Family picture Time!

We are a little late this year, but better late than never!! We usually try and get our family picture taken every May...our anniversary is our family picture taking time reminder!!  This year...after 100+ shots...we got 2 decent shots, whew...holy cow!  Laura and Clay thought they were on candid camera or something with two boys who like to wrestle, tease, stick out their tongues, do bug eyes, and pull their little sisters hair..it is a miracle that we got 1 good picture!  Whew...glad that is done!!

4th of July Fireworks and Festivities

This 4th we did a few traditional things and a few non-traditional things.  For starters, it was a wet and blistery morning/afternoon and we were worried about the evening fireworks and fun we had planned (of all the days for it to rain in Vegas!!)- but weather didn't scare or intimidate the boys as they headed to the pool anyway for an afternoon dip...while the girls stayed home and took a nap.  In the Evening, we got together with our good friends, The Crittenden Family.  We had a non-traditional 4th of July dinner...lasagna, garlic bread, salad, jello, and brownies...but with the cool wet afternoon it turned out to be perfect!  After a yummy meal and some play time - we headed over to the base festivities...bounce houses, food, rides, and the firework show.  The rain in the earlier part of the day ended up being just perfect, because it cooled everything down, but cleared out in time for the fun to go on and the firework show to go on as planned!!!  We were in good company, ate good food, and enjoyed some fun festivities... GREAT 4th of July!  Happy Independence Everyone!!

Yes, Laura squished herself into the kiddy ride too!!!  The younger kids wouldn't ride without her...and hey, it was fun - so Laura wasn't complaining!!

Our Pink Riding Girl!

Some good friends of ours passed this cute Barbie bike down to Aparri several months ago - and she fell in love with it instantly! She ALWAYS wants to ride it...but riding it meant that either Mom or Dad had to push her because she hadn't quite got the pedaling thing down yet.  Well, we are here today, proud to tell you (and Mom and Dad's backs are screaming with joy!!), because Aparri has now mastered pedaling her own bike!!! YIPEEE...  and I don't think anyone is prouder than Aparri herself...can you tell?  She is independent heaven! 

Discovering "our" Mountains

Yes, it is true, on our hike in the wilderness we tackled, "Ward Mountain" and on Ward Mountain we discovered "CJ Rock", "Star Wars Mountain" and "Princess Mountain" all named by the one who discovered it... CJ Rock being discovered by CJ, Star Wars Mountain by Preston, and Princess Mountain by Aparri. We were a little shocked when we went exploring by our campsite and the kids looked up at this really steep mountain and said, "Let's climb that" and off they went. CJ zoomed up the mountain, Preston had a fast take off, but as it got steeper - stayed close to Dad and Mom, and Aparri stuck with us the whole way to the top. It was quite the hike, but we were all pretty proud when we got to the top. We even had the sore calves the next day to prove what a hike it was to! At one point Clay went off exploring a second mountain and CJ was right there with him! Laura and the younger kiddos stayed and played on Star Wars and Princess mountains. It sure was tough, but felt good when you were done.

 Above - This is "Star Wars Mountain"

 Above - This is "CJ Rock"

 Above - this is "Princess Mountain"

Camping "Adventure"

Adventure...that is a good word and contains a lot! We spontaneously decided to head up to Mt. Charleston for an overnight camping experience - which turned into an adventure! The day-time was wonderful. We set up camp, explored, hiked, found treasures, had a great taco dinner, Boys hunted Bears, Aparri swinged in her tree swing, we played uno... fabulous day... and then THE NIGHT happened. Oh man... bad night. I swear, Laura being pregnant, had to PEE all night long (3 times... and that is an adventure in and of itself when you are camping and have to exit a tent and get out -), there was a kid up every hour with this and that and having to go to the bathroom themselves, the wind was rediculous - literally felt like we were going to be swept off the mountain a few times, and when we finally felt that things were hopefully starting to calm down...like 3 AM... CJ wakes up moaning, sits up, has enough time to say, "My belly hurts" and throws up. Luckily it was contained in his pillowcase and that immediately became a camping trip casualty that went straight into the garbage - no salvaging that one.... whew.. but after that "experience" things did settle down...so Clay and Laura got 2 maybe 3 hours of sleep. Needless to say, we had breakfast the next morning (which was also an experience since we were having pancakes, and "someone" we won't name names... forgot to pack silverware!) and then headed for home for a much needed afternoon nap. However, after all is said and done, we all had plenty of food to eat regardless of how it got to our mouths! and a camping experience we won't forget!

Aparri brought her trusty pals with her camping.... Snow White, Aerial, and Darth Vador!  What a combo... it was hilarious to watch her play with all three dolls and see Darth Vador dance with the princesses!  Oh, that's our girl!

CJ was soo excited to be the one to start the fire!  CJ, Preston, and Clay did a great job getting our fire going!  The boys are little pyros now!  They are obsessed with lighting pine needles on fire!  Oh no, what have we done!