Colorado Family Reunion

We had a wonderful time at a family reunion on my side this week. It was quite a drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park, Colorado, but so worth it. We were able to see some relatives I hadn't seen in many years, and it was great fun to get catch up and meet some new kids as well. We stayed at the YMCA in Estes Park, and it was super--lots of fun stuff to do.

On the way up, we stopped and stayed with my old college roomie Angie (Strong) Johnson. It was great to bond again and share mom stories.
Her daughter Cassidy is a cutie pie!
Then we were off to the reunion! Here are a few highlights from the trip--there are WAY more pictures that this, and many more events, but blogs are not photo albums so I am just giving a sampling here.

My brother Danny and his family live in North Carolina, so they had yet to meet Ella. Krisztina and Alexandra both had a great time showering her with attention. We were pleasantly surprized to see how well she took to people--she just LOVED all the attention she got all week. Here's studly Logan rock climbing.
Truth be told, Angie was the real stud--she climbed all the walls to the top--she is so fearless! (P.S. Sunny the dreamer opted out of this and decided to enjoy the beauties of the area and bond with her little cousin Alyssa instead.)
My Mom was REALLY intent on winning this game. Unfortunately, I can't remember if her team did or not--good work though Mommy!
Did I mention that Ella enjoyed the attention she got all week?
I love this picture of Becky and Danny because they totally look like brother and sister! This was at our campfire and song night.

Aunt Mel with Ella--how sweet!
Oh my--can it be any more precious--this is my Great Aunt Evelyn--she is still very perky and lots of fun! Obviously her and Ella got along great!
Oh yeah--what's a campfire without "A Tooty Tah!"?
Here's another one of the games we played--the classic toothpick and lifesaver relay race.
Horsebackriding was really fun--they actually let us do some trotting, which they normally don't on these kinds of rides. Of course, bums were very sore the next day, but that's all part of the experience right?

The kids had never gone before, so I was happy to see they weren't scared of the horses or going up those sides of the mountain--their mom, however, was a bit wimpy. The wrangler had to ride in front of me when we went on steep parts to make sure I didn't faint!
Keep those doggies movin' cowboy!
Here's a few more pics of the campfire and song night. This is my sis-in-law Krisztina.
Here's Logan with Mel's boyfriend Matthew--he SO wants to learn guitar now!
Here's Ella enjoying nature. It was really cool because our back door went right out into a little hill with grass.

Here's a few excerpts from the family talent show. My cousin Kelly and her family did a cute dance number.
My cousins Molly and Cinnamon did a really fun talent--they played songs with Snapple bottles! This is my cousin JR and Melanie's boyfriend Matthew jamming out on the guitar. It was pretty good--and they just got it together while they were up at the reunion together!
My brother Danny surprised us--or at least me--by reciting a Shell Silverstein poem "Sara Silvia Cynthia Stout Wouldn't Take the Garbage Out." The kids loved it!
We also did some talent as well--the girls and I sang "Matchmaker" and Logan and Jack did "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof. Yeah, have the video but no pictures. It was fun though--overall just a great time with great people. We also went on a beautiful hike, but I want to do a separate post for that because I'm pooped and ready for bed. Thanks to everyone that helped and came to the reunion--it was AWESOME!

Pass the Peas Please!

We had WAY too much fun watching Ella try peas tonight..I just had to post about it.

At first she was a bit shocked by it. She saw me come over with a bowl and a spoon and she got all excited like she always does--I have only given her rice cereal and some oatmeal, and I recently made some carrot baby food for her which she liked at first but hasn't been too impressed with lately (so now I am wondering what I will do with all these little containers of frozen carrot puree in my freezer, but that is another story) so I thought I would make some peas out of some of the peas we were having with our own dinner--then it's almost like she is eating along with us!
Well, as I mentioned, the first bite was quite a shocker. She totally went for it all happy, and then her face crunched backwards in a bitter retreat--however, no crying happened, and she still seemed interested, so we perservered...
She became more trusting of the green goo as the spoonfulls continued to approach her mouth...
She finally welcomed it in with open lips and an open heart..yeah! Success with one green veggie--for now!

On a side note, Logan absolutely LOVES peas--I mean, we bribe him with more peas to finish other things on his plate! So, maybe if Ella keeps this up some day they will compete for the last serving--right now Logan always has the dibs on it!

SUPER GRANDPARENTS!

So, my mom and Lyle did us a super favor by staying with our kiddos--yes, even with little Ella--while we were gone this last Friday night for Bishop's night at Girls' Camp. It is always such a neat experience to go up there, but I must admit it was a bit tough to leave the baby. I know my mom could tell this by my giving her a ridiculously long list of instructions, as well as me trying to give her a tour of the house and Ella's diaper bag. However, she patiently listened to me and didn't even poke any fun. I wish I had some more pics of their time with Grandma and Grandpa, but we forgot to download the pics off their camera before they left today. However, I think this shot says it all:

GO SUPER GRANDMA AND GRANDPA!!

