Restroom Break

On our drive to Driggs we stopped about two hours outside Boise at McDonald's to eat and play. Cannon needed to got to the restroom so we all followed along. Cannon loves to take his time and I figured it was best to just chill and let him do his thing since we still had time in the car before we stopped for the night. A few other ladies came into the restroom and Cannon was just singing at the top of his lungs one of his favorite songs...listen to song #41 (The mess I've made) and he only knows the one line and kept singing it over and over.

Everyone who came in had a good little chuckle and Cannon didn't even notice he had an audience.

One Town Only

Okay so I just got back from Idaho and spending time with all my family. My four beautiful sisters that are my best friends and my mom and dad who are just AWESOME! It has been a hard few days being back in Seattle and having cloudy skies and tons to clean after all the fun we have had the last few weeks. Here are most of the girls in our family, my parents only had 5 girls and we have had 14 girls with another 2 on the way and only 4 boys with another one on the way.Three of the four boys, all four of them were born within a year of each other.The first week before all the husbands got there we put the kids in swimming lessons and they all had a great time being in class with only their cousins. They all waited in the hot tub while we had the "mommy and me" lessons the last half hour.One of the perks of having three pregnant sisters is looking thin in a picture. I love my beautiful sisters. Ashlee is due next week with baby girl number three. Stephanie follows in August with girl number five, but child number six. Robbi gets to have her second boy in September and also baby number six for her.All the adults went out to the pool to have dinner and play while we had the older kids babysit. The mountains were beautiful and we loved having the pool to ourselves.

Everything was so green in The Valley because they got so much rain this spring and early summer. It was the greenest and prettiest Phil has ever seen in all the 11 years of going there.
You can just see the stress rolling off our shoulders.

Ty giving the very comfortable and manly wave while Nicki took pictures.

The guys finally made it to the pool after a round of golf they squeezed in that afternoon.

We really had a great time with all our laughing, eating, ping-pong playing, movie watching, swimming, golfing, parade watching, fireworks enjoying, partying and even squeezed in a little time for sleep. Here's to summer and all the enjoyable family time we seem to be finding this July, on to the next family reunion this weekend.

Big 5

So Cannon celebrated his 5th birthday while we were in Driggs visiting family. We started off the party with launching a ton of water balloons. Lined up for the pinata.

Then topped off the party with Cannon's choice of a volcano cake and ice cream.

He said that the best part about his birthday is having it in July so that we can be in Driggs at Grandma O'Brien's house with all his cousins.

10 things about Cannon's 5th year of life:

1. He is always giving hugs and loves to cuddle with anyone.

2. He loves learning new sports or games to play.

3. He is silly.

4. He is happy out riding his bike for hours.

5. He is finally putting his head under the water when he swims.

6. He LOVES macaroni and cheese.

7. He doesn't like going to Primary if his regular teacher is not there...I mean he WONT go to primary if his regular teacher is not there. (I have been seen running around the church chasing him and he is a fast little guy when he has to be.)

8. He loves listening to his dad tell the bedtime story they have had going for months and he remembers all the characters and where he left off the night before.

9. He doesn't like it when dad is gone and mom just reads a book before bed because she can't tell stories like dad can.

10. He would rather spend 30 minutes trying to get his shirt buttoned for church than to let his mother help him get it done in 1.

Thank Heavens for our little man. Glad he came into our little family 5 years ago.

Beautiful Afternoon

Well on Sunday we went over to the Manwaring's house for dinner and took a walk after eating a ton of pizza. It was beautiful weather and we just love hanging out with Heidi and Burke. Honestly they are great and it is so fun to hang out with them, but it always makes it a little hard because we know Burke is getting deployed in August and then they will move after his deployment. I guess that is one of the hardest things about living in a military ward. We have really great people that we get to meet, but we know from the beginning how long we have together before people move. Being a person who HATES good-byes I will get plenty of practice at it. Phil and I are here to stay so eventually we will be the "old" people in the ward (yes, at like 45), but we'll get to meet and say good-bye to lots of really great people. The Manwarings. Phil showing the girls "farmer grass".

The kids really wanted to go down to the water, but this darn cliff didn't want me to get down there with my flip-flops on.

Lyla enjoyed the walk sitting in the stroller.Cannon does a pretty good job even when he is the only boy in the whole group.

New Face

I feel like this is the face I continue to pull in each picture from our summer outings. I guess it just means we are having a great summer and enjoying our time outside. We had a fun little cookout with some friends on Friday night and the kids loved it. Phil got a water balloon launcher for his work party next week so we brought it along to test it out. The grown men laughed pretty hard as they tried to hit the little kids running from the balloons. This picture is just so dark, but you can just make out the little forms ducking and running from the balloons. They really did all have a great time.

Hot dogs and s'mores, sitting around the camp fire and water balloons made for a great Friday night. Next time we just need more people to come hang out with us all.