Go brush your teeth Gavin

I now know why I should never put Gavin in charge of brushing his teeth by himself.....

The pictures really don't do it justice.  Not only was he using his sister's toothbrush, there was toothpaste EVERYWHERE!!!  His fists were both full of toothpaste.  It was all over my bedspread, carpet, his face and shirt.  All I could do was smile.  After all, he was just doing what I asked :)

Farm Living

We planted a garden this year and Emily has really taken interest in it. She checks it every day to see if there is anything that is ready to be picked.  The other day she came in with a bucket full of strawberries, raspberries, peas, radishes and a few tomatoes and replied, "I love living on a farm. Harvest time is so much fun."  

Funny gal :)

Little Moments

With four kids, quiet time with my baby girl is hard to come by.  This morning Tyler got up early and went to Scout Camp.  Travis is at Girl's Camp.  Gavin and Emily slept late, so it was just Kate and I.  The house was quiet.  We had nowhere to go.  Nothing to do.  

I just held her and rocked her.  She looked up at me with her sleepy morning eyes, listening to me sing You are my Sunshine and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  I wanted to write about this to make sure that I would never forget.  I don't want to forget what she smells like in the morning.  I don't want to forget that she loves to be sang to.  I don't want to forget how much she loves my Winnie the Pooh pajamas.  And I don't want to forget the times that she snuggles up to my shoulder, puts her thumb in her mouth and rubs my face with her fingers.

I am sure that I've had moments like this with each child, but it hit me hard this morning that life is moving pretty fast.  The kids are growing so quickly that it makes my head spin.  I want to be sure that I would remember little moments like these.  They are, after all, what gets me through some of the tough days.

Splash Pad

Travis is out of town AGAIN!!!  We decided that we needed to do something fun while he was gone, so we headed in to the Splash Pad in South Ogden. When we got there, there were only about 15 kids there, so we were thrilled! By the time we left, there were only two or three other kids, besides mine.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They loved splashing and running in the water and playing on the playground.  I loved watching the kids having fun.  They played so well together and had a ball!  They are already asking when we can go again :)

Kate didn't get to go in the water this time.  Too cold for her.

I love this picture of Emily.

Trying to get this kid to smile for a picture is a DIFFICULT TASK.  This is the closest we came!

Gavin is a bit like the Energizer bunny.... he just keeps going and going and going...

The train.  I don't think I've ever seen the kids enjoy the park as much as they did this night.

Fourth of July

We had a great Fourth this year.  Emily, Kate, Gavin and I got up and went to the Riverdale parade with the family.  The kids had so much fun!!!  

Gavin didn't remember the parades from last year, so he especially enjoyed it.  He went CRAZY when they started throwing candy.  Each time before he'd run out to collect the candy, he did this cute little dance.  I really wish I would have had my camcorder because it was HILARIOUS!  One time as he was bringing in his loot, he got hit in the back by more candy.  He turned around and said "HEY!!!  What was that for?"  He is one unique kid.  Unique is a good word for him.  He is so much fun and always enjoys himself.  He had a big smile on his face during the entire parade and loved waving at everyone that went by.

Emily was the candy queen.  She collected more than anyone else.  And I'm pretty sure it's all gone by now.

This is my mom and Kate

My brother, Tyson and Emily

Travis and Tyler stayed home to set up our trampoline.  We finally got the fence put in... THANK YOU Travis!!!  And the kids were really anxious to set up the tramp.  After the parade, they met us at my parents for breakfast.  Pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, fruit... you name it!  It was lots of fun!

After breakfast, we went to see Ice Age 3.  The kids loved it, but I think that Gavin was a little bit nervous.  It was a fun show.

We have been running pretty hard lately, with late nights three or four nights in a row.  At 6:30, Gavin got a little (OK, A LOT!)  whiny.  I picked him up and snuggled him for a minute and he fell asleep.  He hasn't fallen asleep in my arms for a long time.  I couldn't believe how big he has gotten.  When did that happen?  Anyway, that ruined our plans for fireworks, so I took the kids on a bike ride instead.  After the bike ride, Emily and I laid out on the trampoline and watched the neighbors shoot off illegals.  She thought that was SUPER fun.  

