'What a Guy Otta Do"

My dad often says "What a guy otta do..." followed by an idea to build or make something, or a guiness money making idea. We often say we ought to put all his ideas in a book. Sometimes he follows through with these guiness ideas and result is varied. He built/owns a homemade cannon that shoots bowling balls hundreds of yards up and forward. He also built this antique tractor that he proudly displays in parades and tractor shows etc. He now belongs to Spokane's Tractor Association. To celebrate Pioneer Day he led a little church parade in Spokane.

Notice the red rag in the back pocket, totally finishes the look! Love this guy, who could ask for a better dad.

All that is needed to complete this photo below is a pitch fork in my dad's hand and an apron on my mom! Can you believe my mom is 70 and my pa is 72 in October! They look so great!
My brother Chris and his wife Paula drove my Dad's model A car behing the tractor, which was pulling a trailer full of grand kids throwing out candy!
Maycie loved it! Her excitment is seen below!
My little man!
My blue eyed girl!
Here they are getting ready to lead the parade!
I love that my dad is so inventive and fun! He makes great memories!

Raspberry Fingers!

My mother has always kept, for as long as I can remember, a large raspberry patch. I have memories of having to get up early before the day got hot and pick raspberries for several hours. We used to put the raspberries on our fingers. I know there is a picture just like the one below of my brother doing the same thing as Nelson. These are not your dainty little raspberries. These are your bonified 'big ones'.
Check the dimple, love this boy!
Maycie is a diligent raspberry picker, this is her second year in a row. She stuck right with Grandma til' the job was done. She was very careful to only pick the ripe ones. She gave me strict instructions as to which ones those were. They had to be red, not pink.
How cute is this, Grandma Folsom and Maycie picking raspberries together, totally brings back memories. However, truth be told I did not enjoy picking like Maycie did, I used to evade this chore like no other.

Janie Girl!

Our little Jane is 20 months old today. It seems strange but tis' true. We can hardly call her baby Jane anymore. We finally got a new camera, our other has been on the blitz for awhile now. This afternoon I followed Jane around and tried to capture her little personality with our new camera. After just about every meal Jane comes back to help 'clean up'. She likes to eat the lefts overs, over and over again. She is my motivation to clean up quickly after meals. Here she is with a cob of corn after dinner tonight. She is my best eater to date!

Jane likes to point. She often will come to me and complain in her jibber jabbers about what one of her siblings is doing and she points to the culprit as she rats them out. It is pretty darn cute. She says lots of words. The word she says the most lately is OW. She often says it then comes to me to kiss her fingers. I hear ow about fifty times a day and it doesn't get old, it is cute every time. When asked what a cat says she replies " OOOOWWWW"! It is hands down her word as of late.
Kevin likes cookies and he especially likes Chocolate No-Bake cookies. He made some today. We typically sit with spoons and eat them before they have time to set up, we have no patience when it comes to sweets. Jane decided to for go the spoon today.

After eating 'trough style' she stood up and put her foot in a cookie. That was no problem for her she just ate if off of her foot. We were all dying laughing as we watched her.
Jane loves music and lately her favorite song has been 'The Dance' by Garth Brookes. She can be howling and Kevin starts to sing that song and she instantly stops and cuddles into his arms. It is a magical song. I should get it on video, you have to witness it to appreciate its effect.

Usually with the other kids by the time the youngest was 20 months old I am six months pregnant. It has been nice to really enjoy this age without being sick with a pregnancy.

When I was pregnant with Jane I had placenta previa and so there was high risk issues we were dealing with. During this time I asked Kevin for a blessing. This is something that is done in our church. It is where he places his hands upon my head and speaks a blessing. He blessed me that all would go fine with the pregnancy, that the doctors would do what they needed to in order to avoid problems and he also blessed that the new child would be a joy to our family. Jane has truly been a little joy to our family, collectively and individually. We are so happy to have her.

My Right Hand

When I first told my mother that my first born would be a girl she told me to train her up well and she will be my right hand. After having ten kids and her first being a girl I supposed she knew what she was talking about. Two years passed and Nelson joined our family. I could not for a second leave Maycie alone with Nelson, she would try to roll him off the couch or bed. She would attempt to harm him in many ways. One of the difficult thing each day was keeping the new little guy safe.

I did not then see any reality in my mothers statment at that time. But lately I see from time to time how a firstborn girl becomes a 'mother hen' at times and mimics exactly what she is seeing. Below is Maycie doing one of her chores, folding towels. She is meticulous at this task. Perhaps there is truth to my mother's words!

Hello Summer, Good Bye Spring!

In looking back on a few of the undocumented things we did this spring, I am gratiful for my little family. I am also gratiful for Summer, oh how I have missed you!

We enjoyed a visit from my niece Britney. While she was here we did some Seattle sight seeing including the troll under the bridge! We had never been to see this fellow before and the kids were in aww at the man. Understandable so!

Below are easter pics that I am finally posting.

Trying to get a good easter egg hunt pic, but not so successful.
Jane enjoyed the excitment along side of the other kids. We did a hunt at home and one at a friends house.

My sweet Maycie girl. She is a sweet little thing. The other day I said "I love you Maycie" and her reply was " And I love Daddy!" She is something else. Yes, mood y at times but sweet none the less. She is my little observer. She doesn't miss much or forget anything. She can tell me all about events I have long forgotten that occured three years ago, when you are five that is impressive to me!

Pajamas, Cereal and Cartoons

Life doesn't get much better then a morning of eating cereal on the couch in pajamas, a little cartoon viewing as well. Favorite part of this pic is Nelson's hair (no that is not a shadow behind his head)

San Antonio

In the middle of April Kevin had a Endodontic Conference that he wanted to go to and so he convinced me to leave our children in the care of his family and fly south to the sun, warmth and sunshine, oh and the land of mexican and bbq, all of which are some of my favorite things. It was hard to convince me. Here is Jane making it a bit difficult to pack. She is such a goofy lil' thing.
"Remember the Alamo" Here we are in front of the infamous Alamo. It was smaller than I anticipated but I enjoyed learning all the history behind it. While we were there San Antonio has having a celebration called Fiesta. It was a hoppin' place full of lots of people, food and good times.

We never would have anticipated meeting a group of LDS missionaries in front of the Alamo. I am guessing they were incoming missionaries, as they all looked a little green .

Here we are eating dinner on the river walk. The Riverwalk is the neatest thing in San Antonio, beautiful walkways, resturants and stores all opening up onto the river, It was a fun place to be. Kevin went to conference events during the day and we met for lunch and dinner and socializing in the evening. My mornings were leasurly, gloriously leasurly. Loved it!!
" Hello Mr, Gump, yes I would like a piece of chocolate." We posed with some wax figures.
In case you were confused Kevin is the one on the right, they look so similar, I know.
This is in front of the Ripley's place. An electricution chair. AHHHH! It was a fun trip and I enjoyed Texas, I always wanted to go there. A big thank you to my mother in law for taking on our three little ones while we were gone. It was wonderful.