One Summer Trip to Remember

I'm getting a little behind...but I'm going to see how many posts I can cram in before school starts on Monday! I'm going to start with our trip to Washington. My whole family (all siblings w/families) made it out to Washington to help my Grandpa celebrate his 80th birthday. It was awesome. These pics will show you why....


My Grandpa's in the middle surrounded by his 4 grandchildren and their spouses, 9 great-grandchildren and of course my parents. We're all accounted for!


Every night, this is where we hung out. It's a tight squeeze inside the house, but fortunately we had beautiful weather and were able to sit around the firepit every night.


Here are the sleeping quarters!


Our eating quarters...hey, how come we're still at the kids table?!


Mac, Nate and Morgyn went to VBS each morning at the church I grew up in...so we started the day with a leisurely walk up the road. Other than that, there was no agenda, just great time with family.


Mac, Morgyn, Nate and Carter feeding the horses. This was just down our road.


The younger ones. We figured out that Elly, Katie Ann and Carter will all start kindergarten at the same time.


My mom collected a bunch of stuff to do in the backyard, including playing some baseball.


Watch out grandpa!!!


Elly and Katie Ann. Katie Ann is almost a year older than Elly and lives in Georgia. We're thinking they'll be great pen pals!


We went to the beach one day.


Sam and I realized that this was the first time we'd been to this beach since our wedding reception 11 years ago.


It was a lot of fun.

More pics from the beach...



Beth and I


Nick, Marianne, Katie Ann and Harrison. They travelled the farthest...from Georgia.


Elly just got a little dirty


Found the warm sand with Grandma


Nate agrees the warm sand is the place to be.

At the end of our trip, my grandpa treated us to a stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. It's a big indoor water park that I'm pretty sure we all enjoyed. I don't have any great pictures of the waterslides...but let's just say they were awesome! My parents even hung out with the little ones while they napped, so all the adults got some time on the big ones.

Here's a pic of my grandpa with his 9 great-grandchildren at the Great Wolf Lodge...a few have their ears on.

We had such a great time with the Glasers. It's always hard to say goodbye, but I guess that just shows how much you love everyone and are going to miss them. I am so blessed and extremely grateful to belong to a family where we all LOVE being together.

After we left Washington, we drove East to Montana to visit some more family. We were able to see one of Sam's cousins in Missoula, stay with another in Bozeman, then finally spend some time with Sam's grandma in Billings.


In Bozeman, with Sam's cousin Paul and his family


Grandma Marge with the kids.

It was a great trip. A fine way to end our Summer.

Dates with Dad

The kids each had dates with Sam this past week. Elly and Sam just had breakfast with Elly in the backyard while the boys and I were gone. I don't have pictures from that, but Sam did get some from the boys' dates. Note from the pictures that these were at 8 in the morning. Our weather is beautiful right now.


Nate's date was at Horsetooth Reservior. They grabbed McDonalds, then hiked to the reservior.


Of course the ultimate goal was jumping in.




Sam's turn.


Mac and Sam grabbed McDonalds and headed to the Poudre River to try out the rope swing.



We later found out that you can only swim at the Reservoir at a swim beach...and the Poudre River was banned for swimming until that day due to high water. Sometimes it's best not to know the rules! :)

Happy 4th of July

We just got back from a great visit with friends and family. We spent a couple nights in Lake City with our good friends...can't wait to go back, then time with the Ballards in Telluride over the 4th. Lots of pics...enjoy.


Elis and Hartmans


The boys walking into town for some ice cream


We later went on a hike. It was along a creek, the kids loved it!


At the end of the hike was a waterfall that you could stand in


Elly loved Isaac. I think she thought he was one of her babies she could play with!


Got some zip-lining in


Elly and River listening to some music


We camped with the Ballards just outside Telluride for the 4th.


We made it into Telluride! Great view down Main Street.


Elly and Cade are sure happy! We made matching shirts for the 4th.


These boys are excited to be here!


Waiting for the parade to start


The boys waving their flags with a twinkle in their eye as the parade started with jets flying over head. It was awesome...my favorite part.




