Berry picking time!

Our yard grows lots of berries. We have strawberries, red raspberries, black raspberries, and blueberries. In July we picked the raspberries.

We made jam and pie out of the black raspberries. Our red raspberries we just planted last year so we didn't have as many. Though we DID pick more than those pictured, however SOMEONE ate them.

Clara likes berries. A lot.

She looks like a ragamuffin because I put her in clothes I didn't mind staining.

When Clara wasn't eating the berries out of our bowls, she was busy picking on Kip.

And after berry picking everyone got a bath!

Rainforest Cafe

After the horse races, we went to the Rainforest Cafe. My kids love that place!

tossing pennies on the crocodile

Clara was mesmerized by the salt water aquariums all over the restaurant.

Emerald Downs

We went to the horse races at Emerald Downs one Saturday.

It was a family day and the kids had a great time.

They loved the pony rides.

It was Clara's first time on a horse.

And the bouncy houses...

They were not as interested in the actual horse racing, but Russ and I thought that was fun. We would all choose our horse prior to the race, and cheer him on. I was very good at choosing. My horses always made the top 3. Probably because I always chose a pretty horse. =0)

Silly Kip

I have an old cage that I occasionally put the bunnies in to eat grass through the wires. Kip was inspecting it and got himself stuck.

Silly dog.

Hyrum's haircut

Ninja vanish!

Guess whose idea this was. =0)

Ninjas after church.

Though in this picture she looks more like a pirate.

Neither Pirates or Ninjas like being kissed.

Blueberry

I bought a bunny. Actually I bought two, but let's start with the first one. He's a blue holland lop (that's the name of the color, though it looks like a light grey) and he's the sweetest thing ever.

The kids named him Blueberry. He follows me around the house (when he's out of the cage) and when I sit on the couch to read a book, or watch a movie, he'll come and jump up into my lap. Such a darling bunny.

I have to protect Blueberry from Clara though. He's much faster, but too curious, so he'll hop over and climb into her lap, unheeding of the chubby hands intent on pulling his fur.

On the Drive

Twenty seven hours of driving wasn't as horrible as I had anticipated. Mostly because Clara slept like a champ, and I had prepared by bringing along 25 new movies from the library to entertain the older two. That's approximately 2,250 minutes of mind-numbing cartoons for the children to stare at hour after hour....

Worth it!

Fourth of July

We went to Montana at the end of June and had a great time with my family. Russ sat in a box and sold fireworks all day and night for 7 days, but the children and I got to play with grandparents and cousins.

The first day that we were in Montana, Clara learned to crawl. Now she can zip around the house like a pro!

I tried to get a shot of all the cousins. No dice. My children loved playing with them every day. They went to the Museum, jumped on the trampoline, ran through sprinklers, and had a blast! The three oldest, Cassie, Mary, and Brielle, got to come with Mom, Darcy and I to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. We loved it!

Some day years from now these pictures will embarrass them...

The kids loved hiking with Grandma, going to the spray park, playing with all of Grandma's animals, riding the lawn mower with Grandpa, and waiting for trains to come by.

These pictures are from the 4th of July. We started in the light with the smoke bombs.

The kids loved those!

Clara enjoyed all of the fireworks, even the noisy ones. However the sparklers were her favorite.

The Girls

Hyrum with Grandma and Great-Grandma

Clara crawling on the grass as the fireworks go off....

It was a wonderful trip. The children had fun, Russ sold lots of fireworks, and I loved getting to spend time with my parents, my amazing sister-in-law Darcy, and Josh once he got back from teaching at Notre Dame.

I wish we lived closer to them, it would be fun to hang out all the time. But maybe they could live by us for the winter, and we'd go to Montana for summers. = o)