Everyday in (July) plus more

1. the (white) and polka dot dress I bought for Kimberly

2. the new stars & (stripes) Ryan earned for his belt

3. the boys were (out & about) picking raspberries in our garden

4. the flag at the school showing our (independence)

5. (the letter L) for our pet lizard

6. the truck packed up ready for some (fun) camping

7. Kimberly out (in the sun) on her first hike in Cascade

8. the boys all (sleeping) not so comfortably on the way home from camping

9. the (stairs) in our house that I climb a million times each day

10. blast from the past listening to some good music from (1999)

11. Heath will always have his (glasses on) if he is outside

12. Cody & Luke have these (retro) pillowcases in their rooms

13. Seeing the excitement the boys have for the new Halo 4 game is (funny)

14. I (can't live without) my family the McMullen's

side note: when Heath and I were first dating, (me in Idaho him in North Carolina)

I sent him this same picture of me standing in front of this sign

15. (you on 15) heading to church with the family 

16. I love to take (sips) from my frescas on hot summer days

17. the boys at swimming lessons (showing some skin)

18. Luke & Cody (in motion) practicing their swim strokes

19. me looking a little (grumpy) because I'm sick with a summer cold

20. the girls and boys on their (bikes) heading home from the pool

21. (relaxing) with friends while walking around the neighborhood yards sale

22. love listening to this song (on the radio) or on my phone

23. Ash had a little (sparkle) on her shirt

24. Cody reading yet another magazine (the letter M) and learning more facts about everything

25. Grammy & Luke were (moving it) while busy in the kitchen making their potato salad

26.  So happy to have our new patio cover now in our back (yard)

27. We all (loved) spending the day with Nicole, Jim and Hailey at Roaring Springs

28. Ryan relaxing on a (hot) day out on the boat

29. With dirty camping feet like these how could it not be a (Sunday Funday)

30. Luke was one (cool) dude when he wore his swim trunks backwards to the pool on accident but didn't bother to change them once he realized it

31. Ryan gave me this (U.S.A.) five dollar bill when he wanted to buy something for the Wizards 101 game 

the boys have been playing on the computer

And here is the plus more:

Our one day camping trip this past weekend was quick but a success.

We managed to have lots of fun out on the boat tubing with the boys, enjoying the warm sunshine, eating too much food and just relaxing.

After boating Ryan and Luke started up a business of selling rocks or stones like Ryan calls them. They found rocks around the campground, washed and polished them using all of my dish soap and set them out on the cooler to sell.  They were selling each rock for a quarter, but you could buy two for two quarters, or three for three quarters or four for four quarters, not really a bargain but it worked out for them.  Once Cody realized that their business was a success and people were actually buying rocks he decided that he wanted to be part of it too and joined in.  In the end each of the boys made three dollars, not too bad.  My dad can't figure out how Luke convinced him to buy five dollars worth of rocks, rocks that he already owned to begin with, what a good Papa.

A couple of weekends ago we went up past Lucky Peak to do some boating, when Ryan saw this fountain out in the water he said excitedly,  "Hey guys, I think there is a whale down there in the water!"

While we waited for others to get back from boating we hung out on the little beach or tried to catch minnows in the water.  Heath had a bet with the boys that the first one to catch a minnow would win a game  but they didn't count on the only one to be able to do it would be their mom, so no new game!

 We had so much fun at roaring springs on Friday with some of the family.

The weather was perfect, not too crowded and we laughed all day long.

Poor Heath had Cody help him put on his sunscreen and ended up being a crispy critter by the time the day was over, a lesson learned Cody doesn't apply sunscreen all that well.

Ryan was an inch too short to go on all of the big rides but I was surprised he didn't flinch at trying out this ride that drops you off into ten foot.  I was a little nervous for him and told him to swim like crazy once he was in the water and that is exactly what he did.  He loves to tell people now that he can swim in ten feet.  Thankfully the swimming lessons have helped out a lot this year and Ryan came a long ways.  He made huge improvements the last day of his swimming lessons so much that his teacher kept saying, "Ryan, Wow, have you been practicing?"  When I told Ryan how good he did he told me, "Mom, I just wanted to make you so proud of me!"  

