Oh What Did We Do in the Summertime?

How do I describe a whole summer? This is the problem with blogging. You take what you consider to be a small break, and then all of the sudden...the summer is over and you are so behind you don't know where to begin.

I have decided to tackle this by posting tons of pictures, with brief explanations....not a great journal, but better than nothing, right?

In July, the Christensens came to visit. These are some of our favorite people! Here is Joey, with his cousin Cannon and the boys. (from left, Bryson, Dane, Ty, Jack, Ryland, Cooper)

I included this one, because it is the only one with evidence that Tiff and I were there! Colter, the baby isn't in any of the pictures, I think he was sleeping that night.

Tyson and best buddy, Cooper aka: Floyd. (Cannon and Tiff have nicknames for all their five boys, which makes it quite confusing...that lots of names!)

Carolina and Gracie with COWBOY!

Jack, MONKEY and COWBOY.

At the end of July, my parents got home from their mission. It was quite the whirlwind after that. We had so many visitors, and lots of get togethers. It was really fun and exhausting. My parents need to learn to slow down a little bit. Here are some pictures of a day when we took all the kids to the park.

Grandma Connie swinging....she got going pretty high...funny.

The whole group walking...wow, there are alot of us:

In August, Ash and I packed up the kids and headed to Moses Lake. We were sad because we realized that with both of us pregnant, this is the last road trip we could make in my van. (Two adults plus the six kids!) I guess we need an RV now.

The kids loved Moses Lake, and staying at my parents house.

We decided to give our kids an edge by practicing for the races to be held at the Earl Family Reunion!

I love this picture of these kids getting ready to race. Carolina and Rob were holding hands...so cute.

I am going to blog more in depth about the Earl Family Reunion...hosted by the Tami Earl branch of the family, but I wanted to throw a couple of pics up. I have tons I want to record though. We had such a blast.

While in Moses Lake, my son Tyson turned NINE!!! For his birthday, we went to a Seattle Mariners game. He was thrilled to recieve an ICHIRO jersey to wear to the game.

We left the girls with the fam back in Moses Lake. It was really fun to go to Safeco field.

I took all the pictures, so it doesn't look like I was there.

Tyson chose chili nachos for his birthday dinner! (a man after his father's heart)

This game of course went into the 14th inning...with a score of 0-0. Finally the Mariners brought in Griffey and he scored. At least the ending was dramatic. Here are my boys cheering.

We stayed in a nice Sheraton in downtown Seattle.

The next morning we walked to pike place market to see the sights.

Hot chocolat from Starbucks...and stopping to take a picture in front of a pig vehicle that sold....well, all sorts of good bar-b-que.

We watched the men throwing fish for awhile in the market and then strolled around.

Jack, in the hotel.

Before heading back to ML, Tyson fulfilled his dream of eating at IHOP. We were only gone from Moses Lake for 24 hours, but it sure was packed with fun!

While in Moses Lake, I made sure to take my kids to Franks...my favorite place to buy candy when I was a kid.

Our trip was fun and crazy...there were alot of kids staying at my parents house...8, under the age of 9 to be exact. We didn't sleep alot, and played hard...so the whole thing was quite overwhelming for a 8 month pregnant lady such as myself. It was alot of fun though, and totally worth it.

We had to head back to Utah though, because it was time for SCHOOL TO START!!

But first...a random picture of my random girls....they love to put on outfits and play. This is them tap dancing for me. Notice the underwear on GG's head and the onsie snapped over her skirt.

When we got back from WA, we went to "back the school night," and found out Tyson had been put in the class he wanted. He was supposed to be in a different class, and I had tried to get him changed, only to be told it wasn't possible by the principal...but I guess he pulled some strings. Tyson was so excited to go. This is the boys RUNNING to school the first day. By the time I got my camera to my eye, they were already at the end of the cul-de-sac...I almost missed the picture.

Tyson, 3rd grade with Mrs. Lepore. Jack, 1st grade (all day school....YES!) with Mrs. Cottrell.

"Bye boys, have fun!!" No tears here...just a big sigh of relief!

This is Carolina on her first day of preschool. I didn't start her right away, because I wasn't sure which school to put her in. I was so excited when they called me from the preschool at Lindon Elementary and told me a spot had opened up. She loves it, and it is so close to my house....and it is Tues-Friday from 9-12. PERFECT!<>
She was so excited, she ran right in and started talking her teacher's ear off (Miss Cindy). When I was leaving I heard her say to the girl next to her "Do you want to be my friend?"...it made me laugh. Carolina is NOT SHY!

Ty wanted me to take a picture of him on CC's first day. Funny.

So you are up to date. I am getting huge...I will post a picture soon. I am one month away from having this baby and we don't have a name picked out...suggestions anyone?

Home at Last!!

My parents came home from Peru last Saturday. What an awesome day it was. I wanted to post a bunch of pictures to remember the occasion.

