Cousin Camp 2010

Cousin Camp this year actually started with a Hall Reunion. It was a great weekend--yummy food, fun activities, and lots of time together.

Love Abby eating her fist.

The kids playing Clue in the tent.

I smell kids.

Painting Christmas ornaments.

Flying kites.

There was NO rest for Grandma and Grandpa--once the reunion was finished we jumped right into a week full of fun. Monday morning was Tie-dye t-shirts and lunch at Pirate Island Pizza.

The boys went shooting--Spence and Cam LOVED it.

Chillin' at the rifle range.

Lots of video games.

Tuesday everybody wore their t-shirts and headed up to Salt Lake for the Planetarium and Children's Discovery Museum.

Lori and Chad would get everyone in bed and settled about 10 pm and Grandpa would round everybody up for movie.

Loving the water activities.

We had a BBQ at our house and the kids had so much fun on the zip-line. La-la wasn't sure about it at first, but she couldn't get enough by the end of the night.

Grandma had a wonderful Ancestry day planned. The kids made handprint flowers to put on Great-grandpatent's graves.

We sat in the shade across the street from James Edward Hall's boyhood home (his mom chased down an indian that kidnapped him off their front porch. She beat the indian with her broom until he dropped James.)

Haha

We went to the DUP museum, which was actually really, really fun and interesting.

Matt and Shan got home from Hawaii in time to join us for our Saturday lunch at Two Jacks.

As always, when Matt's family come into town we have to fit a few games of Settler's in.

I should have included a picture of Abby and me chillin' at home watching movies and NOT cleaning. Cam and Spence spent the entire week (day and night) at Grandma's. Which left lots of Abby/Mommy bonding time!!!

It's been a while...

I just downloaded a slew of pictures because I am too tired to separate everything into individual posts.

Love the farm experience at the Utah State Fair.

We also love the big potato sack slide---well all of us except Spencer. He kept crying, "mommy, you didn't make us go slow."

Such handsome men!! Spencer kept complaining that his camelback was too heavy--all 16 oz of water.

Caleb would not look at the camera--little stinker. We had fun watching Cam at his Fun Run--the first graders just had to run twice around the field. It was still a big deal for Cam. So cute.

Little runner.

I had to have a picture of this one: the boys were supposed to be asleep, they had been put to bed 2 hours before, but obviously they were playing. Chad and I can't remember what they came upstairs for, but we cracked up at Spencer's outfit--stretchy gloves and all.

Nerf guns and trampolines make for good times--and tears.

I find Spencer like this quite often---silly kid. Love the outfit (hey stripes and plaid works, right?) and stretchy gloves.

Best way to worship on Stake Conference Sunday--big breakfast and Monopoly.

And the monopoly card game.

So cute in their soccer uniforms. Chad coached both teams, which made for LOTS of nights of soccer practices and games. Spencer's cub soccer was just hilarious--4 and 5 year old kids just running around kicking the ball--who cares if it's toward your goal or not. If Spencer was lined up for a good shot he would kick it. Half the time it was the wrong way--hehe.
Cameron's league was a bit more exciting, but whoa, there are a LOT of really competitive coaches and dads. No wonder a lot of the 12 year old referee's parents watch the games--gotta make sure a rogue coach doesn't attack their kid.

Love Abby's rosy cheeks first thing in the morning.

This picture is why Chad is such a good daddy.

Spencer spilled my glass of water in the family room. He was SO upset. I wasn't mad, in fact I told him it was my fault for not putting the water in a more safe place. No matter what I said he was inconsolable---I finally told him to buck-up and ignored him. Chad on the other hand, grabbed Abby's dinosaur toy and told the boys that he peed on the carpet and even got the camera to prove to Abby that her toy peed on the floor. Spencer and Cameron were laughing hysterically by the end. And they say women have the soft touch---well Chad IS kind of girly.

Enjoying the afternoon in the shade while waiting for Cam to get home from school.

She loves to sit in her Bumbo and play with her toesies. Too bad her thighs are so chubby, it makes extraction from the bumbo very difficult.

Sleepy baby.