It was a great day, even without the fireworks :)

Manti

We finally got the trailer out for the first camping trip of the year.  We headed down to Manti for the Barnes annual family camping trip.  We had a bit of a rough start.  When we got to Lehi, we heard a big bang.  Luckily we were right by the exit, so we quickly pulled over and found that we had blown a tire on the trailer.  Travis was able to quickly change it and find the nearest Big O Tires.  We had to replace all four tires.  Ouch!  It was about a two hour detour.  I was so proud of Travis for keeping his cool.  He is to be commended!!!

Every year I marvel at how absolutely beautiful it is down there.  I love to go on drives and just take it all in.  Watching for deer is my favorite thing to do.  We saw plenty this time.  There were a couple right in our camp.  

Emily proved to be quite the fisherwoman (is that a word?)  She caught the biggest fish and even dared to TOUCH it!!!  The second picture is her holding an albino trout.  It was a really interesting looking fish.  It was orange with red eyes.  I had never seen one before.

Tyler needs a little lesson in patience.  He had a hard time keeping his pole in the water long enough to catch a fish.  He was constantly reeling it in, sure that he needed to "check his bait".  Once he decided to keep the pole in the water, he did great!

Gavin is so darn hard headed, he insisted on doing everything himself.  He finally agreed to let grandpa help him cast it out and every time he did, he had a fish on the line every three minutes!  He was really fun to watch.  It never got old to him!

Here's Travis and his big catch!  

Just kidding.... Tyler had caught the bottom and Travis hammed it up!

Kate and I didn't get much fishing in this time, but we had lots of fun watching the kids.

Kate had a horrible first night.  I bet I got 2 hours of sleep total.  I remember sitting by the fire and watching the sun go down and then thinking how ridiculous it was that I was laying with Kate watching the sun come up.  Not much rest in between.  It was awful!  I was so paranoid about her falling out of bed that I decided to sleep right next to her.  She did good until she decided to roll over and there wasn't enough room for her to move.  The next night we decided to let her sleep by herself, surrounded with cushions and pillows and she did much better!  THANK GOODNESS!  I guess she just likes her space.

As we were going fishing one afternoon and passed this creek, there was an overweight man bathing.  The kids thought it was hilarious and wanted to re-create the scene that won't be erased from my memory anytime soon.  So funny!  It makes me wonder what goes through people's head.  If I were going to bath, I would make sure I was off the road a little bit :)

Here's Gavin with his "Diamond Coke".  (It was actually grape soda)

The kids had a great time shooting BB guns, fishing, watching movies, hiking, riding 4 wheelers, exploring camp, fishing, looking for deer and playing with cousins.  We can't wait for our next camping trip!

The best day of Tyler's life :)

The kids got a little antsy yesterday, so I decided to get them out of the house.  We took a picnic to the park and decided to try our hands at tennis.  

Emily couldn't get over the fact that her sandwich was almost as big as her head!

Don't they look like naturals?

We had TONS of fun.  We only had one ball and two racquets, so we had to take turns. Except Gavin.  This is what happened when we tried to take his racquet from him.  He wasn't even crying, just laying there. I'm pretty sure that inside his head he is thinking... "OK.  If I throw a fit, I get my way.  HMMM.  I can handle that". 

Oh look!  It worked...

It took a lot of hard work and imagination to get Gavin to share, but I finally convinced him to let Tyler and Emily play a game.  We played for over two hours.  The kids did great and love playing tennis.  In fact, Emily started a summer camp today and had to take something that describes her.  What do you think she chose?  A tennis racquet :)

Even Kate had a great time.  She is such a good sport to put up with all the things that we do.

Next time we go, we will make sure that each child has a racquet of their own.  Maybe a few more balls too.  When we got home, we played Kerplunk and since Travis was out of town, they all got to sleep in my bed with me.  We talked and giggled until after 11:00 and I got too tired to stay up any longer.  When Tyler told me before we went to bed, "Thanks mom.  This was the most awesome, best day of my entire life!", the thought occurred to me what little effort it takes to make my kids happy.  They love to spend time together as a family.  I hope that next time they start arguing or throwing tantrums that I am able to remember this day.  I really believe that everything can be put on hold... except for the kids :)