A day at the beach!

While my Dad was here visiting, we decided to spend a Saturday at the beach. 

It was perfect. 

I thought the day would be kind of chilly and it was starting out, but that did not stop my kiddos. 

They LOVE the beach!

No big surprise there. They are my kids. 

So into the ocean they went, clothes and all. 

Being the "cool" mom I am...I just sat and watched them get soaked..and then went to play to...but only about shin deep for me!

 I am never in pictures but here I am, at the beach, with my little loves. 

 My sweet Ayla. 

 My Dad on the beach!

 After a little swim and a change of outfits, we walked the board walk!

 It was so beautiful. It really turned out to be a perfect day!

 Here we all are on the boardwalk. 

 I don't know why, but I love love love this picture!

 Can't you just see the happiness in this picture??

I can not wait for our next beach trip! 

Here is to happy sunny beach trips!

First few Days in NC

So for the first few days that we got to NC we stayed with my SIL Jerusha and her family. 

We enjoyed visiting and watching some softball. 

Alaina's team had lost every game this season but managed to get second place in the playoffs. 

It was such an exciting night. 

 Ayla got bored with the ball game and decided to just roll and play in the dirt.

 After a few days we got the keys to our house. The first day we were there and put the washer and dryer in, we found this little guy in the wall of the garage where we needed to hook up the washer.
Ya, I always have my eyes open now when I go out to do laundry. Have I mentioned I hate snakes!!!

 We also wanted to make some quick changes.
For example the locks.
I was feeling handy and decided to give it a try myself.

 This was our first official dinner in our new house. You can see all the boxes behind us. We were still unpacking...um we might still be unpacking. :O/

 While we were busy unpacking, Kael decided to lose a tooth. He is starting to look like a snaggle tooth look.

 After being here for a week, my dad had to fly home. He was such a big help while he was here. We really appreciated all that he did for us.

Mother's Day Weekend.

This Mother's Day was bitter sweet. 

Sweet because my in-laws came to visit for the weekend and help us prep the house for the move. 

Bitter because we will be moving farther away from them and other family. 

That part of moving is never easy. 

We got a lot of painting and work done. 

 We took a quick break to snap a picture. I am always forgetting to get in the picture, so this time I had Garran take one. 

 Of course I wanted a picture with Grandma and Grandpa and all the kiddos. 

 We really appreciated all the help Garran's parents gave. We painted and cleaned, hung blinds.. We got a lot done. 

And of course on Mother's day, I wanted a picture with me and my babies. They are all getting so big. Not really babies any more. But oh how I love them all. 

Happy Mother's Day 

to 

my mom, garran's mom, and all the other wonderful moms I know. 

Hope everyone had an amazing Mother's Day!!

I have done lost my mind!!

or so they say...

I took all four kids and traveld to NC by myself to go to Garran's sisters sealing. 

I did not think it was to big of a deal, but a lot of people were worried about me.. which I can appreciate. I have so many pictures from the trip.. I am just going to comment on each one. Some are out of order or mix matched.. so be patient. 

When I was driving to Garran's sisters house, he asked me if I would go by his old house that they used to live in when he was growing up. So we did. 

 This was a side shot and back yard shot. The people that live there now really enjoy decorations. 

 This is the front. They also did not have those palm trees when he lived there either I guess. But none the less, I think he enjoyed seeing the pictures I sent. 

Of course while we were there, my kids got pampered by their older cousins. 

I love this next picture. All the girls were doing nails and Shaleigh was doing Aylas. Ayla was so worn out from playing with all the kiddos that she just feel right asleep in the middle of it. I was laughing so hard. 

 This girl can literally fall asleep anywhere. 

 Here is Miss Jadelyn doing Briea's nails. You know she was in heaven. She loves having her nails done. 

 Even grandma got her nails done by Brina. 

 Tessa making her nails beautiful. 

 Like I said, these jump around. So here is Kristi, Jadelyn, Alina, Kael, Briea and Piper after the sealing when we went out to eat. 

 Here I am, wishing Garran was with me and missing him, but getting ready to go in for the sealing. Yes the sun was in my eyes, hence the lovely look on my face. 

 My kiddos. I love the look on Cullan's face. Cracks me up every time. 

 Here is everyone after dinner. It was a BIG crowd. I think there was over 30 people.

 Garran's cousin Kristi and his mom. 

 Garran's sister Michaela, Britt and cousin Kristi. 

 Kael and Alaina trying to decide what they wanted to eat. 

 Grandma and Grandpa at the kids table :O)

 This might be one of my most favorite pictures from the weekend. I love LOVE LOVE  that my nephew Blaine is totally photo bombing this picture. I laugh every single time I look at it. 

 The kids on Easter Sunday. Can I just say how much I love spring colors!!

 Ayla or should I say "Rapunzel" as that is what she told her Aunts her name was before she passed out. 

 All of the younger kiddos getting ready for the easter egg hunt!! We had so many eggs it was ridiculous. But everyone got some and everyone was happy!

 We went to go and visit Garrans Grandparents and Aunt and cousin while we were there. It kind of felt like we were invading there house, just because there was so many of us. But it was a lot of fun. Everyone had a nice time and the kids had fun playing and running around. The top picture has me in it and the bottom one has Garran's aunt Theresa. We switched so that we could each be in one. 

Below is a picture of Britt and I getting ready to watch a "Cousins Production". I will post that next. It was AWESOME!!

 We decided that on our last night there it would be fun to cook out over the fire pit and roast hot dogs and do smores. The kids of course had a blast. 

 The kids were so tired afterwords that they just passed out. Poor Kael got a sunburn. I said it's because they never see the sun. It is cold 75% of they year where we are at LOL

Briea too. Passed out on the couch, right next to Kael. 

 As we were leaving town to go home I saw this....

 I thought it was cool to find a street with our last name, so I took a quick picture. 

 Of course while were were gone we skyped a lot with Garran. We were all so sad that he could not be there with us.

 Here were all the girls that were there from the family. 

Britt, Michaela, Joan, Jerusha, and Me!!

 My niece caught this lunar moth while we were there. It was so pretty. Looked like a mix between a butterfly and a leaf. 

 This picture was during our visit to Great Grandma and Grandpa's house. Cullan was trying on Great Grandma's gardening hat. 

 Poor Blaine. So tired, he feel asleep standing up. Just leaning on his mom. 

 Briea and Aunt Jerusha getting some snuggle time in. 

 More pics from Easter morning. 

 Not with all the cousins, but some. 

I put this picture in here because while we were at Garran's grandparents house everyone was commenting on this picture. This is Garran's Grandfather. Everyone kept remarking about how much Cullan resembled him. I will let you be the judge. 

It was a fun trip and so good to see everyone.