Family Pics

So I know that a lot of people who read my blog are not on Facebook (which seems to be where I spend a lot of time lately). I have posted our family pics on there but thought I would share them on here as well. I hired a student from DSU to take them. She was very inexpensive but was so sweet and did a good job for the $75 I gave her.

I think I may have the most photogenic boy in the world. Every single picture of him always looks good. Even the silly or funny pics of him where he was caught offguard are still really great. So that's it. Lots of pics. :)

10 funny things that crack me up....

I was just thinking about a few little things that happen in daily life that just make me giggle, sometimes out loud, and sometimes only on the inside....here's my list.....are you ready??....are you sure??.....

1--a random shoe in the middle of the road. Where does that shoe come from? How does one lose a shoe in the road? Do they not know their shoe is missing?

2--House Hunters on HGTV. Those folks on there crack me up with their terrible acting. Like they wrote their own script and couldn't remember what they wrote, so they're prentending to be excited about reading the scripting. It is hillarious.

3--Women who are well-endowed driving crotch rockets around the town. They are always in a pack with a bunch of other guys riding crotch rockets. They sport their Oaklies and their boobs are hangin all over in their way-too-tiny camisoles. This one makes me giggle out loud.

4--When I forget to put on deodorant and I realize it halfway through the day. Enough said. It cracks me up.

5--Men driving VW Beetle "slug bug" cars. They are owning the road in those mothers. Even better when you see them get out and their legs are like four stories tall.

6--Thinking about the video on You Tube where the woman is talking about giving "CPR" and she says "UPS"---and really means it.

7--Bright colored houses that stick out like sore thumbs. Or houses with neon-colored doors. I'm all about being original and fun...but c'mon. *laugh, laugh, laugh*

8--When people walk their big dogs down the busiest street in town and the dog rears up to take a c*** and the owner (who, by the way, somehow always seems to resemble the dog they are walking) stands looking around as if nothing is happening and then proceeds to whip a plastic Wal-Mart bag out of their back pocket that will soon be weighed down by the big huge dumparooski that has just been produced by their pet, load it up, and when loaded looks way too heavy for the bottom of the bag to handle. I know you gotta walk your dog, but maybe choose a park or a less-traveled highway next time. So funny.

9--Men mowing their lawns without a shirt on, except that they should be wearing a shirt. You know the kind...really bad farmer tan.....so hairy they look like they're wearing a sweater....or a very very large tummy hanging quite low to the ground. You know what I'm talkin about. And then sporting their shirtless self while one-handing that bad boy of a lawn mower. And he can even do turns with one hand while looking around to see if any chicks have noticed that he isn't wearing a shirt. And they have noticed alright.

10--The kids asking me not to sing. Yup, they do that. I think they learn to say that from their dad.

So far...the best summer yet for me.

This has been like the best summer ever with our kids. We have had such beautiful weather. It has really been amazing. 70s and low 80s. We didn't even turn our air conditioning on until yesterday. So wonderful. Beautiful days gives us so many options. We have had so much fun going to the pool, chilaxin' at the parks, going to baseball games, and enjoying ourselves while we enjoyed the ride. It has been amazing. Way better than last summer. I think that was our worst summer ever. They always say something about that "seven year itch". Glad that summer is over. Well, it is our eight year anniversay today (eight years on the eighth) and we are enjoying eachother, our families, and our children. That is so much less stressful than being crabby for like three months straight. I bribed the kids in early June and I got this pool for them now that we have a patio in our back yard and there is a flat place to put it on. That little Ella is a fish and would stay in it all day if I'd let her. Gabe get "so so chilly" and tries not to get his hair wet.

Here's dad after mowing chillin in the cool water. You can kind of see some of our backyard landscaping too. The bushes are getting bigger by the minute and we use the rocks for steppin stones. It looks so good. I still need to take a picture of it. But we still haven't painted the back of our house. It look really bad still. I just haven't found the time....



