A week away

We have been gone for a little over a week on a little family vacation. It was great. We left last Saturday the 14th and drove to a little place named Anaconda, MT. It is about a 1/2 hour west of Butte. It took a few rest stops and a couple hours longer than planned to get there, but over all the kids handled the long drive well. We spent 3 days there, hiking, seeing some waterfalls, we visited a ghost town, we slid down their 40 tall slide- so fun!! We went to a few parks and just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. We then started for Idaho. On our way we stopped at fairmont hotsprings and swam the day away. They had several pools hot and cooler -93degrees and a huge slide the Cassie & Jessie loved (mom & dad didn't mind it either:). Abby over came her water fear she seemed to develope over the winter. There was a part that was chest deep on her. She put her arms out straight and hopped in the pool. It was so cute, her hopping with this huge smile. Fr the rest of the vacation she wanted to go swimming, and she did, no matter what the temperature of water. Yeah Abby!! Anyway, we drove to Idaho and stayed in Idaho falls. Our room happened to have a view of the temple. Abby was super excited about that and she wanted to go there. We went to Bear World and played there a few hours and just relaxed on Tuesday.
Wednesday we drove to our campground. We had so much fun camping, none of us wanted to leave. The kids swam in the river and hotspring pool, we fished, played, ate and ate and even got to see a little brown bear. We went with Rich & Krista and some of Riches family. They are great people and the kids have a few new friends. We are glad we went and hope to do it again next year!!

Bittersweet

There is one thing that I think is the cutest about B. That is his scooting. Just to watch him get across the floor scootching on his little bum with the aid of leg and hand is absolutely adorable. it is also hilarious how fast he can move. But all good things must come to an end. He has started to crawl. He is really cute crawling, don't get me wrong, but the scooting was Ben's trade mark, his signature move and it will be missed. He is about half and half in his style of transportation, so we still get to enjoy the scooting a little, as well as enjoying the new chapter of crawling...

We will give a quick update... We went to the ocean last week which was a nice get away. It was a little cold for swimming, but we were able to play on the beach, collect sand dollars and shells, chase seagulls and just in general have fun.
We had a blast with our cousins, Lexi, Brandon and Calli while they were up, Abby is asking all the time, can we go see Brandon?
Jessie is attending a kindergarten boot camp designed to give them a little headstart to the big day. This way she is a little used to going to school, she may make a friend or two and she won't be so worried about what to do at school.She seems to be enjoying it. Cassie however is lost at home w/o her partner in crime. Abby is loving the time with Cassie and mom, well she wasn't quite ready for school to start.
We will try to get some video of Ben to share and post some pictures soon. Hope all is well with everyone and you are having a great summer!

Beating the Heat

We are so glad that the sun and hot weather is finally here. We have been waiting for the opportunity to strap on the waterwings and hit the pool, and that is where we have been the last few days. Swimming... Swimming... Swimming... I think the kids are part fish. They wouldn't get out if they didn't have too.

The girls also started tee ball last night. They seemed to have a really good time. It will be a blast too because we have 3 other kids from the ward on the team. GO MARLINS!!!
Jer had Monday off for the fourth. Usually we kind of just hang out and do a whole lot of nothing but on Monday we had a great time. He wanted to take the girls to the bouncy place, which everybody loved, then we ran some errands. We ended up geting Cass and Jess rollerblades! Cassie is a natural. She is skating everywhere. Jessie hasn't worn them too much, but I know she will do well too. Having Jer around on Monday got us really excited for his vacation!!

10 months old

Today is the 10 month mark for our little Ben boy! He sure has grown. He started out as our second smallest next to Cass and is now the biggest. We love his little rolls on his legs and his chubby cheeks (which he stores little goodies in). He loves to be around his sisters and gets soo excited when Jer gets home from work. He also seems eager to walk. He can stand a few seconds and balance himself and he enjoys holding your fingers as he walks around. We have been blessed to have this little guy in our home.

Last Day

Cassie Graduated today (kindergarten of course)! She is sad she will miss her teacher, but excited for break and to be a first grader in the fall. We are wondering "where did the year go?"

Alex (he informed us he wants to marry Cass) and Cassie

Abigail Lynn (aka good and best friend) and Cassie.

First day of kindergarten

Last day of kindergarten

Since summer is here we are looking forward to camping with our ward, tee-ball, a vacation to Idaho and lots of swimming and outside fun!!!

Picts

Ryder

This weekend we were able to have Ryder (Toby & Kylees super cute little guy) over for a night. We had fun reading stories, playing toys, and having a water fight. There were moments were he missed his momma, but we hope he had some fun with us.