Duncan decided (out of the blue) one morning that he was going to make lunch and be 'The Chef'.
He made Charlie and I peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a blueberry smiley face.
Best surprise lunch by Chef Duncan to date!
The boys finished off their two week swimming lessons.
I wanted to get some good pictures on their last day so during the 'end of the lesson playtime' I grabbed the camera and a noodle and floated around the pool getting action shots.
Good times.
We spent the 4th of July in beautiful Bear Lake.
I've always loved Bear Lake (probably because Bobby and I spent a lot of time up there when we were dating) but I think I love it even more now that our children are making memories there.
As much as I wish we could just hop on over to the cabin anytime we wished, the fact that we only get there once maybe twice a year makes it so we REALLY appreciate the time when we do get to go.
The beach was Duncan's most loved place to play and would have loved it if we had let him play there every minute of every day. There was kayaking, raft jumping, jet skiing, boating/tubing, and paddle boarding...along with playing in the sand and seashells.
I was telling Duncan on our way back to the cabin from the beach that there are so many kids to play with (Bobby's cousin's kids etc.) and he said that was his favorite thing about Bear Lake.
It's true, there's no shortage of kids running around and living up their carefree days of summer and childhood.
Charlie's favorite place to be was in the tire swing.
He would get this blissful closed eye look on his face as soon as the swing took off.
Somewhere in the Rich archives there's a picture of Bobby asleep, as a little boy, in the same type of tire swing on the same porch.
Charlie also really enjoyed the player piano and sat there mesmerized with each loud magical song.
The Patterson families gathered for a grand fireworks show.
Of course the boys loved that!
When we got back from Bear Lake the Cramers stopped through for a night's rest and then needed to head back to Washington. But not before the kids had a chance to run around and get their 'traveling for 5 hours' wiggles out.
Bobby's cousin, Elisa and her two cute kiddies, were in town spending time with her in-laws and wanted to stop by for an afternoon visit. It was great to have them over and catch up on their lives in Texas. I especially loved chatting with Elisa about her thoughts on healthy eating and discussing child-rearing books! :)
Popcorn and toys were all this little group needed to be happy.
Best Friends playing in the rain.
Costco was giving out golden samples - full Creamies to every customer.
So we hung out on this couch and ate up.
We've been looking to get a pull out bed/couch like this one for our upstairs area...it a thorough testing.
It's still amazing to me that one seed can produce actual food.
The squash hasn't been super tasty or fruitful in our garden this year but everything else is growing and tasting great.
Bob went in to wake Charlie up for church and found him comfortably napping on the floor.
We made our homemade Chinese
It's been awhile since we've made this but man it's good.
You cannot buy this kind of quality anywhere in Boise or the surrounding area - believe me we've looked!
Brown Fried Rice served with Sweet and Sour Chicken fried in coconut oil.
Yum to the 3rd power.
More rain - just with rain gear this time...
and thunder and lightning.
I showed the boys how to make crayon rubbings with leaves from our backyard.
Family Home Evening: playing T-Ball at the nearby grassy park.
Sometimes it's nice to just spend time together strengthening our relationships.
(plus, I forgot to bring the Friend magazine to read a story from :)
Charlie and I rolled a ball back and forth while going through the alphabet, then Bobby played tag with the boys all over the park basketball court.
Getting introduced to tree climbing!
We've always done stories and songs at bedtime but more recently it's turned into snuggling (and eventually sleeping) on Duncan's bed while we do stories and songs. Bobby and I take turns each night and whoever isn't doing bedtime usually comes into wake the other up after so much time has passed. :)
The last day of having our Children's Museum Pass.
There was a bubble exhibit going on which was pretty sweet.
Bobby and Duncan are in a giant circular bubble here:
The grocery store is always eagerly anticipated. The boys seemed to enjoy more of the sciency exhibits than they have in the past as well.
I took this picture because it always makes me so happy to see our boys soaking up books all on their own. I didn't realize 'til I was putting this post together what the box says:
"This box is filled with GOODNESS"
True Dat.
Charlie...offering to do his Family Job?!
YES!
We bought dominoes for playing Mexican Train as a family.
Dominoes are two-fold though and make great building material.
Celebrating Pioneer Day with our Stake.
The boys made these Twirly things and enjoyed running around and watching them spin.
We finally made it to the front of the snow cone line!
Getting ready to paint...again!
Let's hope we get it right this time. :)
Duncan loves to present me with flowers and I love that he does that.
He was especially happy with this little bouquet because he "used the shovel and even got the root!"
Something we are always trying to stress when he does weeding for a Pay Job.
Grandpa came to town! We had a few extra one on one hours with him before the Cramers arrived.
The boys loved the attention.
Grandpa slept outside in a big tent with all the grandkids both nights.
I had cleaned our back door window that day and it turned out to be a bad idea after the sun went down.
All three Cramer kids had a turn running into the door thinking it was wide open.
At one point, Steve was soothing a child by the door after a run-in and another child came bounding into the door less than a minute later.
The adults were really trying to keep it together.
We put an end to their head bumps and pulled out the white board markers to mark that puppy up!
I think it was therapeutic for them to draw frown-y faces and 'Danger' all over it. :)
Bobby and Steve went for a ride along the Green Belt River while the rest of us played play-doh and hung out. Grandpa and the kids got into a fun looking water fight after that. (Livy was doing a great job continually filling Grandpa's shoes he left on the grass, with water :)
We celebrated Cody's 10th birthday with Papa John's, cake, and presents.
Then put on a movie in the tent and made some popcorn to finish off the evening.
On Sunday, we let the kids glue their own treehouses made with Cherry tree branches my dad cut up. I admit I 'helped' Duncan and quite enjoyed myself. :)
We enjoyed having company and our boys loved having cousins to play with from sun up to sun down.
'Til next month!
