Sunday Fun

Today our fun started when Matt spotted a frog in the grass.  He caught it, and showed the kids.  A couple minutes later we found another frog.  The kids were so excited, and wanted to find more, so we went to the pond by our house to catch frogs.

Here's Chase catching one.  There were soo many!

Everyone was on the lookout, and there were seriously, soo many! 

Spencer and Kadie were proud of their catches.  Spenc named his Likeable, because it didn't jump out of his hand.  You wouldn't believe how many frogs there were.

Nixon didn't like touching them, so he was given the job of holding the bucket.  He liked to watch them jump around in the bucket!

Here's our catch!  We didn't count, but I bet there were 40 frogs in there!  It was nasty!  But the kids loved every second of it!

After we let them all go.  It was a really fun Sunday activity!

Hiking and Stuff

Last weekend I took Kadie, Chase, and Marlie, hiking with the Darby's.  There aren't a lot of mountains close by, so it was quite a drive to get there.  Its been a long time since we have seen the Darby's, so the kids enjoyed every minute of the 2 1/2 hour drive together.

The hike wasn't your typical hike up a mountain, it was mostly a long walk, crossing the river about 35 times. 

It was a race to the paintbrush flowers.  The kids loved sucking the nectar out of the petals.

There were some really pretty mossy sections.  We decided that if we got stranded here overnight we would sleep on the soft moss.

Here is one of the many river crossings we tackled.  There weren't any bridges, so we had to make bridges with broken branches, or toss kids, and hope not to get wet.  its a really good thing Mark has long legs, and arms.

After the hike we had to do sleepovers.  The first night I took the boys, and Meg took the girls.  Then a couple days later I took the girls, and the boys went to Megs.  I just had to get a picture of Marlie and Chloe sleeping in the tent.  They are soo cute!

And one last picture of Nixon.  He found some lipchap...

First of July 2011

As you all know, the First of July is my favorite holiday of the year!  This year was no exception, even though it was different.  Matt's grandparents were being presented with an award in Raymond, so we went there the night before the first.  All of Matt's aunts, uncles, and cousins went to the town program, and sang a song for his grandparents. That night, we stayed in Raymond, and went to the parade the next day.  The parade was great, like usual.  After we had a picnic with all the Evans family.  Its fun to visit with all of Matt's cousins!

Needless to say, we missed a lot of the Hillspring fun!  But we were able to catch the rodeo.  My favorite thing is the greased pig chase. 

Spencer got to ride a sheep.  He had fun until he fell off, and the sheep stepped on his hand.

Of course I loved staying up late, and talking and laughing with my cousins.  I didn't take one picture, but I promise that a lot of fun was had. I look forward every year to the late nights with them!

After the cousins left, Tracie and I decided to take our kids to Sandpoint for the rest of the week. 

2 cars, 2 moms, and 11 kids...

They all had a blast together!  Except Nixon, Cash was really buggin him!

Brette came to join us for the weekend.  It was so hot there!  And so relaxing to just lay out while the kids played non-stop in the water!

Happy Sewing Birthdays!

This year, my mother-in-law announced, that for her daughters, and my birthday, we were going to make quilts.  She was going to buy the fabric and we would make this really cute quilt together.  We picked a date in June, and we all went to Sandpoint to sew for the weekend.  I know that may not sound like a fun-filled way to spend the weekend, but I have some pretty great in-laws, and it turned out to be pretty fun.

To start the weekend out, we got the sewing machines, iron, rotary cutters, and material out.  Phoebes top priority was wearing the ugliest sweater she could find, and assembling the TV, so we could watch Harry Potter.  And yes, we watched every single Harry Potter movie...

We had some super cute fabric to work with.

My first job was ironing.  Look how much fun I'm having!

Ali, was the super cutter.

and Joan was just happy to be there!

Well, that's all the pictures I have.  We sewed for 3 days straight!  I didn't finish my quilt, but I did get all my squared cut out, and some of them sewn together.  I'll take a picture of it when I get it done. 

Thanks Mother Evans for the quilt, and for the fun weekend!!