Summer Vacation

We got July off to a great start by spending over a week up North with our families. Yay!

The first highlight of the trip was seeing Aunt Connie and Uncle Ross who both came home from their missions on Thursday. Their flights were scheduled to come in only 2 minutes apart. Now that is time management! It was so fun seeing them again and they both look GREAT. We had fun spending time with them again, and loved visiting with all the family who came to hear them speak on Sunday. I wasn't quite into the picture-taking jive yet so I didn't get a picture of us with the newly returned missionaries. One of my "Duh!" moments.

The rest of the week was spent playing, hauling hay, relaxing, laughing, and all the good stuff that comes with it. Jacob can be proud of the approximately 3,456,789,000 bales of hay that he and all the boys got hauled, and I can be proud of helping my mom clear out approximately 2,318,902,001 pounds of stuff from her classroom (she will be the Librarian next year at her school- way to go mom!). I was in heaven having so many people to help love the girls. I think the girls were equally grateful for the change of scenery and all the attention. We drug our heels and grumbled at the thought of having to come back home- it went by too fast. Here are a few of our highlights:


Grandma's always have the best toys. And crazy Uncles make those toys even better!

Strolling along with Cousin Olivia. Quite a trio! Some advice for Cousin Olivia from Kenna and Allie: do as we say, not as we do, and your mommy will be very happy.

Let's give a big shout out to going to lunch with old friends who I don't see near enough. I had a blast Hayley, Linda, Ady, and Sienna, thank you! It was just too short.

Ready, aim, fire! Kenna has a wicked good arm for throwing pop-its. Check out that form!

What to do with 7 cousins on a hot summer day? Grandpa Kerry to the rescue with a pool!

Hooray for the squirty thing on the pool! Can you get any Allie?

Grandma Shelly scored big at the fireworks with the glow stuff for all the grandkids. They were a hit! It was a ton of fun being with all the cousins at the fireworks.

Uh oh, Allie ran away and is hiding from mommy again. Where did she go? Has anyone seen Allie?

Hey, here she is!

These girls can't get enough time on the horse with daddy! Especially Allie. Daddy wishes mommy shared the same equine exuberance....
Allie always loves a good toss. "'Gen, 'gen," she asks with a giggle. It's enough to just about send Grandma Marsha into cardiac arrest.

Jacob and Uncle Karl took Kenna frog hunting. Somehow I got talked into going. Perhaps my inner psyche wanted to see Jacob and Karl revert back to their summer days as little boys playing in the mud. I wasn't disappointed. This is the first catch of the afternoon, and as you can tell, Kenna thought it was such a great adventure. She just skipped around the banks waiting for each new catch. Yep, pink polka dots and tadpoles- a perfect combination!

However, as the frogs got bigger, she wasn't quite sure she wanted to hold on as long.

Now we're just looking forward for our next visit to see family. Thanks everyone, we love you!

Introducing....

This here is NOT a stuffed animal. Nor is it a cow with a little tutu and ballerina slippers. In fact, it's not even a she. No folks, this here is Kenna's little brother, Travis. For the past few weeks, Kenna has been toting around her self-proclaimed little brother. She gets very concerned when he's missing, and he frequently accompanies us in the car. Occasionally I hear a yell from the back room, "Mom! I can't find little brother!" She has switched little brothers temporarily when one goes missing, but the little ballerina cow seems to be the fav. When Allie gets hold of little brother, there is quite an ordeal to get him back. Originally he was just "little brother." But after a recent viewing of Old Yeller, he now is "Travis." So, welcome to the family Travis! Nope, that is in no way, shape, or form an announcement. I guess the little stuffed ballerina cow will just have to do for now. I did ask Kenna, however, what would happen if she had a little sister. She looked up in amazement with half a smile and exclaimed, "TWO little sisters?!" Yes my little Kenna, an overwhelming thought for me as well.

The Ultimate Compliment

Whenever Jacob is having a bad day, he just needs to remember his little Kenna and her compliment the other day:

"Dad, you are a handsome Cheeto."

Kenna is also really big into getting family relations figured out. Whenever we talk about a Grandma or a Grandpa, she asks if we are talking about one of our parents. So the other day we stopped to meet up with Grandpa Clark in Beaver. When we told her we were going to meet with Grandpa, she apparently started thinking about Grandma Marsha too, because out of nowhere she asked like such a little grown-up, "So dad, how's your mom doing?" And then, without missing a beat and obviously out of great concern for Grandma's recent knee surgery, asked, "and how is her knee?" Um, are you really only 3 1/2?

You'll notice I haven't posted a good picture lately. Well, you see, I lost the camera. I stressed and stressed over it for a good week. I was so certain that I had seen it recently, so I, for the life of me, couldn't figure out where in the heck I would have put it, and was ticked off I couldn't remember- my brain cells seem to be quickly diminishing. I had a sneaking suspicion one of my little "helpers" had taken it somewhere, but I searched every possible crevice and hiding spot I could think of. It had almost become a lost cause when I finally found it- I nearly dumped it into the washer with all the other clothes in my laundry basket. DING! The laundry basket!!!??? Why the heck didn't I think of that? I'll add that to my list of "little helper hiding spots." Thanks, Allie. I'm almost 99% positive she was the culprit. That little monkey is constantly hauling off with my stuff. Hmm. A day in the life of me.

