Reunions...nothing Like Family!

 We get together each year at different parks and play, talk, laugh, and toss water balloons at each other...IT is a tradition that we just love!

Three, Two, ONE...BLAST!

This is Marianne pulling back on the sling shot and letting it fly!!

 I actually like this picture of us...I am happy and it actually shows!

I got it, I got IT!!!

 Yummy Popsicle! Marianne is digging on hers, but Garrett is melting his...that's how we do treats in our family.

Cheese!!!

Buying a house and making it a home.

 When you buy a house, you want to make it a home.  Making is a home is a challenge when you've lived in this house for nearly 5 years.  But, I wanted to make a difference and an impact on what we had and change it to what we needed it to be for our house. 

That meant pulling out carpet, laying flooring in the dining room/kitchen, painting the walls, painting chairs, and  painting the cabinets!  WOW...it is light and bright, fresh and makes me happy!

 The working crew was really everyone--in different stages.  For the painting/babysitting/flooring/cleaning Kellis and Garrett:  K with the spray paint, G with the cabinets.  M, M, and V: helping move the china, staking the china, then move the china back into the hutch.  Isaac, the gopher:  can you get me this, get me that, I need just an extra hand with this.

 And then of course, I have the "extra" helpers: Rhetten and Marianne.  Rhetten's job was to be 1) cute, 2) crawl around as we installed the new floor, 3) give mama hugs, and well, the pictures say it all!

 hum...is someone tired?  yep...Good old Kellis!

 See what I mean by being adorable?  How can you not love this little helper?

 The dining room: 1) used to be billiard green walls and brown carpet.  2) Oak chairs with the varnish coming off, and 3) different Japanese embroidery.

 Now: white walls, switched the placement of the hutch, hung a mirror to reflect light, spray painted the chairs, and laminate flooring.  BRIGHT and LIGHT!

 The old kitchen: 1) red walls, 2) oak cabinets, 3) vinyl flooring. 

New kitchen: winter fresh walls, laminate flooring, and painted cabinets!  I also put bead-bored on the island and painted up each stool.

 LOVE my island!  It is just for fun and wow did I have fun with it.  I figured, why not?  I just wanted something that had a little flair of me on it...I got it!

Isn't the floor pretty?  I just had to get a snap shot of all our hard work!

 The whole kitchen was inspired by Mary Engelbreit!  I wanted it to be fun, to remind me of a home that I just loved going to when I was growing up...and I feel like I captured it.  My spirit is happy and that's all that I need right now...happiness!  I have a few more rooms left to do  but that won't be until December when mom and dad finish building their home.  I have Marianne and Rhetten's room to do as well and our Master bedroom/Bathroom.  I promise I'll post pictures of that as well...over all VERY happy!  That is what I wanted...Happiness!

A little Get Away...

 Sometimes you just have to get away...I did!  Scott flew me to Denver to see a GAME!  Good TIMES!

 Me posing for the picture at the ball park.  I love Baseball!  What can I say?  I love it!  The crack of the bat, the smells of the concession stands, the people watching, and ball playing....it is SUMMER!

Scott and the Jumbo Tron

Storm rolling in: lightening, a little wind, a little rain...but a spectacular cloud scape for us.

I took this shot!  Can you see the ball flying off the end of the bat?  SO COOL!

Ah!  Little lovies!

Look at how they pack them in here.

One more of the darling couple!

This shot is for my dad.  ahhhh one day our grass will look this good.

Blessing!  We saw a Rainbow over the stadium.  I love that blessing of rainbows!

The ZOO

 The Zoo!  We spent the 4th of July at the Zoo.  I knew that is was going to be hot, hot, did I mention hot?  So we came prepared...water, drinks, milk, and food.  Here we are in the Parking lot...long way from the first animal...

 She sees a parrot!  That is what she is signing.

 Here is the camel.  I'm signing camel to her.

 Here is Juko.  He is enjoying some bamboo. 

 Marianne is signing that the Gorilla is eating a "tree" the bamboo.  So cute signing!

 Now she is signing that she is wanting milk.

 Just monkeying around...I love how she knows just what to do through simple observation.

 More monkeys!  Smile!!  It's the 4th of July!  I'm so happy that we have the freedom to enjoy all the wonderful time we have together as a country and a family.

 Here is my Rhetten and daddy! Such handsome men in my life...now, where are the other three boys??

 I love this.  Garrett is trying to mimic the gorilla.  Rhetten is just enjoying the eyebrows, cute girls, and happy dad?

 Here is that view of the Garrett.  This is the fam...but yet I've lost two of the boys.  They just took off.  That's ok, but man, I just wanted one family shot.

 The river otters!  Marianne just loved to watch them swim, dive, run, splash, and so forth.  She was just glued. 

 Look at this scary animal!  She is frightening!  no...look at the sweet little bug.  So cute!

 The family on the seal...Marianne had had it and wanted off.  This is my forced, "just smile everyone" smile...it works.

 The polar bear!  She just loved the water.  She was diving into the pool to catch the fish and enjoy the water.  It was about 98 at this point.

 The Grizzle bears!  I loved these bears.  If you look closely, you can see a smile!

 See, another smile!  This bear was just showing off for me.  I loved it!

 Na, na, na, na, na!!

 Just wanted to remind you of the power of this bear...cute, but powerful!  Happy to be behind a 3 inch glass.

 The Tiger paw...same time of thing...amazing...and powerful!

 Cool!  I thought this bird was just cool...he was looking around, then would run, then come back to the fence.  It was awesome!

 We ended the day with a ride on the carrousel.  What kid wouldn't love this?  Baby girl just demonstrated it in a smile!  She loved it. 

 Look who else loved it!  No, just kidding...but I love this kid.  Kellis is just such a wonderful loving brother.  It is great to see that a cool 14 year old can still enjoy family times.