lately

I really don't have a great excuse for my long absence from blogging. Well, other then the fact that we sure have been enjoying summer! We've gone camping, boating, swimming, and traveled to Ephrata, Coeur d'Alene and down to Utah. We've rode bikes, played with cousins, friends, and we've seen lots of family. It sure has been fun...and a little tiring, but I knew I needed to post a few pictures before we head out of town again next week...

Down in Utah we were with Allen's side of the family. The kids loved being together with their cousins. There are 14 cousins all under the age of 6 with one more on the way and then add 20 adults. Yeah it was a FULL house and sooo much fun! We went to Thanksgiving point and went to the farm there. The kids loved all the animals, the pony rides, and feeding the animals corn. It was great. This is a picture of Lola with Drew, Dylan and Jack out in front of Aunt Tasha's house on our last day. Before heading out we went to the open house for the Oquirrh Mountain Temple as just our little family. It was so special to walk through it with the kids and tell them about things. Dylan loved everything and Lola loved the "sparkly lamps" (the huge chandeliers). I loved being in the temple together as a family.

For family home evening this week we went to the park over in Troy and played some baseball. All last week Dylan kept asking to play baseball. So we loaded up all the gear and were set to play. And I wish you could have seen just how funny it was trying to teach them the rules of the game. Getting them to just drop the bat and run to first after they hit the ball was hard and when Lola got on first she'd lose interest and go play on the play ground. And then she'd come back later and want to hit again. There was one time when instead of running to first she ran straight through from home, across the pitcher (allen) and on to second. When I reminded her that first was the other way, she called to me as she was running, "But I want to go this way!" It was an awesome game. Next time we'll have to invite some friends to play with us. Dylan did really good. After awhile he didn't want to use the tee any more, so Allen pitched some to him and he hit a few good ones out to second base...out by Lola who was now drawing pictures in the dirt. :) As we played Meghan was busy making friends on the playground, she's such a friendly little thing, and she really enjoyed the bleachers too.
I only got a few pictures of the kids because the camera battery died. :( This is a picture of Lola trying get Meghan to stop knocking the ball off the stand. Meghan thought it was the funniest thing ever. Lola sure didn't. 
Miss Meghan going back and forth on the bleachers. She was laughing and yelling at the noise her stomping made.
Meghan is very much a little girl. And this was her first time "dressing up" in a princess dress. Until now she's been just a bit short. And oh my goodness, she was so cute. She was walking around real slow and looking down at the dress as she walked and when I looked at her and smiled and she just grinned and kept her head down and looked at me out of the corner of her eye. Her and Lola have been "princesses" together for days now. What can ya do? And Dylan loves to be the knight that saves and protects them. Every once in awhile though he gets into it a bit and turns on them. He's a boy...what can ya do? Pure entertainment around here.