What a Doll

My girl Viv... There's nothing else to say other than she is just the sweetheart of all sweethearts.  Honestly, I don't know how I'd get along without her.  Whenever we head out to run errands, I know she will have a purse that is packed with snacks, bandaids, books, crayons, and paper.  Anything someone might need, she is sure to have.  It's like she has a Mary Poppins bag.  And the funny part is that her purses are not all that big.  How does she fit all that stuff in there?!  I don't even remember when she started doing this, but it has been some time ago.  I'm sure she started doing it because I never seem to be quite prepared enough.  "What, you need a tissue?  You're going to either have to use your sleeve, or let it hang on your face until we get somewhere that has one.  Oh, wait. Vivi's got you covered."  And she doesn't pack her purse full of things with herself in mind.  She packs bandaids because she knows how often Preston needs them.  She packs snacks because she knows her brothers are ALWAYS HUNGRY.  She even packs treats to use as bribery when we go places.  I can't tell you how often I've heard, "Buds, lets make a deal.  If you be really good in the store for mom, I have a special treat here in my bag for you."  Like I said before, I don't know how I would do it without her.  She is such a thoughtful, wonderful little girl, and I hope she never changes.

The Job For Him

 A few months ago, Colson said to Trent and I, "When I grow up, I want to go into the military."

We told him that's great, as long as he serves a mission first.  Well, not too long after this conversation, we went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner one night.  It was on a night that the Chick-Fil-A cow happened to be there.  Colson was ecstatic!  He ran over to the cow and about knocked the poor thing down with the exuberance of his hug.  After mauling the cow for a few seconds, he ran back over to our table and excitedly said, "When I grow up, I want THAT job."  

We asked him, "What happened with wanting to go into the military?"

His reply, "Oh.  Well, if I can't get in the military, I want THAT job."

It's nice to know he has a back-up plan.

Preston

This boy... Oh, how I adore him!  I love everything about him.  He has a smile that can light up a whole room.  He gives the best hugs and cuddles.  He is full of wonder and curiosity.  He was blessed with an amazing amount of energy, which is a good thing.  It keeps me on my toes and active.  (I need to figure out a way for him to share his energy with me.  I would be able to get so much done in a day!)

I love his independent nature.  It seriously helped me out this last week while I was laid up with a hurt back.  He was good to go when it came to fixing his own breakfast, lunch, and snacks. :)  I think he actually preferred it that way.  Although he did make sure to tell me at least 5 times a day, "I hope your back feels better soon mama."  So sweet.

I love his eyes.  They are the most beautiful blue/green color. I make him sit still and let me stare into them at least once a day. And his eyelashes...Where did he get those?!  I want some!  

Most of all, he just makes me laugh, from the zany things he says to the funny faces he is always making.  He has a very expressive face, and I love it.  I love when he spontaneously blurts out, "Mom I love you!"  It just makes my day!  I sure love this kid!

Cell Phone Pictures

I always love when I go to download pictures from my cell phone and I find photos like this on there:

I'm guessing Vivi took these because she isn't in any of them, and there were several where I was in the background, so I know I didn't take them.  Preston is quite the poser. ;)

I'm pretty sure Preston took these last two because right after these photos was this grouping of pictures:

 

I'm glad to know they've had fun with my cell phone camera.  :)  The funny thing is, half the time I don't even know they've been taking pictures with it.  

Steamboat

Every day I look out my back windows and can see the mountains.  Albeit, I see them over a sea of houses and through some power lines, but I can still see them.  If we had ended up moving to Dallas last year, I would have seriously missed being near them.  I love seeing them every day.  When we went to California and visited a couple of different beaches, it was very beautiful, but to me, nothing compares to the mountains.  Maybe it's because I have lived near them my whole life.  I love the beauty of them, the smell of the pine, the spontaneous growth of wild flowers where it seems like they shouldn't be growing, water falls, and no matter how hot it gets during the day, once the sun goes down, the air feels crisp and cool.  (I don't like being hot.) 

It has been our tradition for the last 10 years (except last year) or so to spend at least one long weekend up in the mountains.  Our destinations vary each year.  We have stayed in Steamboat Springs, Silverthorne, Breckenridge, and Estes Park, to name a few.  This year we stayed up in Steamboat, one of my all time favorites.  Not only is there tons to do, but the scenery is just gorgeous, and the drive up is beautiful too.

We kept seeing abandoned barns and houses along the way.  Trent could tell I was dying to get some pictures, so he pulled over for me.  (Actually, I think he just wanted to have an excuse to be able to put the car in 4WD.  Whatever road there used to be to get to this cabin was long gone.)

