Back To School

Oh thank goodness this day is finally here!!  To say that it was TIME for the kids to head back to school is an understatement.  We have all had to adjust to our first "traditional" summer this year, and it has been a little long for us all:)

Tyson the big eighth grader was a little anxious about going back.  He is my homebody and would LOVE to be home schooled.  After a few days back in the swing of things, he has changed his tune and likes being able to see his friends again.  We hope he remembers his lessons last year on keeping organized and turning things in on time!  He is growing so fast and has become a wonderful young man.  He is my buddy and I love to hang out with him.   

Braden is the KING of the school as a 6th grader.  He was excited to get back and see his friends.  He enjoys school and LOVES his teacher this year.   Nathan is a big 3rd grader and is looking forward to learning cursive and multiplication this year.  He LOVES math and has a wonderful teacher.  He is sad that this is his last year with brothers in Elementary with him. 

We hope they all have an outstanding year!!

Party!!

Of course we had to party for the big two year olds!!

 Sporting their new "Hollywood" look...thank you Barrus family!

 Loving the dinosaurs from Aunt Marci and Uncle Wade...especially when you can scare grandma!

 Sensitive boy

 The kiddos...Kate, Lauren, Nate, Braden, and Wells

 Lovin on Grandma and Pa-pop

 Uncle Jeff and Auntie Brooke gave us cute stuffed animals we love to play with in our beds

 Yummy Cake

 Thank you Grammie and Grandpa for our new toys!

Two Years Old

I know I always say this, but I can't believe they are two already.  This year has brought lots of changes for the babes.  They have learned many things and grown in every way.  They are a joy to have in our home, most of the time, and they always bring a smile to our faces!

 Justin is such a sweet boy.  He continues to be sensitive, and need his loves.  He loves to learn, he reminds me of Tyson, he knows most of his numbers, letters, colors, and shapes.  He remembers what you tell him and will be a great help to his sister who isn't showing much interest in that sort of thing:)  He is hard to stay mad at for too long.  He LOVES his ni-nite and struggles to go anywhere without it.  He looks you right in the eye as you are talking to him and tries hard to communicate his needs and desires to you.  His vocabulary grows everyday and the boys love to make him try new words.  We love having this sweet boy in our family!

Jessica is a princess in every way.  She has figured out that screaming and throwing a fit gets a reaction.  We have tried hard to lecture the boys to not give in to her tantrums.  She is very independent and wants to do everything on her own.  She is also very adventurous, the other night she was outside jumping off of the rocks in our backyard.  She LOVES water and wants to play in the pool and water almost every night.  Jessica loves animals and likes to pretend she is a puppy.  She is a special little girl that has us all wrapped around her finger.  We love this little girl!

HAWAII

For Christmas this past year, my dad and step mom gave us a trip to Hawaii.  It was a week on Maui for ourselves and the kids, with a 2 bedroom condo and rental car included.  All the siblings and families were invited, which meant time with cousins and Aunts and Uncles we don't see very often.  We were SO excited.  We quickly decided that this would be a trip to take without the twins.  We also decided that since we were in Hawaii, we would also spend sometime with my grandma  and Aunt and Uncle that live there.  We have been counting down for this trip since we received it and were so happy when the day arrived.  We left the babies in the very capable and loving hands of Amber and family and off we went. 
We had a wonderful time and still can't stop talking about it.  The experience was so wonderful, Jaron and I want to take all the kids back someday.  Jaron has loaded the pics onto smugmug, so to see our adventure just go to www.jaronfarr.smugmug.com
Can't wait to see what my parents give us this year...

4th of July Party

Jeff and Brooke had us all out to their home to do fireworks and hang with the family.  We had a wonderful time even though the babes liked to run into the street...they kept me on my toes.  They put on a great fireworks show and I was surprised that the babies weren't more scared..ok Justin wasn't more scared:)  He did need some lovin during the loud ones!!

BOYS BOYS BOYS...and Kate and Lauren:)  the kids had their own fireworks before hand and LOVED being in charge.  They were setting them off in a box and at one point Jaron asked if they had a plan in case the box caught on fire.  All the older boys just stood there but cute Mason, who is 6, replied...oh we can just pee on it!  Love boys:)

Cute Lauren

Cute Kate!

Tyson, Lauren, and Braden, playing dress up!!

Cousin Josh even came by for a visit!!  We love Josh!!

