August over already!?? NOOOOOO!!

We went to Grandpa Merrill's house this summer. TONS OF FUN! We had big days so Layne and Case would crash pretty hard when it was bed time.

When we went to my dad's house two years ago, Kord crashed this golf cart into a tree. They were a little nervous about that for the first...four seconds. Then they went tearing across the property. We didn't even end up in the river--I call that a success.

I traveled by myself with all four kids from coast to coast and I kid you not, I read on the plane. It was only for a few minutes, but still. I had to borrow Harry Potter from Hadley since it hadn't even occurred to me to bring a book--who would have thought I'd have time to read. There are perks to your kids being a little older.

These, my friends, are bird dogs. When I was a kid, we ate these when we went out on the sailboat. We, of course, mocked those powerboaters with their big engines and small IQs. Evidently, when you get old--it's okay to have a trawler--since my dad just traded the sail for the motor. Okay, back to the bird dog recipe: Make a slit in a hot dog, put cheese (preferably processed) into the slit. Then wrap the entire thing in bacon and cook. Yep--absolutely disgusting, but Adam and I used to love them. So I made then when we were there. I stuffed a TON of veggies into my kids though to help offset the nastiness.

Why yes I AM SUPER MOM. I took the kids to Philli and NY all by myself. Have I mentioned that I love these kids?!

Then we came home and played with our best buds.

While we were gone, Russ wrote, "Spent the day mt biking at Lewis River Falls - ended the day by jumping off the falls - a good day. But...., I'm ready for my sweetie to come home ... There is a pair of pants in every room of the house - I haven't seen a vegetable in over 10 days - I've gained 4 pounds - and I'm in serious smooch withdrawal. Come home Nicole, come home."

And "I love my wife dearly... miss her when she's gone. But I've eaten red meat 5 nights in a row. The cherry on top? I noticed a note on the fridge tonight that says... don't forget the honey-do while I'm gone. I thought that was an excellent idea so I drove to safeway and bought a nice big honey-do. I love honey-do even more than cantaloupe. What a gal, always thinking of me."

Then when I got home there was cole slaw in the frig. Gross. So I asked Russ if I could throw it away. He let me know that he bought it a couple days ago because he realized that he really needed to eat a vegetable. WHAT!!???

Cole Slaw is NOT a vegetable.

July...I've never looked better

For those of you who did not see my facebook post (or the family newsletter...thanks a lot Mom), I thought you'd like to see my "before" shot. Some of Russ family are doing a weight lose contest. I thought everyone should see what I look like before the contest. Wish me luck!!!!

Holy fun batman! Ben and Rochelle and lot's of their clan (we missed you Lars and Hans) came out and played with us. We showed them what a northwest fireworks lawn (or cul-de-sac) show looks like...none of this Utah sparkler stuff for us!!

We convince Ben and Rochelle to let us have the three younger kids for a while before everyone else came. It was CRAZY fun!!! We're Avatar the Last Airbender ADDICTS. So they all dressed up for opening day--including Leif and Sven getting arrows shaved into their heads.

What a bunch of troopers. We all went to Shi Shi beach on the Olympic Penninsula. It was miles of hiking into the beach and then a couple days of living on it. This is after we've already hiked out, so though we look pretty hammered, it was SUCH a great memory and was so great.

Grandma Katie came to play too!!!! We baked, hiked, swam, and waited until 2PM every day for the sun to come out...I'm not going to lie, the weather was tough on me until about mid-July. We had SOOOO much fun with you Katie, thank you for coming!!

Okay, so I think it's cool that we're all exactly one head apart in height (except for Russ, he would ruin it so he took the picture...I love you snoogally-woogally pie). The crazy part is that 4 weeks later Kord was up to my nose and Hadley has grown so much that Layne only comes up to her chest.

GO THOMAS'

The kid was turning 11 and he had never had a gun cake...what kind of Thomas' are we. We rectified that ASAP!