That's a wrap!

you say potato

i say potato

yesterday grammy came to hang out with the boys

we kept her busy all day long

she got here just in time for some homemade mozzarella sticks

then it was off to swimming lessons

a surprise treat of sno cones on the way back home

luke loves potato salad and was bummed that there wasn't any at the family bbq we went to this past weekend, so grammy brought over the ingredients to make some with luke

he was excited and loved all three bowls of it he had yesterday

we hung out on the back patio for a little visiting

we then took grammy swimming at the pool

back home to rest for a few minutes

change our clothes 

then off to watch ryan at karate

then

so sad,  it was time for grammy to go home

the boys all asked if she could just stay the night 

maybe next time

it was a great day with our grams

a little glimpse

into our week

It only took us six years but we finally got our patio cover, we are all enjoying it (Ruby too)

The boys started swimming lessons at yet another new place, I am really liking this one

We've stopped for sno cones twice after swimming lessons this week such a refreshing treat

I made lemon oatmeal bars, yummy

I also made four batches of strawberry jam, why I only make it in the summer I don't know because the family loves it.

 Cody's mind is always thinking about something so it's no wonder that he can fall asleep anywhere, including down at the pool, I think he wears himself out

Just like my dad and brother the boys are always crossing their legs like this

One of Cody's most recent ideas is to create a magazine with his brothers and the girls, he thought he needed to get some advice from a professional so all on his own he wrote an email to the editor of the Highlights magazine, I had to laugh when he signed the email: 

Sincerely Cody "for children are the world's most important people"

Cody also asked us to sign him up for his own wiki how account this week his first article that he wrote was 

"How to get a yes or no answer from your dog" and his second "How to be a Halo master"

 he also received a "thumbs up" email from wiki how for editing someone's article when they spelled the word sync wrong

Cody will read absolutely anything and everything so far this week it's been the Saturn's car owner manual that he found in the glove box, the back of the sunscreen bottles down at the pool and the back of all of the cleaners when Ryan and him were cleaning bathrooms 

Love this boy

Luke is my only kid who cares about his hair and how it looks, (even while he is at swimming lessons), one of the mom's commented to me, "boy he sure does love his hair" when she saw him run his fingers through it to spike it up after coming up for each one of his twenty bob's in the water

Luke loves to draw so sometime during the day he always heads up to his room and draws at his desk, it's his quiet time

Luke loves loves loves my strawberry jam

The first day I made it he ate six pieces of toast throughout the day, the second day he had four pieces just for breakfast and since then it has been three pieces a day

 Luke also was quite brave jumping off the big rock at swimming lessons 

Love this boy

Ryan earned his second badge this week in karate, this was his strong stance badge and he was so happy

He's also been busy reading this week (notice the crossed legs?)

Even though Ryan loves the strawberry jam he still prefers blueberry jam and likes to make his PB & J sandwiches.  Do you know that he eats one of these for breakfast and lunch on most days, crazy kid.

Ryan also loves to run around in his underwear, his favorite pair these days are the ones he tie dyed this summer

He also loves a little sour cream with his baked potatoes and even though he always has food all over his face when he eats he asks me every time when we leave the house, "is my face clean mom?" he doesn't want to leave with a dirty face

Ryan has also been talking about death some and the other day he said to me, 

"Mom don't worry I will still love you when you die" which of course I thanked him for and then he panicked all of a sudden and said, "WAIT! Does this mean that I will be the last one to die?" (thinking that you die in order of your age) but then with a relieved look he said, "Oh no Ruby is only five so I won't be last."

Love this boy

And to think that all of  these memories were made just in this one week.

family camping

This past weekend the whole family went camping, the whole family minus Tucker that is.

Tucker's 18 as of today (Happy Birthday Tuck) and had other plans that didn't include the family,

I guess we aren't so cool and fun anymore.

Anyway, we did celebrate a few firsts up camping this summer.

The first one being my dad actually helped cook breakfast (even while sitting) and he volunteered to do it,

usually it's Jim and Heath that are the ones outside on the grills.

This was also Kimberly's first camping experience and she did fantastic, so did her parents!

The plan was to celebrate the July birthdays up camping but since Tucker didn't come we just had my mom to celebrate.  She's turning 58 this Saturday not 85 like her cupcake says thanks to Heath.

