I have an AWESOME sister in law...

...okay so all of my sisters in law are awesome for different reasons but Elena just took totally fabulous pics of my kids so she is the awesome one for today...I couldn't decide which I liked best of Lila so there are a ton. I think I only left out like 2 pictures.  I am a dork I know.  Elena took some pics of the older boys for me too but that was at a different time and I haven't gotten those ones back yet.  Thanks sooo much Elena! We love them and are so glad you are getting into photography. We will be your models anytime!

The Newest Critter...

So the other night we were at Walmart, (the boys had earned money from Grandpa Steve by pulling weeds and were just dying to spend it), and Dallin bought a cheap fake snake.  We all got in the house and I see this snake on the floor right inside the front door.  I start yelling for Dallin to come pick up the snake he just bought and take it to his room. I bent down to pick it up and realized it was not fake at all!!

Alden was very brave and wanted to touch and hold it right away.  He thought it was so cool and wanted to keep it as a pet.

Brig would barely touch the tail and only if Scott was holding the head nice and tight.  He was not very excited about it. 

Dallin was absolutely terrified. This is him being embarrassed because he didn't want to touch it and hiding his face.  I ended up having to touch it my self and bribed the little stinker with $2 just to touch it really quick. Then of coarse the other boys wanted money too since they were brave and touched it without having a fit. It was an ordeal for sure! After the excitement was over we brought it across the street and let it go in the open desert area.

Just add it to our list of uninvited visitors... I would say I can't imagine there is anything else we could have around here but that might just jinx us into something super icky coming along.  I am just glad this snake was tiny and not a rattle snake or something else poisonous!!

Last Day of Summer/ First Day of School...

The last night of summer the boys got to stay up as late as they wanted watching movies but were told that the next morning we would be doing yard work.  So the last day of summer we spent the morning finishing up the front yard.  After that we surprised the boys by taking them to Peter Piper Pizza for lunch.  They were very excited about that. Then it was off to get last minute school supplies and a few groceries.  They had the "meet the teacher" That night too which I was not very happy about.  In the past it has always been with a day in between meet the teacher and the first day of school so it was a little more hectic than normal I think.  The boys got wonderful blessing from their daddy to start the school year out.  Scott woke up extra early on the first day of school to make the boys a yummy huge breakfast.  We were very slow moving but finally made it out the door and off to school.  It was a zoo like usual but I rode my bike with the boys instead of trying to drive and find a place to park.  The boys both had a really good day and both of them think they are really going to like their new classes and teachers.  I actually went to highschool with Alden's teacher, how funny is that!!  I was an airhead on the first day of school and forgot to take their pictures so the pics are actually of the 2nd day of school. 

Random Summer Pics

The boys having fun in the rain playing at the park that finally got fixed! Our park had a broken slide and the put a fence around it blocking it off forever.  Finally when it is too hot to even think about going to the park, they decide to fix it. Great HOA huh???  With the nice storms out in the evening it was cool enough to go play although way to humid for my liking.  Just and FYI... sand and water are really messy!!! Good thing they had fun!

Lila Checking out the rain.  She had her capri sun and was good to go.  She loved being in the rain. It was really fun to watch her check out puddles and stuff.

Here are a few pictures of some of the reasons why Scott is such a great dad.  He is very creative and loves doing things with the kids.  The boys were out catching frogs after the storms and the boys wanted to keep one so bad.  Scott helped them put a little cage together to keep one in for a while.  The frog got out after a while but they sure had fun putting the box together for it. It had a water dish in it and everything.  Before Scott helped the boys put this together Alden came in the house with a frog in hand asking for something to keep it in and I being the none creative anti-critter type that I am quickly found him and old ice cream box just to get him out of my house with the icky thing.  Scott definitely takes much more time with them in that area...

Only boys could be this interested in bugs, Scott and the boys were outside for a full 30 minutes just watching this huge roach or whatever the heck it is.  It is nasty is all I know.  I have noticed at this house that since we don't have houses behind us or across the street from us we have tons of really weird yucky bugs.  Neighbors are a good thing!  Anyway it was huge and Brigs foot for picture purposes was the closest any of the boys would get to it but they sure had fun anyway.

Another of Scotts brilliant ideas...  One day while the boys were helping Scott do yard work someone got the idea that some of the branches being thrown away looked like a bow so they were pretending to shoot them.  Scott always being creative takes it one step farther and  attaches twine and helps them find stick that can work as arrows.  The boys loved them!!! In fact then next time my cubscouts were over they saw them sitting out side and were so excited thinking we were using them for scouts.  I felt kind of bad telling them no.  They didn't actually work very well but they were fun anyway.

