For family home evening last night we had a little lesson about life and then played the board game “Life”.  Alonzo loved playing the game.  He had a purple car, which he picked out.  He liked driving it around on the board.  Each time he got a pay-day he would hold out his hand for his money.  It was a great family activity and we can’t wait to play it again.

Another part of real life is that my baby is four months old.  We had a little photo shoot and these were my favorite ones.  I like how she is posing for me.

I have to share a sweet moment with my baby.  This morning she was talking when she woke up.  I got dressed and went in to get her.  She smiled a huge smile when she saw me and then squealed when I picked her up.  Who wouldn’t want to wake up to that everyday?  What a sweet baby.

I can’t believe I got them not only sitting by each other (and touching) but also smiling!

Here’s a new quote from Alonzo.  “Mom, I’m growing up.   I’m a big boy.” 

Also on my birthday I played basketball in the morning and then went to lunch with some of my basketball friends.  It was so fun to hang out with all of them.   Then that night I went on a great date with my hubby.  We saw a movie.  It was so fun to go out together.

The three storage shelves we built together.

Organizing all our junk, I mean storage, was the best part.  It may not look neat to you, but it is much better than before and they are all organized into different sections.  I hope to get rid of some old things from high school.  Maybe someday I will sort through things and throw them out.  Then we will have even more space.

We made cake balls to celebrate with.  Can you guess how old he is now?  Alonzo liked blowing out the candle for him.

Alonzo picked out a new shirt, some candy, and cashews for daddy for his birthday.  Before we gave him his present we wrapped it and it was sitting downstairs.   Alonzo pointed out the present and said, “Can we eat it?” 

I finally got around to doing Whitney’s letters for her shelf.  It was a fun project that Alonzo helped me with.  I painted them and then he put the glue on the wood for the paper letters to stick to.  He really liked having the paint brush and helping me with the project.  He is very neat and didn’t like it if anything got on him.

Here is a close up of the paper I used.

This is how Whitney feels about her new letters!

This is our latest family picture.  It was so fun that we got to dress up and take a Western old fashioned photo.  Alonzo had way too much fun with his gun.  I don’t know where he learned stuff like that.  Ben said if he knew we were going to do this he would have gone back home to get a big shot gun.   Oh well, I think it turned out great.

We had a lot of fun celebrating 150 years since Peoa was settled.  There were lots of fun things to do and booths to visit.  They showed off Peoa’s history and Ben’s dad was in charge of it all.  They even made t-shirts.

Alonzo went fishing and got bubbles.

He loved throwing the bean bags at the piggy.

Ben hadn’t seen his family since he got home from Afghanistan.  So it was nice for him to see everyone again.

There were lots of tractors, wagons and old farm equipment to see.  This is grandpa Marchant’s.  It is a rake that was pulled by horses.

This is Ben’s sister’s family taking the Western photo.

I didn’t know it, but Alonzo loves to swim.  Here he is with some goggles swimming away at the Sports Academy.  I had to go to the dentist so my sister-in-law watched my kids.  She asked Lono if he wanted to go swimming and next thing she new, he was jumping in the pool.  She said he had lots of fun splashing and walking around. 

Sometimes I feel like a bad mom.  He has really only gone swimming in a pool about 3 times.  That’s his whole life, not just this summer.  I learned that USU has some family swim nights that are free for us because of Ben’s work, so I’m going to take him swimming.  I’m thinking if there are two parents there we can each take care of one of the kids.  Then my little boy can have fun swimming again.

Whitney is having some firsts and that is really fun.  She giggled for the first time yesterday and she did it twice.  This morning she giggled for Alonzo and boy did he love that.  He tried over and over to get her to laugh again with no success, but I’m sure she’ll do it for him again soon.  At least that got him interested in her.  Most of the time he just ignores her.

She has also started grabbing things and putting them to her mouth.

I better watch out because Alonzo tried to give her some cereal.  Next thing I know, she is going to be putting everything in her mouth.

Most of the time was spent sitting around the campfire like this.

Alonzo had fun in his own little camp chair.

Rachel and Kalyssa took the grandkids for a walk.

The walk was a learning experience filled with different tents to stop at.  At each tent they learned about something new.  They studied leaves, a birds nest, and even ate tree shaped sugar cookies at the end.

This is a cute picture of the grandkids on a log.

They had fun popping up balls off of the parachute.

This is called the “Go Devil.”  I’m not exactly sure how it got its name, but you should sure watch out when someone little is driving.

It was a fun reunion.  Thanks for the party, Melissa.