Rita and Janie Invasion Day 3

Today we drove out to Lund. We played on the beach, walked on the boardwalk, and had delicious cinnamon rolls from Nancy's Bakery. (The blackberry ones were my favourite!) We went to Gibson Beach and enjoyed the sunshine. The kids found crabs and threw rocks into the water. We spent the afternoon in my parent's backyard. Nikki lent us their bouncer and the kids jumped on it the trampoline. They also played in the sprinkler and the kiddie pool. We had a BBQ with the whole family plus the missionaries and our friend Cindy and her sons. After dinner my dad, Janie and I took Tyson, Russell, Cassie, Zerric and Audrey to the beach. SO MUCH FUN! We climbed rocks, played in the sand, and some even went into the water. (Such as the kids and my dad, who actually fell in once.) We are having so much fun!

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Rita and Janie Invasion Day 2

After a good night sleep and an early morning walk, we headed off to hike Blackwater Creek trail. Landon was at work so that left five adults and 8 kids to hike. :) It was so much fun. The kids were troopers. We hiked up hills and across bridges and through beautiful trees. We hiked for just over 2 and 1/2 hours. The three adults not carrying babies in packs took turns carrying tired two year olds on their shoulders. The two waterfalls were lacking water due to the hot weather but it was a beautiful day to hike. We had lunch on the trail and go home just before 3 pm and most of the kids went down for naps. Except mine of course. Janie and I headed to town to pick up a few groceries and I grabbed a couple of birthday presents for Janie from the family. (And she was clueless to what I was doing. Except for the print because she picked it out.) We cooked hot dogs over a fire which was hilarious since it was pouring rain so my dad put the tent over the fire pit so we could stay dry. My mom, Rita, Ashley and I headed over to Darlene Norris' house to learn more about canning. I've never done any (except for making jam) so I was excited. I made four quarts of pickles! :) I also learned to do beans and peaches (not together.) Janie decided to stay with my dad and look after the eight kids left behind. After we were done we headed back to my parents for birthday cake and ice cream. It was Janie's birthday so I had made cupcakes and a "watermelon" sherbet cake. We all had a great time. Janie seemed to like the gifts we all gave her. We wanted to make sure she had a memorable birthday. Enjoy the slideshow and pictures.

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Rita and Janie Invasion Day One

My sister Rita and sister in law Janie arrived today with 6 kids in tow. They had a relatively quiet and uneventful trip on the way up. And the border went really smoothly. (Which was fantastic because at the last minute Janie realized she didn't have my nieces birth certificate. The border didn't ask to look at them. A total answer to my prayers. We have one on its way in the mail so she can get home.) Landon has been excited to show off where we live to a sibling so he is settling on showing it off to his brother's wife. :) Janie has decided that she could easily live here and is on the lookout to see the bear in our backyard. She was a little car sick on the peninsula due to all the twists and turns but she keeps saying she can't believe how beautiful it is here. It has been so much fun to have them here already. My parents and sister in law Ashley were great to look after all the kids so that Rita could take a nap and Landon and I drove Janie into town so she could fax Utah Vital Statistics. All the kids get a long really well and Emily is in heaven with all the cousins. We hung out at my parents for the afternoon and jumped on the trampoline, picked blackberries and laughed lots. We had dinner at my parents and then we all went swimming at the indoor pool for an hour and a half. That was a crazy time! Kids were everywhere, the lifeguards definitely earned their money helping us keep track of 1 six year old, 2 four year olds, and 4 two year olds. Matt carried Sariah and Maggie for most of the time while Collin "swam" with me. For the first time ever Emily came to me after an hour and said, "Mommy, Let's get towels, I'm done. I'm done, let's get towels." and "Emmy go to stairs and go home, Mommy." I didn't have to fight her to leave the pool at all! Plus for the first time she held her breath and went under the water. Nobody showed her and she hasn't taken lessons. She just turned to my mom and said, "Grandma, watch Emmy." She was so proud of herself. She did it over and over. I don't know if she swallowed much water doing it but she does have a tummy ache so I'm guessing a little ended up inside. :) All the kids plus Janie were in bed by 8:30. Tomorrow looks to be lots of fun. We are hiking up to a couple of waterfalls. :)

Family Pictures

I just got copies of family pictures from my mother in law. Wanted to share all the cuteness....