Our condo wasn't quite ready when we got in to town, so we spent some time at the pool while we waited.  The boys had themselves a serious chicken fight.  Trenton was ruthless!

He was dunking Colson right and left.  Colson was too busy laughing his head off.

At least he helped Colson back up every time he dunked him.

After a while, grandpa had had enough of his face and head getting pulled all over the place and opted for no more chicken fights.

That was fine with Preston because he stole grandpa for his own and jumped to him in the pool for the next half hour.

The next day we spent the better part of the morning fishing.  Preston had been begging me for weeks to take him fishing, so we thought we better let him try it while we were there.

I think this is the only picture I have of him sitting.  Once he figured out how to cast, sitting was out of the question.  Fishing for Preston means cast, reel it in, cast, reel it in, cast, reel it in, and all at top speed to boot.  We kept trying to tell him to leave the worm in the water so he could get a bite, but he just couldn't do it.  I think he tried out everyone's fishing pole, besides his own, too.  He would get his line tangled or caught on something, then would go convince one of us to hand over our pole to him, then he would get our line caught or tangled on something just in time for us to have his pole ready to go again.  He had SO MUCH FUN though!  All of the fixing and untangling of the fishing line and the rebaiting of the hook was totally worth it.

Vivi loved fishing too.  I think she stood in this same spot the entire time we were there.  Grandpa was so nice to teach her how to fish.

Colson had a great time.  He tried every spot on the lake until he found where the fish were biting best.  He got really close to catching one on three different occasions.

Trenton thought he had a big one, and was a little disappointed when this was what he pulled out of the water.  ;)  While no one caught a fish that morning, we still had a great time trying.

Later that day, we took a short hike up to the falls.

We thought we'd take a break in the shade for a short minute.  My kids sure do love their grandpa.  It's no wonder because he's so good to them.

The kids with Janet and Steve.

Here are the falls.  Beautiful!

I am so terrified of heights, it was all I could do to make myself sit on this little ledge for a family photo.

Preston and gramps.

 My mom, Colson and Steve.

I had Jilly in the Moby wrap the whole time we were hiking, and it was a toasty day.  By the time we got back to the car, she and I were a sweaty mess!

Later that evening, Trent, the kids, Janet and Steve headed back to the pond to try their hand at fishing again.  Colson caught one this time!  And of course I don't have a picture because I was back at the condo fixing dinner.

We had such a fun weekend spending lots of time together doing fun things and enjoying some beautiful scenery.

3 Months Old

I have been horrible about taking pictures of Jillian.  Or any pictures at all if truth be told.  I find I am a little lacking in the time department.  And I lost my small camera, so to drag the big camera around all the time, on top of everything else, can be a bit cumbersome.  But, I decided the other day though that enough time has passed us by, and Jilly needed a photo shoot.  Here is what we ended up with.

Oh, I just adore her!

Blessing Day

On Father's Day, Trent had the wonderful opportunity to give Jillian a name and a blessing.  He did a beautiful job with the blessing, and my mom did a beautiful job with the dress.

Love, love, love Trenton's face in this picture.  And we were lucky to get Preston in the picture at all.  We were sure glad to have our parents and my brother with us on that day.  I miss my dad every day, but especially on baby blessing days.  I know he was there in spirit though.

Here's a little bit closer up on the amazing dress my mom made.

The baby's pretty cute too. :)

We're so grateful for this wonderful little bundle that has come to join our family.  We sure love her!

One Year Older, and Wiser Too!

Trent had a birthday last week.  We've had a lot of birthdays to celebrate lately!

Super man, super hubby, super dad... He is just super!

 Love the balloon launch.

Trent turned 36 this year.  He's getting awfully close to 40! ;)

I love how Colson always squeezes in to the picture.  Let me demonstrate...

I have years worth of pictures of him doing this at events/birthdays of others.  He's always ready for a photo opp!  He cracks me up, that's all there is to it.

Anyway, back to Trent.  We had a birthday/Father's day get-together at our house.

 I love Colson's face in this one.  Preston's is pretty good too.

They all spent about an hour on the computer watching things on Youtube and laughing over "Sasquatch" commercials, among other things.  It got a little loud at our house.  If you've ever heard Trent laugh, it can be explosive, and very loud.  (He has the best laugh ever!)  His dad and brother laugh just like him.  So with those three, my brother, and four of my kiddos, it was LOUD... but oh, so funny.

Happy birthday babe!  We sure love you!