Brayden's 4th B-day party!

We always seem to celebrate Brayden's Birthday early, since it is always around Labor day weekend. This year I won a B-day party at the gymnastics place in town. It was amazing! The kids loved it, and I barely had to do anything. The kids were the perfect age to participate and learn new tumblling/jumping routines.

We were lucky that cousins Hunter and Noah were in town to celebrate with us. Brayden was very pleased that he got to spend his B-day with big cousin Hunter. It was a very fun day, I can't believe my baby is already four. He can't wait to start his second year of preschool in a couple of weeks!

Swimming lessons!

Brayden has started swimming lessons! I think it is the best money I have ever spent. We are taking lessons from the Jacksons. Grandma Sal has been giving lessons for over 30 years from her house. She is wonderful, and a natural with the kids. She had all 10-12 kids in the pool and comfortable within the first five minutes! Three of her grandkids help her. Plus she knew everyone's name before the class ended the first day. AMAZING! If anyone lives in the area I totally recommend it! Brayden has been doing amazing, I am so proud of him. He got to be the leader yesterday and was the first one to jump in and swim across the pool. (They use a floaty that Grandma Sal calls a boat). I can't wait to take him tomorrow and see what else he learns!

She also has a wonderful, safe yard where the girls can play while I watch. That is one of the best parts!

Julie and Carter's visit!

YAY! We had a visit from Julie (my freshman year room mate from college) and her son, Carter. Brayden was looking forward to this for weeks (So was I)! We had so much fun, it was super-hot, in the 90s and 100s all weekend. All of the kids played in our wading pool the afternoon they got here. Which got kind of wild by the end, but the kids had a great time! Then that evening the four of us went to the movie in the park. It was the best thing ever, it's free and it was the perfect night. They played "A Bug's Life." The boys got to run around before the movie started and Carter even got an ant painted on his face. (Brayden was a little nervous about that). We didn' stay for the whole thing because everyone was tired from our big day.

The next day we went to River Front Park. Kent took the boys to an IMAX movie, which apparently they weren't big fans of. They couldn't wait for the rides. Julie and I shopped a bit, and then met them after the movie. They got to go on every ride at least once. Kent was a trooper and rode almost every ride with them. They even went on the spinning ones that made me sick just to watch. I was impressed!

After the rides and some lunch at the Pita Pit all the kids played in the fountain downtown. Ellie was the bravest, and was drenched from running all the way through while everyone else watched. As Nick Kralj says, "She's an animal." I have to agree, she is funny to watch, I think she will be keeping up/chasing the boys just like I did as a little girl. :)

After the park, we all came home and had naps. When everyone was rested after dinner, Julie and I thought it would be nice to take the boys for a bike ride down to the park. The boys hopped on their bikes and I loaded the girls in the wagon. Not so fun. Brayden fell before we even got to the park and had a total melt down. We had to go back to the house to get a band-aid to fix it. Julie and Carter went on down to the park. Later I found out Carter had a melt down also. Too much fun jammed into a day! Two tired moms learned their lesson.

It was a great weekend and visits like this make me miss Julie even more!

Great-Grandpa is 86!

We celebrated Kent's, Grandpa's 86th birthday last weekend. What a fun day at Grandma Phillips' house! It wasn't too hot and the kids got to run and play all afternoon. Plus, Grandma had special push-ups for them. They were even better than the cake. We love you Grandpa, you're lookin' good!

Fountains anyone?

My baby-sitter told me the pony tail on top of the head is called a "fountain." I never knew this, and I have been wanting to have cute pig tails on the girls since they were born. They are now almost 18 months old and they barely have enough hair for this fantastic hairstyle. Dani has more hair so it works better on her. Poor Ellie's was a little sparse. They lasted for half the day, which is longer than I expected. I thought for sure they would rip each other's out, but I think they thought they were funny! (Brayden picks out his own clothes, don't the green and orange go together nicely)?

A quick ride......

Owie Blister

Kent and I are determined to lose some pounds before we go on a cruise in October. Therefore, we have been trying to be more active and exercise while hauling three kids along with us! I have finally decided I can no longer use the excuse of carrying 16+ pounds of baby in this belly (since it has been almost 18 months)! SO..... I am playing outdoor soccer on Wed. nights, this last week it was 98 degrees out (not so fun for me). As a result, my sweaty feet were sliding around in my cleats and I got a blister the size of a small tumor on my heel. It's really not pretty. This has prevented me from being able to wear any real shoes.

Instead of taking our usual walk, I suggested we go on a long bike ride instead, then I could wear sandals, without having anything rub on my heel. This worked out really well! It was quite a ride, Brayden loved it and did an excellent job riding in his trailer. However, the girls not so much... Ellie thought it would be really fun to head butt Danielle with her helmet. Dani didn't think it was so fun and shrieked the entire time this was happening. Here we are riding our bikes past other pedestrians, with Dani shrieking, and me screaming at Ellie to stop.

We rode on the path through Liberty Lake (which reminded me of Sunriver and our senior trip, and it made me miss the girls)! Apparently while riding on this path next to a golf course we almost got nailed with a golf ball by some old guy. When we turned around to head home, he came running toward us apologizing (Kent thought he was under the assumption that we were turning around to kick his ass) for hitting the ball so close to us. The Phillips family had no clue we were about to be knocked out. We were trying to survive our own battle of our babies causing each other head injuries! This poor guy had no clue we are oblivious to everything around us!

It's always an adventure, notice in the pic. how my helmet is on crooked, almost sideways. Kent mentioned this to me after we had been riding for an hour. Does this really surprise you though? Also, note that Kent has Brayden all by himself and I have TWO girls duking it out behind me!

Sisterly love...???

Wow, it is an emotional roller coaster around here, and we haven't even hit the pre-teens yet. Danielle and Elizabeth love each other one minute, then they're slapping each other across the face the next. (Which is very funny, and almost impossible for me not to laugh)! Here are some pics. that I thought were too cute not to share!

Grandpa's 60th B-day!

Wow! It was a party weekend! Last Friday my sister, Kalin, planned a surprise party for my dad. A bunch of the girls that he has coached over the years came over. I am glad to say Kalin pulled off the surprise very well! (Danielle wasn't so sure about it, that's her hiding under the counter).

Then on Saturday my mom had the whole family over for a BBQ. What fun! The kids got to play in the pool and on the slip-n-slide. Big cousins Jeremy and Loren even showed the kids how the slip-n-slide works. Ellie was all about it, our 16 month old was cruising on that thing! We have been told she's an animal, I have to agree! Danielle was more into the cake and Brayden split his time between both. Happy Birthday Dad, I hope it was a good one!

'Couve girls

While we were in the 'Couve some of the girls (and husbands) got together with our massive amount of kids at the park. Not much chatting took place,

but it was a good work out for all of us. I agree

with Jocey, next time just girls, no kids.
As you can see, we all have adorable children,

I think I missed a few though. Hopefully Sarah will post her pics. because I know they will be

better!