End of Summer...

 The dreaded day came and we said "good-bye" to my parents and summer continued on. The 4th of July was upon us- we were planning our annual trip to Bear Lake, minus my parents. I ended up getting SOOO sick! I have never had a full on chest cold, but one hit me with a vengeance!! I totally lost my voice and could not talk. Nat had gone into pre-term labor the week before and was on light bed rest and we were a mess! We got a good routine going at Bear Lake- Nat would take the morning shift with the kiddos and take them to the pool for swimming (there is a a little kiddie pool the kiddos would play in and Nat was able to lift up her legs and relax), I would take the afternoon shift with the kiddos, and we would both do the night shift! Paula and her crew helped us a TON as well! Paula had all the kiddos in the trailer one night for a sleepover- Nat and I had the cabin to ourselves! I really don't know what we would do without such great family! I was so sick, I didn't even take 1 picture while we were up there- usually I take hundreds! :(

Keith and Shawna were also getting ready to move to Texas so we came home from Bear Lake a little early and Sean took the gals to his grandparents to spend the 4th up there- I stayed home not wanting to share my germs with Sean's grandparents. Then we had to sadly say "good-bye" to MORE family! The summer stunk in those regards! It is dang hard!

Nat went into labor on the 31st- after a false alarm and her almost getting send home again, the admitted her and the party began. Paula took all the kiddos and up the hospital I went to hang with Nat, Greg, and Mal. We were having a great time, laughing and really enjoying ourselves- up until about 30 minutes before delivery when it became apparent that the epidural had quit working!! It was pretty intense, but Nat handled it like a rock star and at 11:36 P.M. little Reese was born. She of course stole everyone's heart from the go!

 My cousin's Tara and Ashleigh were in town with their kids so we had a fun get-together complete with a blow-up water slide and enjoyed spending time with family!

Nat and Greg brought Reese home and hosted us for dinner- like I said she is a rockstar! The gals were so excited to finally get to hold and touch her- they had just seen pictures and seen her from the window at the hospital- it was so sweet to see how excited and gentle all the kiddos were with her!

The annual Cache County Fair and Rodeo began- Greg was taking Garrett over for Garrett to show one of Kyle Anderson's calves- Greg took Brooklyn with him and she was able to show a calf- a highlight of her summer! The kids played on the tractors and had a lot of fun!

Brooklyn finished up her softball season- she did really well it was so fun to watch her play! She had a great team and an awesome coach!! I am always so thankful for those people who donate their time to coach my kids!

And in the middle of it all, as if life wasn't crazy enough, the kiddos started swimming!! Between Paula and I we did some major shuttling and got them to and from everyday!! Swimming finally "sunk" in for Brooklyn and she did awesome!! Gracie did great too!! Garrett wasn't sure at first, but then really liked it and we left Abby crying everyday- although by the time we got back to pick them up she loved it!! We began the countdown  until my mom got back and school started! We had such a great, busy summer! We are so blessed to live so close to wonderful, supportive family who are willing to drop what they are doing to help us out!

Soaking it all in...

There were several things we wanted to get done before my parents left for China- one of those was the trip to Chuck-E-Cheese that was "promised" to the grandkids. We "celebrated" my dad's birthday. (He acted like a crazy man I might add). We had a great time and were able to get that crossed off the list.

The kiddos also wanted to have a water party- so we got balloons filled with water, got the hoses out, and had a great time. I noticed Ella wasn't in any of the pictures- she was having one heck of a nap. During the water party, Greg called to tell Nat that their cow had had her calf, so we loaded up the truck and went to check it out. We ended the night lighting up my dad's fire pit and roasting some hot dogs and smores.

Bear Lake

*These pictures are way out of order, but I don't have it in me to fix them.

Before my parents left, we wanted to have one last family get-together. My mom and dad flew Brett and Chelsea in for the weekend- this was a surprise for the kiddos. We discussed different things we wanted to do for the weekend from going to Yellowstone (this didn't work due to Brian being in China/Japan and then flying straight to Michigan), horse ride, golfing, going up the canyon, and Bear Lake. Bear Lake was the obvious choice. My parents and Nat and I and our families went up on Friday evening. We knew Brett and Chels would be arriving in the morning and were anxiously awaiting them to arrive to see the kids respond. It was as great as we thought it would be. We were all hanging out outside when they pulled in in my dad's truck. They kiddos were confused for a bit because we were all up there. It took a minute to realize it was Brett and Chels and then the screaming began. The kids and everyone else were so excited to see them. So we had basically 1 day to do a summer worth of fun at Bear Lake and boy did we do it!!! We were excited when Brian and Sher arrived too. The kiddos sure love spending time with their aunts and uncles. So to recap it all: we went Go-Carting, swimming at the pool and the beach, mini-golf, drove around a scooter, went on a "dog run" and had a famous raspberry shake, went and saw the Blackhawks that had been flying over the cabin all weekend, went to church, tried to get a family picture (tried being the key word), and had lots of quality family time and lots of laughs!! It makes me tired thinking of everything we fit in, but it was SO much fun!!

We also had a fun surprise when we were hanging out one evening and Garrett comes over and hands my parents a piece of paper. My mom starts looking at it and says, "what's this?" It ended up being a baby announcement from Brett and Chelsea they have a baby girl joining our family the end of December. (Later we found out the Sher was sicker than a dog the whole time we were at Bear Lake due to her expecting a baby girl the end of January.)