Sittin' on the Front Porch Lookin' In.

One thing I love about visiting Utah is that we get to enjoy being in a home with GRASS and a yard for the kids to run around on. I love the peacefulness of just enjoying good company with no humidity or mosquitoes. Life can be enjoyed watching the kids have fun. I wish I could remember good stories from out trip but I'm writing this about four weeks after we got home. The pictures are a good reminder of what we did and some of the fun we had. Now this first picture obviously doesn't have grass but it's fenced in and the kids had fun with the dirt. Even if there was no grass we were safe enough to let our kids outside to enjoy the outdoors.

Down the street a new building is going in and the boys and Tori had fun climbing around in the rocks. We just had to make sure that they didn't throw the rocks while someone was in front of them. Since Parker has learned to use the potty he was able to experience on of his first times in a port-a-potty. It wasn't too bad for him.

Tori was a treat. It's amazing to watch the difference between a boy and a girl. Tori really enjoyed putting clothing on and shoes. She REALLY liked the boys' sandals, particularly Lincoln's.

The two older boys enjoyed playtime with both Nana and Grandpa. I always enjoy when the grandparents get down on the ground with the kids.
Building castles and towers were always fun. The car mat was a great hit as well. Grandpa Kim has some nice skill in building towers.
Henry enjoyed crawling around. It was a new trick of his just before we left to come to Utah. Henry loved to smile at everyone, as long as he was in mommy's arms.
A few times during the trip we went out on the front porch and enjoyed the company. We watched the boys and Uncle Jared and Willie run down the sidewalk. They all had so much fun chasing each other.
Nana took the kids to the end of the road. I'll tell you what, I didn't know what to do with my self when the kids were being entertained by someone else. Thanks for giving me a little break everyone. Uncle Jared and Tori had fun on the walk.
Parker and Uncle Jared really bonded during this trip. They had fun tackling and tickling each other.
Henry is always sticking his tongue out. I really liked that on occasion I could give him to someone else and that he had fun and didn't cry.
Okay so here is the delicious fruit dip that Aunt Kim introduced us to. You use some marshmallow creme, some mixed berry whipped creme cheese, some orange juice and I think that's it. Really good with Strawberries and Pineapple, two of my favorite fruits.
I decided to get some sidewalk chalk so that we could leave some love with Grandpa Kim and Nana. It's not permanent but it was a fun thing to do with the nice weather. The boys really love to draw on the sidewalk. See here is another picture of Grandpa Kim getting down on the ground.
"Uncle Jer look a hairplane" -Lincoln "Jer Jer look, look a airplane"

We have here some lovely ladies on the front porch enjoying being outside.

Here's Parker laying down in his outline.

I remember pictures of me with my Great Grandparents. I'm glad that we could get a few with Great Grandpa Thede.
Here are the four generations. The best is that Great Grandpa is reading to Parker. How sweet. It may not be as good as a posed picture but still it's pretty fun to see them all together.
Oh how precious. Uncle Jer and cousin Tori
We had a request for a children photo. We realized that Anna was missing but it was the last night we were all kind of together. Sorry we don't have you in the image Anna.
Here's the grandchildren with grandparents. We'll just say that it was bedtime.
I want to thank everyone for being so cooperative to let me take their pictures. It's kind of fun to have almost everyone. Sorry Anna. Here we have Jake and Terrah.
Kim and Jeremiah.
Jared and Rachel.We even got one of me and Willie. Thanks Jared and Rach.

Well we were taking pictures of everyone so why not take on with the kids too? Out of four shots we quickly decided this was going to work since the kids were going South anyway. Not bad they were all looking forward.

Charlene's picture is so fantastic. I love her smile. Yeah!

Time With Grandma Joan

We had a nice relaxing time with Grandma Joan. Willie and I loved seeing his family and spending some quality time with them. We loved playing games, playing on the lawn, throwing extra large frisbee and shooting rockets at each other. Parker and Lincoln loved playing with all the cool toys as well as Lizzie, croquet and watching new movies like Brother Bear.

I love the action shots on the next two photos. Parker is getting pretty brave.

