Piney Place

Chad and Britt and the boys are in Rexburg for the summer doing an internship at BYU-I.  Since they are so close, we have been able to see them much more often and the kids have loved being together with the cousins.  We decided to head their way for a week and spent some time at Uncle Alan's cabin in Island Park with all the Losees.  We had such a fun, relaxing time and loved being together.  Here are the highlights of our week.

We stopped in Idaho Falls at The Great Bambinos for dinner on our way up - this place was recommended by a friend of ours so we tried it out.  It was different but good.

 Once we got to the cabin, Grammie immediately distributed goodies for the kids.  They each got a bug catcher and some treats.  The bug catchers were a big hit and the whole week was spent finding all sorts of bugs and creatures. 

 Papa brought his new Ranger along and it was a perfect place for it.  The kids had to wear helmets and looked oh so cute as passengers.  Everyone had a blast taking turns on the fun new toy.  (Except me.  Josh wouldn't allow an 8 month pregnant lady to ride.  I guess he didn't want to deliver a baby in the woods?)

 We went through lots of plastic cups and paper plates during the week.  We tried to minimize that by having everyone write their names on a cup and keep using the same one.  The kids went one step further and drew pictures and designs on their cups.  And actually the kids cups lasted most of the week - the adults should have followed their example.

 Of course there has to be some sort of competion when we get together.  Hayley organized a Losee Olympics (just in time for the real Summer Olympics to start) and we spent the week playing games and having fun.  She separated us all into teams and made wristbands for all of us to wear.  Team Canada, Team Brazil and Team Italy. We even had an opening ceremony to distribute the bands and get our teams organized. 

 First group game was Ping Pong Blowing.  Each team had 3 ping pong balls painted as our team flag and the goal of the game was to blow everyone elses ball off the table and try and keep your own team ball on the table.  We played the best of 10 rounds.  I'll admit, this game got a little heated but in the end we all had a great time.

 We also had individual tournaments and the winners contributed to the overall team score at the end.  Ladder ball was one of them (this is one of my favorite games to play.  Super fun.)

 Another team game - the Sock Game.  One member from each team competed at a time.  Wearing a pair of gloves you had to try and get as many socks on your feet in a certain amount of time.  Looks easy, but really was hard.  Once again - we had a fight or two break out during this game.  What are we, competitive?

 After the game, Justin stuffed Ranger's clothes full of socks and turned him into Sumo Wrestler.  So cute!

 Water balloon dodgeball was our next group game.  The kids loved this and adults got really into it. 

 Bocce ball.

 At the end of the week, we had a closing ceremony and the medals were awarded.  Team Brazil took home the bronze, Team Canada the silver and Team Italy the gold.  Hayley did a great job organizing everything and we had fun all week playing our games and doing activities!

 There was plenty to eat while we were there. 

 And the kids loved playing/exploring/laughing and just being together.  It has been a summer of fun with the cousins!

 The four oldest kids, Rease, Nolan, Rhen and Wyatt were inseperable.  We didn't worry about them much because we knew the four of them were together and having a blast.

 The dads took the kids down to the river to play and swim.  The water was cold but it didn't stop anyone from getting in!

 One of the days we drove up to Yellowstone and spent the day.  We had fun seeing all the wildlife and the beautiful park.

 Notice that Josh and I and the kids are only in a few of these pictures.  Halfway through the day I started having some pretty good contractions and was afraid that I would be stuck in the middle of nowhere without an epidural - so we headed back to the cabin early.  False alarm in the end, but we know better than to test our luck with having a baby in the car!

 Liev was in heaven playing in the dirt all week.  Just what he always wants to do - get dirty and not get in trouble for it!

 We had some fun nights around the campfire, singing songs and making yummy smores. 

 And we enjoyed some beautiful sunsets.

 We had a fabulous week together.  Before we left, Justin wanted to get some pictures of the whole family together.  Mom, dad and the five kids.

 This is us trying to do a squishy face picture and I felt like more than my face was being squished.

 The whole gang. 

We love being together and being in such a beautiful spot!  Thanks for the fun memories everyone!



Broken Arm

We had the first "break" in our house this week. Liev has been a master at the stairs for months now - sliding down on his tummy as fast as he can go. Just recently he has decided that he is old enough to start walking down the stairs just like his sisters. I usually catch him in the act and turn him around before any major fall happens. But this week Josh and I both happened to not be watching and he tumbled from the top stair all the way to the bottom. Poor little guy was in shock I think. He cried for a little bit but then mostly just whimpered and wanted to cuddle with dad. It happened right before bedtime so after he was settled down, we put him to bed and then didn't think much else of it. It wasn't until 2 days later that I really started to notice that he was having trouble with his left arm. He couldn't fall without crying and then would take a long time to get up (and only pushed himself up using his right arm.) Also, whenever I'd pick him up by his arms or hands, he would cry. I decided to take him into the pediatrician for a quick look. This is Liev waiting for the doctor to come take a look. He seems happy enough - little did he know he had a long day ahead of him. After a quick look from the doctor he said he was pretty sure the arm was broken and sent us up to radiology for some x-rays. The x-rays were hard on Liev since I couldn't hold him (no x-rays for the pregnant lady!) and the x-ray techs had to hold his arm still. It took 2 ladies to hold him (while he screamed and cried) and 1 other lady to take the x-ray. After a series of x-rays we headed back down to the doctors office and he confirmed that the left wrist was broken. He put a soft cast on it for a couple days and it didn't seem to bother Liev. (Plus he looked so cute with it on!)After a few hours though he figured out how to get the ace wrap off and, from then until the hard cast was on, it was a battle between him and me to keep the thing on! He looks so proud that he figured out how to get it off on his own doesn't he?We were so happy to finally get the hard cast on. I opted for black (so it doesn't get dirty) and waterproof (to make it easier on mom during these hot, summer months of swimming and taking baths.) Such a cute boy with his cast on!The doctor said it was one of the "coolest" casts he's every put on because it is so tiny and also because it's black. Whatever it is, we are glad to have his little wrist taken care of!

Ice Cream

Grammie Beutler made ice cream cones for the kids.  I don't think anyone enjoyed it more than Liev did.  And he is so proud to be one of the big kids now and have his own ice cream cone!

Children's Museum with the Cousins

Chad and Britt spent some time with us this week and the kids had so much fun with their cousins.  One day we took them downtown to the new Children's Museum in the Church History Museum.  They had a blast playing together!

4th of July 2012

This year we spent the 4th of July in Daybreak.  Chad and Britt and the kids were down from Idaho and we loved spending time with them.  Dad recently got called to be the bishop in their new ward and they were putting on a children's parade and breakfast the morning of the 4th.  We gathered and spent a great day together!

 Rease and Rhen were very excited for the day and that they got to ride their bikes in the parade.

 All the kids decorated their own bikes and mom and dad pulled the babies in the wagon.

 The parade specatators.

 After the parade we had a fruit and muffin breakfast and then a candy hunt for the kids (candy at 9 in the morning?  Only on the 4th of July).

 We spent the rest of the morning at Grammie and Papa's playing in the water and soaking in the hot tub.

 We finished off our day at the BYU soccer game that night.  It was a perfect night and a fun game to watch.

 The game ended just in time for us to watch the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire.

Happy 4th to everyone!