Festivities and more...

My mom brought home this cute little maze and Jake took it seriously. He put his hat on and left the home to find his way to the Temple. It was really cute because he came back in side the house saying to all the kids..."Come with me I need to take you somewhere really special!" They all left then returned elated exclaiming, "Mom, we went to the Temple, we found our way there!" Honestly, they are just adorable. 

Mr. Chubbo is going to be loosing his baby weight here shortly. He's beginning the adventures of crawling. 

Seriously, great form! If I could master this move I think I'd lean up right along with him!

Cute chubby leg and bum shot. 

So this is the kids summer routine. I return home from running. Then I read...alone. They snuggle and watch a cartoon. Seriously, this has been an awesome summer! (I mean all three weeks and all!) Not to mention they have been sleeping in till 8am. Hip Hip Hooray!

A little family reunion and farewell party. This is Jared's grandmother who has been really sick for several months. But honestly, she's back home and looking and doing beautifully! It was such a special treat to have her there with us. I loved being with her again.

The entire gang. We had quite the mixed party. We had cousins from both sides of the family. It was wonderful to be reunited with everyone again. It's been too long!

Jared and Grandma Denny

Too bad there was a sun spot in this picture, but these are Jared's WONDERFUL grandparents. I can't praise them enough. We just adore them. Also in the picture is Jared's cousin and wife. They currently live in Peru. It's been about three years since we saw each other last and it was so enjoyable to be with then and visit again. 

Grandpa Randy and Grandma Mary with Ben

The kids taking Grandpa for a ride!

The Barainca great grand kids (minus baby Mikey)

Oh, the cute square baby face little guy

This is classic Ben face. He is so darling. Really, how am I going to leave him for four days...ahhh, I'm starting to miss him already. 

Classic sweet Jake. Really, we are SO blessed to have him in our family. 

This is one tired kid. I'll post the other pictures here soon about the Balloon festival. We woke up at 5:30am to see the balloons. We returned home at 12:30. The kids napped. Then Caleb woke up at 4pm from his nap. Then he fell back asleep from just walking down the stairs from his nap. He then slept till about 5:30pm. I think he was tired? 

A little 4th of July action at Riverton park

Ahhh...cute couple.

Ahhh...cute daddy and daughter.

Ahhh...cute 4th of July family picture!

Rose Canyon Fire

Another Herriman fire...Unbelievable. Well, first of all I can't believe I didn't post these pictures sooner...Have I been busy? Well, it's girls camp time of year again, so yes I've been doing everything young women for the past few weeks. Which is going to be FABULOUS! I'm really excited. Sad to leave my marshmallow chubby baby, but excited nonetheless. 

 

So here are a few pictures from the most recent fire a few weeks ago. We had family up there and it was pretty intense. Seriously, when they evacuated and came to my home their stories of where the fire was, was very bleak. Well, these pictures show more the MIRACLE then anything else. Honestly, so many blessings and prayers were literally answered. As soon as I heard of the fires location and saw with my eyes the fire and smoke. I immediately called my children who were in the room in prayer. We knelt together pleading, asking the Lord if He could protect those homes of our family members then please do. Hours passed on until we were able to see photos and hear the official relief that their properties were saved. Coincidence, I think not. The Lord answers prayers. Both of our families were one lot away from each other. So their backyards were lined with the same vinyl fence, which burned down. But as you can see their homes were protected. Amazing.

 

My Aunt's house is behind this fire that's burning. They look into this property from their backyard that is burning. 

Here is a daytime shot of their home and the structure that was burning above.

Fillmore, Utah - What??

Seriously, Fillmore? Why oh why do they have to move so far away! I guess a 2 hour drive is better than an airplane ride any day! Krista and Riley and kiddos we are going to miss you until you move closer to us! I doubt we can ever live with out you!!!

Smiling to prove we made Ange join in on the moving fun. 

Home Sweet Home

Jake loving this country living thing.

The cutest spot in the house. Krista was gifted this darling piece of furniture from Riley's grandma and it is ADORABLE. You can't tell but we antiqued it and really made it look super cute. I love the color and it just blends so well together in this country/farm kitchen. She also painted the matching dining room table and chairs a light grey...oh, I'm seriously needing to paint something again! I am hooked!!! I did paint a table for our back patio green. Pictures to come.

Some fabulous storage shelves in the extra toy room. 

