Summer Overview

Well, I've been busy, but here's some tidbits from our summer.

We had a family reunion with my mother's family. My cousin Trina is an incredible photographer and took some cute pictures of the boys. Here they are:

This one's Gabe.

Jacob is fascinated with the balloons!

I took this one - Jonathan's in the middle of a carnival - loaded with his goods!



A couple weeks later for the 24th of July, my grandpa was honored as one of the oldest veterans in his community. This is the program. On the end is mom and my Aunt Marianna, followed by Grandma and Grandpa.

Here is Maylee - My sister Melanie's 3rd child. She was born the end of July.

And another addition to the family gatherings....Stephanie is dating Dan. They've been dating for some time and we've gotten the chance to enjoy him a lot this summer.


Here is our First Annual family triathlon. The sign is Melanie's head - representing that she was "a head" all the way. She was "unavoidably detained" in the hospital with the above baby's birth. She'll be back for next year's triathlon and will most likely cream everyone, I'm sure! This is the beginning of the 3 mile run.

This is after the run and the 14-mile bike, as we got ready for the 500 yard swim.

And here is the swim.
While I was tired at the end, it was fun to do this as a family and I believe we'll do it again next year. Also, tooting my own horn a little, I won the bike!

This is a family picture from Garrett's family's reunion. Everyone of Garrett's siblings are there and most of the rest of everyone. We're missing Amanda's husband Ben.

Garrett's dad sent us home with Garrett's sister's old car, to help out with my latest ventures (of which I will speak later). When we cleaned it out, we found this pair of glasses and Gabe claimed them...

With August full of fun, we had the triathlon the first weekend, Garrett's family's reunion the 2nd weekend, and my family's reunion two weekends later. Here's my dad with Gabe and little Emmy.

This is at the lake, as we got ready to canoe. Garrett, Brooke, and Melanie are behind, and Jacob, Jonathan, and Gabe are in front - I just love that they're holding hands!

And right before we left, we had Gabe's b-day party. He didn't ask for much, just a Wiggles cake and a yellow blanket. He was so fun - the way he'd get so excited. This is him cheering for the cake with a Wiggles car on top - thanks to his father finding one at Toys-R-Us.

Aunt Carla got a big cheer too, when he saw his new shirts.

And here is the aforementioned blanket. Pretty exciting, huh!

It is so fun to put a lot of work into something and feel that it's really appreciated, and boy! did my little Gabe make it all worth it.

Here's the lunch before we left and Garrett getting a little to eat.

Afterwards, out of tradition and because it's a blast, we went to a nearby swimming facility. Here's Gabe and Jacob with Dad.

And here's Jonathan - big eyed!

Jacob had a blast!

And the next Monday, Jonathan began school. Doesn't he look excited!

And since Jonathan started school, Gabe has decided he doesn't need naps. This is what he looked like when I went to check on him .....definitely not asleep!

Garrett was able to sell a stove that we bought last spring. He had to take some pictures of the inside and when he went to look at them - someone had popped into the back of the picture.

Well, that was our summer. I am going to school this fall - a school 2.5 hours away. So, I leave my little men with my big men Tuesday - Thursday. Then, I'm mom on the weekend. It's a lot of work and I feel like I run from one thing to the other. This weekend, I put up 14 bottles of salsa, some pickles, and some stewed tomatoes, and the fun just keeps on coming.

I am guessing that you won't hear from me again until December.

The Perfect Anniverary Trip

Well, we got to celebrate our anniversary together on Tuesday and Wednesday. My mom and dad came and took care of the kids while we were gone. We just went some place not so far away and camped and 4-wheeled.

The wildflowers were everywhere and gorgeous. The standing water was attracting all these colorful moth/small butterfly things and as we'd drive by they'd flutter around us. It was magical. And.....while we drove on the 4-wheeler, I could focus on us - the two of us. I could help Garrett without distraction and we could talk without interruption, and it was fantastic.

A big thanks to Garrett who took care of trip - I got everything ready for mom and dad and the kids, but Garrett got the whole trip planned and executed. It was wonderful! Sorry no pictures, but the ones engraved on my heart.

2009 Camping Trip #1

Here's Garrett looking the car over and realizing - There's just no way all our stuff is going to fit!


Garrett set up such a nice camp. And the boys all got dressed up for the camping experience!


Here's Jacob too, with his bandana.

And all of them together!

Gabe was a little tired - We went on this little excursion before breakfast!

I love this picture - Jonathan, Gabe, Jacob, and Daddy!

Here's the boys by one of the views. They look like they're praying - I'm not sure why!

And here's us around the campfire as evening settled the first night (these pictures are not really in order).

