What is Three Hours of Entertainment Worth?

Apparently its $1.47.  That's the price of the bottle of shampoo that Ian used to get these bubbles.

I'm not sure if there are more bubbles or water in the tub.  But let me tell, he had FUN!!!  He played in the tub the entire morning.  And let me just say, it was worth every penny. :)

Look What My "Baby" Can Do!

That's right!  She's mastered no training wheels.  She would decide she wanted to tackle it on the hottest day of the year.  Thankfully, she was so great at it, that it didn't take us too many tries in the scorching heat and humidity to get the hang of it.  I couldn't be prouder of this little sweetie.  And she's pretty proud of herself too.  I love seeing my kids feel good about their accomplishments.  And this is definitely a big one. :)

Visits

My "little" brother, Logan, has been visiting us for the last couple of weeks.  We had so much fun having him here.  We hung out, watched movies, shopped for his mission, stayed up late, talked a lot, ate good food, played games and lots more.  He's just really fun to have around.

The culmination of his visit, was also my parents coming down so we could all go to the temple together as he continues to prepare for his mission. (Due to a computer glitch, he will be leaving in October, instead of August, as we previously thought.)

 Family!!!  (Cory had already left when we took this picture, but he was with us too!)

This inflatable pool might just be the best money we've ever spent.  The kids have LOVED it.  (This last picture of Ian just makes me laugh! :))

Uncle Logan is such a great sport.  And he actually doesn't look to bad in Gunmetal Gray. :)

The highlight of the weekend might have been the game of Balderdash we played Saturday night.  Ethan got docked points for cheating by looking up a word on his phone.  In a brilliant move, Logan figured out a way to get on the double points square.  In an even more brilliant move, Lois caught on to it and stopped him cold.  Logan got docked points for looking at the answer cards, but got a point back for not breaking the scout oath.  I could go on.  It was just hilarious.  There were points coming and going for all kinds of crazy things.  I'm pretty sure the makers of Balderdash never envisioned the rules we made up. :) I won, without cheating I might add, but also without any style points either. :)   So. Much. Fun.

We took some fun family pictures on Sunday, thanks to Shannon West, who made a valiant effort to help us out.  My mom snapped a few while we were all together, but I'll post Shannon's once we get those.  I love this one of Logan and his nieces and nephew.  He's such a fun uncle. :)

 As the photo session was winding down, Mama wondered if Logan wanted a picture with his dog.  As much as Logan loves Chip, he decided a photo of the two of them was too much. :)  But not to worry.  Mama snapped one of them later. :)

  

And one of Mama with her "bonus child", who is without a doubt the most spoiled one of the lot of us. :)

I love these pictures of my cute little "hippy" dad. :)  I'm not sure how or why he had this magnetic necklace wrapped around his head.  But we thought it was adorable. :)  

We had a great visit and miss everyone already.  Hurry back, you guys! :)

Exhaustion

Summer has worn Paige out.  She has played just as hard as the big kids and since they don't nap, neither does she.

But eventually, she just wears herself out, and falls asleep wherever she can.  And looks pretty darn adorable doing it. :)

**Elise and I both thought of the same incident when we saw Paige asleep on the chair.  When Ian was about her age and we lived at our old house, he was playing at our kitchen table.  I was working around the house, doing all the daily things moms do.  Elise was playing around too, and all of a sudden, I realized Ian wasn't at the table any more and things were awfully quiet.  I began to wonder where he was and started walking around the house.  He wasn't in any room.  So I started checking closets.  We had alarms on the door, so it should have beeped if he'd gone outside and I hadn't heard anything.  And the doors were still dead bolted, so I didn't think he was outside.  But the longer I looked, the more I started to worry.   I had Elise help me look and we combed the house over several times, calling Ian's name.  At some point, I came back in the kitchen and just happened to look behind the table where he's been sitting (it was by the wall, so it wasn't visible unless you went around it), and there was Ian, fast asleep in his chair.  After my heart stopped racing and I breathed a big sigh of relief, I had a good laugh over it.  Thankfully, Paige wasn't so hard to spot and mainly just looked adorable curled up in her chair. :)

Summer Fun

Who says fun has to cost money?  Thankfully, that isn't true around our house.  With just a bottle of dish soap and the water hose, my kids were entertained for an entire afternoon.

