some summer pictures...

 Brock and Paxton "sharing" at Grammie and Grandpa

Dooley's house

 Auntie Kizzy, Zane and Brock at Red Rock

 Auntie Kizzy and Zane climbed down to the river

and felt how cold it was!

 Me, Kizzy and the kids getting sprayed by Cameron

Falls...it was NOT a nice day in Waterton!

 Waiting for the Raymond Parade on the 1st...

We found our friends the Holladays from Sylvan so they

shared our spot!

 Sour soothers, and a sucker.  What more does a kid need?

 Not sure about being confined to the back of the

truck...but maybe a bribe will help

 Hot day, sprinkler, trampoline, and 4 little boys...

They had lots of fun!

I LOVE this shot!

Brock enjoying a whole bucket of sour soothers on Grammie's mat

 Cliff and the boys having a good wrestle

 I think Zane is losing....

 He found a measuring spoon and oatmeal...and proceeded to eat

First time he's eaten oatmeal and not spit it out!

 We built a fort in the living room

 Outside view of the fort....

 Camping....Brock taught himself to throw a Frisbee

 Rhett and his massive plane that provided hours of entertainment

until it crash landed and broke the tail wing

Zane fell in love with football...

Hope you enjoyed the small taste of our summer!  I tried to remember to take pictures but was often busy chasing after these three wonderful, busy boys!

Some stuff...

It has been brought to my attention that I forgot to mention some happenings of July:

First of all a big THANK YOU to my dad for fixing the passenger door on our explorer so it opens from the inside and the outside!  Makes my life so much better! 

And we had the fun times of having our nephew Paxton come and stay with us for the last week of July while his day home was closed.   It was busy, hectic and fun!  Having one more wasn't that different, but different enough to solidify my thoughts of being all done having my own kiddos.  Brock loved watching movies in Paxton's playpen, and Paxton loved to throw toys into Brock.  Sometimes that didn't work out so well, like when Paxton decided to throw all the big trucks into the playpen and nailed Brock in the head with one.  But they did enjoy riding in the stroller together and running around like crazy.  Zane and Rhett started treating him like another annoying little brother....so he fit right in!

August has been just as busy as July.  A couple of days after Paxton left Auntie Kizzy came to stay and we kept her very busy!  We managed a girls' night, a beach day, a fundraiser and a birthday party.  With lots of good nephew spoilage crammed in there as well.  The kiddos helped me out with some slave labor the morning before she arrived and Rhett was very proud of all they had done to make the house clean for Auntie.

Grammie S got to come a few days after Auntie left and the days just flew by!  We didn't make the beach but still enjoyed great weather and kept Grammie very busy.  She and I had a great girls' day together as well, and we borrowed her truck to pick up a trampoline that we inherited from a guy at Trail.  The kids were THRILLED when they figured out what it was we had in the truck.   We followed Grammie home to Cardston on Sunday and then headed for Taber Monday afternoon.

We wanted to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson before following them to the annual Jackson camp out.  Aunt Nina, Uncle Dave and all their kids live in Utah and were up visiting in Barnwell the same time we were in Taber.  They planned to go to Waterton on Wednesday, so although we had just come from that direction we thought it would be great to go with everyone.  We had a great picnic, threw rocks in the lake, and climbed Bertha Falls.  Zane and Rhett were in their prime with all the older cousins around and made it up the mountain long before Brock and I did.  Aunt Cherie and Becca stayed behind bringing up the rear with Brock and I, he made it up 2/3rds of the hike before his legs gave out.  I carried him the rest of the way up and Uncle Dave volunteered to pack him down.  Thank goodness!  Some ice cream in Mountain View completed the day and then back to Taber. 

Friday we headed out to the Peter Loughead Provincial Park in the Kanaskis to meet up with Cliff and the rest of the Jackson family.  Uncle Jamie and Auntie Amber picked Cliff up on their way down from Edmonton and they beat us there by a couple of hours so the tent was already set up when we got there.  The boys LOVE camping.  Being outside, being dirty and having lots of cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents to play with them and pay them attention.  What could be better?  It got a lot colder than I thought it would and I was a stress case the first night hoping the boys were warm enough, but no worries.  They're tough and they were warm in bed.  Next time I'll bring more warm close and then I won't stress so much. 

