Playing Catch Up

I am so behind in my posting that this is just going to be a post with lots of pictures and a few stories while I try to get caught up and not be so far behind.

This is a picture of Weldon and the kids on Fathers Day. Weldon is such a great daddy for these little people. He is so much fun and he is so patient and loving with them. One of the things that I love is that he is always willing to get down and play with them and tell them that he loves them and make them feel special. I am so blessed to have such a good husband who loves us and takes care of us.

The kids love making and decorating sugar cookies!

Preston loved licking the frosting spoon

Weldon got a belly boat and this is a bass that he caught
Colton had swim lessons this summer and at first I was really worried about him because he wouldn’t put his face in the water and if he even got splashed a little he would freak out so I wasn’t really sure how he would do. The first day we went he didn’t get his head wet at all and so when the lesson was done I asked him why he wouldn’t put his head under water. He said “Because Mom, I just can’t breath under water” That sounded like a pretty good reason to me so when I realized that that was the problem I explained to him that he just needed to hold his breath under water. When Weldon got home from work we filled up the sink and showed Colton how to hold his breath under water. The next day in swim lessons he put his head under and everything! He loved swim lessons and now he is like a little fish anytime he gets near water, even in the bath tub! He is helping Kaci learn how to get her head wet too. It is cute to hear him explain to her about holding her breath and stuff, he is really patient and she is surprisingly trusting of him and does much better with his instructions then she does with ours. The whole experience taught me that sometimes I need to take a few  minutes and explain things as simple as him holding his breath instead of just think he already knows that stuff.

Colton at swim lessons
We have also gone out to Cluffs a few times this summer and have had so much fun there.

Weldon swinging


Me on the swing with Weldon and Colton in the water

Kaci and I on a tube

one day I took the kids to feed the duck and the ducks must have been hungry because they came all the way out of the water and up next to our car for the bread. I thought the kids might have been afraid of them but they did just fine Kaci just held the bread really high to keep it safe from the ducks.

I was especially surprised how brave Kaci was with the ducks being right up in her face like that.

After feeding the ducks we went to the park and had so much fun there. This was Preston’s first time in a swing and he thought it was so much fun.

The day after it rained really good in the hills behind my parents’ house and the water ran down through their place we went out to play. This is about as wet as Kaci got. She refused to get in at all silly girl.

Colton in the flooded road

The ditch was running from all the rain water so Shane and Colton went down it like a water slide. Colton liked it so much that he wanted to go down it by himself. He was so brave and he did go down by himself but I didn’t get any pictures because I was too busy running along side him to make sure he didn’t go under. He had so much fun though that he was so sad when it was time to go home.

This is Kaci modeling some of Grandma Shurtz’s super cute jammies. She just woke up but I think she looks super cute anyway.

messy Cheetos face

such cute boys

One of my Prey Mantis’. I have four, each in a different planter. They are fun to watch. I have watched them get bigger every day and now they are almost two inches long. I think they are super cool and kinda cute!

Kaci found the sunscreen and decided to put it on like lotion. She was pretty greasy for a while, even after I wiped her off.

We went on a picnic and found a nice spot with a stream

Colton helping Kaci across. We didn’t bring swimming suits but that didn’t stop these two!

Preston was happy to stay on the blanked with the food

We had a good time and it was a nice little picnic

I thought this was a cute parting shot of Weldon and Kaci asleep in the chair.
I will try to do better about keeping things posted and up to date. Things are going great here. The kids are all happy and well and growing so fast. Last night Colton had kicked off his blankets and when I went in to fix them he was half awake and he said “Mom I just dreamed I was jumping around”, then he sighed and said, “It was so much fun” then he went back to sleep. It was cute. It reminded me that these years go so fast. I don’t hardly dream and more but when I do it isn’t about fun simple things like jumping around. Childhood is so sweet and innocent and it is fun to feel like I get to experience it again with my kids.

Playing in Puddles

Were we live we are in the middle of two pastures and in order to water the grass in these pastures they just flood them from the canal behind the house. Some times they over flood them and when that happens we end up with some really big puddles in front of the house. One of the good things about these puddles is that they sure are a lot of fun for Colton and Kaci to play in; mostly Colton!

I got the kids in their swim suits and we went out to play in the mud. They were both so excited to be “swimming”. Kaci got in enough to get the tops of her feet wet and then when the mud started to squish between her toes she started whining/crying and said “I’m dirty! I need to go inside and take a bath!” I told her no way because we just got out side. (and for what ever reason when there are three people to get into swimsuits and get sun screened up and get ready to go outside something that should be as simple as playing in the mud takes 15-20 minutes to prepare for so we were definitely not going in the house just yet.)