Brig and Ryker drying off (in the shade cuz out in the sun was too hot) after playing in the hose.  They were looking at the clouds and talking about what they looked like.  It was really cute to find them like this.

Lila loves to put clothes on.  Her favorite seems to be my swimming suit.  Not sure why except she can actually get it over her head.  She will put any thing around her neck or on her head she can find her brothers shirts, shorts and even underwear it is really fun.  She will be a dress up girl  I am thinking.

We have had a really nice summer mostly just relaxing.  We have swam a lot (thanks to Aunt Tara), gone to the library and the boys favorite, summer school at Aunt Tara's house with the wii as recess.  Tara is so awesome to keep them not only entertained but their minds working.  They have loved it!!!  Thank goodness for mom schools starts next week so we can get back into a routine and a reasonable bed time!

Like father like son....

Dallin is going bald!!!!!  Ha ha ha, just kidding.  It sure looks like it though.  All the boy cousins had a sleepover at Papa Steve's house the other night and when they came home the next morning Dallin hadd a big chunk of hair missing from the back of his head.  I asked him what happened and he said he had tangles in his hair and pulled them out.  Well I have been giving him a really hard time and laughing and showing everyone so hopefully he has learned his lesson and will not actually pull out the hair next time.  It was fun teasing him telling him he was going bald like daddy though. Poor kid.

Camping at Woods Canyon Lake

Last weekend we went camping with the Kimble's near Woods Canyon Lake.  It was nice and cool, although really humid, and a lot of fun.  It rained, which normally we love but when you are camping it just gets mud everywhere and is really a mess.   

Lila had a good time.  She was really funny though, she didn't like the way the pine needles felt or something so she refused to put her hands on the ground.  She still ended up as filthy as could be.  She loved exploring though and picking up sticks copying her brothers.

Alden trying out his new pocket knife and Brig with a soda pop like always.  Every camping picture we have of that boy he is guzzling down a pop.  

The boys.  We need to invest in a camping chair for Lila, she loved them and was always kicking one of her brothers out of theirs so she could sit in it.

Took a trip down to the Tonto Creek Fish Hatchery.  Fish totally gross me out. I couldn't believe the way the fish went crazy over the food we would throw into them.  They were literally jumping out of the water.  Crazy! Very entertaining though.

We took a nice hike down by Tonto Creek too.  It was a lot of fun.

The boys had so much fun playing in the water and Champ just had a blast the whole trip running all around.  He chased those boys everywhere.

My monkey kids who think they can climb anything.  They sure make me nervous watching some of the things they do.

Dallin, Hyrum, and Tara on our hike.

Lila sticking her toes in the water.  We had a really good time.  Dallin and Tara made a yummy dutch oven dinner (which was rather entertaining trying to dutch oven in the rain).  Scott made a yummy breakfast.  The boys went fishing and we just relaxed and had a good time.  It is sooo nice to go home and take a shower after camping though!!!  Thanks to mom for letting us take her Tahoe and for the Wilsons for lending us their camper.  It was much nicer to have that with Lila than trying to stay in a tent with her.

We have a monkey in the house!

Black Eye

Dallin's head and Alden's eye got in a fight...Dallin's head won!  The pictures don't even show how bad it really looked. 

4th of July

We had a pretty quiet fourth since it was on a Sunday this year.  We did take the kids to go see fireworks at AJ Highschool.  We have been going there for the past couple years since the church by my parents house stopped doing them over there.  We are still disappointed about that though, they had a good set up over there, sit inside until it was time and stay out of the heat!!! This year wasn't too bad though it was actually pretty nice out.  We hung out with Larry &Sandee and Kim & Glen's families.  The kids had so much fun running around and playing with glow sticks.  Lila loved the fireworks and was not scared at all although she was cranky and ready for bed before they were over!

Lila got her pool!

The same day Lila posted her letter to daddy, he came home from work with a pool for her.  I would say someone has their daddy wrapped around her finger.

Lila loves her pool and "swims" (crawls) around and around in circles it is pretty funny.  She bangs her hands on the back door and hollers to go outside and swim. 

The boys thought it was fun for about 2 seconds.  Alden wanted to know why she wasn't more specific and didn't ask for a bigger pool like the one we had last summer that was above ground and about 3 1/2 ft deep.

The boys decided it was more fun to spray the hose on the tramp than to try to fit into Lila's little pool.

Dearest Daddy,

Daddy,

I really NEED a pool.  Would you please buy me one...

Pretty pretty please with sugar on top?

I reallydo need one,cuz as you can see I have resorted to swimming in Champs water dish.

It is kind of a tight squeeze in here.

And mom says yucky. Although I am not sure why, it doesn't seem yucky to me.  Just crowded. 

Please Daddy?  Love, Princess Lila :)