A walk to remember

It has been a great low key weekend. While watching the worlds greatest athletes compete in the Summer Olympics I stayed busy laying around the house stuffing my face with homemade banana cake and brownies. ☺ But HEY...I was nursing so I was burning calories right?

Tonight though, after church, we decided to take a walk over by the river. There was a little park/garden over by the water fall that the kids and I had never been to. Nate wanted to take us over there so we could check it out.

It was a BEAUTIFUL park and a nice cool walk in the tall trees right by the river's edge. I can't believe we'd never been over there before!

 Beautiful Snake River:

Who's that good looking guy with all of those kids?

 Random tree covered with birds:

 Dal and I....you can see the IF temple way in the background.

Little Miss seemed to enjoy our time outside as well. Check out her little cheekies that are getting bigger by the day. I just ♥ them!

A perfect evening spent with my 5 favorite people in the world. I'm pretty much over the moon crazy about my little family. They mean everything to me and more.

And just for fun, here are a couple of pictures of baby sis all ready for church today. She looked so cute in her little dress. You can't tell that Parker LOVES his sister can you?

Beach baby

Yesterday I was feeling rather ambitious. I am so incredibly stir crazy and had to get out of the house. Another day of staying at home with zillions of neighbor kids coming over just wasn't happening.
I decided to take the kids over to Rigby Lake by myself.

The goal was to be at the lake around 10:30 or 11:00. Yeah, that didn't happen. We got there around 12:30. 4 kids is kind of rocking my world I have to say.☺

Nate bought me this great umbrella that goes all the way to the ground. It blocks the wind and gives a lot of privacy so we brought it along. We hauled all of the gear over and I was hoping we would last at least a couple of hours. Anna and the boys were all doing so great though that we ended up playing for a good 5.5 hours! Felt a little more like my old self. And it was heavenly.

I thought I was a bit crazy taking a 3 week old over to the lake but to my surprise there was a 4 week old next to us and a 5 week old behind us. SEE....I am not the only CRAZY person out there!☺

Today my goal is to get caught up on laundry and try to get this house cleaned. Luckily I am getting some help downstairs with my "Harry Potter Movie Marathon" idea. Hehe.

Farewell!

 Well, its has been a weekend of big changes for my family. Friday night my brother James graduated from BYU-Idaho. It is crazy how fast time has zipped by. I failed to take any pictures of James at his graduation.

Here is baby Anna though...all dressed up for the occasion!

That night we went out for dinner as a family and then the next day we helped James and Sierra move into their new home over in Twin Falls. We will sure miss having them 20 minutes away. Waaaah!

We then headed over to Boise for the weekend. That night we went over to the wakeboard park to watch my brother Jason compete in the Big Air Competition. James and Nate didn't compete but had a blast riding the park!

The next day was Jason's farewell. It is hard to believe my BABY brother is leaving for 2 whole years to serve a mission over in Denver. It was such a bittersweet weekend. He is so ready to go. He has been counting down the days for months...he even made a little paper chain! He has been preparing to serve since he was just a little boy. I'm so proud of him but we will sure miss him a lot. I bawled my eyes out when it was time to say goodbye. My boys adore Uncle J. They want to be just like him one day. It is hard to say goodbye especially because I realize that my kids will grow so much while he is gone. I'm grateful though for the example he is setting and for the great brother and uncle he is.

He will be a wonderful missionary. I'm happy that he will be bringing some comfort to the people of Denver who need to hear about the gospel and who might be seeking some peace especially after the horrific events that took place there last week.

We love you Elder Rock! We will pray for you each and every day.

Getting out

We're still a little restricted as far as summer activities go. It's hot and sunny out and I don't want my Anna out in the heat of the day. Last week we ventured over to the zoo in the morning. Sister slept the entire time and the boys enjoyed getting out and spending time with the Coletti boys! Fun day!

After the zoo we walked over to the Funland and let the boys go on a couple of rides.

I'm still adjusting to 4 kids. I've got good helper boys which is making things much easier!

Photo Shoot!

I'm so glad I had my sweet friend Amber take pictures of Anna. They turned out SO cute. Now to decide which ones I like the most.........

Oh, and btw, I was NOT planning on having my picture taken on this day. Hence the TIRED face and kind of crazy hair. ☺