4th of July in Oregon

We got up early on July 4 and drove straight to the Hughes house.  We were there in time for a delicious BBQ chicken dinner thanks to papa.  Then the cousins lit a few fireworks in the front yard.  

Levi was most excited about lighting the fireworks!

Here's Miriam getting some tickle time from Papa!

Daniel is such a great cousin to Levi.  Levi wants to be with him all the time. 

Then we went to see a "big" firework show.  My kids had never seen real fireworks before so they thought this was awesome.  And they think they only do it in Oregon and we should move here.  :)

Happy Father's Day

My kids are so lucky to have a great dad.  He is always happy to play games with them and help with homework.  He is always giving them hugs and telling them how much he loves them.  

Funny faces because dad is fun!

Swim lessons

Both Grace and Levi are taking swim lessons right now and doing fantastic.  

Yesterday after swimming I took them to Big Spoon yogurt.  Here's Grace outside.  I think she's so cute right no with no front teeth!  

Turtle Bay in Redding

Kenny and I went to Redding June 4, 2013 for Charlotte Whelchel's funeral.  We took Levi, Miriam, and Sarah and the other kids stayed with friends.  During the day Kenny had to work so I took the kids to Turtle Bay nature park.  Here's Levi and Sarah feeding the birds.  When they first held the bird food, Levi had 6 birds on him, one on his head!   But...I missed that shot :)

Baby Miriam is 2 weeks old

Jenn says blogging is so easy. I'm going to try it again. These pictures are of Miriam at 2 weeks old.My friend has a really nice camera and she came over and took these at my house.

Some Grace-isms Worth Remembering

Grace (age 4 1/2) has a good friend, Emily Siler, who just recently turned 4. This was an overheard conversation:

Grace: Santa's going to bring me lots of presents for Christmas.
Emily: I don't really like Santa.
Grace: Do you know who Satan is? Because if you say you don't like Santa, that's like following Satan!

Then tonight, Grace was melting down because Emily (her 11 year old sister) had broken her shell. Grace was screaming and crying about this as I took her up to her room to discover what shell she was talking about. Turns out, her shell was her blanket which she had folded a certain way, and Emily had moved it. I decide I just need to get Grace settled down and in bed, so I tell her a story and then she says her prayer, which includes "Please bless that my shell will turn into a real shell while I'm sleeping, a nice hard shiny long one. And please bless that I will turn all yucky and sluggy in my new shell." At which point I can not control myself and I burst out laughing. In fact, I start laughing so hard I'm crying. It's all to my demise, though, because then she starts crying uncontrollably again saying that it's not nice to laugh at people, etc. etc. But how can I explain to a 4 year old that I'm actually not laughing at her, I'm just laughing at the idea of someone praying to be turned into a snail?
I turned her bedtime over to Sarah, who Grace always says tells way better stories than me, and finally Grace went to sleep, snuggled into her shell.

Our LA trip - First Stop - the LA temple

OK, so I'm still having trouble with blogger. This picture was supposed to go in the middle. Oh well.
Here's the girls under the tree where we had our little lesson on temple marriage!

September 12, 2010 we began our LA adventures. Our first stop was the LA temple. They have a great new visitors center. I'll never forget Levi, after taking his first "run-through" ran to get me. He grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the Christus saying "Look, Mom, Jesus! It Jesus, Mom! Jesus!"
This is part of the kids area at the visitors center.

Outside the visitors center is the little statue garden. Sarah liked this one.

And here's Grace...
Everyone by the fountain where Papa and Grandma threw pennies in and wished to marry each other! My girls were amazed that I knew Papa and Grandma's "story" so well. I told them I heard it at least 100 times as a kids - every time we had company for dinner it was the table conversation. They thought that was funny. I was surprised that the girls didn't really know my story with Kenny. Of course we had to act that out and promised that next time we're in Portland we'll take them to the exact location of the proposal!

Dad and Claire
Here's everyone under THE TREE where Papa proposed to Grandma.
The girls by the reflecting pool
Our best try for a family photo.
Here's the pennies we threw into the fountain and wished for temple marriage!


And...my Eternal Companion!