Antelope & The 4th

Ww had a Happy 4th of July! This little girl turned 9 months old! And it was her first time seeing fireworks (which she didnt like). We spent it in Arco after returning from a camping trip at Antelope Creek.
We went to the parade with a lot of the Hymas'.

At night we went to Idaho Falls for the fireworks with Chad's parents. They were really great.

Poor Mollie didn 't know what to think!

At our annual family camping trip to Antelope, we had a wonderful time catching up with cousins and grandma & grandpa D.

Carters favorite thing was going gor 4-wheeler rides....

Poor kid was so worn out he fell asleep on a ride!

Me, Chad, my brothers, and some cousins hiked up to Iron Bog Lake one day... It was beautiful!

We tromped through SO much snow and waterfalls too!

AMAZING view

The gang at the lake

Love this bridge. Many memories have been had here.

Carter & Papa blowing bubbles

Not the best family photo, but probly the only one we got while we were there.

Mollie did pretty well on her first camping trip. She got cold at night the first night, but other than that it was a great trip for her. She loved swinging in the hammock!

And this little guy i didn't hardly see the whole weekend. He was so busy running around with is cousins (fwends). He had such a blast digging in the dirt, blowing bubbles, and going for rides. He is a boy through and through and was BLACK head to toe at the end of every day. And i didnt even care! :D

June Catch Up!

June is almost over so I need to do a catch-up post! I will have a lot to blog about in July since the majority of our trips are then. So here goes.....

Mollie and Carter are becoming quite the little buddies. (although it doesn't show it in this picture). They are crazy about each other and Mollie follows him around all day and tries to play with his toys. They are so cute when they get talking and giggling to eachother!
We celebrated Western Days in Twin Falls and took the kids to the parade. Carter loved it, especially the bubble machine.

Our elders quorm held a family pinewood derby last week and Chad is pretty passionate about building a winning car! ( i wish someone would have warned me just how much work you can put into one of these things!)

And if you look close the pink blur is MY car winning the race! I actually took 2nd overall and Chad took 4th!! WAHOO!!!

Ok, all i really did to my car was put the stickers on it, but i can gloat a little can't I?!

The next day Chad's sister, Chelsey and her family came up. We took them to see the falls and just let the kids play all day. Carter loves his cousins. He is right in between them age wise.

We had a cousin day on the Reed side as well at my parents house one weekend and we couldn't resist the chance to take pictures of all the grandkids!

In other news, Mollie is mobile!! I constantly find her in funny positions like this scooting around the house. I have found her in the closet, under tables and in a completly different room than when I left her.

She amazes me so much! She LOVES snack time. It is her new favorite hobby.

Whew! My how June flew by. We are having a fun summer already and July will be even crazier! Look for fun posts coming soon!!

If these chairs could talk....

They would tell you many things.

Like how many biscotti crumbs they have caught.
Or the summer days they spent basking on my great grandmother's deck in Pingree
Or maybe how they got lonely & neglected when my Nonna got sick and passed onto a better place...

They would tell you of the grandkids they loved
and the long talks that were had on them.
Or about all the coffee cups they have held and laughter they have heard.

They would tell you that some have called them hopeless or a waste of time to repair
and that they are creeky with rusty bolts

BUT

They can't talk, so I will tell you of the HOURS I spent sanding and staining these beautiful chairs of my great grandma's. I was proud to inherit them and to get to refinish them. I have cherished memories on these chairs as a kid so I couldn't just let them be thrown out.
And here is the finished product. With some spruced up cushions (yes the tags are still on), new bolts, and a new coat of stain they don't look too bad!



And if these chairs had ears, I would tell them of the many summer days I will spend relaxing on them, and the BBQ's we will have, and the children they will hold....I can't wait. Bring on summer!

M-A-Y

Nothing very exciting has happened this month, but i did want to get in a post for May. So here it goes.

This little tart turned 7 months! She is such a joy. People are constantly telling us what beautiful eyes she has and that she will be a heart breaker for sure when shes a teenager! I'm just enjoying her while she's little!

She now bathes in the big tub and loves to splash and kick in the water. I think she will be our little water bug.

Carter is crazy as ever. We made the FOURTH trip to see a doctor for things shoved up his nose within 1 month. The last doctor we saw sent us to an Ear, Nose, & Throat doctor and sure enough he retrieved another wad of paper and a piece of foam. UGHHH!

It was a sad day last week when one of Carter's friends Finn, moved away. These 3 were inseparable and are constantly talking about each other. We will miss you Megan, Jordan, Finn, & Madden!

May was a difficult month for my in laws. We found out that Chad's mom had colon cancer and she went in for surgery the 1st week of May. About a foot of her intestine was removed but since then has been declared cancer free! She is on her way to recovering well.

2 days before her surgery, Chad's dad was on a ladder that collapsed. He came down on top of the ladder on his rear end and compressed a vertebrae. He is as black and blue as you can imagine from his ankle to his ribs. He gets to wear this lovely "turtle shell" for the next few months. And trust me, many jokes have flown around about this shell! I took this picture knowing someday, they would be able to laugh about it all!

We were able to spend Mother's day weekend taking care of these two and seeing alot of Chad's side of the family. It was a wonderful weekend. I just wish it would have been under better circumstances!

Hippity Hoppity Easter

Every year since I can remember, ALL of my cousins have gotten together for an egg hunt every Easter. This is a good chunk of the gang (minus 14 people). We are getting quite large, but wouldn't trade in these visits with my cousins for the world. I'm glad our parents have helped us stay so close. We miss our other cousins in other states that couldn't be there!
The next generation or "great grandkids" (minus 10)!

We celebrate Easter on saturday so that we can focus on Christ on sunday. So Saturday morning we woke up to a visit from the Easter bunny!

These cars have almost made it in the trash a few times. I have never seen Carter SO obsessed with a toy as he was with these cars. He didnt want to do anything but play with his cars. Luckily the coolness is wearing off a little.

Even Miss Mollie made it out with a few goodies!

Then we headed to grandmas where we had a HUGE egg hunt. There were SO many eggs. I don't think Carter knew where to go first.

Easter sunday was a beautiful day and we got to stay and spend it with my family. We attended stake conference where we got to hear an amazing talk from Pres. Uchdorf by satellite broadcast. What a great way to spend the day. Hope your Easter was just as happy as ours. :)

Finding Eggs

These wouldn't post to my last entery, but i wanted to have them in our book. Just a few cute ones of Carter finding eggs. We 'practiced' finding eggs weeks before Easter arrived. He got to practice at a friends house too before the big hunt at my moms.

April Babies

I've been waiting for this day because I have been wanting to do this 'April Baby' post for a long time and today the last April baby arrived, my neice Kloe Evelyn. This is Chad's sisters newest one born April 26th.
On Aril 2nd Lily came into the world. My good friend Jenna Sorenson's little sweetie.

On April 3rd (my birthday) another little neice, Haidyn was born to my brother Justin and his wife Carrie.

April 5th was another great day for my cousin Ben & his wife Emily who gave birth to Lydia.
And on April 15th another good friend, Stephanie Gilbert had little Jayden who is a BOY!! (we need a boy amongst all these girls!) I LOVE April because it is my birth month and we have loved welcoming all these little ones to our lives! (hope its ok i shared their pictures!)