I SURVIVED!!!

This is going on a shirt that I will wear proudly to Natalie's graduation in 16 short years.
After always having someone to play with it was a real shocker to her to entertain herself. She talked all day long and fussed over every little thing. It was just so boring for her. I tried to have her help with my to do list. But that only lasts so long. But we did survive the first week back and this is what we got done.
1-I gutted the boys bedroom.
You, unless you have kids, cannot imagine how stuffed a closet and under the beds can get.
Or how many legos can be in little cracks and corners.
It looked so nice when it was done and I even had an inspiration as to what to do with all of those priceless lego sets.
2-I sorted through all of Natalie's clothes and brought out the warmer clothing, so that we are ready for the cooler weather(I am hoping this will speed it along)
I can't believe how much clothing the girl has!!! And how fast she grows. There are some articles that she never wore. But at least it will stay in the family, I am taking the smaller ones with me to Germany to her cousin.
3-I started to orgainze the play room. This is going to be more work than I thought. And it doesn't help that our printer is broke, so I can't print out the labels that I want.

I did spend some time with Natalie. The first day of school we went to a neighbors house for lunch, the next few days we went swimming, to the park or played outside on the tramp(she likes not having the boys to contend with there!).
Now that a new week is here, and sports have started it is a different world some days. Last night Evan had soccer practice and Zach had his first baseball practice, both at 6:00. Gabriel doesn't get home from work until 7! Are you laughing yet? I was! Luckily, they are only about 2 miles from each other and I fortunately had a friend that was so nice to stay with Evan for his, so that I could attend Zach's first one. I have never done baseball and was shocked to see that he has 2-3 practices a week. Is this normal? I may be a staunch, but I told Gabe that there might be some that he will just have to miss. One of his practices is at 7:30 at night,for 90 min. and their bedtime is 8! Don't get me wrong, I budge on bedtimes, but not that much on a school night. Maybe I am a little harsh, but my kids NEED their rest. But we survived last night and this Sat is Evan's first game and Zach has another practice at the same time, but thank goodness my husband will be there for that one!
I will survive and I hope my kids do too!! Only 2 more weeks and I will be in Germany!!! And oh my, their grandmothers are going to have to survive this!

Butterflies the first day of school

Not, my boys, but me!!!
I was more nervous for the boys to go to school than the boys were. Evan never even looked back. In fact, the first morning I wanted to drive them. Yes, I know I am a little attached to my children, but these are my little kids growing up before my eyes and there is nothing I can do but grab every moment possible. So, I had told them, against my husbands approval, that I would drive them in the morning and they could ride the bus home. Evan was so disappointed, it was the sadest face(I wish you could have seen it).
"But, mom, I wanted to ride the bus"
"Well, you will ride the bus home after school"
"But I have waited my whole life to ride the bus to school and now it is ruined!"
Wow, what a melodrama!
So, he proceeded to beg his older brother to convince mom to let them ride the bus. Yep, they won. He was so excited to get on the bus, he is so big now. And Zach was one of the proudest big brother, it melted my heart. Oh, how I miss them when they are gone. They are great boys and super good friends. I am a very blessed mother.

More of the Beach

I just wanted to show you some more of the beach.
Zach really loved the water and the waves. Some of them were pretty strong and could knock him down. Gabe and I even went wave jumping and had a blast. I would have loved to go swimming with just Gabriel and I. Next time we'll go without the kids(probably when we are 50!)

This is one of my favorites. One wonderful man and one cute little guy. Evan is so much like his dad. And as you can tell, very rarely can we get him to just sit and relax. He is alway going!
A few family shots. The beach is not the place to do a family portrait, all in swimsuits. But we thought this one was funny because we were trying to get one with the water around us, but the waves kept coming strong. So, we are trying hold up the boys. It was hilarious! The three kids is a cute one, it turned out blurry. This was after we got back from picking berries. Do you notice Evan's basket of berries next to him? Ya, he was not letting that out of his sight!!

Virginia Trip

After leaving Idaho on Sunday we made a pit stop for a few days in Utah to visit friends and then it was onto Virginia, the 2nd part of our summer vacation. We flew into Baltimore and a very nice friend let us borrow her car to drive down to Richmond, where Gabriel's parents live. We got to their house at about 1 a.m. (don't think we'll do that again!!) The next day we drove to Virginia Beach and spent the night there. The kids had an absolute blast playing at the beach. Sand and water what more do you need if you are a kid? The boys actually played in the water. Last time we went to the beach they were scared stiff of the waves(but that was 3 years ago). Zach even had a wave board that he tried to learn how to use. Natalie pretty much stayed with the sand, we got her out in the water a few times, but she wouldn't stay there very long.

This was a shot that I had thought about before we got to the beach. But it didn't work out like I had hoped and Natalie's print had a few flaws!!! Maybe next time we are there. But it is still cute to see her little foot next to mine. If only we could mold things like this.


