Water, Sand and Paint

Just a few pics of this last week... Taron was involved in a Hunter's Safety class at the Fish and Game for the last two weeks, so there were several evenings of me, Keaton and Cooper playing in the backyard and inevitably getting wet. :) Some cute pics of them...

On Saturday, Taron and Stephen went to the field day for his class and about melted before they were able to leave! Some people are just NOT family oriented... Anyhow, Taron only missed one on his test and passed with a 98%! Great job, Taron! Now he's excited to go duck hunting with his Dad this fall.

After they got home Saturday, we took a family outing to Wilson Lake to let the kids swim. Stephen encouraged Cooper to put a shovel full of sand on Taron's head and thus began a big sand/ mud fight! Our Dad is a huge tease and Cooper, or all the boys for that matter, is/ are too! Then that night we went to town and used some coupons we had for free ice cream at Coldstone- yum! Stephen and the boys braved the drive-in movie and Cooper and I came home and finished preparing a lesson for church. A good, fairly uneventful weekend :)

Oh, and somewhere in the mix of the week, Stephen and the boys managed to get our living room painted! We've had the paint for quite awhile but had yet to get the project done and it looks great! The boys were excited to get to help and kept wanting to paint more! Thanks boys for your help! I love the warm color and can hardly wait to decorate and make couch pillows now. Lots of little things needing to be getting done before the baby comes and I'm glad this one is now checked off :)

Water FIGHT!

Tried so hard to get Cooper to cooperate for a quick pose with all three of them, to no real good avail... he just wanted to play and tease his brothers! :)

Last night Stephen was on a job late and the boys kept entertained while it was still light and warm enough by starting a water fight using plastic cups and Cooper's little pool in the backyard! I could forever take pictures of them all playing together. It's fun to see Cooper trying to be in the thick of things with Taron and Keaton. Love these three dudes :)

Retaliation :)

LOVE this pic- wet and happy :)

Cooper trying so hard to be in the thick of things...

Refill time...

He wanted so bad to get a drink but the pressure was up too high and he really couldn't! I kept egging him on just so I could get the classic summer pic of him drinking from the hose. :) Awesome summer evening!

Coop on the Quick

Have been wanting to post these pics from a couple weeks ago and it has had yet to work out... Will be posting again right away with some fun newer ones of all three boys... Showing off his muscles above :)

Sitting on Mom's scrap table and rifling through the ribbon box... a mess, but he was having fun and was so cute I just let him have at it :)

The look of either telling me something exciting or my having just told him :)

Loving how his dozer just rolls right back to him when he pushes it across the tramp :)

Showing off his "bee bo" (belly button) while chillin' in the chair...

Trying to convince Mom to let him go outside at night in Dad's sandals... love the look on his face :)

"Good Enough"

Even though I usually save our blog for things relative to our family and kids, I happened upon a new blog and pulled a quote from it that I really liked and wanted to share…

"When situations arise that tip our scales, we may feel that we've failed. Well... we have. We've failed to take into consideration that in order to have balance, we have to give some things up or let some things go. Balance doesn't mean juggling every ball overhead all at once while teetering on the brink of sanity. Balance means "good enough." -Sugar Jones

This just sits so well with me! I feel like I’m so often feeling that way… wishing I could really embrace the sense that things were “good enough,” that I myself was “good enough.” I also wish that when I did hear things like this, I really let them sink in. I hope I really can become more like this as this week goes on, this year, my whole life…

My kitchen floor needs mopped and it's okay, because we really enjoyed some overdue time with friends last night. There is forever laundry needing folded and put away somewhere in the house, but it's okay, because my little boy knows that when he brings me a book to read or a handful of tractors to play, I will stop and make him my priority... Great thoughts to bring the concept more full circle are here. Hope you and I both will feel “good enough” at least for today :)

Five Awesome Years

Today is our FIVE year anniversary- what an awesome five years it has been! I'm so blessed to get to spend ETERNITY with my best friend... I love you, Stephen!

On a side note, making these photo creations made me realize that we almost NEVER take pictures of just the two of us! Since Cooper has been born there are literally NONE that qualify as anything remotely decent... So that is my new goal from now on- remember to take pics of just Mom and Dad, too!

Fourth of July and more

For the month of July, Taron and Keaton get to be at our house and we're already having fun with them! They are learning how their Dad keeps our business running if nothing else. :) Stephen got the boys some daytime fireworks that had parachute army guys in them this year- they all loved them! I love these shots of Cooper's reactions to the bangs and blasts!

This last weekend, my parents drove over and spent the afternoon of the Fourth and Sunday with us- it was great to have them here and spend some time with my brother. It took some explaining to get Cooper to understand that Grandpa was coming, but not in the backhoe! On Sunday afternoon we went to my Aunt Kim and Uncle Kirk's house in Jerome for a yummy BBQ. It was fun to hang out afterwards and listen to my uncle and the kids- I'll forever call Conner and Cyndel that no matter how old they get ;) play the guitar. The pic is my sister singing along with her friend Shane.

These final pics are just some I've taken in the few days before and after the Fourth. I love this one of the boys on the tramp- leftover bedding from a sleepout the night before and they were loving wrestling around in it! Taron and Keaton are awesome brothers and helpers :)

Coop loves to play tractors on any set of stairs... I love how he always asks "wanna play?" :)