We celebrated with a dinner of sliders, baked beans, potato salad, corn on the cob and cupcakes and rhubarb crisp for dessert.

The gigantic picnic table that Matt built is so perfect for all of our feasts, it was so sweet that Cody loved helping set the table for all of our meals.

Nicole and Jim each gave the boys their very own personalized hot dog/smores cooker.  Luke's says "The Hot Dog King" because he loves to sit by the fire and cook his own meals and he does it to perfection.

Brooke's been having trouble with her car overheating so she followed us up on the way up to camping, to keep the car from overheating she had to drive with the heat on full blast the whole way, not fun when it's already over 100 degrees outside.  It was the same thing on the way home but Hailey was with her this time, I couldn't help but laugh when you saw what a sweaty mess they were from the drive.  Thankfully Heath and Jim got the part to fix it once we got back and she is a cool girl once again.

 Saturday we took a family hike up to a mountain lake.

Matt and Summer were the only ones to do the hike before so the rest of us were excited to try it out. 

A few details were left out when explaining it to us, 

"like it's not just down the road a mile then you turn up another road and go up to where you hike"

somebody forgot to mention that once you turn on the road after a mile it's an eight mile ride up the mountain on a tiny gravel dusty road that winds back and forth, not so fun when you are riding in the back of a truck.

We survived it though and started the hike just a little sweaty and dusty.

The hike was definitely a work out at times, thankfully between the thirteen of us and three dogs we were spread out quite a bit so you didn't have to feel rushed and we took breaks often.

Even Kimberly joined us on the hike in a makeshift sling made out of rope and my mom's sarong. 

The scenery was beautiful we even found a little snow still tucked away up in the mountains.

The boys did awesome, even though it was just a one and a half mile hike they didn't complain at all, it wasn't until right before we made it that Ryan asked to be carried which of course was denied.

Matt would constantly remind us that we were half way there and that the lake was just right over that ridge, it didn't take long for us to realize his sense of distance was way off but he did keep us slightly entertained though. 

Proof that we made it.

 Good Times

loving our summer days

Last Saturday Ryan tested to earn his stripe for his white belt.

Since this was his first test I didn't really know what to expect but am just learning as we go.

Parents aren't allowed to stay so I just had to drop Ryan off, which he was fine with.

For him it just felt like another class day so he wasn't worried about the test and what that all meant.   

Monday was the presentation ceremony which is a big deal, so the family was all there.

Ryan was presented with his black stripe by his teacher and Senseis.

He is so proud now to say that he is an advanced white belt.

Ryan is loving karate so it looks like this might be his thing.

I think it's great for him and love that he loves it,

not to mention how cute he looks! 

Tuesday the kids got together to show off their tie-dye shirts that they had made the day before.

This is just another one of their traditions that they expect to do together each year.

Another thing they expect on these long summer days is to have never ending play dates.

They had already been swimming together earlier in the day but were so excited to get together again 

when they were invited over for brownies and ice cream with the girls.

After dessert it didn't take them long before they were playing games that they just make up as they go.

These kids never run out of ideas to keep themselves entertained.

Just when the play date should of been ending Jason came out to teach them all how to play kick the can. 

I never played it growing up so it was all new to me too but the kids loved it so much and it was the hit of the night. The kids took the game serious, Ryan was a die hard and was all business.

I had to laugh that the kids would go to the same hiding spots every time and no one seemed to catch on. 

 These five kids just bring a smile to my face.

Friends for a lifetime is what they are.

 The fourth of July is yet another tradition they expect to do each year together.

We try to hold them off as long as possible but getting them together at 8pm was still  too soon,

the smoke bombs and tanks and a few more games of kick the can bought us a little time at least.

Why the kids love to stand and dance around in colored smoke I just don't understand, but they seem to love it.  They also love having their tank battles.  Usually they have the U.S.A. tank against the Russians but they changed it up this year and had the McMullen's against the Hoodenpyle's.

I have to regretfully say that the McMullen's lost the 2012 tank battle. 

Right when we thought the night was over at 10:30 the kids insisted that they still needed dessert, 

so after a quick dish up of strawberry pretzel salad we called it a night

where five very happy and dirty kids had to shower and go right to bed.