Idaho Falls Fun

 Me and the girls spent a ween with my parents and hang out with family.  I was able to paint my parents kitchen and front room while I was there.  They are getting new counter tops and fixing thing up a bit and they needed the walls painted before they get the counters done.  (and I really do enjoy painting so it was fun)  In the above picture Brytlee is showing off her money that Grandpa paid her for cleaning his shop.  She vacuumed the whole thing and he didn't even ask her to do it.  She is such a great little helper.

 This is the before color

 The girls had so much fun being with grandpa and grandma!  I think we may have worn them out....

 This is the after pictures.... I love how much brighter it made everything and it just gives it a happy feel to the room. 

 The girls playing with grandpa's favorite toy

 Adi was able to drive with grandpa and didn't want to come to me at all

 We also took the kids swimming at Annette's pool while we were there. 

It feels like we have done a lot of swimming the last little while but the girls really love it and it feels so nice to cool down in the is hot hot weather.  Adison had a little life vest suit on and she did pretty well in it   It still makes me so nervous to just let her go under at all so I am still right next to her the whole time and she really keeps me busy because she is such a fast little mover.... 

Rigby Lake

 Annette and I took our kids to Rigby lake and it has been YEARS sense I have been there.  They have made it really nice with great sand, and put a slide on a dock, and put some other fun things in for the kids.  My girls were so scared to go on the slide for some reason but I told them they at least had to try it once.

 Adison wasted no time getting in..... she found the nice little warm pool and was in heaven. 

 Alexis made a nice little sand castle.

 And then we buried her

And all the kids had fun finding the little fish.  We would have stayed for a lot longer, but when you have two little baby's that really need nap time.... it kinda makes it hard to stay for more than a couple hours.  But we had a great time!

Swimming at Chris and Cindy's

 Chris flooded his yard last year for the girls to play in, and they have been asking to do it again ever sense.  So while we were staying with my parents for a week we were able to make him do it for us.  Adison really enjoyed the warm little kiddy pool and had a blast in it.   

 This picture cracks me up.  She was just so excited to see all the water all over the grass.

 These two were being so cute so I asked them to smile and they both did the same look.  Very funny

 After the sun went behind all the smoke in the air from the fires..... it was a little cold so Chris filled the little pool up with hot water.  The big kids kicked all the little kids out.....  but Adison soon took it back over.

 
Adison and her cousin Joslynn are only a few months apart and they are almost starting to play.  Adison still calls her a baby and talks to her like she is SO much smaller than herself.  I have to remind her that she is also a baby......

Swimming

 We went swimming at the Logan pool and it was so much fun.  The girls all loved it and Adison really loved being able to go in the shallow water and swim around.  It was the bravest she has ever been in the water and she had a blast

 Elizabeth and Alexis both did a bunch of tricks on the diving boards.  I was surprised they were brave enough to do front flips and dives of the high dive. 

 Elizabeth landed on her belly when she did a front flip on the high dive she she ended up sticking to the lower on for front flips.Brytlee really wanted to do the diving boards but they will  not let them have anyone catch them or have a life jacket so she was unable to try it out.... I really think it is time to put her in swim lessons.  She likes the water and can swim under water really well in the shallow ends but she is scared to death of the deep water. 

 The girls all loved the slides and Alexis and Elizabeth were both loving the fast slide.  I didn't think they would try it... but they surprised me again.  They went down over ten times.

 Brytlee was a little nervous going on the slide alone without a life jacket but after the first time she became a pro.

 Adison really loved going down the slide and she was so mad when they closed and wouldn't let us go to the stairs anymore.

 Where's the baby?

There she is!  It was so funny while we were getting dressed she went and climbed in the locker all by herself and shut the door. 

Ryan's work

 So after we got home from our little trip to the reunion and the baby blessing we found out that it was time for Ryan to start a job they had been waiting to start all summer.  And he was leaving in just two days.  It was all so fast and crazy that it didn't really feel real.  But now that he is gone it feels like he has been gone for MONTHS!!!!  I am not really great at being alone and it is hard to be at home with the girls without him.  The girls are missing him like crazy and want to talk to him all the time.  I only miss him when I am breathing so pretty much always.

