The rest of our Summer!!

We spent the last five weeks of our summer in Wyoming with my younger brothers and sisters.  The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins, uncles and aunts.  They played hard everyday.

They spent hours on the trampoline and playing football in the yard.

Mason woke up one morning with a swollen eye from a spider bite.  He looked pretty funny for a couple of hours until the swelling went down. 

We also had fun giving my little brother some fun hair cuts.

The kids had lots of fun playing with Ammon!

We went to the Demolition derby at the fair.  This year it was really good!  There were a few trucks that got tipped over.  It was really full so we just stood in front of the stand behind the fence. 

The kids had fun picking which car they thought would win each time.

We got to take Ammon and Brooklyn school clothes shopping.  Elly loved going with me and Brooklyn!

We got to take Ammon and Brock to the eye Doctor.

We got to go to some Birthday parties of our cousins!  The kids liked that since we are never around cousins on their birthdays.

The girls had fun coloring with chalk on Ryan and Jamie's nice big driveway.

We had a getting to spend some special time with our family for six weeks while Grandpa was in the hospital.  We got to go up and see him a few times which was good and really hard.  It was nice to be able to be there together!

This can't be happening!!

So while we were down watching my kids play baseball this summer I got one of the worst phone calls you can get.  My sister, Camille, called me while I was walking out of the hotel on my way to my kids game and informed me my dad had just had a stroke and was on his way to the hospital to be life flighted to Idaho Falls.   Over the next couple of hours, lots of phone calls and tears later my Dad arrived at the hospital only to find out that they couldn't give him the shot because of his cancer, even though they had got him there in time.  They did cat scans and MRI's and ended up deciding there was really nothing we could do but give it time and see what happened.  Dad ended up losing everything on the left side, he couldn't talk or eat either. 

We ended up going up to Idaho Falls after the boys semi-final game.  We picked up Brock, Brooklyn and Ammon in Tremonton because they were in Logan for Youth Conference. 

It was good to finally get to the hospital and get to see Dad but also so hard to see Dad like this.  He could even respond to us other than he would cry and squeeze our hands.  Elly would just sit by Dad and sing church songs to him.  I have cried lots and lots of tears.  I just can not lose my Dad!  He needs to get better for all of us.

They did let us take Dad outside on Sunday for a little walk which I'm sure he liked more than sitting in the hospital.

Little League Baseball State

Tyler and Mason's baseball team had their State tournament for our area July 10-13.  We played one game the first day when we were suppose to have two games but the second one got rained out.  We were going to go home after the games the first day but since we were going to play the rained out game the next morning we ended up staying the night.

The boys played really good this weekend.  They had some good hits and catches.  It was really fun to watch them.

I think it has been really fun watching these two boys play ball this summer.  They both take it pretty serious but have a lot of fun.

They have both improved a lot over the last few weeks.  They have both taken some good beans too.

Elly and Drake have had fun being drug along where ever we are going to watch these boys play ball.  They love playing with all the other kids that are their watching too.  They also love cheering Tyler and Mason on. 

During on of the games when Tyler was pitching every time Elly would yell at him to throw a strike he would.  It was pretty funny and she thought it was great.

Most of the time Drake was trying to run off with the boys bats, gloves, helmets and balls so he could play baseball.

These boys looked so cute in their uniforms.  Mason was so excited about their uniforms this year.  He could hardly wait until he got his.

The team ended up taking second, which we thought was great.  The kids have had so much fun playing ball this season.  They have had lots of fun swimming together when we go to tournaments on the road.  These kid really have a fun together.

Tyler and Mason didn't end up playing in the Championship game because my dad had had a really bad stroke on the 10th and so by the day and time of the championship game we were getting some bad news that they didn't think my dad was going to make it.  We loaded our kids up after the semi-final game and headed up to Idaho Falls to see my dad. 

It was really hard to sit through my kids games while we were here and not feel like I needed to be somewhere else.  My dad and mom where suppose to be stopping on their way past the area to watch the boys play ball.  I had to pretend like everything was okay so my kids wouldn't be worried. It was very hard to decided to stay and watch my kids instead of running up to be with my dad.  I know he would have wanted me with my kids supporting them. 

These were the cool trophies the boys each ended up getting for second place. 

Make-up

Elly got some make up and has to put it on all the time.  There are a few problems with this.  The first problem is she has only a small idea of how to do make up and the sad thing is I don't think she will learn how to put it on from me, we know I don't know how to do it either.  Another bad thing about this make up is she thinks it is okay to put it on her brother.  He doesn't seem to care right now but someday he is not going to be happy about these pictures.  Elly also seems to think that eye shadow can also be used for lipstick, which I guess could happen if you want blue or purple lips like her.  After the make up they have to have dresses too.  This poor boy is growing up totally different from his older brothers who didn't have a sister to dress them up.  Thank goodness Drake is all boy!

They do have lots of fun together and Drake does get her to play boy things too.

Friends

These two are something! They are best friends or they are fighting.  There is no in between with these two.  I love the days they are best friends, it is nice for everyone.  Today they were really cute.  These two had made a list of all the things they were going to do together and set off to complete their list.  After they had been playing together and doing all kinds of things they came up to me and told me I needed to get my camera and take some pictures of them together and by themselves.  A picture together was on their list of things to do.

I love the pictures of them together with smiles on their faces because these two have the hardest time together of all my kids.

They each also had to have a picture of just them.

Drake was lucky enough to get included in there picture session.

I love this picture of these three together.  The sunset in the back was so pretty too.

I really love the days when Mason and Elly get along.  I wish we had more of these days.

Our Place

I have really liked how the flowers I planted this year look.  I am excited to see how they look at the end of summer when the plants are all full.  I am always excited to start the summer off with new flowers but by the time they finally die here I am always ready to be done taking care of them.

I planted some bulbs this spring against the house and was actually surprised when they came right up. In a few more weeks they should blossom.  I am excited to see how they look.

Our garden is also growing and looking pretty good.  We are learning something new every time we do a garden.

A weekend at home!

We finally had a weekend at home with nothing to do.  It was really nice.  The kids had fun playing outside in Drakes little pool.  It was such a nice day they spent a couple of hours out there.

I was a little surprised Tyler and Mason had as much fun as they did since the pool is so little.  They had at least as much fun as Elly and Drake did.

Drake didn't love how cold the water was, but he still had fun.  He didn't last as long as the other kids.

Tyler and Mason just try to do something cooler than the other one just did, so it is pretty funny to watch them.

Drake looks like he really enjoyed getting all wet.  He really did but when he got out he was too cold!

I love how big Tyler looks in this pool. 

He had as much fun as everyone else did. He lasted longer than anyone else, but he normally does.

These kids are pretty cute!

Elly even got in on seeing who had the best tricks.

Later that same day we had a big rain storm come through, which was kind of weird because it had been such a nice day earlier.

The kids love it when we get big rain storms.  They always put on their puddle boots and head out to splash through the puddles.  Since we are at the end of the street we get some really nice big puddles the kids love it.

Drake was a little nervous of the water so Tyler held his hand and took him through it a  few times.  After Tyler helped him he decided it was actually pretty fun.

Elly of course had to see how big of a splash she could make.  She had to do this over and over.

The kids love running up and down the street in all the water.  It entertains them for a while.  This will probably be the last time they really get to do this because they are fixing our street this year so we don't end up with all the water.

Tyler is very sad about this and thinks he is going to figure out how to stop the water from leaving so they can still have all the water.

Mason just loves running up and down the street in the puddles.

The kids had so much fun playing in all the water today!