Summer Fun!

It has been a busy summer...to say the least.  We are ready to get back home and enjoy our Mother/Father Days gifts.  Here is a shot of Momma and kiddos on the garden bench that Daddy set up in the garden for Mother's Day.  We have just about decided that a busy summer and gardening don't work well together;)  The next pic is Daddy enjoying his back massage/map shirt with the kiddos.

We started the summer off with a camping trip turned stomach bug...in the middle of the night.  We managed to make it down to the water for a short time that afternoon...after attending McB's end of year TOTs basketball program that morning.

McB and his trophy.

 Family Fun at the Park

 This little guy is loads of fun.  He still LOVES to eat and he is getting pretty skilled at making people laugh.

Here are a few shots of cousin time at Granny and PawPaw's house.

McB and cousin C playing with a frog.

 

IP has learned to say "hoooorsies" and randomly calls them from his car seat when we are driving down the road.

McB and PawPaw driving the tractor.

SLiM watering Granny's garden.

Camp Eagle

Cousin Fun on the 4th of July

There are some fun pics with the chickens from this weekend but I think they are on Uncle J's phone:(  Maybe we will add them soon.

 Mission Trip to Dilkon, AZ

Our Team

 We'd been telling the kids that we were going to AZ to tell our friends about Jesus.  After the 1st night of VBS, McB went to Daddy and asked when he would have a chance to preach "God's Gospel" to his friends.  We decided to give him a chance to speak to the team the next afternoon.  We never know whether he might speak the truth or turn into a very animated velociraptor;)  He told the team that the Bible is God's word and we need to obey God and not Satan.  We decided he could do the opening for VBS that evening.  He began with, "welcome to Dilkon Bible Church", without being prompted and then shared his same message from earlier that afternoon.  We were excited to see that some of what we've been teaching him is sinking in.  We still have a long way to go in understanding obedience though;)

McB preaching

 The kids did great in teaching the motions to the song, "Bigger that Big".

Being Daddy's helpers

IP spent most of his time on Mommy's back but when he had a chance to break free, he made lots of friends quickly...or found something to get into.

keeping up with the craziness

SLiM loved getting her hair braided each day.

McB and Daddy at the top of Dilkon Mountain

Working Cows on the Navajo Reservation

Showing off some of his cowboy skills.

 Visiting the Grand Canyon

McB and Daddy went back the next day to hike down into part of the canyon.  Mommy and the younger 2 enjoyed a SAFE and relaxing morning in the hotel.

Can you see the excitement in his step?

Shots like this is exactly why mom did not go on the hike;)
I'm told the trail is just below him to stop a tumble.

A bit tired on the hike back out of the canyon.

McB is 5!!!

We celebrated McB's 5th birthday with a fire breathing dragon party.  He loved his fire breathing dragon cake/stack of cupcakes with smoke/dry ice steam coming out a straw through the dragon's mouth/melting face.  He was trying to blow the steam away in the 2nd pic. He also loved his sparkler candle, which worked great for an outdoor party on a windy day.  As you can see below, the party was mass chaos but we had tons of fun, esp. battleing the fire breathing dragon that ate all of the birthday candy.

Birthday's also mean more cousin time.

IP and cousin ElF.

SliM and cousin E

We embarked on a new adventure this Spring.  We are raising chickens!

Our baby chicks in their incubator in the garage.

Daddy finished the coop just in time.  We've also been working on our garden.  The kiddos LOVE playing in the mud.

We've had some warm weather for outings with ice cream:)

We cured our kids from ever wanting to go back to McDonald's again;)

Sarah at her 1st "big girl" party with Momma, Aunt MB, & Granny at cousin Alyssa's Bridal Shower.

We celebrated Easter with GPa and GMa

Hunting eggs...after playing in the mud.

Smashing the cascarones that Granny and PawPaw sent us.

Here is our best attempt at and Easter morning pic;)  It was a fun weekend, but we had some tired kiddos at the end of it.