Gabe's Bowling Birthday Bash

Gabe decided that he wanted to have a bowling birthday party. I was happy to oblige since his second choice was a mad scientist party at our house. That would have require far too much Brian power. We had this scheduled for Thursday (today) but had a scheduling glitch so I had to call all the people we mailed invitations too and reschedule for Mon. the 18th.

Here was the invite, (a little cheesy)
I made t-shirts for everyone that had their name and small bowling pins on the front, and the same bowling pins only bigger and Gabe Birthday Bowlers on the back. The kids were pretty excited about the shirts. They each got a goody bag and that was it. Super easy!

It was really easy and the stress free the kids had a good time and most importantly Gabe was happy with it.

We were hoping to get a few more friends from school to come but most of the people were from church. Summer is hard with traveling and such.

Attendees: Kai, Preston, Kaleb, Jaxon, Ryan, Savannah, Caleb and Adam (Caleb's cousin) and of course Gabe, Isaac and Emma.

Happy Birthday Gabe!!

1 year old

4 years old

5 years old

5 years old

6 years old

Almost 7 years old 7 years old
8 years old
8 years old
9years old (in a couple weeks)
9 years old!!
Today my little Gabe turned 9. Has it really been that long? 9 years! I guess he isn't so little. How do I describe sweet Gabe...he loves being able to be the one in charge. He is a great helper, usually the first one to have his jobs done. He is just like Eric, always looking forward to the next big trip. He is an even better helper when we are getting packed up. Gabe tries hard to choose the right and likes to know that he is doing a good job.

It is Gabe's birthday but it is also my 9th anniversary being a mother. Gabe has done his best to make those nine years relatively easy on me. He is such a great kid, the perfect first child. I am so glad I was chosen to be his mom!!

I love you Gabe!

Partners in Crime

Meg made sure we were up half the night and Elijah made sure we got up far too early....

A few hours later when their job was done

Meg, up until a couple days before our trip, would sleep usually 8 hours at night. Sometimes she would even sleep 10 hours. Right before our trip to McCall she woke up 2 nights in a row at 11-12...not a good sign. The trip didn't help much with her sleep schedule and she is waking up a ton. Last night not only did she wake up a ton but she decided sleep was over-rated and let us know it.

Elijah never wakes up any more but 2 nights ago he woke up 2 times and then woke up crying at 6am. He didn't wake up in the night last night (Meg took care of that), but he did wake us up before dawn this morning and after a long night neither of us wanted to get out of bed. I think our little bug is sick though, he had a fever today.

Home Grown

WE HAVE A GARDEN!!

taken 7/22

this picture was taken the first time we harvested anything from our garden

taken 8/9

this picture was taken the day after we got back from McCall...always fun to come home after a week long trip to see how much progress the garden has made

This summer has been fun watching our garden grow and eating our very first Garden Veggies!

Right now I am convinced that few things in life are as gratifying as eating food from my own garden. Maybe the novelty will wear off once we are old hat at this...but this is the first time in my adult life that I have had a garden and it is so fun! We planted corn, sunflowers, peas, beans, yellow squash, zucchini, pumpkins, spaghetti squash, peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, cucumbers and watermelon. I think that is all. I thought it was quite ambitious since we haven't really been into gardening.

Our First Harvest

7/22/2008

I sent the kids out for a cucumber for a salad and they came back with a zucchini, (Like I said, we are new at this)

Here are the kids and our neighbor, Holly, showing off the first harvest. I included the flowers in the picture because, you guessed it, they are from our back yard as well.

We recently had a ward activity that I found out about last minute and I had to bring a side. We had 2 big zucchinis in the garden so I cut them up and put olive oil, Parmesan cheese and seasoning on and put it in the oven for 15-20 min. I kind of wished there was a way to show off that the zucchini was from my garden. I almost made a little note card...just kidding. Martha Stewart eat your heart out.

We brought a bunch of cucumbers to McCall with us along with some spaghetti squash. We have one plant of cucumbers and it is producing like crazy. We brought 6 cucumbers with us to McCall and we got home a week later there are at least 7 more ready to pick.

McCall

Eric's family Goes to McCall, Idaho every year. It is always one of the highlights of the summer and this year was no exception. Here are some of the favorite activities.

Fishing

Jumping off the Dock

Isaac was doing some really cool karate kicks into the lake...this picture is pretty much awesome!

The trip to the "Gardens"

S'mores and hearing Grandpa recite the cremation of Sam McGee

Gabe opening his present from Grandma and Grandpa

Romantic Raft ride for 2

This is actually a 4 man raft Eric bought this year, and it is quite the vessel...it was able to accommodate Eric, Sterling, Spencer, Grandpa, Gabe, Isaac, Emma, Parker, Bentley and Mataya. Not Bad.

We also spent time playing on the beach, swimming in the pool, going on walks and of course reading. Breaking Dawn was released while we were there so I bought it, read it and loved it!

Wii love it!!

As a last minute decision right before the builder was about to start sheet rocking our place we decided to have it pre-wired for surround sound. We finally got our system installed and working, I guess it's been about 2 months. Apparently it was quite the job because we have all the hardware in the office, including the wii. It works great though.

It is finally set up and as you can see, almost life size with our huge TV. (Eric picked the enourmous TV out...not me)

My boys like to play Hotwheels Beat that. Good Times.

Land that I Love!!

I love the fourth of July

...being with family watching fireworks and remembering what makes our country so great. I love watching the fireworks, I love how they illustrate celebration and victory, but also help you (in a teeny, tiny way) imagine what those who serve our country experience. What a blessing to live in The US of A, and what an privledge it is to celebrate that every year!!


ps. I grudgingly add the last photo of me in the collage...besides the family shot this is the only one taken of me. Not a lot to work with, but since this is one of my favorite holiday's I figure I had to document my presence in more than one photo.