We dressed our kids in red, white and blue to welcome them home. Ashley did an intricate hairdo on Grace, and when I pulled her out of the van, she had pulled them all out! Here is my aunt Vickie holding her:

Thier were two rubber bands left, so I scraped this look together:

Here is the gang...it was pretty hard to stay assembled for the 10-15 minute wait.

Carolina Jones holding a sign:

My parents got to meet baby Dougie for the first time:

We were missing Sam and Kyle, Ike and Linh, and Michael.

Jack, cheering up a grumpy Gracie:

Here they come!!!

I know my mom will hate these crying pictures...but I love them!

We are happy and relieved to have them home. So far they have made alot of trips to costco, and had fun with all of us.

Jack Turns Seven

So, we were down with the flu on Jack's birthday. So we had a party when we all got better. He wanted a camo cake, and to go the Nickelcade with his buddies. All the pictures are a bit blurry, but enjoy anyway!

Ash and I were totally grossed out by the Nickelcade...I felt like I wanted to bathe myself and the kids in antibacterial gel when we got home. It was hot and stinky, but the boys sure loved it!

Jack is a great kid. He has a quick wit, is super smart and funny. He is a very verbal person. We are working on his attitude, and he has made great strides on trying to only say nice things...or I guess, think before he speaks. He is such a joy to me. He helps me take care of Grace and has started to play nicely with Carolina too. He is best friends with his brother Ty. His enthusiasm and smile can light up a room. I feel honored to be his mom. We love you Jack!

Boo Hoo...It's the Swine Flu!

You may have wondered if we have fallen off the face of the Earth. We've been holed up in our house with the flu this week. This is how it happened.

I was supposed to go to Youth Conference this week for 3 days. Jack had a bad fever so I took him to instacare as a precaution. I didn't want to leave him with babysitters if he had anything bad. They did a strep test, which was negative. The doctor thought he probably had laryngitis, as he couldn't really talk. I insisted on the flu test to appease my paranoid husband, and just to make sure I wasn't leaving Joey with more than he could handle. To the doctors' great surprise...it came back positive! After 2 hours in the instacare I was pretty frazzled.


I was reeling...I had so much to do this week for my calling I wasn't sure what I should do. The doctor gave us Tamiflu for everyone "at risk" (kids under 5 and pregnant ladies!) and I drove home. When I told Joey about Jack he said "I knew it!"...and then proceeded to tell me he was feeling pretty achy too! I called the doctor and got some medicine for him too.


By 10:30 that night, I was finally back from the pharmacy and ready to crash. The next day I called the other leaders to let them know that I couldn't come to Youth Conference. It is so funny people's reaction to this flu...I might as well tell people we have leprosy, lice, and fleas over here. It is so embarrassing, and then I have to explain to them that it is pretty much like the normal flu...only super contagious because it is a new strain. The stigma of it is the WORST PART!


I was glad I stayed home, because ALL four of my kids, five if you count Joey, got this flu to some degree. I feel so blessed that I didn't get it, with being pregnant and all. So we basically have quarantined ourselves to the house for the week. Joey will be able to go back to work on Monday (don't worry people...he will be TOTALLY NON-CONTAGIOUS by then...we are being super cautious). It has been so strange to have him here all week...usually if he has time off we travel or have family in town. (Besides the horrible FLU part, I must admit...I LOVED it!)


The first couple of nights were tough, and ended up like a big Emig slumber party:

Even though they didn't feel good, they still smiled for the camera!

It was interesting to note the different sick "styles" my kids have...

Tyson wants me to be right by him the whole time. If I go to another room, or try to do the dishes he starts whining for me. He wants to be physically touching me. He even wants me there rubbing his back when he is throwing up! (This is so hard for me...but I try hard, because I know it means alot to him)

Jack, when REALLY sick, holds still and is quiet. He doesn't ask for much, and trys to sleep alot and just get better. He did look at me at one point this last week and whispered "Mom, am I going to die?" It about broke my heart, because he was not being dramatic!

Carolina...she talks the whole time!! I am not exaggerating...she uses this sick little voice and she says really adorable things, mostly pledging her love for me and the rest of the family. For example "Mom, I love you with all my heart...I am your sweet little girl and you are always going to protect me." She goes on and on. I just keep telling her, "that's right Carolina Jones...I love you and you are going to be better soon."

Grace is cuddly and sweet, and pats my head or face alot!

Anyway, we are finally on the mend. I didn't want to talk about it too much until it was over...but now I can safely say, we made it through the infamous swine flu and made some memories to boot! Jack's birthday was today, and I have assured him that we will have a great party next week. We have had some great picnics in our backyard, and watched a movie together in the theater and had alot of quality snuggle time as a family. Meanwhile I am so behind in my blogging...I have some things I want to document before I forget all about them....so stay tuned...oh, and a very special announcement: MY PARENTS ARE COMING HOME....NEXT SATURDAY! I can't stop smiling.