We Love Summer

We have had one great Summer. We spent a lot of our days on the boat. We were able to take friends with us a few times. Janet and Nick came with us quite a bit, which we love. At the end of the Summer we invited several families to come with us. It was a blast. The kids had fun tubing and knee-boarding. A friend brought some ice blocks so the kids went ice blocking. So grateful for amazing friends.

We had fun swimming in Janet's pool at her apartment. We also spent many afternoons at a water park that we have a membership to. We have had a great Summer, just even hanging out in the backyard playing and eating Popsicles. We will miss Summer.

 Tanner has the best boat hair.

 This girl loves her Uncle Nick.

 Next Karate kid?

 Boating with friends!!

Ice Blocking

Grandma and Grandpa

Dave's parents were able to come visit us for a whole week, the kids were in heaven. They don't get to see them very often so it is quite the treat to have them. We had a fun and very busy week. We started off by heading up to Leavenworth, which is a little German town. Dave's dad went on his mission to Germany so we thought he would love it and he did. We spent the day looking at all the shops. We also went to a petting zoo near by, which the kids loved.
Dave and his dad had a fun day of fishing. They went on a guided fishing day trip and learned to fish for Perch and Walleye. They had a successful day. That night my dad offered to take them Sturgeon fishing on his boat. They had a lot of fun.
The fair was going on that week, so we went to the fair one afternoon. The kids had fun looking at all the animals and going on outrageously priced rides but the had a great time.
We also took them out on our boat. The kids had fun tubing, knee-boarding, and Ella wake boarded.
Grandma always brings crafts and fun games to play. We had a great time and can't wait for them to come again.

S-E-V-E-N

Our sweet Ella turned 7. For her birthday we decided to invite a couple of friends to go to "Smurfs 2" and have ice cream cake. It was the best and easiest party I have every done. The girls had fun. She also got a haircut that night by one of her friends that led to her getting side bangs.
Ella loves to learn, she is literally a sponge and remembers most of what she learns. She knows all of her Articles of Faith, thanks to her dad. She loves school. She loves to play Just Dance on the Wii as much as I let her. She loves her friends and is always wanting to have someone over to play. The girl is crazy brave. She has gotten up on double skis and wake boarding this summer. She is a pro at knee boarding. She has really started to read too. She can read small chapter books with a little bit of help. She is a great big sister. We love having our happy Ella in our family.

Birthday Girl

She's one and I cannot believe it. She is really turning into her own little person and she is hilarious. The older she gets the more she makes me laugh. She has some of the best facial expressions and she becomes more opinionated everyday. She loves her sister so much but she doesn't trust Tanner, and for good reason. He has a tendency to push her and bother her. She is slowly liking people better. We sure love our Soffie.

-The girl loves food, especially fruit, sugar, and dairy.
-She crawls all over but is too scared to walk and gets very angry when we try to make her.
-She is starting to transition to one nap a day.
- Loves to be outside.
-She loves to dance, lucky for her her sister is constantly listening to music.
-She loves her blanket and pillow pet.
-She is a binky lover, it may be a problem when we take it away.
-She is a nightmare to change her diaper.

Soffie's 1 year Photoshoot

 I have seen so many cute ideas for a 1 year photo shoot and so I was ridiculous and bought her an outfit that she won't wear again but it was so fun. I think the pictures turned out cute, it doesn't hurt that she is stinkin cute.

 I love this picture, she has so many facial expressions and she loves to give dirty looks.

Twin Lakes

 This year at Twin Lakes was probably one of my favorites, we had a great time. It started out a little stressful because our boat has been having a few problems. We thought the problem was fixed but it wasn't. Luckily we know a lot of people up there and everyone helps each other. There was a guy in the camp that knows a lot about boats and he had it fixed in about 10 minutes. Luckily it was just some wiring that was switched. Our boat has been great ever since.
My sister Janet and her husband, my brother and his family, my sister Stephanie and her kids, and my sister Trina and her family came. The weather was pretty nice, we had a lot of warm days. The kids had fun swimming, skiing, and knee boarding the whole week. Ella tried skiing for the first time this year, she was able to get up for a little bit each time she tried. Tanner tried knee boarding all my himself this year. He actually ended up falling and screaming but he did it again the next day. I was pretty surprised.
We also had lots of crafts to do fro the kids. The kids had a snowball fight, we made duct tape purses and wallets, we did rocket balloons, giant bubbles, and lots of other fun crafts.
Soffie was so excited to be at Twin Lakes that she woke up at 5 am every morning. She was also cutting 4 teeth that week, so she was a little raging. Luckily by the end of the week she was back to her normal sweet self.