Jared's 36th Birthday

Some birthday waffles for breakfast, then back to work. Jared has been working so hard on getting that tour house done, he barely had time to celebrate.

Ready for presents. Mackayla had told him she would give him a pink tutu for his birthday, so she wrapped up one of hers to make it happen.

Lemon cake! Jacob was sick that day with a fever.

That evening we all went to the drag races for some entertainment. It was more fun than I had anticipated. The cars were SO loud and SO fast! Grandma had stayed home with Jacob and they watched High School Musical, he loved it, while Grandpa and Heather joined us at the races. Caitlin had a great time playing in the dirt, and even found a great treasure; a plastic frog.

There were a ton of classic cars in town that weekend for a show. We had fun walking around looking at them. Jared taught the kids a lot about the old cars.

Happy Birthday to Jared! He's a hard working, fun loving, good looking man and we love him!

June and July

We kept pretty busy all summer. We went to a Yakima Pippins baseball game one night. June was an unusually hot month, in the upper 90s most days, so we also spent a lot of time playing in the sprinklers on the trampoline. The other cousins were still finishing up school, but Cannon got to play with us.

We learned this year that national doughnut day was the first Friday in June. Since we are overachievers, we celebrated twice that day.

More fun in the sun

Mother and daughter twins! Bradley and Mackayla decided to dress backwards one morning.

We went down to the Columbia river one day to spend some time on the boat with the Holts

Mackayla was pretty nervous on the boat, and definitely didn't want a turn on the tubes this time.

Another great thing about being in Yakima is all the blueberry picking. We found Caitlin asleep on the couch like this.

Norma Rose invited us over for a swim one afternoon. It was a great time with cousins and meeting new friends.

This is what summer is all about. Popsicles on the back deck, drinking water from the hose, and kid club meetings under the trampoline.

Most evenings we liked to drive by and see the progress on the tour house. This was exciting because it was the first time we could go upstairs and see what the view would be like.

We went and picked some raspberries with Heather one morning and then I had the kids pose for a picture to use for a Father's Day card.

We always love a chance to celebrate our wonderful Daddy. We started Father's Day out with some pancakes. Then cuddled and read some comics and opened a few presents before church.

After church, Chad and Amy's family joined us for some dinner and games. We made a fruit pizza for dessert. The kids gave Jared the game Telestrations and were so excited to play it with him. I had fun capturing all the smiles in pictures.

For family home evening one night we went fishing at the park with Grandpa. We caught several of the little fish.

Fruit overload!!! And we love it!!!

Finally! Bradley is going into second grade and just lost his first tooth. We had to go out to get some ice cream to celebrate.

We took some pictures of the girls' new room to send to their cousins. They have all their stuff all set up. Mackayla made that little sack to hook onto her bed so she could have all the things she might want up there on the top bunk with her. She always loves a little sewing project. She keeps a book to read, her journal, pens, chapstick, tissues, a little flashlight, and anything else she might need. The last picture is a rag doll she make at activity days with April in her ward.

We got to go join Grandpa and Grandma at Sunlakes for a couple days. We stayed in one of the little cabins while they were in their motor home. The temperatures were about 100, so we had to work hard at staying cool. The Holts drove up early Saturday morning and stayed for just the day. The kids had a blast playing in the sprinklers and playing in the pool.

At Cannon's birthday party, they had fun in his new pool and trying out his new slack line.

Caitlin got to try on the fancy dress that was on Grandma's fancy doll. She looks adorably beautiful!!

We had a great time on the 4th of July. We all went out to the Tree's house, and had a great time swimming for hours. We ate some great food, and then Uncle Jim got out the giant slip and slide. Then things got really wild for a couple more hours!

Jared got into a fight with a piece of wood at the job site that ended up in him getting 5 stitches. He was trying to break up some wood to fit it into the dumpster.

Jared had to rent a bobcat to move some dirt around in the back yard of the tour house, and he had lots of happy helpers. The kids would always leave to job site SO dirty as you can see in this picture of Caitlin. We would usually hose them down a bit on the sidewalk before we got into the car.

Our handsome Bradley boy all ready to sleep. This is some beautiful artwork Caitlin did on her body.

We had a round of a stomach bug go around in late July. Poor sick girl.

All dressed up and ready to check on the daily progress at the house.