It is crazy how when you are apart how much you realize you love someone.  Even the really cool things I would love are not as cool unless I can see them or share them with him. Even after 12 years of being married, Ryan still gives me butterflies in my stomach when I get to talk to him, see him, or even think about him.  I am glad I have my girls to keep me busy so I don't get to sad.... but there is nothing that replaces having my love with me.  I am so grateful to have a husband that takes such great care of us and I know that he loves us.  I feel like a part of me is missing while he is away and it is definitely the better part of me.  So I really hope that this job fly's and gets done so he can get back home!!!

Baby Blessing

 After our family reunion we were able to go and see Brad and Sara's new little baby Tate be blessed.  It was a very nice get together at her mom and dad's house and the girls had a lot of fun playing with cousins and putting on some shows/dances. 

 Elizabeth had fun playing in the phone booth and had to have a picture

This is a cute picture of little Tate Merrill at 7 weeks old.  He looks like a keeper!

Merrill Family Reunion

 Me and the girls were able to make it to our yearly Merrill Family Reunion up at West Piney girls camp.  But as my girls would call it.  "the cougar place".  I told them the first year we went there that they couldn't go off alone and to always stay in a group because they had seen cougars there before.   And that scared the pants of them for years and years.

 They all loved the slide and I really don't know how they ran up the stairs as many times they did.  I went up and down with Adison maybe ten times the whole time we were there and my legs were spent. 

 Adison loved being outside doing all that there was to do.  She is such a big girl and can swing on a big swing now. 

 We went for a little ride to a place that you can pick huckleberry's and all the grand kids were piled in the back of the truck....

 Summer taught Adison how to smell the flowers.  It was really cute. 

 I had to put these pictures on because I think they are by far the best pictures of me I have EVER seen!

 As I was walking down the hill.... I fell, but turned out to be a photo op...

 I have the cutest parents ever.  My girls adore them and love to hang out with them.  Brytlee and Adison are my dads little shadows.

 I am not sure what face Adison is making but it is funny. 

 I can alway's count on Brad to make us laugh!

 Lex looks pretty good in those also.

 My Dad brought up his potato gun and instead of putting potato's in it he put candy in it and launched it up in the air for the kids to go and find.  It was so cool.

 see all the candy in the air

 And then the kids going wild

 We were all having lunch when we noticed the two female moose having a drink in the stream... I was glad that none of our family was down below while they were there.

 Adison was kinda a bully to all the other little kids that were at the party.  I think she felt like she was the boss or something because she was bigger than them....

 The girls REALLY want to go on a hike the whole time we were there so we went on a little one that was sooooo beautiful.  The girls and boys all picked flowers along the way.   (I love this picture.   The little sad face of Liz and then the two little cheese-rs)

 We played minute to win it and my dad had us all laughing so hard.  He had to get the ping pong balls out of the box in a minute.  It was great.  Alexis also played and she was doing all sorts of tricks to get the balls out. 

 Lex made a new friend Sam.  They had  a lot of fun together

 Jex blew up the balloon that Alexis is holding and it was so huge.  He loved it and played with it so cute until it popped.  He was not happy about it.

 This picture cracks me up.... Annette and I last year never put makeup on or tried to hard to look very nice and when we got home there was a bunch of pictures on facebook of us looking...... really ugly so this year she made sure she got ready and looked her best for pictures.  (I still didn't get ready or shower the whole weekend....)

While we were up at the reunion it was my Grandma and Grandpa's wedding anniversary.  It was a really sad day for her and we had given her a card that said thank you for all the hard work she had done and on the front of the card were red roses.  She got tears in her eyes and said that Grandpa always gave her red roses for their anniversary.  Then she said that no matter what, love never dies.  Later that day my dad suprised my grandma with a dozen red roses and it was such a tender moment.  I couldn't help but cry when I saw tears in my dads eye's and then tears in my Grandma's eyes. 
We had a lot of fun this year staying up late playing games, eating yummy food, and it was so nice to get to be with all the family's and see how everyone has grown and changed.  I feel very blessed to be apart of such wonderful family's.