Idaho

Somehow time keeps passing me by....I know...wierd. Summer is only a few short weeks from being over, well as far as school goes and I took these pictures at the beginning of July. You'd think I'd be more on top of things. I supposed because we've traveled so much this summer I feel like it was just yesterday that I took these.

These are pictures from when we were in Idaho Falls for the Staples family reunion. For those of you who aren't members of the Mobley family (or aren't closely associated enough to know)....the Staples is Stuart's mom's side of the family.

Happy 4th of July! We had a great BBQ at Stuart's parents house. Thankfully his parents have a fairly large house on a couple acres. The kids had a GREAT time playing with all of the cousins (all but 4 cousins were there.....We MISSED you guys!).
This handsome young man is Godwin Mobley. It looks like he just got done playing in the water.Here we have Mahana Mobley, Xela Brewer and Naomi Mobley...aren't they adorable?!?!

This is Stuart's sister Rachel and his Grandma Staples
Left to right: Joshua Brewer, Ellen Mobley, Katherine Crumpley, Annie Mobley, KatieJo, Ellen (seated) and Aimee holding Noah
If you notice Ellen has a pink splint/cast on her arm. That is the result of jumping on the trampoline with a lot of other cousins and having a run in with someone's head (we're fairly certain that "someone's" head was Samuel's)
I think the boys were getting ready to roast some hotdogs...I think. There was a lot going on.
L-R: Benjamin Brewer, Andrew Crumpley, Stephen Mobley and Scott Brewer
~Stephen's arm is NOT a result of trampoline. He came with it like that. However, he is Ellen's older brother so it made it a little ironic that Ellen hurt her arm.
Miss. Maija, I just liked this picture.
The girls being silly. L-R: Katherine Crumpley, Annie Mobley, Ellen Mobley & KatieJo
Katherine, Annie & KatieJo are all the same age.
For some reason I LOVE this picture. They are all a tad bit silly!
They are L-R: Katherine Crumpley, Samuel and Annie
Again, I love this picture. This is Helam Mobley.
This picture is just CrAzY! Stuart's oldest sister Alice volunteered her basement for a Cousin's sleepover. I think she had 17 kids total in her house. They had an AWESOME time!

For some reason I don't have very many pictures of the adults. All of Stuart's uncles on his mom's side were there and a vast majority of his cousins as well, some he hadn't seen in years and some I've never met. We had a wonderful time!

Ucreate

I had to share because I LoVe, lOvE, LoVe this blog!!! (notice the 3 exclamation points...that has to mean that I really like this blog.) In my spare time I like to do crafts, sewing, crocheting, scrapbooking you name it (except knitting) I like to do it.

I stumbled upon this blog today...go ahead and click on the logo....you know you want to!
There are a whole heap of tutorials on all kinds of wonderful things. I found a plethora of things that I have been wanting to do but didn't want to spend the money to get a pattern.

I hope you enjoy this blog as much as I do!

Cheers!

Washington

I'm really not sure how many people read this blog, but I enjoy blogging so I guess it doesn't particularly matter. I figured since I said I would post pictures that I probably should even though it's been a while since they were taken.
We had the opportunity to visit our friends Holly and AJ Haddenham and Lorne and Cathy Spooner (although we didn't get to see Lorne because he had a shingles outbreak) in Republic, WA the last week of June. We had a GREAT time and the kids had a blast playing with their kids and the animals....particularly the horses.

AJ (who had just gotten back from riding Dew...he was preparing for an endurance ride in which he finished 15th out of 37...not bad for his first endurance ride), Holly and Phillip...and don't forget Dew!

Holly and Miss MaijaCathy & "her baby" Maija...she likes to claim her anyway.
Samuel, Nolan, Phillip and KatieJo

KatieJo the cowgirl...complete with pink cowboy boots. The two girls are Echo (left) and Sabrina.Samuel...the handsome looks great on Tilly the ornery pony. When Tilly doesn't want to be ridden she gets up on their porch.Phillip....the horserider extrodinair. He LOVES horses, particularly Holly's. Oh, and he LOVES, LOVES, LOVES his "Wally" aka Holly.

I have a whole lot more pictures from Idaho. I'll have to do those in another post.

Things I've learned

I've learned some things in the past few weeks that I thought I'd share, partially because our computer's chord is having issues so I can't put pictures on my blog and partially because I haven't blogged in a LONG time.

I've learned that.....

*KatieJo has to wear her glasses. Normally we park them for the summer on her desk, so when I took her in to get her eyes checked in June the Dr. asked me where they were. I told her and she said that if I didn't want her right *lazy* eye to start wandering she'd better start wearing them ALL the time....OOPS!

*My kids are good travelers, but even they have their limits! I.E. back to back vacations for almost 6 weeks in a row is a little bit too much.

*Seeing cousins after about 8 years is awesome, and it's great to catch up again.

*Potty training on the road is a J*O*K*E!

*Sunscreen is a must! My poor kids have burnt more this summer than in their whole lives. I forgot after spending last summer under the trees in my parents backyard that we have to have sunscreen.

*Being home is WONDERFUL!

*Having clean laundry to take out of your suitcase when you get home is WONDERFUL!

*Having to resume life as we knew it before we left is nice and sad at the same time....it's always fun to see friends and family.

*My children LOVE animals, particularly horses that they get to ride (my friend Holly's horses)....as soon as we get our new computer chord I'll post video of that that I took with my *NEW* video camera.

*Trampolines with LOTS of cousins on them equal disaster. (Samuel's head + Ellen's wrist (our niece)= Ellen's broken wrist in a cast)

*Meeting the new niece and one of our new nephews was fun.

I think that's all for right now. I'm sure there are more things I've learned, however they'll have to wait for a future post.
We hope you are having as much fun this summer as we are!