older kids had to start over or practice a couple times.