Elly liked her spot just fine on Daddy's lap...someday she may be ready to throw elbows for some candy. :)


After the parade, we surprised the kids with stuff to decorate their bikes and make their own parade


Our mini-bike parade!


Got the big boys glow-in-the-dark hats for the big night. Didn't want to lose them!


We were super-excited to find out about watching the fireworks at the base of the gondola and then getting on to watch the grand finale from the gondola. Sweet way to do with little kids!


Quite the fireworks show


We all needed baths, but Nick may have been the happiest with his dirtiness


We had hopes to hike to the base of these waterfalls...but our kids were a bit tired from the 4th, so we settled with a pic.


Elly found a caterpillar along the trail. Gotta have bugs!

Nate's up to bat!

We signed up Nate for baseball this Summer. Since he was two, he's been swinging the bat and will do it all day if someone will pitch to him. It's been fun watching him play, he absolutely loves it.


His team is all kindergarteners (well just finished kindergarten) and they get 3 chances to hit from the coach, then 1 try on the tee. Lucky for Nate, his coach is his dad, so he's been hitting off him for awhile!


They don't keep track of runs in coach-pitch, but Nate asks me before each game to keep track (I tell him I can only keep track of his sister for now). He's going to be one of those kids that knows all the stats of players.


Such a little peanut out there! (Yes, he's the one intently waiting for the ball.)


Sam's doing a great job coaching. It's not that easy to wrangle a bunch of 6 year olds, but he manages. Some days are better than others. :)

This Girl!

This morning Elly and I were doing yard work when I hear, "Look mommy, I caught a rattlesnake!" Not wanting to look, I glance over and she is proudly holding a gardener snake in her hand over her head. Now I love that Elly is fearless, but Good Gravy! Mommy doesn't like things that slither! I tried to calmly tell her to put it down, which she did...and then promptly grabbed a handful of cheerios with the same hand and ate it. Yuck!

School's Out for Summer!

The boys just finished school for this past week. It went by fast...I can see how once your kids are in school, time just flies.

Well, we had a great year. The boys did great in school and we loved their teachers. I'm really excited for Summer and to have all the kids home all day, but there was still a bit of sadness on their last day of school. I decided that when you are sad to not have a teacher anymore...then they must be pretty darn good! When your kids are in school, especially all day, it's a long day that they aren't with you. There's a comfort for a mom when you know their teacher genuinely loves and cares for them. I definitely had that comfort in the boys' teachers. We're going to miss them!


The boys on their last day getting on the bus. Could we be so lucky to have a school bus stop at our front door next year?! We'll see...


Nate with Mrs. Mitchell. Mrs. Mitchell did a great job capturing memories. We got a big binder of kindergarten memories from her at the end of the year.


Mac and Mrs. DiRocco. Mrs. DiRocco was Mac's literacy teacher in kindergarten and then his 1st grade teacher this year...and Mac loves reading! She did a great job of making learning fun.


Our first morning of break...the excitement even went to Elly! She was following right behind Mac. It was funny at first, but then a little annoying for Mac. Get used to it buddy! :)


Nate took Elly right outside to teach her some baseball. Getting her early!


Keep your eye on it Elly! Nate's coaching is very sweet and encouraging to his sister.


This girl's up for anything! She's going to have so much fun with her brothers this Summer! Between Mac's imagination and Nate's sportiness...she's got a bit to choose from!


This is what Mac did when I asked him if he was excited for Summer. Just a little bit of character in this boy! He was up there directing the baseball that Nate and Elly were playing. It was quite hilarious to watch.

Be looking for posts of Summer fun!

Happy Birthday Elly!

I can't believe my baby girl is 3! She is full of spunk (has no problem telling her brothers how she feels), yet is full of sweetness. When Nate got hurt recently, she had her little arm around his back. She likes to snuggle with whoever is near. She's got some wit! She was swinging on her rope swing that she loves, looked over at us and exclaimed..."A little help here...I'm stuck!" She can quickly bring a smile to your face. Happy birthday Elly!