July

July has been a fun, busy month for us.  We started out the month with a visit with Maddi.  We went to visit Troy and McCrossans (a must if we're in Sioux Falls) and then went out to lunch with him.  Afterwards we went to Falls Park and walked around. We stopped at the mall on our way out of town and took Maddi out for supper before we had to leave.  It was a fun day.  Makenna had to work so we missed her but it was good to spend time with Maddi.  Here are a few pictures of our day...

The next week, my brother, Spencer and his family came for a visit.  We had so much fun iwth them!  It's been 4 years since the kids have all been together.  It took a couple minutes for them to wamr up to each other but then it was nonstop fun for the next couple of days!  I was sad to see them go Friday morning.

The next week we met them in Nauvoo and spent a few days there with them.  We got to see some of the sites and hear some of the stories from the history of our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Their faith through their trials was inspiring and humbling.  The kids had a lot of fun going to the plays and pageants, making ropes, pulling handcarts, sawing logs, learning to walk on stilts and doing the stick pull.  Thursday morning came too fast as we had to load up the car and head back home.  

Zeke doing the worm ☺

 waiting for the pageant to start

 Zane and Will posing for the camera ☺

 Carthage

 View from the top of the hill in Nauvoo up by the temple.

It was so good to be able to spend time with Spencer and Kimberly and their kids.  I love their family and miss being near them.  They are such good examples of kindness and faith and they are so much fun to be around.  

This last weekend some of the kids participated in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament here in Astoria.  It was a lot of fun too!  Super hot, but well put together so the kids got the needed water breaks and everyone had fun. I didn't get a picture of Dillon's team.  They took first in their division.  Zeke's team took 2nd.  Olivia was able to join a younger team and play with them.  They ended up second in their division too.

Lots of pictures with this post, but I just couldn't pick a few!  Now we wait for Michael's mom and sister to come for a visit this weekend and July will be over.  So thankful for the things we have been able to experience and the fun we have had this summer ☺

Family Fun

If you have children, you know what a treasure it is to have moments when no one is fighting and everyone is having fun ☺  I have been blessed to have a couple of those moments in the last few weeks and to capture parts of it on camera.

Here are a few of those pictures:

 Ok, so there are no  kids in these first 2 pictures but this is what they were working on with me.  We had to dig up the old ugly rocks, get all the weeds out, extend it out farther and dig up the grass, level it off the best we could, pick out the rocks and then assemble everything.  It took quite a few hours and there was not any fighting that took place during the whole process.  Despite the hard work, it was even a little fun ☺  It helps that they were making it for Michael as a Father's Day present.

Here they were cleaning out the pool and getting it ready to fill.  It took a lot of scrubbing and several hours to get it ready to fill but they all worked together, took turns and got it done.  This picture is of them "floating" in the empty pool.  It's really the only way they are able to float.  They haven't figured out how to do it on top of water yet!

 

These last few pictures are from our last visit with Maddi.  We took the kids swimming then out to eat.  Afterward we went to the park and they played tag.  It was a super fun day and there really was not fighting at all!  There were a few disagreements on tag rules, but Michael and I were the officials in the game and were able to end the disagreements quickly.  ☺ Everyone had fun.  Everyone participated and I loved watching them together.

 

I love these moments when we can all come together, work together and have fun.  With so many people and so many personalities it doesn't always happen, but when it does, it makes my heart happy!

 

This has nothing to do with anything but I had to add a picture of Dillon and his triple ham and cheese sandwich.  This boy can eat! This was part of his lunch after his basketball camp before he picked rock.  He ate it all and still wanted more.