It started off as a chore to clean off the front porch.   It ended up in hours (literally!!!) of fun as the kids washed, slipped, slid, sprayed and played all afternoon.  I love it when the kids play happily without contention and what a bonus, when my porch gets a great scrubbing in the process!!!  Double score!! :)

Sentimental

While we were scanning pictures, I took some pictures around Grandma's house and yard that were sentimental.

Here are Ian and Paige on the picnic table in her backyard.  Its such a focal point of Grandma's house.  

Here is a picture of one of Grandma's purple hydrangeas in her backyard.  She had a green thumb if I ever saw one and she loved flowers.

Here's a picture of Paige with some clover she found in the yard.  

 Here are three of my kids (Merry Grace had ridden somewhere with Papa) and my niece, Ella on Grandma's front porch.  I remember sitting there as a kid.  We'd play "Guess that Car", where we had to guess the color of the next car that drove past.  Such good times. :)

 More cuteness on the picnic table. :)

After Paige got all clean and showered, she curled up on Grandma's comforter and went to sleep.  (Not really, but she did pretend to be asleep for a while. ;))

And here is Paige wearing Grandma's make-up.  I think she did Grandma proud. :)

 I made a sweet potato casserole while at Grandma's.  Paige climbed up on the counter to help me.  There was a moment where I just had to catch my breath, as I remembered helping my Grandma cook.  I would stand at the counter on a step stool (about where Paige is) and help her make apple pies or whatever else she was cooking.  I loved helping her and have such sweet memories of that time with her.  When I saw Paige helping me in the same way at the same house, it took my breath away for just a moment.  How quickly the circle of life goes 'round....

Family pictures on Sunday, after church.  What a great family!!!

Scanning

The week after Camp, I went up to my Mom's for a few days.  We spend two solid days scanning in my Grandma's pictures.  We didn't get everything done, but we got a lot.

We started off our first day of scanning with a prayer.  I think that prayer shaped our focus, softened our hearts and truly just "got it done".  We were blessed in so many ways, not the least of which was spending a few days getting glimpses of my Grandma's wonderful life.

I loved so many things about looking at her old pictures.  I had so many favorites.  I've decided to include a few.  It was so hard to narrow it down, but I picked a few that just jumped out at me.

 This is a picture of my Grandma at her kitchen table.  I love her sweet expression in this picture.  She loved cooking and fixing things for people.  This picture is  a perfect representation of her and her talents.

My Grandma, Grandpa (and my mom's dog, Spot, who stole a few moments of fame.)

 Here my Grandpa and Grandma are eating a church dinner.  They look so natural, relaxed and unassuming in this picture, I just have to do a sharp intake of breath when I see this one.  I love it.

Here are my Grandma with her sisters.  There were six girls in her family, and four boys.  I love how beautiful all the sisters look, in their fresh summer dresses.

 Grandma with Elise.  She loved each of her great grandchildren and always exclaimed that they looked, "just like a little doll!!!"

This is an adorable picture of my mom when she was a little girl.  Really, she's just too cute for words! :)

Here are my Mom and Dad, at their prom.  Yes, they were high school sweethearts.  Aren't they cute?!

This is another picture of my Grandma with her sisters.  She's the third one from the right.  (I think it might have been worth living in the fifties, just to get to wear these feminine dresses all the time!!!)

This one makes me smile!!  Grandma wasn't afraid to try new things.  I wonder about so many things when I see this picture.  Where was she?  Was this the first (or only) time she tried skating?  Did she have as much fun as it looks like she's having?  Why didn't I ask her about this picture when she was alive?  Oh, Grandma was so much fun to have around!!

Here she's looking out her bedroom window.  I just think she looks adorable here.  Just adorable!

This is my Grandpa, holding my mom, when she was a little girl.  Sweeter than sugar!!!

This was my Grandma and her sister, Lillian.  They were so close and my Grandma loved her so much.

Me and my Grandma at my wedding reception.  I just love her to pieces.

I don't remember when this picture was taken or why Grandma and I had these funny fake lips on.  But I got a great laugh out of this one when I found it.  This is just classic.

Here my Grandma is blowing a bubble with her gum for my brother, Logan.  Sometimes, Grandma was just as big a kid as we were. :)

I loved so much looking through Grandma's pictures.  I loved feeling like I got to spend a few days with her.  I loved thinking about all the fun times we had, the joy she brought and her zest for life.  I loved finding pictures that I had never seen before and seeing glimpses into her life that I hadn't thought about before.  I think preserving the pictures will be a treasure for all of our family members.  But the biggest treasure might have been spending a few days feeling close to her.