We miss you, Simpsons!

We left a day early from the reunion to stop by our friends, the Simpsons, who lived just a couple of hours away from where we were. They were our friends from chiropractic school. They were actually the very first people we met at church and they invited us over for dinner that night. How nice! So we were friends from day one of 3 years worth. It was a lot of fun to see them and visit. Our kids are similar ages. Rex and Kymora were really good friends.
Eli and Bo were getting everyone wet. They had a lot of fun in the sprinklers.
Here is Asa with Quinn. I can't believe Asa is almost as big as him (they are 4 months apart). Two chunky babies, but they couldn't be any cuter!
The kids played well together. Bob enjoyed visiting Darnell's office, while I got to stay home with Amy and catch up on all the gossip. Yes, that means we were probably talking about you if you are reading this blog. J/K...well, sort of :)
Asa loved playing in their yard. I just thought this was a cute pic. Thanks for the hospitality guys. You made us feel very welcome...and the showers were awesome!!

Happy Campers

Just some more random pictures from the reunion. Apparently it was hard work riding in the backpack.
Bob making us some firewood with his new hatchet.
What is camping without smores?
This is my dad and grandpa. I only see my grandpa once in a blue moon and who knows, this could be the last time that I see him. It was nice to have him come up for the day. It was a good visit for everyone.
Asa is really enjoying his licorice. Bob brought a big old canister to share with everyone. Lots of red tongues!

All in all the reunion was fun. It was a long drive for our family, but that allowed us to see some friends on the way. Bob was nervous for his office to be closed for so long, but when he came back his numbers didn't drop at all, which was nice. People missed him. I have decided that camping with little kids is a lot of work! Kudos to you mom for doing it all those years. I think camping is way more fun when you are a kid :) I have proof since my boys loved being there, except for when their older cousins told them there was BigFoot. Camping for a whole week with no showers wasn't my favorite, but it was nice to be out in nature away from things. Rex did get really sick that Bob had to take him into town. It ended up being really expensive because we had to buy a nebulizer for him. His cough was horrible. When he went to the Dr. he sat there and told him that he was already getting better because his grandpa and dad had given him a blessing on his head. How sweet! I love those little learning moments. Anyway, between the campfires, games, and just visiting it was a successful trip and it is always good to see my family. I wish we didn't live so far away from them all. I am glad Elise is living in tri-cities now! Hopefully the next one will be even better in 2 years!

Fun at the lake

Here is grubby faced Eli ready to go out on one of the inflatable boats. One time when I took him out he started screaming and grabbing the back of his neck saying, "Bug!" It turns out a HUGE bumblebee was stinging him. He went to grab it and it stung him on his finger too! Poor thing. Bob came over really fast to get it off of him, but he was done on the water after that. I don't blame him.
Asa had a good time on the beach. I put his feet in the water, but it was a little too cold for him.
Once again, Rex and his cousins throwing things. This time it happens to be mud and water. Boys, boys, boys.
He is not discriminate to what he ingests. Dirt, sand....it's all the same :)
Bob is treading water with my brothers. Good bonding time.

Family Reunion in Wyoming

Here is my wonderful family! It is all of my brothers and sisters with their families and my parents. There were 38 people there for the week. The week started off badly because the original spot we had picked was horrible. So we had to find another one before the sun went down, so stress levels were high. Thanks to Bob we were able to find a campsite close that was a nice place right on a lake.
Can you say DIRT!!! That is all Asa was covered in all week. He is not the sit in your lap type of baby. I had no choice but to let him roam. So he was covered head to toe. (with a little in his mouth and belly too :)
Here is one of the nights where I couldn't take it anymore so we gave him a bath before bed. Isn't he adorable? Yes, he is smiling like that at least 50% of the time. He is a happy little boy.
Here is Rex playing with his cousins. This is a game of Bob's family that we brought that is a lot of fun. It is a beanbag throwing game which is a lot of fun. The adults played more than the kids!
Here is Eli playing the game (their modified version) with Malina. They were so cute playing together, laughing and taking turns. Good family times!

Riding the wave!

They had a surfing simulator there that was so fun! We all took a turn (except Asa, of course). Eli technically wasn't supposed to go on since you had to be taller than the body board, which he wasn't, but we talked the lifegaurd into it anyway. He did awesome! He stayed on there longer than most people we saw.
Here is a close up of him riding the wave. On one of his turns he totally wiped out. When that happens the water takes you all the way back up to the top. Since he was so small he got zipped up there fast and slammed against the wall. He wasn't hurt, but he was embarrassed. When that happened his swimsuit dropped to his knees and Bob had picked him up and threw him in the air without realizing it. So when we talk about him going on it all he says is that people saw his "naked bum bum." It's pretty funny.
Rex was good at the bodyboarding too.