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Prayers Needed

Please keep my sister Rita and my sister in law Janie in your prayers for the next 36 hours. They leave today on their trip up to see us. Its a long drive with 6 kids and a border stop. Please pray that they will ALL arrive in Powell River safely. Thanks!

Five Months Old

Collin is Five Months Old!

Time has gone by so fast, I can't believe it! He cut his first tooth on Sunday, which explains the crankiness for the last week or so. He loves eating rice cereal and is now eating squash as well. He loves it! It was Emily's favourite as well. He is getting close to sitting up by himself as well. He wants to grow up way to fast. His favourite person is Emily. He wants to be with her all the time. And he is already a ladies man. We love him so much and are so excited that he is part of our family!

Emily's First Real Tea Party

Emily and her friend Karissa hosted a tea party yesterday. (With a lot of help from their moms.) I think it was a success. Karissa has a lot of fun toys at her house plus a bunny so the kids stayed entertained without a lot of planning. A big thanks to Nikki for opening up her yard to the craziness. :) Five kids came (with their moms): Ethan (Ashley & Sariah), Rachel (Lisa), Helen (Dana) and Chloe (Sarah & Gavin). Karissa has a bouncer that was a big hit with all the kids. They played in the cars and sandbox before settling down for their tea party. Emily tried pouring the tea and successfully filled her cup and the table instead of stopping. Chloe was appointed the "tea" (aka juice) pourer. Karissa could pour hers but would then dump it out so she could pour again (especially onto Emily's plate) so her mom revoked her pouring priveledges. It was so much fun! It was nice to sit around with other moms. Two of Nikki's older daughter were there as well, Katelyn and Meranda. They love to hold Collin so I was relatively baby free. :) Sarah's son Gavin is two months younger than Collin but he is the same size! He is such a sweet little boy, it was so fun to visit with Sarah because I haven't seen her since before she got pregnant. I will definitely have to do this more often. It was so much fun for both Emily and myself. Enjoy the pictures!

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Cookies Everywhere

Until recently I have only made cookies once or twice since I married Landon. He is our cookie maker. A few weeks ago I decided to make some sugar cookies and now I've been bitten by the cookie bug. Not such a good thing since I am trying to lose weight. Landon isn't complaining though. He loves having homemade cookies! My contribution to our family reunion food supply next week is cookies. Yesterday I made 6 1/2 dozen sugar cookies. Today I am finishing up 4 dozen large Oatmeal Deluxe cookies. Tomorrow is another 3 dozen ginger snaps. :) Hopefully this will cure the compulsive cookie making. I will be glad to get these to my mom's house because I don't want to eat all of them!

The Sweetest Sight

I came home from my walk this morning to see the sweetest sight I have seen in a while. Landon was laying asleep on our bed with Emily sleeping, cuddled up in his arms and Collin sleeping right behind him with his feet on his Daddy's back. So sweet! Emily had woken up while I was gone and crawled into bed with her dad. I wish that my camera batteries had been charged because I would have loved a picture of it. I have a fantastic husband/father for my children. Today he helped me deep clean the whole house. He loves me and I know it by all the little things he does for me.

Anyone else feeling the heat?

The heat wave around here has left us a little home bound this last week. The air conditioning unit has made the week bearable. If we went out it was in the morning or at night. Collin was not a fan of being outside for long periods of time. To Emily's enjoyment we rode the city bus twice. (It is air conditioned and so was my dad's store where we waited for Landon to get off work and pick us up.) We went to Willingdon Beach Friday morning for the Family Place weekly activity. Emily loved throwing the bean bags and knocking the boots down. (It was a western theme.) But her favourite was the bubbles. It was a great week together as a family. But I do hope that next week will be a little cooler. I would like to be able to go down to the lake and spend time outside. :) My mom and I have started walking each morning at 6:30am. It has made a huge difference in my day. My house is tidier and I seem to be more patient with my kids. I hope to keep it up!