We have been spending time at my Aunt Kathy's house now that they are here for the summer. She has such an awesome place for the kids to hang out and spend time together. My cousin Alec graduated from high school this year, so my aunt and uncle from the middle of Arkansas came with their kids for the celebration and a little vacation. All of my cousins on this side are so little except my two that just graduated from high school. My dad is the oldest, so other than us, my oldest cousin is 14 and my youngest is 4 (a couple months younger than Ella). So it really is like my kids' cousins and not my own cousins. They just got along so great with these cousins from Arkansas.

And here is my son who grazed over the appetizer table. She always has the yummiest food ever. She has a caterer come with the food and serve it and all. They had these little phyllo crusts with a chive cream cheese topped with carmelized onions. Oh so good. I want one right now....or two.....or three. yummy. I think I pulled my kids away from that table 3 times each. Gabe was lovin the blackberries off the fruit tray.



So this one is for you Nobody. Where else can you see.....speed boats, jetskis, houses, a lake, and a herd of cattle all in one shot? South Dakota of course.

The 4th of July started off with Uncle Garth and Janae bringing the kids fireworks. Janae has a little sister named Maddy who her parents adopted when she was in high school. She's a beautiful little girl and so fun. Janae brought her over and they enjoyed fireworks together. Sparklers, smoke balls, worms, and all those other fun kid fireworks. The kids cannot keep everyone straight. We have aunt Renee (who is Gavin's wife), Janae (Garth's girlfriend), and Jaye. Well, of course they know I am mommy. I think it's cute how we all rhyme though. The kids call Janae, aunt Renee. Oh boy. She does act like an aunt though and she is so sweet and awesome with the kids. Always tickling them, having fun, and picking them up for hugs and kisses. So they call her aunt Renee. So in two days, the real aunt Renee is actually moving here. What are we going to do? We have been trying to coach the kids into saying Janae. I really hope it doesn't hurt the real aunt Renee's feelings. Hopefully they'll get used to the whole thing.

Yes, that is Ella wearing her Broncos uniform and her Uggs lighting fireworks. Such a doll.


Micah was stuck on getting a good pic of us for his Facebook page. Let's see what he came up with....

And Gabe's baseball season finally came to end. I loved going to his games, but it is really not his total cup of tea. He LOVED soccer, but I think the non-competitive nature of the game really wasn't so much fun for him. He wants to win and they don't keep score and they can only run one base each hit. Boring. He's looking forward to soccer in the fall. Ella is going to play too. Here are a few snapshots though.... I think I could create an entire post on the "things Gabe does other than playing baseball or watching his team play baseball."

Here is the rest of teh 4th of July pics. We went to the Bell's in the morning and left around 3:30. We grilled out and had fun swimming in their pool and playing bocce ball in the yard. Ella is my little fish and she never came out of the water. They have a great chemical system in their pool that is a salts and minerals system rather than a chlorine system. So the kids swam all day, looked under the water all day, and their eyes weren't red or watery. Kinda cool. I makes your skin and hair so soft as well.

Sally and me. She's so cute.....Oh yeah, and I did get another pair of sunglasses. I know I said that I only get one, but Tamara and I went to this boutique and spent $50 so we got a free pair. She can't wear sunglasses because of her prescription, so it defaulted to me. yay!

After we were done at the Bell's we went home, took a shower, and went to my cousin's rehearsal for her wedding the next day. She asked me to be a reader and I said yes. That was dumb. Anyway, after that we went back up to Aunt kathy's house and had fu lighting more fireworks, cooking out, roasting marshmallows for s'mores, and watching uncle Bill's crazy fireworks show. That dude is nuts. A 50-year-old pyro. It's great.

My little cousin Arianne. She's so pretty.


Here are a couple little pics from my cousin's wedding. I did my reading and I wasn't so nervous......until I started reading. Holy crap I thought I was gonna die. I started reading 1 Corinthians 13 and got weak-kneed, cotton mouth, and things started to blur. Holy junk. I was like, "Just get through this Jaye. Don't faint. Read. Just read. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna fall down and die right here." Well, I made it. I felt like I maybe wasn't the best person to ask to read after that. Everyone said it was just fine. Nobody was lining up at the reception asking for my number to read at their wedding though. Darn.

Cute little snapshot of me and hubby.

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