we love grandpa and doggies

rachel was sitting under the table playing with natalie's dog, ruby. when i looked under there, this is what i found. she was grinning and giggling, and playing with the poor dog's nipples!!
she thought it was great fun, but i don't think ruby agreed! she didn't nip at her though, for which i was proud!!

then, grandpa picked up rachel, and snuggled her right up to him. she loves that grandpa so much. when we walk out to their house, she gets so excited and runs over to hug grandpa who is sitting on the floor with his arms outstretched for her. he gives her soda and treats too, she loves him!!

rebekah had picture day for her last day of dance practice. it was very exciting, she looked gorgeous!! tonight is her recital, hopefully she will remember what she worked on, and make us proud!!

and here is rachel munching on an apple. she doesn't like it when you cut it up for her. give her the whole thing, and she will be happy to take bites herself. silly girl!!

zoo fun and silly kids

we went to the zoo this week. nathan's 2 brothers and 2 sisters and their families were here, so we decided to do something fun. it wasn't too hot, so it was actually bearable. it was overcast, and humid, but now there is a new water attraction that broke it up nicely.
here i am with the giraffes, and nathan walking with rebekah.




before you even enter the actual zoo area, there is a statue of a monkey that nathan likes to sit next to and pose. he is very funny.

and here is rachel sitting in a box lid. she does very silly and cute things.

caleb has finally decided he likes rachel enough to hold her hand. now he'll run up, grab her hand, and say, take a picture mom!! he is a funny kid!!

too much fun!!

wow, where do i start?? we have had quite the time the last few weeks!


first, it was rachel's 1st birthday!! june 10, can you believe it? i still can't. i feel like this year has gone by in a whirlwind of waiting and uncertainty! it's insane to me that time just keeps on every year. nuts.















then my sister's friend is one of the directors of the phoenix children's museum, and she offered to get us in for free! who could pass that up?? so we went on friday to see what it was all about. can i just say, i had no idea really what to expect, but it was AWESOME!!! there was actually something new and exciting every time you turned around! not even kidding! the kids had a blast. here are some pics. caleb is racing cars in one of the areas, and the boys loved it there.















there was a pretend carwash the kids could ride trikes through, and i got a cool shot of the kiddos with rachel.













caleb's favorite (ok, too many to count!!) was this little display where you roll wheels down and it rocks the little pegs over, and they fall down to the next one. he did that for like 20 minutes, with rachel doing it too. it was so fun to watch!!






and caleb doing his dance of joy at the handkerchief that flew out at him!!
colby popping his head out at me








rebekah with her handkerchief of joy!
anyone need a good 24 foot box truck? we are trying to sell it :)
















here is monica holding sleeping rachel when we first got there. aren't they cute??

and the 4 little monkeys in the tub after swimming for the trillionth time today. did i mention we got out pool fixed? it is gorgeous, and so much fun!! yay!!
we have lots of cousins coming at the end of the week, so we are getting the house ready for all the chaos 20 kids brings. bring on the fun!!

bread making fool!!

ok, there's more here than just the bread making, but i am really proud of those!! :)

rachel is just cute, and i have to take lots of pictures of her doing cute things!!






when we went to costco the other day, and they had their pork products on sale for dirt cheap! we got this 3 foot pork loin, that is about 8 inches thick or so, for 13 bucks!! nathan had fun making inuendos and carrying that around. silly boy!!



and here is my bread masterpiece. marie helped me a little bit, but i did it mostly on my own. i was dang proud of myself!! i doubled the recipe, and it made 7 little loaves and 2 big ones. we made short work of the first 4, but we still have the rest. the kids absolutely love this bread, and come back for 4ths and 5ths. we put honey and butter on it, and it is so delicious!! yahoo for me!! :)