Ouch!!

The picture doesn't show very clearly, but this is blisters all across Camerons' four fingers and the top of his palm. He touched the exhaust on the lawn mower. This was actually taken this morning so it looks a lot better than it did yesterday after it happened. He cried for about 3 hours and wouldn't let me get more than a few inches away from him. I felt so bad for the little guy and wished I could take away his pain. He finally passed out at about 5:45 pm and slept through the night. That was a blessed thing! This morning he woke up and said, " Mom, it's all better now!" I'm so glad he is not hurting anymore!

Curls!!

I thought that after the previous post,I should present my baby in a good light. We took these pictures two sundays ago after I put some gel on those curls of his. I'm pretty much a sucker for this boy and his hair. He is two now and has never had a haircut yet. Even my girls had had trims by this point! It's probably time for a little trim, but I am really holding out hope that he retains the curl!

So sweet and innocent ( most of the time((see previous post!)) I am in love!!

Peaches and Peanut Butter

So the house was pierced this evening with a yell from Tori announcing," oh, my gosh, mom, Kian is in so much trouble, you are not going to be happy!" And so, on my way to the scene of the crime, I grabbed my camera. This is what I discovered.

I'm not sure this is remorse. I think it is frustration for having to sit for the pictures.

The peanut butter was artfully smeared in the curio's and also into the carpet. The 8 or 9 peaches were half eaten and smashed into the carpet as well.

" Ummmm, I think I'm supposed to say this will never happen again?" Let's hope so. Peaches and peanut butter... interesting and sticky combination.

Popsicles

So, on Thursday night we decided to let the kids have a Popsicle before bed. I recall asking JJ or Tori to go and get some out of the deep freezer for everyone, as always with the automatic and gentle reminder to please make sure the freezer door is shut. There have been a few times in the past when they haven't given it quite enough pressure and then it is left open a tiny bit, causing the freezer to run extra hard to retain the temperature. Apparently they were busy and so the job got sent down the ranks. It is not known who actually retrieved the Popsicles, but most likely it was our Ashlee or Cameron. It was not until the next morning( Friday) when Braxton comes upstairs to wake me up saying, " Dad needs your help unloading the freezer." I knew this was not good and it actually immediately occurred to me what had probably happened. When I came downstairs, this is what I saw. At first I'm thinking to myself , well, maybe the freezer was just left open slightly and maybe most of it is still frozen. But sadly, this was not the case. A few of the freezer jams, a package of hamburgers, a bag of vegetables and some sliced onions, all of which were lining the very back of the freezer were the only things that were mostly frozen. These things were transferred to a cooler because there was absolutely no room in the freezer in the house. That is what makes the story even more fun! You see, we had been gone on vacation for two and a half weeks and you can't leave much in the fridge and expect it to survive that long. So we had to seriously restock upon returning home. I, for one, do not find grocery shopping with children to be that enjoyable,especially during these wonderful summer months when I have to take all six of them! That being said, when we do make these crazy trips to the store, I buy as much as I can, in hopes of delaying the next trip. So, I had stocked up at Walmart the previous weekend and then on Wednesday I had taken the crew to Sams Club to get the Frozen stuff and such. I should have been good to go for a while! But that is when tragedy struck. John said that when he went out to the garage in the morning, the freezer door was opened all the way! That is why not much was able to stay frozen. Because it continued to run all night and it wasn't too hot, a lot of things were still cold and therefore safe to eat, that is if we could actually consume it that fast. So John said, " Figure out a menu for the next three days that will use this stuff and find a way to keep it cold.",then gave me a kiss and was on his way to work. I began to shift things in my fridge to try and fit anything that I could in there and the words of a wise friend and experienced blogger came to my mind, "Always take pictures!" Thank you Kelly!! And so I did, quickly, and then puzzle packed things where I could. I had a box of thirty corn dogs and TWO Sams size pkgs. of chicken nuggets that were too big to fit anywhere, the ultimate in kid fare. The thought struck me, " Why not call up some friends with little kids and tell them I've got lunch at my house today?" And so that is what I did! There were about 10 or 11 women and well over 20 children running around by noon. We had a very fun impromptu lunch and everyone got a good laugh at the events that inspired our meeting. I ended up only having to throw out about 7 things, so it could have been a lot worse in the end. Now at least I have some fun memories with friends to tie with it!

