This weekend while Kennedy and her cousin Addie were playing together Addie decided they should trade sandals. Addie's sandals were a bit big on her and she wanted to wear Kennedy's which were a bit small on her. They traded and it so happened Addie's sandals fit Kennedy better and vice-versa. Kobie and I laughed at how funny it was that Kennedy had such big feet and Addie's were so much smaller. Doug and I thought it would be a good idea to buy Kennedy a pair shoes that fit her feet. On the way he told Kennedy she had ski's for feet. Kennedy thought it was great, she had no idea what he meant.Well, were were in a hurry and decided to stop at Wal-Mart. They had nothing!! It was slim pickins. I happened to find one pair of flip flops that were semi decent and decided for a few bucks they were fine. We headed out and on the way Kennedy spotted some Barbie shoes. Holy smokes they were hideous!! She wanted them so bad. I being a sucker let her have them. When Doug saw them he about died. I laugh because who cares, they are hideous but she loves them. When I woke up this morning and saw them I laughed, they are ugly!!

a precious gift

Several weeks ago, Doug, Heather and Kennedy had come up to camp with us one night. Saturday afternoon, Heather took a nap because she had been "doula-ing" and had not gotten adequate sleep in days.
Kennedy had been going non-stop from the moment they arrived that morning between collecting rocks, digging in the sand, playing velcro catch and finding branches for the fire pit. Therefore, when she did finally sit down on my lap it was only a matter of minutes before giving into her exhaustion. Aunt Laura(she and Tom had spent Friday pm with us) and I were trying not to laugh out loud in fear of disturbing her. This was the first time Kennedy has fallen asleep on my lap and indeed it was "a most precious gift" to be remembered forever:) Grandchildren make life most special.

Cousin's Swim Party Picnic

This last Friday we decided that we were going to take advantage of our beautiful summer afternoons and we planned a fun summer Sister/Cousin's Swim Party Picnic. We enjoyed good company, a fun pool, good lunch, and a relaxing afternoon!

Mom's are always coming up with the best ideas ever and we had a really great one this day. We decided that it would be great fun to get the kids all lined up on the slide in age order and get a really cute picture of them. The slide isn't that slippery, so you can stop yourself before you get down to the bottom and go off the end. So we got all the kids in place and we were waiting on Steven to get into position. He wasn't really feeling this whole great idea of ours, but he was playing along - sort of. Steven was manuvering into place behind Dylan and then all of a sudden Dylan was flying through the air. We're not really sure what happened, but we think that it had something to do with "Brotherly Love". It really was hillarious.

We followed up our swimming with a great picnic lunch and then a little more swimming. We were glad to have Emily (x2) and Elsie there with us too! I'm betting all the little kids went home and straight to bed. We played hard!

We hope you're all having as fun a summer as we are!

Where do I fit in?!

Okay, it is 12:09am-technically Saturday morning. I got home around 11:45 to this. I know it's cute, but where do I fit in?

New haircut

I went last night and finally decided to cut it all off! So here it is..... Sorry for the quality of picture!

And the award goes to...

Paige has to be the most tolerant dog I know. Ever since Kennedy was born she has loved her beyond comprehension. She is always so patient and lets Kennedy sometimes get a little too rough and never snaps, growls or bites.

Yesterday I went into check on her as she was watching her morning cartoons and discovered she decided to "doll up Paige" with some hair clips.

Now mind you there are SIX clips, not all can be seen. Paige didn't even move. They were piercing her ears and bending them in ways that had to hurt.

Even if Paige runs away at every opportunity I have to say she really is a good family dog!

Yummy!!!

Steven has come to find out that he really likes chicken wings!!! Steven and Dylan had to join me at work Tues. night and Steven obviously had chicken wings. This picture is actually after he cleaned his face once already. I guess this would be a good ad for Skippy's wings.

Sorry Doug

I was told that this was the only picture that Doug cared about being on the blog-so here it is!! Thank you Doug for the added touch of patriotism at our annual campout.

Houston we have contact

The most important thing I have learned being a parent is that every child learns differently and at different times.
I said a lot of "I'll never" before Kennedy was born and have had to eat my hat on more than one occasion.
But, I have found with trial and error comes reward. Today was one of those days.
After a long bought with attempted potty training and no success I all but gave up. I tried all the things people suggested but as I said all children learn different and what works for one may not work for another.
For the past couple days Doug and I have told Kennedy if she went on the big potty we would take her to get pizza and buy her a big girl bed. Finally today she decided to take us serious. She went into the bathroom got on her potty and let go! Holy smokes she did it. She filled that thing up. Doug and I couldn't believe it, finally. Then Doug turns to me and says "I think we are out a couple hundred bucks now." We even thought it was a fluke until an hour later when she decided to go again.
I guess a posting about potty isn't a big deal to you but it was momentous to Doug and I.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do a little 4th of July post. Yes, I am proud to be an American and live in a free country where I have the right to make my own choices and live as I wish. But, the 4th of July holds another special meaning for me. July 4th is the anniversary of Doug and I's engagement. It has been our tradition every year since to celebrate the 4th watching fireworks put on by Central Christian in Mesa where our original engagement took place. However, sadly this was the first year since our engagement that they chose not to hold this event. I was sad but honestly its always fun to spend time with Doug on the 4th no matter where it is. We laugh about where we were 8 years ago and how far we have come. We have so much to be thankful for and have been blessed beyond measure.
We had a great evening, thanks to Ben and Briana who had us over to their house for a BBQ and fireworks at Brianas parents, who live only a stones throw from Shnepf's Farms where the fireworks for Queen Creek were held this year. It was lots of fun!

Swim Team Fun

Last year was Katelyn's first year on swim team. You may think this is a bit weird since she comes from a long line of swimmers, but I've never been much for competition, so I was just happy with good old fashioned swim lessons. Last year she really had outgrown the lessons, so it was time to step it up a notch. Last year Katelyn wasn't all that excited about swimteam. She did well, even won a 2nd place in backstroke, but we only participated in two meets and that was only because I made her.

This year has been a different story. Her strokes are getting very technically pretty AND she is looking forward to the meets. So far we've done Freestyle, Backstroke (we missed Butterfly) and tonight is the Breaststroke Meet. For each of the strokes she's made the relay teams - you have to be one of the 4 fastest swimmers to make a relay team. We're really proud of Katelyn this year and thought we'd just share a few pictures of her swimming.

Is this a new sport choice? Well, no, not yet - we're still cheerleader's through and through apparently, but she sure is doing well in this one too! Way to go Kate-The-Great! We'll let you know if she makes it all the way on to the "big meet's" later on this summer!

The End

As you can see this was the end of the 7th annual Grammy/Poppy camping trip. I can't wait to see what next year brings. :)

Our 7th family campout

Of course, here is the traditional photo :) of our family campout. This was taken early Saturday morning, per request of us girls, so our hair looked somewhat presentable. Sadly, we are missing Laura and Nick due to their transitional move out of their townhouse.
We had awesome sightseeing adventures with the addition of Craig and my quads and loved sharing our excitement with all our grandchildren!! Fortunately, my husband has a wonderful sense of humor and after his elbow injury remarked "at least I don't feel my toothache anymore"!
Many thanks to all of you for taking time off work and the expense of making this annual camping weekend most memorable. Craig and I feel most blessed with your involvement in our lifes....we thank God that we all love to enjoy nature and spend time as "family" at this yearly event.