Of everyone, I think Bob had the most fun on this thing. He went several times. I didn't have the camera there when he did his flips that he is really proud about. He was like a little kid getting in line over and over. I am glad he had fun. He was the biggest guy doing it and everytime he started there would be a huge wave of water that splashed everyone that was close. Fun stuff!

Water park!

We had so much fun going to the water park in Moses Lake. It had a lot of fun things, plus it was relatively cheap! Bob even had a lot of fun, which is saying something! Our boys loved it and they wore themselves out. Neither of them have ever taken swim lessons before, but they did really well in the water. (They love our pool in the backyard.) Bystanders were calling Rex a little fish. My kids were some of the only ones that would go face first into the water. Then Rex started going down the slide and would stand up at the bottom to jump off the end of the slide to use it like a diving board. He had some pretty good dives!
Here is Eli going down the slide. He loved splashing in the water.
Here is Rex swimming. By the end of the day his eyes were killing him. They were so red from the chlorine. He has no qualms about putting his head under water. He is learning to swim all by himself. I think I should sign him up for a class anyway. He would have a lot of fun.
Our good friend, Ryan Penrod, came to visit us from Chicago. He was Bob's best man at our wedding. We actually all worked together at college. He came out here for Hoopfest in Spokane. (Their team didn't do so hot this year, don't bring it up :) So he was able to come to the waterpark with us. He does a good job playing with the kids. They call him Uncle Penrod.
Here is Bob and Rex chillin' on the lazy river. We would take breaks throughout the day and hang out on the intertubes. I had the camera (of course) so you don't see the pics of me with Asa.

Birthday boy turns 3!!

As you have seen in earlier posts, Eli really likes to help out. He was excited to help make his birthday cake. And yes, he smiles like that all the time.
Here he is enjoying being sung to with anticipation of blowing the candles. We were able to have some of Bob's family here for the celebration.
What can I say? He is really good at cheesing for the camera. He was excited to have a "pirate" ship's wheel to add to his swingset.
The big present of the year was his hockey equipment. We got him sticks and pucks and grandma and grandpa perkes got him a hockey net. He has become obsessed with hockey since Bob took him to a game earlier this winter. (We have a semi-pro team in town.) He tells us all the time he wants to be a hockey player. Needless to say, he was thrilled to get his hockey stuff.
Water hockey, anyone? Yes, our crazy son was so excited he took the hockey sticks with him everywhere that night. He ended up in the pool swimming with them singing "Happy Birthday to me." It was really cute.

Anyway, I just can't believe Eli is already three. It is weird to have him get older. He has grown a lot in the last year. He has started to talk where we can understand him most of the time :) He is very athletic and tags along with Rex everywhere. He is so sensitive and compassionate. He has such a loving heart. One of my favorite things he does is when he comes up to me and randomly gives me a hug and says, "I like you, mom." He loves his baby brother, sometimes a little too much if you know what I mean :) He has such a different personality and we already know he will be the child we will always have to keep an eye on. He has a little devilish side to him that he makes us aware of everyday. Examples from just this weekend: He threw a rock at a car after waving at the driver. He put bubblebath in the toilet and got Asa to play in it with him. He got a hold of the swiffer and left puddles of cleaner everywhere. He turned on the hose and went after Rex, laughing hysterically. He broke a tent pole. I washed their carseats and he ripped up the foam cushion on the seat. I think you get my point. But despite all of that we love him to pieces. Our life would be boring without him. I can't imagine life without him and I am so happy he came to our family. We love you Eli!

Hogs 'N Dogs

Hogs 'n dogs is an event in town where people get together to eat hot dogs and check out a bunch of motorcycles. Since I am not a huge motorcycle fan, I took pictures of my kids instead. They make better pictures anyway. Here is Eli chowing down on his hot dog.
Rex thought he was cool for putting one of his fritos over his teeth. Lovely smile.
Here is little Ace chilling in his stroller. It was just a good night to share as a family doing something different.

Sorry so long!

After you slack off in the blogging department it is a dooming task to try to tackle. Thus I have been avoiding it, and now I have even more to catch up on. Oh, well. I guess you will just get shortened versions of some things.