It rained a lot, but we had fun. We tried to do some fishing, but our boys ate more of the marshmellows than the fish did. It was a great trip!

The Best Day of My Entire Life.......So Far

Today was so wonderful. We packed the kids up after lunch and went into a nearby National Forrest and hiked and played in the water and had snacks and sang songs and drove fast through all the puddles. It was fantastic!

Garrett makes everything so perfect by having all the perfect ideas - like letting the boys wear his hats - They love that! He had a back pack thing with water in it that astounded the boys and he let them practice with the compass and binocular. I just told him that we had to have a picture of him too - hence, the look.


Gabe and Jacob fell asleep on the way there. As you can see, they were wearing Garrett's hats already.

Jacob wasn't terribly thrilled with being carried on the hike - He's a lot happier here running around. Towards the end of the day, he was throwing rocks into a little creek and I started throwing big ones in the same spot at the same time - so he thought he was making some incredible splashes. He loved it until it was time to go.....

Here's Jonathan's enjoying a snack while his curious little mind studies everything! OH! And to his side is his backback with his play camera, binolcular, compass, canteen, etc. He never took a think out of the pack, but he felt so important carrying it all over.

I was just thinking during it all that it doesn't get any better than this.

Garrett found a nest of new little caterpillar's just moving around.

As you can see, the boys were amazed! Gabe doesn't want to get too close.

Here's me, carrying Jacob, with Gabe at my side.

It was just fantastic - A big thanks to Aunt Carla for the backpack child carrier she gave me when I was pregnant with Jonathan. We couldn't have made it without her. What a wonderful day! I feel so lucky to be the mom of this family. (In case you have very sharp eyes, there is a flower tucked into my bandana - which incidentally doesn't match, but the one that did is in the laundry - one more thing to do before I go to bed.....anyway, Garrett gave me this wildflower on our first little excursion today - He won my heart.....again.

And this was my favorite view - I know that the good days come and go and that there are many great things yet to happen in life, but this was the best day yet!

Definitely NOT ..........The End.

I'm Singing in the Rain!

It rained off and on yesterday. Encouraged by Cousins Rachel and Katie's movie clip where they use their umbrellas in the sprinkles, we let the boys enjoy the rain with umbrellas. Jacob thought it was a game, where you ducked under the umbrella and then, ran out into the rain.
This shows Jacob and Gabe playing under the umbrella.

And here they are again! Jonathan under the red, Gabe under the blue, and Jacob in the rain!

Summer Fun

This summer has been filled with lots of fun - playing in our little pool, digging holes in the back yard, having friends over, learning to bike (Jonathan) without training wheels, etc.

This is Gabe, doing puzzles - He loves them!

This is Jonathan building a jail, I believe.

Garrett changed his tires on the truck from the snow tires, to the regular ones. Jacob wanted to sit in them and Jonathan wanted to be part of the picture. Behind the tires is the most wonderful source of transportation on Earth. I love my bike!

Grandpa and Grandma Platt took Jonathan to the DI around new years, and they came back with the little orange doll for Jacob. He loves it, as you can see!

Well, we've been toilet training, biking, gardening, and (last night) playing in the rain. Nothing very exciting, but we're definitely staying busy.

The Latest

I asked Jonathan to put his shoes on and go to breakfast. When he didn't come out for a while, I went to check on him. Cute....
Rachel, Katie, Aunt Stephie, and Grandma came out for a visit and to see Jonathan in his Preschool Program. This is them: Gabe, Rachel, Jacob on Aunt Stephie's lap, Jonathan, and Katie.

Today, I had Jacob come help me wake Jonathan up from his nap. If I do it, it's tears and sadness and "I'm still tired," but with Jacob softly rubbing Jonathan's back and climbing all over him, it was ok - and everyone's smiling (the picture-taker too!).

Not a lot else to report - the garden is growing - I've planted anywhere I can think. We've done a lot of biking to the library and the park. Jonathan accidentally broke a DVD from the library and he did a good job of taking care of the problem (which included cleaning up the little twigs that fell on the library lawn during the last big wind storm). The boys want to play outside all the time. Jacob gets into everything and is smiling as long as you don't take anything away from him. I have been attempting potty training Gabe - who's been doing great with #1, but on Saturday, after sitting on the toilet for an hour (watching his favorite cartoons), he went town stairs and not only made a lovely #2 mess, but stepped in it.....several times. When I got down there, I didn't know what to do and where to start! I just kept saying, "Don't move!" to all the boys. I masterfully cleaned it all up (even touching up some other dirty spots in the carpet), but I gave in to the pressure and he's worn a diaper since. I'm trying to get the courage up today to try again.......

I'm really not feeling it.