Summer Fun

I have a lot of catching up to do on the blog. We've had a great summer full of days at the lake and bike rides. I'm very sad to see it go.

A few shots of Finn and BFC (best friend cousin) Gideon playing in the sand and on the pier.

Family Reunion

I didn't take many pictures, that is why I was waiting so long to post this. Come on family members post your pictures so I can steal them!

It was a great time being with the family, having water balloon fights, playing on the waterslide, eating ice cream (24 hours a day), playing games and just talking.

Beautiful Midway.
We have a great family history, so the kids acted it out for us, we even had a few scalpings. Luckily grandma has lots of props and costumes she brought along. Gideon was a great cowboy.

New Nephew! Joshua Rex Selph

Bath Time

What started with one kid taking a bath, turned into five kids taking a bath. As each cousin walked in to see what was happening, they started taking their clothes off. After 4 babies were in the bath, I figured I might as well throw Finn in. We all know how much he loves the water.

Thank goodness my parents have a large tub.

March Birthday's

Our family has a lot of birthdays in March. Sunday afternoon we had a combined birthday party at my brother Matt's house.



Cousin Emmie!





Playing on the tramp.



Finn wearing his 4 year old cousin's hat, and it fits.




Ben is not a fan of visors (neither am I).



One of the birthday boys, Mathais.



Finn playing and being cute.

Finn getting kisses

Just a random picture from a family lunch we had last Tuesday. Finn is totally irresistible. My sister in law Becca just had to go in for a kiss.

Flashback Friday - China 1997

When I was growing up I was very spoiled with my dad being in the advertising business. Practically once a year, our family would get to go on a "media trip". I've gone to London, Rome, Alaska, The Caribbean, Belize and the best was China. I went there in 1997 with my sister Christina, brother Matt and mom.

China is just so different from everything we are used to. I would never think that China would be a great vacation spot, but it is still to this day one of my favorite trips ever.

The Forbidden City.




Tian'anmen Square. No, we did not ask to take pictures with these Chinese people. Everywhere we went they wanted pictures of us. Especially me because I had blond hair. It was like I was Britney Spears or something.



My favorite, the Great Wall of China. It was absolutely beautiful. The mountains were amazing. The bus ride to the Great Wall, was terrifying. They drive like maniacs.




The Summer Palace.




Not sure where this is, but here is a picture of some of the locals.



One of our exciting trips was to the Beijing Zoo. We got lost forever in the stupid zoo and it was raining. We just wanted to see some panda's. We got to see a bunch of other animals. A few grizzly bears that you could shout out Chinese commands to and they'd either dance or pray. And some really sad animals, I guess PETA is good for something in the US because our zoo's are much much nicer.



Mmmmm our favorite place to eat. I lost 10 pounds in a week in China because the food was so horrible. No, real Chinese food isn't the same as Panda Express or PF Changs.



We took Rickshaw rides to the Drum Tower. This is not our original Rickshaw driver. The first driver looked at me and my brother and just said "no". He then recruited this guy, obviously a much bigger stronger man. I was amazed at how well this guy pulled me and Matt up so many hills.




Here are some rice fields.



And here is my mom. I have no idea where this is, I should have blogged about this years ago.

To Hold You Over....

Our camera broke the day after Christmas. So I have all these wonderful photos from Christmas and I haven't gotten them off my camera yet. That is my lame excuse for not blogging in weeks!

To hold you over, I stole this picture from my sister in law's blog. This is from Christmas, our family got the key's to the church so we could let the many kids run around. It worked out perfect and kind of wore them all out. The kids played Red Rover, Simon Says, Kickball and broke a Pinata filled with awesome toys. I'll post more pictures later, but here are the 2007 babies sitting from oldest to youngest on the beautiful church couch.

Left - Gideon, Middle Left - Finn, Middle Right - Emmie, Right - Julianne.

Castle of Chaos

Friday night Ben and I babysat for my brother Matt. They have three very cute, very engergetic kids. A few of the good and the bad highlights:

The Good.

1. Reading books before bedtime. I read to Finn most nights, but he just doesn't enjoy them as much as Isaac and Mathais.

2. Finally having a reason to check out the sweet new Carl's Jr inside playground.

3. Trying out all of Finn's bath toys with Mathais.

4. Building a fort.



5. Getting to spend time with Mr. Gids.



6. Dropping the kids off at Grandmas, who has great toys.



The Bad.

1. Reading LOTS of books before bedtime. I think I read about 8 books.

2. Getting weird looks at Carls Jr for having 2 boys under the age of one and 2 older kids with no jackets or long sleeves on.

3. The reason Mathias needed a bath.

4. Trying to keep Oscar from ruining the fort. A little hard when the boys hide his toys inside.

5. Spending time with Gideon at 4am.

6. Complete chaos at moments. Trying to get Mathais to put his shirt on and trying to get all four kids calmed down to go to Grandma and Grandpa's. Thankfully Isaac didn't cry. But he was the only one!





Good job Matt and Becca for raising just cute kids! We had fun, most of the time.

Thanks Ben for helping out so much. :) I love you!

Turkey and Sobe Bombs

We had one of the best Thanksgivings this year. We headed down to the Ranch in Escalante. We all stayed in the Bed and Breakfast.



Nothing beats riding dirt bikes,




shooting guns,




and eating way too much!





Friday we went hiking at Devil's Garden. I love Utah for all its different landscapes. It was perfect for all the kids and the kids at heart.










Ben tried to sleep in every morning, but Finn and I wouldn't let him.




Finn and Mr. Gids. Best friends already.



Getting Finn naked in the kitchen showing off his muscles...



It was such perfect weather for us, and just absolutely beautiful.





Highlights of the trip that I don't have pictures of include, Kareokee (not really a highlight), Wii, and late night fires, bombs and fireworks.