On the Delta

Saturday was HOT and we knew it would be our last boat trip of the season, so after three soccer games (yes, 3...every Saturday 'til the end of November) we loaded up and headed out to the Delta with the Callaways.

Hannah, Maren, and Neve

Alex and Jake

Kiera gives it a thumbs up

Hot Owen--he gets so flushed!

Me and Owen

John, the sexy driver.
(I did get to drive the boat so that he could wakeboard and I was quite proud of myself!) It's hard (and daunting) to get much driving practice with a lot of great drivers in the family!

The water was glassy and perfect! The adults all wakeboarded, every kid (excluding Owen and Kiera) kneeboarded, and there was lots of tubing...

Alex getting ready on the kneeboard

The littles...Neve, Kiera, and Alex

The bigs...Hannah, Jake, and Maren

At one point a little hydroplane(?) came out of nowhere and flew right down over the top of us. I thought he was going to land right on us he was so close! The kids thought it was so cool and especially loved that they could so clearly see the pilot give them a wave and a thumb's up.

Here's Alex climbing on top of the cage and then jumping in! Crazy! He is one brave little guy!

We did alot of swimming breaks to escape the heat (and more than likely had some potty breaks too!)

Clay and the girls

Hannah

Jake

The gang

Mmmm Kiera!


Me and Britt
We did not make it home in time for the RS Broadcast but Britt and I recorded it and watched it later that night. I LOVED Brother Uchtdorf's talk about a woman's divine gift of creation. Creating something beautiful from unorganized matter is a God-like and God-given gift and we should cherish it! What a wonderful perspective on that gift--whether it's creating babies, beautiful spaces, art, cuisine, memories, smiles, teaching moments...anything...creating beauty out of ugliness, poignancy out of sadness, basically creating positives out of the negatives. It was such a wonderful thing to be encouraged in that area and I liked his advice for us to not be so hard on ourselves (as women often are). Revel in the creative process--not so much on how it actually turns out! Great advice on a Great day!

Why bother?

A wise woman once said...

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing."

~Phyllis Diller

Ain't that the truth...

Don't even speculate how many times a day I ask them to put the cushions back on the couch!

I'm trying to follow the example of nienie and embrace every moment of motherhood!!

Thank you to her and her sister cj's shining example. My prayers are there. Their nuggets of truth, pearls of wisdom, and straight-up wonderful writing and retrospection and introspection encourage me (and make me cry) every day. I just love this blogging world!

Robots and Rabble-Rousers!

Alex had a Robot-themed birthday party on Friday. It was a lot of fun! He wanted all of his closest buddies and cousins and even his friends' older and younger siblings, who he considers his friends too, so there were all different ages represented and lots of kids!

Here's the cake...
(I don't usually do homemade cakes, so I was quite proud of myself! I got my idea here)


I put the licorice on straight for his mouth, and Alex said, "No Mom! It's gotta be a smile." So he curved the licorice (despite my No Touching rule) and said, "That's better!" We named him A-Bot (Aggie-bot wouldn't fit.)


It was PAINFUL to cut him. I grew quite attached to A-bot. We'll miss you little buddy! The kids all enjoyed you!
Here's the birthday boy...


We had a Mr. Robot-O Dance-Off on the greenbelt first...John was the DJ and the kids had some great moves...





Love his little hands

Jake and Hannah bustin' a move!


Crazy Cousin Mason

Cute Kiera!

The kids got a little parched so John helped them out...


Then we headed into the backyard for some trampoline fun...

Then there was pizza and the cake...



Drewbie, Aggie, and Trenton

Andi, Hannah, Neve, and Tessa
Then John got out the blower?? (Which was a hit.)



And then the pinata to end the party! More robot-theme with the Transformer.



Go Aggie!

Sweet swing Brooke!

Nice one Coleman!

Go Hannah--this shot looks dainty but she hit it something fierce!

Love this shot of poor Gavin! I think he was afraid he wouldn't get a turn but we made sure everyone got a couple of swings, even after the candy poured out!
And off they went with their party favors.

Happy Birthday Alex!
Thank you to Britt for taking such amazing pics! (I wanted to post them all but I think I already posted too many! I can't help it. I often have that problem.)