Meeting Little Luke

My little brother & his family have been living in West Virginia for a few months & we really wanted to go visit them (of course) & most of all because we haven't met their little baby Luke! Brigg has said that once they have kids other people will only want to see the kids -ah ha Lu, so true! Luke is the cutest little baby but I'll just let the pictures do the convincing.

It was a 12 1/2 hour drive on the way there through Indianapolis & Columbus & just over 13 hours on the way home through WV & Kentucky. Seriously I almost wanted to move out there-I forgot how gorgeous that part of the country is! Everything is covered in trees & big old hills. I've decided trees & hills make everything more beautiful.

The kids were great! The boys never whined or complained or fought the entire trip in the car & were happy as can be playing with Luke's toys. Thanks Brigg, Hava & Lu for a fun weekend!

Lovin' Daddy (promise I don't dress Em in hoochie skirts-she was rolling in the mud & her white pants needed to come off! :) )

And this is what the kids did 1 minute after arriving home after being in the car for just over 13 hours that day

Can you blame em'? I was excited to be home too!

First Day for the Bug

Hunterbug had his first day of home preschool today & I can't tell you how excited he was! When we did preschool with Hyrum last year he loved sitting in on everything the big kids were doing. We are doing things a little different for them this year-just once a week & we're switching houses but all the Mom's & the 5 younger siblings (yes FIVE) get to all come along too. Then each Mom has an assignment for each week. I loved it & it's going to be a great year. I think next year we'll go to two mornings a week with one Mom being in charge of the whole week.

It was at our house today. Here he is with his buds Michael & Christie.

PS Is it just me or is he looking so big & old in those top pictures?? Sigh...

Nana & Poppie

Jeremy & I were just talking a couple weeks ago about how some people may not consider a 9/10 hour drive from a bunch of family very close. But we consider it very close compared to where we have lived previously. (It was nice to be 5 hours from my brothers for a couple years.) And now it's so nice to be a 9/10 hour drive from all of Jeremy's family. In the 16ish months we have lived here we have been down there twice & someone from his family has been up here 6 times now. That's an amazing record for us! And we're loving every minute of it.

Nana & Poppie came to visit! The kids all warmed up within about 5 seconds & we all had a blast playing. I was a bit disappointed it rained practically the whole time they were here so we weren't able to be outside as much as I wanted but it was still fun. We went to an apple orchard, to a park to have a hot dog roast & walk along the dry riverbed, the Nature Center, movie night, bowling, out for Indian food & fun at home.

Bring on the pictures...

As always we love having company visit

Labor Day

Monday we headed for Bennet Spring State Park. We walked around the fish hatcheries. It's great how kids make everything more fun. Normally a fish hatchery wouldn't do much for me, but it was fun to see them so excited about all the 'pretty' fish.

Fishing is HUGE around here. All the good spots were taken so the boys still didn't catch anything but luckily they still have fun casting.

A little picnic is always a good idea

This was a sad day for Emma. She was just sad all day pretty much except when we were chasing a grasshopper. She just needed her Dad.

Hiking twin Shakespear style. No kid backpacks for us, just muscles (at least Jeremy has some)

This little day trip reminded me of how great it is to get out in nature. (Duh!) I always feel happier, more peaceful & calmer when we do & we really need to do things like this more often. It's just been kinda tricky with those two babies :) It reminds me of the few times my Dad, brothers & I went camping, when we went to the coast growing up, the one great time I went snow camping with the Bentley's & some other girls, tracting in the countryside of Charlottesville, going to the sandunes & four wheeling at Ricks College, & all the playing & camping in the canyons in Utah. All happy times!