Happy Father's Day!

I would like to take this opportunity to express the gratitude I have for Kent and what a wonderful father he is! I had an interesting childhood to say the least, but I had two of the very best grandfathers, they were fantastic examples to me and a huge part of my life. Both have passed away and there isn't a day that goes by that I do not practice some of the many things each taught me. Being married to Kent and seeing what a good dad he is makes me feel very lucky. He is so very patient, something I lack, and it shows with each child. He takes time to saddle a horse, fix a broken fishing line, work on a math problem or throw a softball across the yard. He never misses a thing, he may be traveling or working during events but he calls during and after to see how things are going and to talk with the kids. He takes time to teach them things that are important and he gives them the confidence they need to succeed. He loves to hear their stories and often will wink or giggle at me during a lengthy one. He takes pride in our yard and loves to keep it clean, mowed trimmed and ready for a party! He loves the river and enjoys pulling the kids either on the tube or wake board and he even pulls me on the ski on occasion! He loves to BBQ and has treated us to some fantastic meals! He is a hard worker and is a great example of sacrifice with each trip he takes from his family, you need to do what pays the bills! He is always willing to help neighbors and friends with anything they need at any time! He is honest in his dealings and full of integrity! He loves to tease and often gets the girls all wound up, just to pull them in for a great big whisker hug! He is also very strong and often surprises me, along with worries me too. I appreciate his ability to show each of our children how much he loves them and often with a tear in his eye. He is very proud of his family and I know I married a very good man and a great father! I am so lucky.

It's raining, it's pouring....STILL.

I love the smell of rain and I love how green it makes everything look BUT..... I do not live in Seattle for a reason and I am sick of the rain. We are two weeks from the Fourth of July and we have had maybe two days of summer. Not only that but the run off is not finished yet because of late storms and they filled the river again. It is on the lawn and the beach is being washed down river again. Last week I asked Kent to order more sand for the beach because of the earlier rise in the river.... He procrastinated and it was a good thing he did. I am hoping for warm weather and the chance to take the boat out and have some river fun. I guess the prayers and fasting for moisture worked... a little to well :). Enjoy the rain.

TEXAS

Charlce couldn't leave the birthday girl unrecognized-she made an awesome cake for Stormie with the #14 candles and everything! And it was pretty as well as "YUMMY."

Jumping into the lake...

Floating in the lake...soooo pretty!

Fishing in the lake...

Enjoying the lake! Charlce came to stay at our house for Memorial Day weekend and on Tuesday the kids were able to fly back to Texas with her. I had another week of work(packing my classroom for the move) and Kent left for Omaha. Kent had a great idea and sent the kids with Charlce to enjoy their first week of summer( hard for mom to see them all go and YES, I worried the whole time). Charcle has a house right on the lake and the water is about 80 degrees in the lake, so you can imagine what my kids did when they got there. Charlce asked her neighbors if she could use their dock, which had a rope swing, so the fun began. They spent alot of time in the lake. Charlce also took them on a ferry, where they saw dolphins jumping and swimming along side of them. She took them to Galveston, to the beach for a day and they played in the waves and became beach bums and she took them to a great restaurant, where Sayger had the biggest piece of cake he had ever seen. On Saturday Kent and I flew down to spend the reminder of their vacation with them. Ricky took a few days off and he and Kent fished from dawn to dusk-seriously. Sayger wanted in on the man games but only lasted five hours and spent the rest of the time with us girls. Charlce cooked some amazing ribs and made Stormie a delicious cake for her birthday. She also took us shopping one day and we had a blast-even with the damper of the speeding ticket she got. Ricky made Gumbo for us-a traditional southern meal and it was awesome, to say the least!!!! Can't wait to have it again!!! And of course I hung out on the dock and took my turn floating and having the tube stuck on my bum too. It was a great trip and I was not ready to come home, but Charlce needed to get back into summer school and Kent needed to get back to work. Thanks again Charlce, we had a great time.

Stormie's Birthday-Family

Hooray a new phone!Are you kidding me!!!!!

Having cake.

Happy birthday sister! After church we had Stormie's family birthday. My mom cooked dinner and after dinner, Auntie Brooke, Grandma Great, Grandma & Grandpa Kidd and our family celebrated with candles and cake. She also was able to open the rest of her gifts and we saved the best for last...we gave her a new phone with texting. She was thrilled. Anyone that has a teenager knows it is the latest and greatest. Happy Birthday Storm, you are growing up to be a beautiful young lady on the inside and the out and I thank Heavenly Father everyday for the opportunity to have you in our family.

Happy Birthday Stormie

The cake!!!

Pizza....Brownie Batter Blizzard...

