Pioneer Day

 We are in the middle of swim lessons right now:

Goggles are hilarious, am I right?

I'm always amazed at what my kids can learn in 4 hours of swim lessons every summer.  I love watching them become more confidant in the water.

Thanks to the Pioneers, we had time to play together as a family last Friday.  We headed to the mountains.  It was a beautiful day!

That evening we were spontaneous (happens sometimes) and bought fireworks at 9pm and enjoyed them with my sister and her family.  Proof:

That firework was in honor of Nick finishing his first class toward his grad degree (ok, not really, but it sounded good, yes?), and with flying colors!  We just might make it through this!

Fireworks were fun, but the best part for me was that Daisy would only watch from the safety of "snuggled under mom's chin".

Kids are funny sometimes: 

After working hard on Saturday, we enjoyed an evening out on the grass, eating delicious things that had been cooked over a fire (we enjoyed with cousins too, hence the baby in the background):

And Saturday evening was so wonderful, we did it again on Sunday:

Dad's ice cream is the best.

Thumb wrestling with Dad:

What you are missing out on in this photo is the contagious giggling.  Sometimes it's contagious, other times it's obnoxious.  This time it was contagious.  :)

My hydrangeas are so happy this summer:

Family

 You'll hear me bragging about my big wonderful family and that I've got the best one around.  And the thing is, it's the truth.  I mean, we're not "the perfect family", but they don't come much better and I sure look up and admire all of my brothers and sisters (and not only because I'm the shortest in the family), and my parents, where do I even start?  I am so proud to be their daughter.

We had a wonderful weekend spent with my people.  There were 10 of the 12 kids there, not too shabby!  We missed those who were not able to come.  But, our sorrow didn't stop us from having a great time.

We decorated t-shirts with spray paint.  I tell ya, I am never tie dying again.  This was so fun and allowed a lot of creativity.  Here's Ellie with some serious focus:

They all turned out so cool looking, and I wanted a family photo with all of us in our spray paint shirts, but it didn't happen.  Oh well.  Here's a sample though:

We ate really good food.  My bro brought his fancy-pants pizza oven and threw out 27 delicious pizzas.  And then, wolf 'ems.  It was our first experience, and we are hooked!  Nick's next project is making wolf 'em sticks (google it), because we have to have some of those.  Friends, come on over and eat wolf 'ems with us.  And if you weren't our friends before, we'd definitely be friends after.  :)

Here is me looking ridiculous but really enjoying a wolf 'em:

Oh, and my fingers are blue from the spray paint.  Just in case you were wondering.

Daisy enjoyed her dinner too, which mostly consisted of dipping in the Ranch dressing over and over again, right up at the serving table:

She loves her some Ranch, or any dip for that matter.

Lu enjoyed her dinner of Cheetos:

I think a carrot stick snuck in there somewhere.

Kids playing with cousins:

Nick and I slipped away to our own bed (sleep was priority), but the older girls got to enjoy an outdoor movie with cousins and sleep at Grandma's house, to their delight, a rare treat.  

In the morning, we hurried back to participate in our family run.  And then we had a family counsel while the kids played carnival: 

And, more cousins:

Then we worked.  There were many projects going on around the house and farm.  Most momentous was the replacing of the barn sign.  I think a few tears were shed:

Cotton candy.  We don't mess around!

That photo of Ellie makes me chuckle, but this one makes me laugh right out loud:

We spent the afternoon painting whirligigs.  Here's mine:

What a fun project!  Thank you to my sissy who cut them all out and helped us assemble them!  It feels good to be crafty every once in awhile.

Ice cream for the babe:

 Homemade Root Beer float for me, please.  And thank you.

My most amazing parents:

 Great weekend!  I'm looking forward to next year already!

And, I've been canning beans today:

I took the photo after I'd put salt in.  Something about produce in jars is so beautiful to me.

Party

 We've gotten into a fairly decent summertime routine around here, and now the weeks seem to be flying by.  Not fair.

I'm trying to train these kids to make me yummy food:

They were making cookies.  That certainly classifies as "yummy food."  I dream of the day when I can lay on the couch, Netflix bingeing and say, "Hey kids, who wants to make me cookies?" And then they suddenly appear 10 minutes later.  Of course the house has already been spotlessly cleaned by those same amazingly trained monkeys, I mean kids.  We're getting there.  Hey, we all have our dreams, right?

Anyway.  Last Saturday we spent some quality family time together on a hike:

 It was beautiful.  We live in one amazing place.  However, remind me that Saturdays are best left to doing yard work.  It was so busy I felt like I was more at Disneyland then off a dirt road in the middle of the mountains.  At least other tourists were around to take our family photo:

Everett thought he was at Disneyland too, what with all that walking and all.

 That photo was taken seconds before Maren lost her shoe in the stream and it went floating away and Nick had to execute his mad diving skills to retrieve it.  People were cheering (remember the crowds?).  No joke.

One of summer's pleasures:

 Shucking the corn.  A chore that the kids beg for.

And then, it was Daisy's birthday.  She had one request:  cupcakes.  I can do that.  The kids pulled up front row seats for the exciting event:

They turned out pretty:

 Of course my bro-in-law said they looked like food from the movie Hook, but ya know, whatever.  He also ate three of them, so there.

After all that cupcake baking-watching, Lu was plain tired:  

 Looks, uh, comfy?

And, finally, the birthday girl:

How in the world has it been two years already?

We no longer have a baby in the house.  Just in the last few days, she has very much become "two".  In fact, on her very birthday, she threw her first grocery store tantrum.  It was awesome (as in, NOT).  I always love being the center of attention (as in I hate it, you're catching on, right?), and especially when it's my mothering skills on stage.

But golly, she's adorable.

She was feeling a bit shy when she was the one in the middle being sung to:

But she warmed up to the idea:

 Those eyes.  Suck.  Me.  In.

Watching two year olds opening presents is awesome.  And I'm not being sarcastic this time.  You all must be so confused reading my blog.

 Thanks cousins, for the baby!  She loves her!

New princess dresses:

She is one spoiled girl.  My kids know that "baby gets what baby wants".  That will come back to bite me some day in the near future, won't it?

Two

 Dear Daisy,

Happy Birthday!  Today you are the big TWO, and trust me, we are feeling it.  :)  You are such a joy to have in our home.  Everyone adores the Daisy baby.  You are one smart cookie.  You started talking before you were one, and you haven't stopped!  You talk to us in clear, complete sentences.  It has been wonderful to have a toddler who can actually ask for what she wants!  You often blow us away with the things that come out of your mouth.  I love to watch you grow and learn every single day.  We love it when you sing or dance, which these days is quite often.  You like to dress up with your sisters, play with Barbies, and be a mommy to your babies.  You are a girlie girl!  You think you can do everything your siblings are doing.  You have no fear and can not be held back!  You are one beautiful babe and we get compliments on just how adorable you are everywhere we go.  Those big blue eyes suck people right in!  They have sure sucked me in since the day you were born.

Daisy, we love you, babe!  Here's to many more happy birthdays to come!

Love,
Your Momma