We took the opportunity to let our freezer thaw out and left only the Popsicles in the bottom. We have also, naturally, instated the binding rule that only the adults are allowed to open the freezer door. We'll see how long that lasts.....

Family Reunions 2009!

Who could resist this face?

JJ's golf shot. Not bad.... must take after his dad!

Ashlee and her Aunt Manda. Sweet.

This giant tortoise was like116 years old! Very Cool!

I think she's got a pretty good hold there (of his heart at least!)

Cams amazing tricks never end! He was very insistant I take lots of pictures.

Look at this take-off!

Another pic that was to good not to post! This is John in Ashlees' glasses. Very Nice!

On a geo caching adventure. Cam feels very important to be holding the package!

An attempt at catching a shot of most of the little people in Glenwood Springs.

Kian loving his uncle Jakob. Aaaaawwwww!

This was how the kids passed out on the fourth of July in our room! Very similiar to how they sleep at home actually. I'll blog about that another time!

John got lots of snuggles at the park for the fireworks since he had the blanket!

Tori and her Daddy

Tori and a baby calf. So sweet.

JJ spent an hour and a half in this pen with the baby goats and lambs. He was in Heaven!

Kian thinks this chick is pretty amazing!

Me and my little ones in a cave 50 feet undergroud. It was so awesome!

This was the cousins in a candid shot crawling around on the MT. Rushmore grounds!

John may kill me for posting this shot but it is so classic! This was him hitting some balls in the field across from the cabin after taking the kids swimming, thus the swim shorts and lack of a shirt. I came out and had to get the camera!! Love it!!!

A rainy evening at Mt. Rushmore! That made it all the more memorable!

JJ's turn with the giant!

Brax and the giant tortoise

Appearantly our " baby "is getting to big for a

stroller now. Kinda sad.

Cam checking out a baby alligator

The kids in front of Chimney Rock.

Well I have decided that it is time to update. I'm actually a little upset because before we left on vacation there were at least two specific events that I wanted to blog about, but between packing for 8 people for two-plus weeks of vacation and also cleaning so that my house would be ready for any showings while we were gone, let's just say that blogging did not make it onto my list of priorities. And now, sadly, I can not remember what was so funny, that I wanted to share it. Word to the wise people: Write things down immediately. Memories fade all to quickly. So another lesson learned!
Now, on to the recent events that I am still lucky enough to have full recollection of. As I mentioned we left on June 24th and headed to our first stop which was Gma and Gpa's house in Hershey NE. We left as soon as John finished work at 6pm and drove through the night ( the sleep deprivation is totally worth the peace and quiet in the car as the children sleep with happy dreams of running around with cousins for the next two weeks!) We spent the weekend at Johns' parents house with ALL of the siblings and their families. It was quite an adventure! We had planned a family picture on Sat and that actually went fairly smoothly. I wish I could include one of those shots ,but I still have yet to see them myself! It was so wonderful to be together as an entire group and we made plans to try and make it happen again in 3 years.

On Monday morning we headed with some of the group to Mount Rushmore in SD. On the way we saw Chimney Rock. We were very pleased with our chosen campground in the area called Rushmore Shadows Resort. We saw alot of fun stuff, though not everything we would have liked to. With 14 kids under the age of 10 in tow between the buch of us, we sort of had to tailor the sight seeing events accordingly. We will definitely go back someday. The Black Hills area is so beautiful!

On Fri day july 3rd we loaded up at about 5 in the morning and drove to Denver where we met up with my brother, Bret, and his family. We got to see their house and and then we caravanned the rest of the way to Glenwood Springs with them. In Glenwood Springs we met up with several of my siblings and their families. We had a great time there also, seeing some of the local sights and going Geo-caching. This area is gorgeous as well and definitely worth a visit!