Okay, last thing. Really random, but it sure gave me a good laugh. I confess, I double checked to make sure I spelled "Cheeto" right. I thought perhaps it was "Cheetoh." It's not. But in my quest to find knowledge, I came upon this website. Please don't think me sacrilegious or rude, but I just had to giggle: http://www.thevigilanteband.com/jesus.htm.

Diaper Referral

To all my fellow diaper buyers out there:

Here is a referral code that will get you $10 off your first order at diapers.com. Their prices are competitive, it's definitely worth a look if you buy diapers, especially to get ten bucks off! Not bad to have them delivered, either. Plus, for every referral that uses my code, I get $1 off my next order. :)
Plus, I just placed an order and they had a deal (not sure how long it will last) to get a free year subscription to Parenting Early Years Magazine. BUT I opted out of getting the magazine and sent in for a $14.97 rebate. Love it. LOVE IT.

Here it is:
brit0712 (zero, not an "o")

Happy Shopping!

The Simple Life

Lately Jacob has been giving me a hard time about getting way too much excitement out of silly little things. So just for the fun of it, I share with you things that have made me smile this past week:

-Finding a new ringtone for my cell phone that makes me giggle everytime I hear it.

-Getting a new printer that I can use to make copies. I feel so high tech, when in reality I'm still in the 90's when it comes to technology. I'm trying to restrain from making photo copies just for the heck of it so I don't waste ink.

-Being able to actually install the printer successfully. By myself. Okay, I called customer service once. But it works!

-I make fun of Jacob when he lays in bed and flosses his teeth. I try to recreate the sound he makes and then he laughs and can't finish.

-My brain cells are quickly depleting, so I love it when I think of something and then can remember it 5 minutes later. It doesn't happen often.

-Ordering diapers off the internet for cheaper than I can get them at WalMart. Throw in free shipping and it makes my day! Really, that actually gave me my afternoon high yesterday.

As I peruse my list, I realize I didn't put anything on there about my girls. I really could add quite a few things on there about my girls that I love and make me so very happy, but I'm not going to. This post is just for me and I think that is just fine. Sometimes a mom just needs that.

Sugar and Spice

Welcome to the newest cousin in the Otte family! Miss Cambria Dawn was born on the 21st, and is a sweet little addition that her 3 brothers love. Well, the youngest little brother is taking a bit more time seeing as though he has just been ousted as the baby of the family! But she is so darn cute, it won't be long before she has everyone wrapped tight around her little (and I mean little- she is so teeny tiny!) finger. This past weekend was a wild one for my brother and his wife- my nephew Christian got baptized Saturday and immediately after his confirmation they blessed little Cambria. It was such a great afternoon. I give tons of credit to my sister-in-law who was willing to pack all those events in when her baby was barely a week old so her family would be able to be part of it all. Had it been me, I would be dead by now. Or at least in a very low functioning mental state. But, we had fun being with family- even though it was a quick trip going up Friday and coming back Saturday. Congrats Otte's on two very wonderful events!

It Must Be Summer Time

We've been trying to soak up some sun lately and have fun. Last Saturday we decided to head up the mountain for a little 4-wheelin'. It was plenty dusty, but we had fun taking a picnic up the mountain and just ridin' around.

Two peas in a pod!

A handsome daddy and his pretty little lady. Even though her hairdo only lasts for a few brief moments. Here we see the pony tail is long gone. She also manages to get one heck of a shag on the back of her head. What a character!

The girls' favorite part was playing in the stream. Of course they ended up getting soaked, but loved every minute of it. I think they would say it was definitely worth the ride home without their pants on!

It's been pretty darn nice down here, so we filled up the pool. Wouldn't you say this is such a jolly little picture? Let's hope the pool lasts a week before popping.


This has become our daily tradition the past week: A nice sticky popsicle. Kenna starts asking for one as soon as breakfast is over. All goes well until Allie inevitably loses the last bit off her stick, and comes into the house quite unhappy holding the dirt-covered remains of her popsicle that have left a colored trail all the way to the kitchen. Sigh.

Last but not least: here we have Kenna who apparently has just initiated herself into one of the deep jungle tribes of Africa. Why do I think she really has learned her lesson from the previous umpteen times she has been entrusted with a pen and ends up drawing all over any uncovered portions of her body? Sigh. Yep, motherhood at its finest right there. Somedays I think that for every step I take forward, I take 3 more back. I just didn't even have the energy to get into the "our bodies are special" talk. So what do I do? Just take a picture. There's something in children's ears that automatically cause a deaf shut-out when a mother starts talking. Unless, if for some interesting reason, the words "treat" or "park" are mentioned. I wonder why that is...