After I told her to just play on the swings if she didn’t like the mud I looked over at Colton and he is literally sitting in the middle of the other puddle and is scooping huge handfuls of mud into his lap. There is no fear of getting dirty for that little boy. I just had shake my head and laugh at the differences between the two. I don’t know if it is a boy/girl thing or just a Colton/Kaci thing, either way they are pretty different.

After we played outside for a while we did go inside and take a bath and then I had to clean the tub because those two, well Colton really, had so much mud it was crazy! It was a fun day though and stuff like that makes for funny memories and fun moments just being kids. I love it.

Yay for Mud!!!

Something that I love about this time of year is that it is monsoon season. I love the dark clouds and the thunder (as long as it is still light out side because I admit I am a chicken and it scares me when it gets dark) and sometimes even the wind. I love these summer storms. The kids get so excited about the rain too and it is fun for me to see them be so excited about it. We have started going on drives in the evenings if it looks like it is raining somewhere in the valley and chasing the rain. I love these drives because it gives us time to visit and hang out as a family and do something together that we all love doing. One time we were chasing the rain and when we caught up to it it was raining so hard that we could hardly see through the windows. We were on a back road so Weldon pulled the car over and we sat and watched it for a minute. Then Weldon dared me to get out and run around the car in it so I did (Can’t pass up a dare) and when I got back in I was pretty wet. Then it was Weldon’s turn and as he was running around the car I locked the doors to mess with him. I wasn’t mean enough to keep him locked out very long, just enough for him  to pull the handle and realize that they were locked and then I unlocked them right away, but that extra second in the rain was enough to get him soaked! It was pretty funny. The kids were laughing and then Kaci said “My turn! My turn!” but we knew she wouldn’t have liked that much rain plus neither one of us felt like getting out again so she had to stay strapped in. It was fun.

The first rain of the season we let the kids get out and run and play in it and it looked like so much fun that Weldon and I took turns holding Preston on the porch and running and playing in the rain with the kids.

We had fun in the rain and the kids got pretty wet and loved ever second of it. We are one family that definitely loves the rain and we are very grateful for every drop we get!

This is kind of random for this post but I don’t know where else to put it so here it is. A while ago my Grandma Skinner came to visit while Adelle was down and Larissa came over too so we had sort of a mini reunion and we got to take a picture of Grandma with her Great Grandkids. It was neat because these are all of the grandchildren  up to this point.

Fathers and Sons

The title of this blog post is somewhat misleading because I don’t actually have any pictures of Colton and Weldon at fathers and sons. This year was the first year that Colton and Weldon got to go to fathers and sons together. Colton was so excited and Weldon was excited too. I felt really bad though because I didn’t give Colton a coat and he froze the whole time, but Weldon said they still had a good time and Colton kept saying how excited he was to be camping with Daddy. Kaci and Preston and I stayed home and hung out and had a girls night. We did our nails and did facials, and since Preston was here too he got a facial as well. He was a good sport about it though!

We had a good time here and Colton and Weldon had so much fun camping. It was cute when Colton came home because he gave Kaci a big hug and said “I missed you my sister!”

Having Fun in Mesa

Weldon had a weeks worth of training in Mesa a while back so at the end of the week the kids and I went up and spent the last night with him. The company put him up at the Arizona Grande Resort and it was pretty fancy schmancy! It had a water park there and we got to go play there and the kids LOVED it, well except Preston, he wasn’t a huge fan of the water in his face. We sure missed Daddy while he was gone and we were so glad to meet up with him again. The kids asked every day while he was gone where Daddy was gone and they prayed for him every night as well. They had so much fun in Phoenix and still ask regularly if we can go back and play some more.

Preston was so happy to see Daddy after a week of him being gone. He just snuggled him and smiled for the longest time. Daddy was happy to see him too.

One of the places we went to eat while we were there was a 5 n Diner and it was a lot of fun. The kids loved it and the shakes were amazing!!

Preston loves to stick out his tongue and he looks so silly!!

Sewing for the Kids

Sewing for my kids is something that I have come to really enjoy because they are not picky and are always so excited for whatever it is that I make for them. It is fun for me to take them to the store and let them choose some fabric and then come home and make something. Colton is fun because he thinks I should have it done immediately and is not very patient waiting for me but he does like to help push the pedal and help me sew. Kaci is fun because I got a dress pattern for her and every once in a while she will bring it to me and say “make me a pink dress”. It is cute and it gives me a chance to practice and learn new things while sewing for people who are excited no matter what it may look like in the end.

Here is a dress that I made for Kaci:

She loves her blue dress and I think she looks so cute.

These are Colton’s Bugs Bunny pajamas and this is about as long as he would hold still for me to take a picture so this is the only one. He loves them though and that makes sewing fun for me.