Babbling Brook

Frequently while I am nursing Suzy, little Brookie-girl pops in and we have this conversation.

Brooklynn: Mommy you have big booboos!  You feed baby Suzy. 

Me: mmhmm.

Brooklynn:  Bookie have teeny booboos. 

(Lifting up her shirt to make a closer examination)  Ethan don't have booboos. And Jakey and Braden and Daddy don't have booboos. 

Me:  (trying not to laugh). Uhhuh. 

We'll this little story is cute and all, but it is not the entire inspiration for today's blog.

You see, Brooklynn has always liked men. (I think we're going to need to borrow that Boyfriend Beater Bat when she gets older!). When she was just a year old, we went to Shauna's wedding luncheon and without any prompting she picked out Uncle Colby's grandpa and leaned over to sit in his lap. His face just lit up and she squealed with delight. It was so cute.

Brook is also fairly outgoing and, once she is acclimated, will often strike up a conversation with anyone within hearing distance.  Well, at Jacob's kindergarten graduation, she did just that. There was a kind daddy of one of the other kids sitting nearby, and while we waited for everyone to get situated, Brookie just starts chattering.  She was adorable and he was smiling so I continued to check my camera settings until I hear her little whiny voice say, "You don't have no booboos!"  I looked over to see hear him say, "Yes I do, see?"  And he pointed to a big scrape on his hand.  "I have a booboo right there."  She looked so confused, then changed the subject. It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud!  Guess his definition of booboos is a little different from yours Brookie!

Happy 4th!

It was nice having a low key 4th of July this year. We went swimming, ate some ribs, and did fireworks. It was great having all the Vegas cousins there. The only hiccup is we thought we were buying a package of sparkly fountains and such, but when we opened them, they were all just those little lame confetti poppers!  Boo. At least the neighbors made up for it with an amazing display of the illegal kind!  And the littlest kids did enjoy pulling the poppers. The craziest part of the day, it rained!  Yes, in Las Vegas, on the 4th of July, it poured!  I hope the fireworks we saw were all the neighbors bought! Oh well! :)

Best Friends - the Lea Family visits

I love these beautiful girls.  It's hard to describe that feeling when friends are reunited. (This post was originally MUCH longer, but I decided to copy those parts of my feelings to my journal and just keep things simple here.) Let's just say the past couple of days have been magic and my only wish is that we could have a few more of them.  About a year ago, our special friends the Lea's took a wonderful new job out in Washington state.  We've kept in touch of course, and now this past week they came to visit!  It's been sooo fun to see all of the kids together!  The best night was when the four of us women left the little monkeys with our sweet men, went out to dinner, and talked until midnight!  You can always tell when great friends get together because it's like they've never been apart. I even overheard Jacob say to Zackary,  "You'll always be my lion even when your in Washington." (I think they were playing some kind of Wild Kratts game?)  Anyhow, here are a few photos with some of our favorite people.

Book Club

So this summer my friend Karen had a brilliant idea. To keep the kids reading, we decided to do a book club!  Every two weeks the kids are assigned a book and then we get them all together to do an activity. So far the older boys have read Balto and My Father's Dragon (don't freak out at the thickness of the book Jake is holding in the photo, it's a series of three all bound together and he only had to read the first one!), and the younger boys have read Al the Alligator and The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  Next we plan on reading ABC Mysteries, The Absent Author, and we'll finish out the summer reading Amelia Bedelia and Fly Guy.  It's been really fun- a real motivation to read- and the kids have loved it!  For Balto, the kids visited Vegas's Natural History Museum (unfortunately I didn't get any pictures) and for this week's activity we went swimming at the Willows Community Pool. I brought some sweet YW helpers to keep my 5, esp the twins, safe and we all had a great time!

Summer Days . . . June in Vegas

This is June in Vegas!  Lots of trips to the library with friends- they do some great little shows for the kids. Keeping cool in the Children's Museum, and water with cousins at Grandma's house!

"It's bite (bright) out here!"



Brookie and Bella!


This summer Jason decided to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to the kids every night. The kids have been loving it!-esp Jake and Bray.

We also have been getting into green smoothies. For those who have not tried, the are de-licious!  Jason has been really wanting to eat healthier, and I must admit I have enjoyed his habits rubbing off on me too.

Ava's Baptism

 What a special day!  My little girl got baptized today!  She is growing up so fast and already has a burning testimony of our Savior and a love for the gospel.  

Our morning was pretty low-key.  Then around 1:30 we started showers and braiding hair and final prep for the baptism which was scheduled for 4:00pm.  We had to be there 30 minutes early so Drew and Ava could get fitted for their white jumpsuits.  We had just enough time to snap a few photos before the program in the Chapel began.  

I absolutely LOVE this one!  So Sweet!

 After the baptism and confirmation, we headed back home for cookies and more pictures.  Not everyone was able to make it, but it was really wonderful to have so much family here to support Ava.

Oregon Berries

One thing I love about Oregon summers is the fresh delicious berries! We hit up our favorite berry farm - West Union Gardens and picked some raspberries! We'll definitely go back for more raspberries as well as golden berries, marionberries, blackberries, blueberries, etc. sometime. The boys are awesome pickers even though they eat most of what they pick.  :) We had a great time on a gorgeous day and oh, the yummy rewards! Mmmm.  :) 

Just a little snack...  ;) ( don't worry -  I only ate most of the bowl in one sitting.... not all of it.)   ;)

Summer Bowling

When we signed up for the summer reading program, we got some coupons to sign up for the summer bowling program at Park Lanes. Throughout the summer kids are able to bowl for free and you can buy a family pass for adults for a great price so bowling time it is! Clarissa and I took our eight kids plus a friend so we had quite the crowd. Lots of fun was had and we will definitely be bowling more this Summer!

These cute girls are such good friends! 

Our crowd!

Best buds! 

A New House!

Well, it's not really new but the paint color is.  The old, faded green has been replaced with a warm gray color.  Ava called our new color choice quote, "dull and boring".  Drew and I however are very please with the outcome!

Camping at Honeyman

Grandpa Dennis likes to camp host at different campgrounds and these past few weeks he's been at Honeyman State Park down in Florence, Oregon. We decided to go down along with Josh and Jasmine to spend a few days camping and visiting with Grandpa! The weather was gorgeous and the campground was so nice! Florence Oregon is also sand dune territory so Josh and Jay brought their motorcycles to play. The boys spent the entire trip riding their bicycles ALL day, reading, exploring, playing, and loving it all! In the day use area is a lake with a nice sandy beach and swimming area that we we all enjoyed spending time at!

The only bummer was when Jayson discovered that our poor old trailer had a bad wheel/axle that couldn't be fixed. We ended up finding a guy in the town that would take it for free so we emptied it out and slowly drove it away. :(  Some day we'll get another...

The boys stayed in the tent by themselves while we stayed in the trailer - they loved it!!