Happy Birthday Boys!

Happy Birthday JP!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON!

We love you guys!

Memorial Day weekend baby!

For Memorial Day weekend a lot of our family had decided to get together. We still had not blessed our sweet Shelby and decided this would probably be the best weekend to do it because there was time to travel.

I got lucky because my brother John and his family came first. He had a small break from law school (yeah that's right...law school! I am a proud sister) and headed out early to spend the week. They got here Wednesday and spent a couple of nights with us. Paxton and Gauge were in heaven. They were so excited to have their cousins there! It was really cool to see Paxton hanging out with someone his age. It was neat to see the interaction back and forth, they were a little like a miniature couple. They had little spats, she would tell him to get her a drink and he would do it adn then later you would find them laughing their heads off. They played with the puppies, they jumped on the trampoline...

They ate together, well my kids ate-Colby and Katie eat like birds, its not much

and they slept togetherWe had a BBQ and John admitted that the Steak was the second best he had ever tasted. (He didn't feel right saying best but I know he meant it was the best) They gave Ryan and myself a night together and let Ryan and I go for a drive and hang out while they watched the kids. Ryan watched all five kids that same day while I was working so that John and Beth could see the Terminator. The reviews were so so.

Friday morning I had my panel interview with Canyon County dispatch and it went soo well! It was nice to come home and have John, Beth and Ryan all there to listen to me and to be excited with me.

Friday John and Beth went to stay at Beth's mom's house. She lives in Kuna. I know they were there the rest of the weekend but it was hard to see them go. I love those guys so much and it was really nice to just hang out with them and get to know each other again. Saturday the rest of the clans hit town. The boys and I didn't see them until later that afternoon though because we had a party. A mermaid party for Katie...She turned 5 on Saturday.

Her grandma went all out for this party! The whole thing was so perfect! Katie's cousins on Beth's side were there and so were Beth's siblings. They were very kind and I appreciated that they invited us to their party. Pax hadn't been to a birthday party before. We all loved it!

Princess Katie

I got to spend just a few minutes with Colby. Usually he is too busy for me but this time he couldn't get away because he had to eat. I told him he could use my camera if he ate his hot dog...this is his watch...what a cutie!Happy Birthday Katie! We love you sweetheart! After the party we went to Sarah's house where the rest of Ryan's family were getting together. The boys love Sarah's house. They can be boys. Ryan said he just found Gauge outside digging in the dirt with that shovel. Yeah, he is in his socks!8 boys. Poor little Alex was the only girl. She can't wait for Shelby to get bigger!

We had a good night of hanging out. Sarah ("bless her heart" as Ryan always says) put dinner on for EVERYONE. After we hung out and the kids tuckered out we headed home with the Mobbs who stayed with us the rest of the weekend.
Sunday was the blessing day. I will post more about my sweet girl later.

After the blessing everyone gathered at our house for lunch/dinner. Even John and Beth showed up which I know was probably hard to do since they were the only people visiting from my side of the family.

The day went well! Gauge was only caught red handed (white faced) with cupcakes twice

and everyone just hung out and talked...and played swords...

Grandma and Grandpa Kerlee. Even these two made it. I was afraid for a little while that they wouldn't but Sheila even stayed the night and hung out with us for awhile. She and I sang to Shelby and laughed when Shelby sang back. It was quite a treat!

All weekend I had been telling everyone about this dream house of mine. Where it was, what it was and why I love it so much. SO, everyone wanted to see it. Its kind of embarrassing, taking everyone to a house that you don't own...but it was so nice to have so much support. The whole gang came along, and then we took pictures on the porch! Tacky? I don't know, I loved every minute of it. Maybe one day!

After the house Sid and Leslie took Morgan (the new guy, Ilene's husband) on a memory trip of the area to teach him a little bit about our family. The rest of us headed to Dan and Sarah's house to hang out some more. I really like this picture of Dan and Sarah!

Sarah fed everyone again and worked her tail off making treats and other snacks. The girls talked about naming Christi's and Jen's babies that are on the way. They are both having girls! The guys planned their bike trip for the next day-to Silver CityWhich is where they went Monday morning. Here are some shots from the trip

i stole these pictures from everyone else so I can't narrate...