Lyle even taught the kids some new Rook moves, which happens to be their new favorite card game, and I think it is Lyle's all time favorite card game.

Even though it was a bit hard to leave, it really was SO nice to be away with Jack up in the cool pines and visit with so many wonderful people and experience such a great program. We also went on a little hike the next day in Payson and had a little lunch there. So, I was able to pamper Jack a bit for Father's Day and we were able to be "just the two of us" for a little while. Thanks again Mom and Lyle--you two are the BEST!

Oh, and this has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of this post, but Ella has her first official hair do because she now has enough hair for one-if you look closely you can see the little tuft coming out of the bow--not quite ready for a french braid, but still a great style yes?

Father's Day

If the kiddos look tired--that's because they are--except for Ella of course--she is always bright and cheerful each morning around anywhere from 5:30 to 6:00. The other ones decided to get rid of some of their shut eye to see Daddy off on his special day before he leaves for all his fun Sunday meetings. We had a quick breakfast and opened some presents and cards--Grandpa Lyle was their as well so we were able to have a double Father's Day/Grandpa's Day breakfast.
What a super husband and father I have here--here's him and Ella playing a little "peek a boo."
If our children ever win any chess tournaments--it will NOT be because of their mother--Jack has taught them many a cool strategy in his patient and encouraging ways. (i.e. "Oh YES, I am going to get your rook--hee hee! My guy is totally set up to get it from you and--WHAT? Oh man, you totaly just blocked me! Darn it!")
He definitely does his fair share of baby duty--but he loves it so much it really isn't a "duty" to him.
I love my rocket scientist husband and I feel so blessed that he is a partner with me every day and will be forever as we travel this crazy parenting road together. Love ya honey!

Ella's 5 month photo shoot

We decided to do a photo shoot for Ella since she has changed so much since our last pics. These are just a few of the pictures. Since the older kids already had school pics this one was just the baby--it was a lot of fun and she loved all the attention. They suckered me into buying the club thing there so I'll probably take all the kids back when she is 9 or ten months, and then our whole family when she is one. I just love to see our kiddos all dressed up and looking sweet in cute pictures. By the way, I DO have the right to post these pictures on line, by no prints can be made--don't worry mom, some will soon be in the mail for you!

The End of a Year

Welp, another school year has come to a close and these last few weeks have been the wrap up with final cottage fairs and what nots. Angie did a SUPER job on her science model, and it was a lot of fun seeing the other things kids had done.

Sunny also had a science project to do, but I guess Mom was a little confused about this one. She came home a while back with this paper that said she needed to become and "expert" on how the dinosaurs died. So, former teacher that I am, we go to the library, research on all these books and write up a little report about it to be handed in. It was really actually fun and interesting, and I was excited to go and see what she did with the info. at school. So, we go to the "science fair" and I realize that basically all the kids did was a SURVEY question about dinosaurs that the class had to answer with their opinion. Yeah, basically all the other kids asked the same question--"What is your favorite dinosaur?" Sunny was the only one who thought to ask something different! Her question was, "How did the dinosaurs die?" So, I was a bit dissapointed that they didn't do a little more, but I figure we had the joy of learning right? Ella really enjoyed all the stimulation and learning herself!

Then came Logan's kindergarten graduation. That was a great night--the principal totally cursed me though because said that we would cry and of course I did! I was doing just fine until at the end when all the lights were turned off, and the kids whipped these little glowsticks out of their shirts and sang, "This Little Light of Mine." I mean, how cute is that? Of course, Jack didn't cry and he likes to make fun of me for getting emotional over cheesy stuff. But, this is like and "epoch" in Logan's life right? Oh, Logan also sang a SOLO of "I'm the Emperor." (Penguin that is) I have a great video of it but we aren't that good at downloading those on here. He did a great job though--very noble and emperor like.
So, I guess Ella felt that she had to do something momentous as well, so...she has started to .....get up on her hands and knees and rock around! Okay, so she's not crawling yet, but it looks like it is going to come along pretty soon!

Whew! After all their hard work in school this year, we decided to surprize the big kids and take them to a show at Broadway Palm West seeing Mulan. Ella spent some time with my good friend Brook McBride and she actually slept at her house the WHOLE TIME we were gone. What a good baby! Anyway, the show was super and the kids loved their surprize. All we told them was we were taking them out of school early for something special. Now that we have finished all of our end of the year celebrations--on to summer!