It was a great evening with the Farr family!!



4th of July Weekend

The Fourth of July is always a fun weekend in Riverton.  We started off running the annual race, Jaron ran the 10K for the third year and the boys and I ran the fun run.  It was a great start to a fun weekend.  Here we are before the race.

I thought that during the race I would be waiting for Nathan so I told Braden to go ahead and  take off ahead of us and we would see him at the finish line.  Boy was I mistaken.  Nathan was the one that took off and about half way through I couldn't see him anymore.  He took 4th place in his age group of 8-11 year old boys.  

Braden took some walking breaks and needed more enchoragement, but sprinted to the finish line and took 7th in his age group.  Tyson wasn't feeling well and stayed home with the babes, but we hope to make this a family tradition!  It was lots of fun.

After the race we ate breakfast in the park.  During the day there are lots of activities going on, the 4wheeler rodeo, many booths and kid games, the carnival, and lots of entertainment.  We are so lucky to live so close and be able to go back and forth throughout the day/weekend.  I love Riverton!!

JUNE

June started off with a BANG!!  Noni and Popi came to visit us for a week and attended all our end of school year functions with us!!  We had a wonderful time having them in our home and just hanging out with them.  Noni, always willing to play games with the kids, reintroduced speed to the kids and they love it.  Popi shared his talent of telling stories and told some great "Mash" stories.  "Marsh" even led the kids on a treasure hunt and game them all some money:)  During the visit the boys had their piano/guitar recital.  Here is Noni practicing with Braden!

 Here are some random pics of little girl, you can see how she just loves her "pup pup" and feds him and treats him like he is her baby. 

 Can you say "BED HEAD"!!

The day after Noni and Popi left our house I packed up the car and drove the kids to CA.  It wasn't a planned trip but my bro was blessing his baby and my mom wanted to come out here for a visit.  So we headed to cali.  The kids did really great on the drive.  We stayed with Bryan and family, where the kids had cousins galore to play with and the swimming pool!!!  Thank you again to them for allowing us to bombard their home.  While we were there the babes were more clingy than usual, with all the strangers and different environment and it got quite old for mom...  While we were there we were constantly going.  We swam, saw a movie, rode Uncle Bradleys go cart, went to the water park, went boating, shopped, enjoyed an evening at my dad's on his lake on Nana's boat and the kayaks, celebrated my mom's retirement from 22 years of teaching elementary school, spent some great time with my newest nephew Jace, and just had time together with my bros and families. 

 Riding the go cart in Uncle Bradleys back yard

 At the lake...that is Braden, Nathan, Brooke, and yes Grammie on the tube.  Braden and Nathan would have stayed on the tube all day if we would have let them. 

 Braden skiing!!!  This is his second time, last year he got up too while we were in Fresno.  Thank you to Carroll for keeping the twins while we went to the lake...I think I gave her some great birth control:)

 Tyson and Braden both got to knee board!!

 We had a wonderful time in CA and tyson was having so much fun, he decided to stay there for another week.  We missed him while he was away from our family and it felt like one of my arms was missing or something.  It just wasn't the same around here.  He had a great time spending more time with his cousins, but was very glad to get home, he was just a little homesick:)

Here are some misc pics of the babes, back home and in their comfort zone!!  Here is Jess with Grammies shoes on and pushing her baby stroller!

 Justin in the backyard!

 Summer time playing in the backyard with the pool!

Bradley and family brought Tyson home and stayed for a visit.  We enjoyed having the crew here!  We shopped till we dropped...literally, swam at the pool, hung out in the backyard, and ate, ate, ate!!  They also brought my nephew Cade with them and so all the cousins had a great time together. 

Here is Jess with baby Jace.  Whenever I would hold Jace, Justin would say baby no, but Jessica would go get her baby doll and sit by me with her baby. 

Grammie, me and cute Brooke...shoppin!!!

 Tyson, Nate, Cade, Braden, and Megan at the rodeo!!

 Thank you Berrett family for coming to visit.  When they left for Fresno, they took Grammie  and my house was just way to quiet.  It ended four weeks of fun and playing with family!  Now back to reality!!!

Here is just a couple of pics I had to add....the babes holding hands in the car, Jessica sings a song and swings their hands together!

And here is the tie Nathan made Daddy for Fathers day...Jaron was such a great sport and wore it to church  for all to see!  Happy Fathers day to a wonderful father!!