These guys really enjoy their time together. Every time they ride they come back with funny stories. They ride hard and they play hard. I love that they get these times together!

After the zoo and Silver City we all gathered at Sarah's AGAIN. Sarah did the same thing... After a really tiring day at the zoo she got behind the counter in the kitchen and stayed there all night serving us. The best part about Sarah doing this is that she is such a good cook. If she makes something, you know its going to be good!

The boys played good guys and bad guys, they tried to ride the dogs, they got really dirty and at this point in the weekend, they were played out!

Meanwhile, I think that for maybe 5 minutes this night, we got Sarah to sit down and everyone else to sit down as well and we got a few minutes to talk and laugh together. Its the part of these get togethers that I look forward to. Now that we have kids we don't get much of this time but I loved every one of those five minutes!

Thank you everyone for coming and being here for us. We appreciate your love and support and we really appreciate all of those who could come and be a part of Shelby's blessing too.We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and Friends!!

Boise Zoo with Cousins

Last weekend we had everyone coming into town for Memorial Day and for Shelby's baby blessing. Well, the guys had all planned a trip to go dirt bike riding to Silver City so we chica's decided to go to the Zoo. I will post about the rest of the weekend later.

Our close friends Aaron and Jenn stayed with us over the weekend so before we left for the zoo and before we met up with the rest of the crew, Jenn and my kids all had a water fight outside.

I didn't get a picture but even little Alex was running around shooting everyone with water and then running like crazy because she did NOT want to get shot. The boys got soaked!
When we got everyone together we had grandma with us too. Being Memorial day we stopped off at the cemetery with her so that she could see her parents Norma Athlyn, Robert and her brother Richard. Her father Robert is who Ryan was named after.
It was sweet to be there with her at the cemetery. Ilene and Christi were very attentive to her. They made sure she had flowers to put on the headstones and they gave her an opportunity to say a few things. It was hard to see Sheila miss them so much. She broke down a little bit as she told us the story of how her brother Richard was killed. It was nice to be able to tell her that she will see them again and to really know that we will. It was also nice to hear some stories about her family that I can tell to my children.
After the cemetery we were off to the Zoo
Let me start off by saying... I don't know how any single mother does it! I could not have made this trip without my friend Sarah and that is no under-statement!
When we began, we did so without a stroller for Shelbs. We carried her. In 95 degree heat that probably wasn't the best plan. But we carried her and she was good the whole time. (that's my girl!)
Sarah rented me a wagon too, to help me keep track of number 2, also known as the Gaugenator.
We saw tigers, a leopard, 3 lions, 2 giraffe's (Gauge's favorite) several turtles, a snake and a partridge in a pear tree!
All of the kids went down the giraffe slide

gauge went down a few times

This was where the prairie dogs were. They had tunnels that the kids could move around in and then they could stick their heads up where the prairie dogs were

that's Pax and Gauge- farthest hole, closer to the tree. They are both in there

These were my favorite pics, when all of the kids were together. They are pointing at the tiger.

Paxton and Grandma. Can you believe how good she looks?!

Sarah and Shelby. We covered her head with her burp cloth so she wouldn't get burned

Shelby with rabbit ears...She's not quite big enough. Would have helped if I would have centered the picture a bit

My sweet baby girl

Gauger

Everyone tried to pile in

This goose almost attacked him! They kept walking towards each other and I (der de der) am just trying to take a picture when I realized this thing isn't stopping. I quickly grabbed Gauge and we hi tailed it out of there!

on Safari

Before we left we got some snow cones...not a happy story for some of us. The lady before me ordered 8! Who does that?! It's 100 degrees outside!

Later we saw a crane who decided to start yelling before we left. The kids all got a kick out of it, it almost sounded like an elephant-he was sooo loud.

We missed a lot of the animals because of the heat and the time of day so we might have to go back sometime but I think the kids had a blast overall. They were way tired by the time we got home.

This is Gauge and Alex sacked out in their car seats.

This is proof that we had a great time!