Beautiful Idaho

Our family had so much fun in Idaho. We went to a weekend long family reunion for Josh's dad's family. Then had a big barbeque with his mom's family, both were so much fun. It's always so much fun to see the family and get reaquainted. We spent the fourth of July and the week after here. We went to the parade in Idaho Falls then the Carnival at the family reunion in Iona. We also made a couple of trips to Reeds Dairy...amazing ice cream...mmm mmm!
It's always fabulous to get a picture with smiles on everyone, so this one was great!

I love this picture so much...I think it's because of the hotty hugging me!!

Daddy's girls are growing up and still have him wrapped around their fingers.

Josh took the kids fishing and I took the pictures. Great team work!

We went to Big Springs to feed the fish from the bridge and there were no fishies. Lots of Seagulls though.

Happy Birthday Cody!!

Cody...16...craazzy!! We were packing for Idaho and getting ready to leave on vacation on his birthday. To top it off he had to get a physical...uh yeah...on his birthday too. Super fun, he's a good sport though. The big question is "does he get his license yet?" The answer is soon but not yet. He needs to finish his Eagle Scout before he drives. He is at scout camp (that's why he needed the physical) this week working towards a rank advancement getting closer to his goal.
P.S.
Cody's Aunt Kursty made his cake...cool huh!

Gavin's Football

Gavin is the man when it comes to football! He is a linebacker for the Ravens football team.

Dance Recital

Kayla and Matty had a dance recital last saturday. Kayla's dance was to "Vogue" and we caught her striking a pose! Matty's song was "A Pirates Life for Me". They both did such a good job. The girls cousins were there also...here's a cute pic of Matty with her cousins, sister, and friend. Kayla didn't want her picture taken very much. (I haven't figured out how to put the pictures in a different order after they've uploaded)

I was out with the girls the other night and came home to this note: "I am so sorry that I broke the glass. So so sorry. Please choose a consequence for me. From Kayla...Please don't hate me...I am sorry"

It broke my heart that she was so upset and went to sleep with a broken heart.

Gavin's garden and Science Fair

Gavin's science class planted a garden in the back of the school. He must have a green thumb, because his sunflowers and corn are flourishing!

Cody contemplating the meaning of life!

Gavin had his science fair tonight. His project was the difference in food for Betta fish. He worked so hard on this project, but his work paid off with an "A+"!

Fossil Springs

Josh is the Assistant Scout Master in our ward and is lucky enough to be one of Gavin's leaders. Last weekend he was able to take both the boys on a scout campout to Fossil Springs.

Matty's 7th Birthday!!

Matty had a "spa" night with 9 of her closest friends. Cousin Kaylee did hair, Grandma did nails, and Kayla and her friends did makeup. It was so fun. The girls also learned how to blow huge bubbles with Bubbalicious...mmm!

I asked Matty if she wanted strawberry shortcake for her family birthday and she said yes. I guess she had no idea what it actually was, cause as soon as we gave it to her she took the strawberries off and said she hates them. Luckily it was nothing that some whipped cream can't cure!

hmm...whipped cream or no whipped cream???

It's shortcake not seafood...silly Cody :)

Who needs a fork...not Gavin!

Isn't Kayla adorable with her braces (she got them in January)


Matty's family birthday party was so nice. Her daddy and mommy, brothers and sister, grandpa Hatch, Aunt Elisha, and her cousins were all there to celebrate with her. We did the family party on her actual birthday, wednesday, and her friend party on friday.

State Fair

Every year the 4th grade puts on a state fair project where each student chooses a state and finds out lots of interesting facts about it, write up reports, draw maps, and color a flag. Kayla chose Florida as her State Fair state. She worked on her reports for about a month. The final report was 12 pages long which included pictures and maps of Florida. Josh and I weren't the only ones who thought she did an amazing job, so did her teacher Mrs. Riggs. She received an "A" on the speech and the poster presentation. Nice job Kayla!!

Muffins with mom

I went to the kiddos school on Wednesday for "Muffins with Mom" day. I got to sit at Matty's desk, she brought me a muffin and water, made me a flower necklace, and sang a little song. She made me a book all about me. According to Matty I weigh 40 lbs, I'm 40 inches tall, and I don't like nachos. In the book it asked, "if your mom could have one wish, what would it be?" and she wrote, "an onest family"...super cute...I loved it!

Wednesday was also Matty's 7th birthday so I took her home after muffins and enjoyed the day together.

The big promotion came with perks!!

This is Josh and his new buddy...Larry Fitzgerald...they're tight! Since Josh is such an amazing golfer he has been invited to play in three charity golf tournaments the past month or so. The first was with the WWE wrestling. His partners were the midget (I forgot his name) and Kelly Kelly. The second was a Cardinals Football one where he met a ton of players and coaches. There was a contest where they had to drive the ball a ridiculous distance, like 400 yards, and get the ball as close to the line as possible. Josh came within about 2 inches from the line. The prize was an amazing trip...but someone beat him by a tinee tiny bit...he still has mad golf skills. The third was for a children's organization in Tuscon. There was another contest here to get a ball on the green ,which was such a difficult shot that nobody he was with made it, but Josh did. He won some dinero on that one...he rocks!

Fun

"Just have fun" is what I want to be our familiy's motto. We get bogged down with the activities of day to day life and forget to just have fun. I don't mean we aren't going to take our responsibilities seriously, but that we aren't going to be so serious we miss out in the joy all around us. So I am spending the next week and a half before the kids get out of school, organizing our home so we can enjoy life together!
Josh has traveled a lot the last while and there doesn't seem to be enough time to catch up on a weeks worth of growth for four children in a weekend filled with football and other activities. So I will be using our family blog as a daily journal to keep him and everyone who reads this up to date without info overload at the end of the week!!
I am so excited to get back into the blogging world and hear from family and friends we don't see all of the time!