This year was a friend birthday and Stormie really wanted to spend the day on the river boating and tubing with her friends but as Idaho would have it, rain, clouds and wind. So we went to plan B-she invited her friends for a fun day together. I took the girls for a manicure at the beauty school-interesting experience to say the least! But their nails looked cute. We then went to Dairy Queen to pick an ice cream cake for the family party on Sunday. The girls decided to share a large blizzard-Brownie Batter. Delicious!!! Next I picked up pizza and headed home for a late brunch of pizza and cake and off to a Night at the Museum. The girls ate pizza and one request Stormie had was to have an entire cake just for them to eat directly with their forks. They ate pizza, opened gifts and ate the cake. The entire family went to the movies with the promise that Shandler, Sayger, Kent and I sat far away and pretended we did not know them-easy enough. Chloe had to go home after the movie but Kelcie stayed for a sleep over. Stormie had a great day.

More birthday fun!

Sayger's birthday loot...

The birthday party crew!!!

Opening presents.

You go girl!!! Jaylee keeping up with the boys!

Pizza, bowling, cake, friends, presents... What more could a boy want?

Sayger's bowling birthday party!

Me and my pals!

Is my turn...huh, huh, huh????

is it my turn yet?

Auntie Brooke

The Birthday Boy!

Shandler's Dance Recital

The last dance of the night was "THRILLER." It was my favorite!!!

Auntie Shan looks scary!!!!

Beautiful dancing girl. And looking so grown up.

Headed to Shandler's dance recital. Every year Sayger gets the bummer end of dance recitals-they are always on his birthday. So he had to celebrate on Saturday, which you will see next did not phase him!

Shandler did fantastic at her recital and had sooooo much fun! She loved it. She danced beautifully and with such expression. I love to watch her. She is animated, serious, dramatic and all in the right places. The last dance of the night was to the song "Thriller" by Michael Jackson and it was awesome! I loved it and she did so good. After the recital we went to have ice cream and celebrate the completion of dance and Sayger's birthday!!

My favorite things about Sayger....

Sayger is my only son and the baby of the family. I can admit he is spoiled and I am happy to do it! I adore him.
Sayger has a contagious smile and he is every ones friend. A friend once told me he has smiley eyes!

He loves to learn and embraces new things. This year he wrestled for the first time and to my surprise he did fantastic. I loved watching him grit his teeth and get red faced as he fought to be the guy on top.

Sayger loves his family and is ever so proud to announce to everyone he is the uncle of three, two nieces and a nephew. He also loves to bug his sisters and often chuckles while doing it.

Sayger is very snugly and often will snuggle me or give a great big hug out of nowhere.

Sayger is 100% boy. He loves fishing, golf, trucks, guns, hunting, airplanes, motorcycles, super heroes and PlayStation games, especially Star Wars.

Sayger is kind. Sayger can find something good in everyone and will share it with them.

Sayger has a strong mind set. If he decides to do something and sets his mind to it, there is no stopping him.

Sayger is smart and does well in school. Like his dad, math is his best subject. He also loves to read and was able to "Rock the Halls" at school this year.

Best of all Sayger picked me for a mom and I am sooooo lucky.

Happy Birthday Little Man!!!

The kids always open one gift before their actual birthday party! This is a tradition we started with our family. Sayger was very excited and could not decide which gift to open, he finally settled on one and sat on the floor to open it. The school was dismissed for teacher training but I still had to work, I was hoping Sayger would not sleep in and I would miss his traditional one present. More to come on Sayger's birthday.... I can't believe seven years have gone by.... he is growing toooooooo fast :(

The Hot Springs!

A few weeks ago we loaded up our families and headed to the hot pots. The Lugo's, the Redder's and us. We filled the pools and had a great time, especially the kids! The water is perfect and they all loved swimming, dunking each other and playing catch with footballs. We closed the place down and did not leave one person behind and between all of us there where 16.

Best buddies

Just a few weapons for Star Wars games!

Time out for a little Play Station...

Back to Star Wars.... the thing that gets me is how long Star Wars has been around -the boys still love it. Sayger was bored out of his mind one spring day when the weather was still a bit chilly, so we invited our neighbor and good friend Zack to come and play. They had a GREAT time and Zach was here all day. They played Star Wars, Play station, had lunch, played Star Wars, watched a movie, played Star Wars and this continued all day! These two are peas in a pod! Thanks Zack for being a great friend and loving the same things Sayger does!

Best of Friends!!!

Teighlor and Shandler have become the best of friends. She is a doll. She moved in with us for ten days while her parents were in Mexico and it was a joy to have her. This night the two dancers had a performance at the grade school and a local high school for "Spring" shows. It was so fun to get them ready and watch them dance. Do you think Shandler is tall for her age, or just taller than Teighlor?

Time to catch up!

With school winding down along with dance, piano, violin and EVERYTHING else in my crazy life, it has been a few days since I blogged. Bare with me this could be a long one......