It's great to be home!  I've been trying to focus on getting the house under control and getting stuff ready for piano and school.  We've done a few family get togethers with Payne's and a trip to the Innisfail RCMP dog training, and the spray park in Innisfail...so maybe we're not slowing down as much as I thought!

I'll work on pictures in the next couple of days....promise!

Still Around....

So, it seems after all my bragging of Mexico I fell off the blogger map. And I really don't have a great excuse - just lots of busyness.

I pulled Zane out of school early (they don't do anything productive the last 3 days anyways!) and we headed down to southern Alberta to soak up some good family time and break in Grammie S and Grandpa Dooley's new house for them. (They moved to Cardston in May) And when I say break in, I mean break in. Poor house. Grimy fingerprints down the halls and stairways, could hardly see out of the french door in the kitchen, and Brock broke 2 picture frames, a candlestick, and be-headed a precious moments boy. Sigh. Grammie claims that she loves to have us but I think she's just as happy to see our tail lights leaving again!

On the trip down Zane and Rhett were watching a DVD and out of the blue I hear this conversation:
Z: Rhett, if you ever have a cannon, don't shoot it straight up in the air. (Pause for this wisdom to sink in before continuing)....Because if you shoot it straight up it will come right back down and explode you!
I couldn't see Rhett's face but I'm sure he was blown away by his older brother's wisdom. And I was cracking up in the front seat.

We were ON THE GO almost the entire time we stayed. A COLD trip to Waterton which found me and the boys, Grammie and Auntie Kizzy crammed into the back of Grammie's explorer for our picnic lunch...and a quick mini hike up red rock, some cold pictures in front of the falls, and finally giving up and going home when wind refused to let us get anywhere near the lake to throw rocks. We did stop in Mountain View for ice cream....mmmmmm.

Of course we had to make the trek to Raymond for the July 1st parade. It was a little weird driving into Raymond instead of already being there but we still got to park fairly close to where we usually park...and the kids had a blast....and we saw tons of our Central Alberta friends there....oh and of course came home with lots of candy...including the cow that hit me in the head. Ouch! (You know, the toffee candy with chocolate in the middle called 'cows' - took one right in the forehead and it stung for days) After a quick picnic at the Raymond house (Auntie Kizzy was still living there then) we packed up and headed back to Cardston for relaxation and a great BBQ. Poor Uncle J was the only adult guy around since Cliff couldn't make it down and Dad was out on a run. But he managed all right and we all had a great time. Paxton and Brock were in heaven together and at one point we could hear them just jabbering to each other and then laughing and laughing and then more jabbering and laughing. Apparently they understand each other quite well.

Other happenings were a dinner to celebrate mom's birthday, a temple session with mom and Kinsey, going to parks, jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler, weeding the garden, Great Grandma Robinson's 80th birthday party, riding bikes,and walking to the Temple every night to pick Grammie up from work. The kids LOVED this part of the day.

And we got spoiled by our Jackson side (my MIL's family) as well. Mom J organized a whole BBQ for us the night we were leaving and it was so fun to be with everyone. Spending extended time in southern Alberta definitely makes us a little homesick. BUT Cliff was quite ready for us to come home, so after a long, hot day in Lethbridge we headed back.

We were just settling into our routine here at home when we got the sad/happy news that Cliff's Grandpa Jackson had passed away. He had been struggling with cancer for quite some time so it's been really sad for us missing him, but a happy time knowing that he's not suffering anymore and is in such a better place now. We left Wednesday night and attended the Prayers Thursday night where I played "How Great Thou Art", and then attended the funeral on Friday. Grandpa Jackson belonged to the Knights of Columbus, which I understand to be part of the Catholic tradition (I could be WAY off here, sorry if I am), and the older boys were quite fascinated at walking through a sword salute. The boys did really great through the whole mass (thank you Auntie Kizzy for taking Brock!) and at the graveside as well. After the funeral the whole family spent the entire afternoon and evening together in the backyard and it was a great family time - even if we were gathered for a sad reason.

Once again we were headed home...and have been battling colds/coughs for the last couple of weeks.
We've still managed to fit in a couple trips to the beach, some park time, BBQ, potlucks, play dates, a boys night sleeping in the new tent, and almost a whole week with Auntie Kizzy visiting.

Grammie S will be here tomorrow, and then we are following her back down to Cardston, then to Taber to hang with the Johnson clan, and then out to the Kananaskis area for a Jackson family camp out. Then home for a quick breather/organizer before school starts again!

Wow. Summer is flying by