Nona & Papa's House

The first week-and-a-half of our trip to trip to Cali we spent at my parents house. We planned it so we would be there the same time as two of my other married sisters, Sharee and Natalie, and their families. It seriously just isn't often enough that we all see each other. Jemma and Carter LOVED being there with their cousins. In fact, while we were all together, I pretty much only saw Jemma during meal times! She was TOO busy playing with her cousins (and Uncles I might add...Jacob and Nathan are the BEST!)

Jemma and Carter in the front yard...they really loved pushing and pulling this "Flexible Flyer" around...and going for rides too. :)


Carter havin' a go on the trampoline.


Carter and my mom, affectionately known as "Nona" by her grandchildren. (She served a mission in Italy and Nona is italian for Grandma.)

It was SUPER hot while we were there, as I previously mentioned, so my mom picked up a

slip-n-slide for the grandkids. Jemma mostly just walked down it...Dallin and Daphne were pretty much pros though.

Sean enjoyin' the water.

Daphne, strikin' a pose.

The oldest of the cousins, Dallin.


My mom is really creative...I guess you would have to be after rearing nine children. She had something cool for the grandkids to do pretty much every day. One of the things she had for them to do was make a "chocolate bird nest". We decided that muddy-buddies taste better, but
the bird eggs were pretty darn tasty! (Jelly-bellies:)

The picture above is Dallin and Nathan.

Jemma and Daphne enjoying the finished product.

Sean, Nona, Daphne, Brandon, Jemma, Dallin and Nathan with their finished bird nests.

Jemma and Brandon.

We spent a morning at the park (before the temperature got too high). That's Nathan on an AWESOME swing!


Jemma headed down the slide.


Carter headed down. He decided he likes slides that day. We'd set him at the top and he'd push his way too the edge so he'd slide down.

Nathan, Jacob, Carter, and Jemma swinging, Mom pushing Carter and Brandon in the background.

Nona, Jemma and Nathan feeding the ducks at the park.

Jacob, Jemma, Nona and Nathan.

Carter eating the bread meant for the ducks...classic!

Hodge Podge

Here's just a little of this, that and the other from the last couple weeks...don't know where all our time is going, but I just can't seem to keep up! Brandon's Grandparents were here to visit two weeks ago and it feels like just yesterday! Now we're headed to California in two days, we're gonna be gone for like THREE WEEKS and I haven't even started thinking about what we might need to pack...

Anyway, Carter is keeping us busy...mostly because...

he's into a lot of mischief these days...

A LOT of mischief...

...the book and the swimsuite just happen to be the only two items I thought to take pics of...my hair brush also got the toilet treatment a long with a handful of Jemma's hairclips...gross!!!!

Jemma, thankfully, hasn't been quite as troublesome. In fact, she helped me pick 7 POUNDS of strawberries on monday!

She ate her fair share of them too.

Messy business, eh!?!

She has also been taking her first set of swimmin' lessons and LOVES them!

I've been a little crafty...my mom sent me some leftover fabric from my sister's prom dress because Jemma had been asking for a Cinderella dress-up...Jemma sat next to me at the kitchen table almost half the time I was sewing on it because she was SOOO excited! Thanks again Mom! It would have just been blue cotton, no sparkles, without this AwEsOmE fabric!

We also had this huge slab of wood leftover from our old crib...it was the base that held the mattress up...and I decided it would make a cute picture board...(it could be a headboard too...we'll see). I just need to get some of the kids' pictures/cards on it.

We also have a little garden...the community has these fields where you can pay $30 for 240 sq. ft. and plant whatever you want...we're yet to reap anything we've sown, but at least things are still alive...(zuchini, yellow squash, pumkins, decorative gourds, carrotts, tomatoes, red bell peppers, green beans, and sunflowers...we planted corn, but all of the seeds rotted...lame!)


Brandon's been workin' on the golf game here and there and hangin' out with the family...what am I going to do when school starts back up in the fall? We just won't think about that right now. Happy Summerin' to the rest of you!

Pools & Popsicles

We haven't even gotten past 80 degree weather yet and I can't tell you the number of boxes/bags of popsicles we have gone through so far this summer...oh how I love the warm weather and SUNSHINE! :) We have, however, only gotten the pool out twice now...it would have been one time less than that, but I goofed up on the time for Jemma's FIRST swimming lesson (I felt like the WoRsTe mom...I really think I'm losing my mind sometimes) and to help her feel better about not getting to swim in the BIG pool, I told her we could set up ours at home...

Here are some of the pics from this afternoon...EnJoY!

Yes...Carter is WALKING!!! (He is very proud of himself too...he'll clap and cheer for himself when he reaches a final destination...So Cute!)

The pool was a little chilly for Carter...even with all the insulation on his chubby legs! He was much happier with the pot of water and a measuring cup.

Carter is doing this...

...because Jemma is doing this!

Family pictures 2009

A couple weeks ago, it seemed like everywhere we drove there were these HUGE fields of fucia flowers. Brandon and I kept wondering what they were and finally pulled over to find out what it was...CLOVER Like what you see Thumper eating on the movie "Bambi"! ("Oh you don't eat the green stuff. Just eat the flowers!")

Well, we had planned for MONTHS to have our family pictures taken in the spring by our good friend Megan and when she took us to the location she had selected for our "Photo Shoot", there was a HUGE FIELD OF CLOVER! I was SOOO excited! (Most of the pics with the clover are at the end of this post.)

Anyway, family pictures can be really stressful, but I have to be honest, these were really fun! The kids were really good, and we got a lot of really great pics.

Thanks again Megan! You are AwEsOmE!

Sing Along

Jemma, although a Reed, has Packard and Stone blood running through those veins...she loves to SING!

While Brandon's parents were here, she graced them with several performances, but their favorite was "Good Morning Baltimore" from the movie Hairspray. I am sorry to say that this is not her best performance...we got a really great video of her, but accidently filmed it sideways (I tried posting it anyway, but Blogger didn't like it and said there was an error with the vidoe...), so...we did film it a second time, and this is a few clips from that time through.

She get's a little CrAzY sometimes...true to Jemma...there's hip-action, spit showers, a lot of watching herself in the tv...come on, who hasn't used the tv as a mirror before?, and she's even wearing "Nina's" hot pink socks...gotta love those! :)

Enjoy!!!

The Rest of the Pics...

So, I said I'd get the rest of these pictures up here from the zoo and Brandon's parents coming to visit, so here they are!

Brandon, Jemma and Papa checkin' out one of the black bears.

Papa and Jemma.

The girraffe :)

Nina and Carter...I noticed, he's not smiling in most (if not all the pictures) he really is a happy boy...just not a performer for the camera I guess...

Ben & Tina a.k.a. Mom & Dad or Nina and Papa :)



Thanks again for coming up to Oregon! We loved having you two!