Sling + vacuum= knocked out baby

This is so Spencer: He wanted his first day of pre-school picture taken in the tree, not in front of the house like Cameron did.

Big first grader.

Cam has actually had a difficult time adjusting to being at school all day long. He says he misses his family. It is cute to see how much Cam and Spencer miss each other, when Cam gets home the boys just disappear--downstairs, outside, wherever, they just play and play. I think Cam's frustration comes because by the time we go over school work, get a snack and decompress with 30 minutes of cartoons there isn't much time for friends before Chad gets home. His eyes got big when I told him that he will be on this schedule for the next 12 years---AND then I explained college...haha I am such a cruel mom.

Last Hoo-rah before School starts

I just realized that I somehow deleted 3 or so pictures of our day at Bridal Veil Falls--too lazy to re-download-sorry.

Abby looks stylin' in Cam's pimp-daddy hat

Didn't get a ton of use out of her swimsuit, but she wore it well


The Friday before school started we met Kristi at
Bridal Veil Falls. The kids played, complained about how long they had to walk and threw rocks.

She has found her thumb---so darn cute.

Who dat?

She's ok

Chad was able to escape from work for an hour or so to join us.

Cam wanted me to take a picture of all the puke on Abby--this is even after wiping some away before Cam yelled that he was serious about wanting a picture taken.

90+ degrees and Spencer was in long sleeves and Cam was in sweats. NUTS!

Monica's Closet

To any of you fans of the TV show Friends--I'm sure you will remember the episode with Monica's closet. (loved that episode). I used to identify with Monica on many levels--motherhood has chilled me out a bit. Monica was a super-uptight-clean-freak, but she had a secret closet that was stuffed full of crap--oh the hilarity that ensued. Well, this is MY Monica closet. Kind of embarassed to be posting a picture of it, but I believe that to be emotionally healthy we have to laugh at ourselves. I am one healthy gal. Chad will be building shelves on the left and I will organize the heck out of this closet. I was counting on the nesting instinct and energy to tackle this project before Abby was born, but it never happened. Now that the little stink doesn't nap longer than 45 minutes during the day I will have to stay up late one night to fix it.

Abby-The beginning of the end

I just accidentally erased the picture below, and am not in the mood to put it back in the correct order--anyway,,,I was taking the 5 month doll picture and while I was getting the camera ready Abby grabs the doll, puts it's head in her mouth, pukes on it, then rolls over on it, all the while happily squealing. Man, even last months she just sat there for her doll picture.

The Kater-bug is 5 months old today. She did something this morning. AHH, She rolled from her back to front for the first time. I knew it was coming despite my best efforts to thwart her progress (nudging her with my foot to get her back to where she should be--quietly laying on her back). Just kidding--well mostly.

It really was cute, she grunted the entire time and was finally able to move her arm out from under her--then she looked around like, "what now" and cried. It's all downhill from here baby.

The last few weeks Abby has:

found her feet-she doesn't chew on them, but she pulls on them and plays with them

grabs anything and it goes immediately to her mouth--I know this is normal, but she is my first baby to do this

loves her winnie the pooh triangle teether

rolled back to front

doesn't get a bottle too often, but does a great job holding it when she does

still a crappy napper and is up much earlier in the morning but we will see how she does once school starts and we can get on a more consistant routine

loves to be outside

great in the car

not loving the binky as much lately

still pukey and drooley

loves to be in the bumbo--especially when mommy is cooking

Just had to throw in a couple of bath pictures---Chad must love taking bath-time pictures, because they are always showing up on the camera. He did the same with the boys,,,cracks me up.

More Laundry and No Feet!

It's not like I don't have enough laundry to do every day. Abby decided to add another load today, before 9:00 am. I had just bathed her and opened a drawer to pick out an outfit and she puked ALL over her clothes. The only thing I could say was, "nice shot little girl!" I found only one shirt that wasn't "soiled".

The other day I was telling mom that Abby was growing out of her jammies and she told me to just cut the feet out. Cam was obviously listening because a few minutes later he asked very concerned, "Mom are you really going to cut Abby's feet off?" AAhhh! Kids are precious. I was laughing too hard to play along---'cause that would have been fun to mess with Cam for a while.