The The boys thought it was so fun to run from the waves, and I like how the sun is glistening on the water. This was the next morning. We wanted to get in more beach time before we had to leave.

Natalie had her tongue out alot at the beach, maybe it was the taste of salt in the air. She would walk out to the water, but stayed a ways away from the actual water.
Zach loved this!! Gabe would help him "jump" the waves!
Evan played in the sand alot. He is our sand boy. He was so excited about this creation, as he called it. And then about 2 minutes after I took the picture a wave came up and washed it away. He started to cry and stated that now his love for mom had disappeared! I reassured him that I knew he loved me and showed him the picture that we would be able to alway remember what he made. It was so cute!

We headed back to my in-laws house, they live about 2 hours from the beach. We relaxed alot there. The boys enjoyed watching the Disney channel, we do not have cable and our rabbit ears pick up about 3 local channels. So Gabe and the boys were in heaven with his parents HDTV.
On Saturday we went and picked Blackberries with my in-laws and once again Evan was amazing at picking. He filled his little basket, but did not want it mixed in with everyone else's(something he learned when we went in Texas). He held on tight to his basket and kept telling everyone that they were his and he was going to eat them himself. We made a blackberry cobler the next day and it was delicious!
This was Great Grammy's Birthday celebration. On the couch is Gabe's uncle David, his Grammy, Natalie, his mom.
On the floor are his cousins, Craig and Chad, then Gabe with Evan and Zach(our boys)
We had a great time visiting his family. We were glad to get home also. Vacations are fun, especially when you are bonding with family. But it is nice to get back and into your own swing of things. Three days after we got home we took away Natalie's pacifier, something Gabriel had been threatening for months. It was a tough road. And she still wines so much I just want to stick a plug in her mouth, but not enough to go out and buy more. It has been almost a month now that we took it away and hopefully she gets better, at least she isn't asking for it anymore. Now we have to start thinking about moving her into a bed! Ahhh! They grow up too fast. Thank goodness for pictures to remember the memories. Hope you all had a great summer!!!

Grandparents

We saw a lot of Grandparents during our vacation this summer. One of them had never seen Natalie before!

This is my dad with Natalie at Yellowstone. She loves her Grandpa. After we got back to Texas she asked almost every day where Grandpa was. We have called him a few times since then.


This is my Grandpa Myler, my mother's step dad. They live in Idaho Falls. We had a great time visiting with them and letting the kids get to know them better. There are some pics with my other grandparents (my mother's dad and step mom). But those are other pics that I will have to get and post those later.

This is my dad's father. He lives in Aberdeen, Idaho. Where is that you ask? It is a little town about 30 miles west of Blackfoot. My dad grew up on a farm, so the boys had a blast there. Just being boys! Evan was climbing trees and playing with the animals.

This is the grandparent that had never seen Natalie before. This is Gabriel's grandma Barber. She lives in Richmond, Virginia.

Idaho Trip

While in Idaho my parents took us to Yellowstone Park. The boys really liked Old Faithful. When it was done they asked if it would do it again, they wanted to see more. We saw some beautiful sights, those pictures are on my mother's camer(hers took better pics). So when I get them I will post them.

My brother, Wesley, was a trooper. I think he carried one of my kids the entire time we were at Yellowstone. He and Gabriel each carried 1 up a mountain! And at one point he actually carried 2 of them!! We had a great time with him and were glad that he came along.

We went to a spot where you can feed some fish. My dad had brought some bread to give the fish. Natalie thought it would be better to eat it herself! She will eat almost anything!


The next day we went on a float trip in Jackson. Nat looked so darn cute in this huge life jacket. There are more pics of us on the water, but those are on my moms camera as well. We did a trip that didn't have white water, that way the kids could be with us. The water was so high they wouldn't allow little kids on the other trip, maybe next year. But our guide was very nice and took us on a part that had just a little rapid, but enough that we got wet. All the kids wanted to go back and do it again. It was great!

Then we went to the temple and watched the Joseph Smith movie at the visitor's center. It was great! This is after when we were getting in the car. Gabriel was just standing there and then Zach walked over next to him. Zach is our sensitive to spiritual things kid. It melted my heart to see them share this moment. This is where we were married 9 1/2 years ago! My how time flys.

The beginning of our summer vacation

Grandma met us at the airport in Salt Lake with a sign that my son had requested her to make. (Just another thing for her to remember to bring with her!)
Then she took us the long awaited dinosaur museum that Evan has wanted to see for a few years. We lived less than 1/2 hr from it and never went there. Now that we live a couple hundrend miles away we decided it was time to take our dinosaur obsessed son. Cousins met us there for a very enjoyable afternoon. All the kids had a blast with all the attractions. They even made their own fossil, for an extra charge of course!! Thanks Grandma!!
Zach and Evan with their cousin Joseph (my brother's son) unveiling what they found. They played here for a long while.
Natalie didn't quite grasp what she was suppose to do. She just liked playing in the sand that didn't stick to her.