We were introduced to a fabulous fruit dip recipe from Kim. She is great at getting us addicted to new recipes. Terrah made a fabulous beef pot pie for us one night. Yum! Here's the gang enjoying the great dinner.

Uncle Jared diggin' in.
The boys loved the picnic they had. Too bad they don't like the pot pie too much.
Tori was enjoying dinner. What a great kiddo.
There is one thing that is different about Georgia and Utah. It's the water temperature. The water started out at about 57 degrees. The kids were just looking at it at first. After about six big pots of boiling water we were able to raise the temperature up to about 78. That was nice for everyone and the kids really enjoyed pool time after that.
Our little dude trying on daddy's glasses.
Henry had his own private pool. What a set up. This kid had a great time in the water.

He was kind enough to be a gentleman and let Tori in to play too. Or maybe Tori was being kind to Henry. Either way they had fun splashing around. We love when we get to spend time with cousin Tori. You're a keeper Tori.

Before leaving Grandma Joans she let the kids pick out a new/old kids book from her bookshelf. Wow what a Grandma! All the kids loved picking out their new books. Thanks Grandma for the cool new books.
I love when Anna graces us with her beautiful talents. We enjoyed the private concert. Anna, your skills are amazing!

Henry meets Grandpa Thede.

Henry met one of the men that he is named after. Henry's middle name is T. We picked the letter T to give tribute to his two great grandfathers; Thede and Ted. Ted past away before Henry could meet him. We were blessed to have the opportunity to meet Thede while we were in Utah. Henry loved it. He also loved meeting Grandma Jean.

We also took some time to have a great sloppy joe dinner and play on the playground. Henry spent some time with Aunt Kim. Willie was able to reminisce with Terrah and his other siblings. Parker was best buds with Uncle Jake. Aunt Anna and Lincoln were chumming up too.

Thanks for a great reunion at Willow Park. Good times and good food. We loved visiting.

Firefly Frenzy

It's firefly season in the South. One night I decided to keep the boys up a little later than normal so that they could experience the fun activity of catching firefly's. The boys were so excited to use their butterfly catcher and their 'Harrison bug box.' I laid Henry down for bed locked the door and went out. Willie came home just as we were finishing up and getting ready for bed. He wished he could have been a part of it.

We decided that we should let the boys have another firefly night before we went to Utah for vacation. We weren't sure of when the firefly's would be gone. Willie took the boys this time. They had so much fun. I think it's a memory they will keep. Parker gets so excited to look for the yellow light that comes on. Lincoln gets excited to run but quickly backs off when the bug gets too near.

The first time we caught around eight lightning bugs. The second time it was around 10 or 12.
We enjoy this little adventure. The boys love going out late to run around.

We came back from out trip to Utah and since we were used to staying up a little later we thought we would let the boys catch the firefly's again. Parker was more brave and would put them in his hand to put them into the bug box. Lincoln still stands back but pretends to catch them.

Crawling.

Henry started crawling. He likes to do the army crawl. The other boys never did that maneuver so it's kind of fun to watch him move around. I was talking to my grandma and she mentioned that army crawling babies read better. We'll see over the years who will be the best reader.

How to Beat the Heat.

I was very reluctant to take the boys swimming all by myself. Parker doesn't know how to swim and we weren't able to get him signed up for the first couple of sessions. Once the weather turned to the 90's with the little bit of humidity I couldn't resist when a friend asked if we were up for the pool. I said yes.

Henry had his first visit to the pool this season. He loved it, especially when he could see Lincoln.

All the kids having fun in the pool.
We ended up going swimming four out of five days. We did a different pool every day. That's one nice thing about Georgia, there are a lot of pools.
Salt water pools are really cool. I loved it.

Animal Meeting.

A local library invited a few farm friends to visit the kids in the area. The boys had a lot of fun seeing two sheep, a goat, a pig, a rabbit, a miniature horse, a cow, an alpaca, a rooster and a miniature donkey. The boys were able to get up close and personal with each animal. The animals were extremely tame especially around so many kids.

When the day was done I asked the boys what their favorite part was. Lincoln replied that he liked the pig and Parker liked the rabbit. My favorite part was watching Parker hold the rooster. Pretty fun. We also happened to run into some friends while we were out.

Parker's Joy School buddies.

The Rooster.