The girls having a great time setting up Kenna's bedroom.

Jake posing in all my outside pictures.

Fillmore you are the luckiest city in the world. Seriously, this family is hands down amazing and not to mention the happiest people I know. I LOVE you all and my heart is broken you have left us, but I guess it's time for us all to start spreading our wings a little! We miss you already!!! But it really does help to know how charming your new place is and where you will be living. Until we see you again in Fillmore!

Track Star and Moving Day

So I was the luckiest Aunt in the world to watch three of my sisters kids last week while they were off to Youth Conference. Pretty, much between cooking and cleaning up after my 7 kids we were having fun. Olivia here is the worlds greatest track star! She had practice and a very exciting track meet! Seriously it was the BEST highlight of the month. She was SUPER fast, totally impressive and yes, she was the WINNER! She is going to district finals for the Hershey's Meet. Oh, I'm counting down the days until Wednesday this week. She is so exciting to watch run I can hardly wait to see if anyone can beat her! Go Livvy Go! Oh, my dad got her an Ice cream cone because she took 1st place. That's totally fitting for running right? 

These two boys are inseparable when they are together. They were only born 4 days apart and they are best little buddies. They are just trying to be their own form of twins like their cousins, who actually are. Each day we had Isaac, these two insisted on dressing, EXACTLY the same. At this moment Jake came to me and said, "Mom, we pretty much are brothers, because we are exactly the same!" I thought it was so adorable I had to take a picture to remember their cute little personalities.

Of course their side kick is right next to them...Caleb. 

This was moving day, for Krista and Riley. I hauled all 7 of my kids down to their house to be apart of the fun. What is more fun than having 16 kids at a house while MEN are trying to pack up trailers? What was fun was the moms sitting and watching because we had packed all the boxes. 

Ange and I on baby duty. That cute little guy is Rhett, Krista's little dude with the camo helmet. Pretty much it's adorable. 

This is one of like 7 trucks and trailers. This place was Crazy busy with STUFF all around. Who knew they had so much stuff! Unreal. 

This is just a shout out to the fastest little 9 year old runner out there! You are going to do great at track on Wednesday!!! Good Luck!

Much to do...

From the second we stepped off the plane from Texas and arrived home we had MUCH to do. Thursday afternoon was Jacob's preschool graduation. We love Miss Angie, and think she has magical powers that teach children. Seriously, she's incredible!!

The cousin gang were all together in her preschool class. Pretty much she was a SAINT for being able to take care of all of them.

He's so excited to go to Kindergarten now!

Or maybe just to eat this adorable graduation cupcake. 

After the graduation we headed over to Shandra's to visit with the cousins. It had been a week and the kids were DYING to tell them all about their Texas adventures. While the kids ran wild in the circle, I pretended to play photographer for baby Oakley. 

She's so darling...gotta love a sweet baby girl. 

Oh...opps. Who did that? But man alive what a dang cute kid he is!

Oakley Grace

 

 

After looking at all of these photos you would almost wonder if it was the same baby. Funny how newborns take on such different looks. 

So long farewell! The Peck's are moving away...hopefully not forever, but who knows Fillmore Utah might win their heart more than us! We are busily moving them up this week to send them on their new adventures in the "wilderness!" (Krista spoke in church on Sunday with Riley and they did an phenomenal job. But she likened the scripture stories of going to the wilderness like them moving to Fillmore. It was awesome.)

Playing at Copperton Park...Enjoying the shade on a HOT summer day.

Oh, Caleb. When will you learn not to bite your cousins. Gotta love kids having to apologize a million times over and over again. 

Happy baby.

This is Rhett. Krista and Riley's little baby. He's adorable. You see he had a crooked head, just like Ben had or has a flat (not so much anymore) head. Krista and I took both our babies to the same appointment at Primary Children's to have them examined for helmets for their heads. Well, Ben was looking great and no reason for a helmet. But little Rhett needed one. So welcome to the most adorable helmet baby ever! It makes him look chubby even though he's a twig.

And not to mention the cutest thumb sucking baby ever!!! All day long he does this and I think it's adorable. (Pretty much because my baby this time doesn't suck his thumb. We still leave that to Caleb!)

Happy Cousins playing at the park.

Good buddies. They really are going to miss each other. 

All the girl cousins...well minus the little baby one, Oakley.