Indian Ladder Farm with the Babies

We took the babies over to a local farm to see the animals  They had a great time.  Starting with feeding the goats...

And sheep...

We saw chickens and roosters and turkeys.

Then we went looking for pumpkins.

Austin was trying to lift this one up.

Then little miss climby started scaling the pumpkins.

I know the Great Pumpkin's around here somewhere...

Then the babies went for a ride on a horse.

Happy Trails!

Austin falls off chair

At David's birthday party yesterday, I was video taping the babies and their climbing on the furniture (although, we don't use tapes anymore, so I guess I was video digitizing, but I digress). For the record Bryson warned me that Austin was going to fall and I didn't heed his warning and take proper precautions.

Oh, and if you were wondering...just because Austin has a silver spoon in his hand as he's falling, does not mean he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. As a matter of fact this is the first time he's had a silver spoon (which were my Grandma Parker's that we bring out for special occasions) and if it hadn't been a party night, he would have had a plastic spoon because our dishwasher's broken right now and we've been using paper for 2 weeks so there aren't as many dishes to do.

Watch the video here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AETd_Wz_LUs

Babies' first birthday

We held the babies' birthday party while we were on vacation in Cape Cod with the family. It was also Mia's birthday later that week, so we got to celebrate with her as well.

We opened presents then dug into the cake (literally). I had a local bakery make a cake for each baby and one for Mia that the rest of us shared.

Kadence immediately began thrusting her hands into the cake and grinding it up in her fingers.

After she got a taste of the cake, she grabbed the whole top layer and pulled it into her body (probably trying to get it to her mouth) and smashed it to pieces.

I'm not sure if she had more fun mangling the cake, or eating it.

Austin, on the other hand, didn't have much interest in the cake. He was a little tired and cranky.

Good thing we got an extra cake for us, because Kadence wasn't going to have anything left to share. Not any that anyone would want.

What we didn't realize was that Austin was just waiting for the proper tools to eat his cake. Once he got a spoon, he was fine and dug right in.

David has been telling people how Kadence didn't leave anything on the cake board except little tiny finger streaks where she scrapped it clean. I thought he was exaggerating until I went back through the pictures and found the finger streaks.

Austin got into the action with his spoon.

All done!

Now to rub it into the back of his hair.

Happy Birthday Austin!

Happy Birthday Kadence!

Finally...A beach vacation

Since David and I went on our honeymoon to Hawaii, we have been wanting to take another beach vacation.  It only took 7 years!  We rented a house in Cape Cod, invited the kids, and packed our bags. 

The first day was a little chilly, but we weren't letting that keep us away from the beach. In the picture below you can see all the lifeguard bothers and sisters keeping watch over the babies.

Edward had a great time playing in the sand.  At one point he was digging and singing to himself, "I'm digging for buried treasure" over and over to himself.  He's one of those kids that is constantly talking or singing to himself as he lives out adventures and stories while he's playing by himself.  It's really hilarious to sit and listen to him.

Ethan tried boogie boarding with his Dad, John.  He was a little wary of the waves at first, but then he got splashed by a big one and he was very wary of the waves.  He got a little more comfortable as the day went on.

 Edward defended us against Pirates, Grandpas, and other notorious villans.

Bryson did his first boogie boarding and got the hang of it quickly.  

We had to take refuge under the canopy from a brief rain shower and took the opportunity to eat lunch.

In the evening we took a chance to watch David's "Roof Top Briefing" that he filmed when he was in the Army in Berlin.  It was interesting to see a different side of him than Dad or businessman David.

4th of July baby pics

With Bryson off at scout camp for the week, we spend most of the holiday weekend cleaning the garage. I took some time off when David's niece Juliana was here to get some pictures taken of the babies. Kadence is sporting a new headband Ben and Emma got her just in time for the 4th. Julie's only a teenager, but she takes pictures like a pro.

Happy 4th of July!

McKay's First Job

McKay has had his heart set on getting a summer job and this week it finally came through. He's working for Douglas Industrial which is a local company owned by a guy in our Ward (congregation). They sell nuts, bolts, screws, and all different types of hardware.

On McKay's first day he got the fun job of sorting out screws that got mixed together when someone ran a fork lift though a big box with lots of little boxes inside.

On his second day he came home with black hands and black all the way up to his elbows and covering his legs (he was wearing shorts luckily). I asked what it was and he said it was from stripping the roof and pulling off the rubber backing of the roof so they could put a new roof on. I commented to him that I bet he he never thought he'd be doing roofing when he took this job. He said, "Neither did the IT guy or the delivery guy." lol! Apparently they were his roofing buddies. When you work for a small company you have to be a jack-of-all-trades, but this takes it to a whole new level. What a great summer job for a teenager.

Babies in the news!

David's not the only one making news in our family. The babies made a local magazine. Check it out. http://acchamber.org/files/Visions_May11.pdf Scroll to pg. 13.