We had our family pictures taken before my brother Joe left on his mission.



It didn't quite hit me how big this brother of mine is until I saw this picture of us siblings. Even though I still think of him as my little brother, he is all grown up!



I'm so proud of him for serving a mission. He seems so happy in Orlando. I'm so glad my boys have such a great uncle to look up to. . . even though we're going to miss him plenty!

Cousins

I came across this old picture of cousin Izzy holding baby Lola:



I couldn't believe how similar this picture looks of Lola holding Stella:



It's a little crazy to me how much my kids look like their cousins. . . even though with Nate and Katie being adopted, they don't share the same genes. It definitely shows that families are meant to be together!

FoUR

Just trying to figure out when I got old enough for these fOuR kids to call me mom.

Love them.

Baseball

Jacks had such a great time playing baseball this season. He improved so much from last year and I loved seeing his new confidence. He wasn't on the best team this year, but he had so much fun with the boys, had such great coaches, and we loved spending our summer evenings at the baseball diamond.

Stokes Camp

Every June we head up Logan Canyon for the annual Stokes camp out.



This year we only went one night since we were leaving for Seattle, but it's something my kids look forward to every summer.



It's such a great time to spend with these amazing great-grandparents



and these amazing grandparents, to eat yummy food, to run around in the trees and enjoy being together as a family.

Floodin' the Sandbox

So far this summer Miles' favorite past-time is a little game he likes to call, "flooding the sandbox." It involves digging intricate roads, passageways, tunnels and other whatnot and then taking the hose and destroying it all.

It is a huge mess.

But it keeps that little guy's mind and body busy so this mama allows it to happen way more often than most sane people would.

Seattle. . . iPhone style

We had such a great time in Seattle but have come home to some BUSY days. I have some really great pictures on my real camera and will post them someday, but for now here is a quick vacation overview according to my iPhone.


On the road. . .



Our condo was on the Puget Sound. Miles could have spent HOURS exploring the beach, finding treasures, and collecting shells and sand dollars. His favorite treasure: the huge, dead, stinky crab!


Jacks got to go golfing with Nate, Marcus and my dad. They golfed 18 holes and there were no carts. He was a trooper!


Jacks LOVED the crab, mussels, oysters, clams and shrimp at the Crab Pot. He was the most daring of all of us! Miles was in heaven with his wings at Hard Rock. Lola managed to order a hot dog at almost every restaurant we went to.


We loved Pikes Place Market. All the pretty bins of pasta. . . the fruit displays. . .the fresh fish. . . and the flower markets. Lola could have looked at all the pretty flowers for days!



We had such a beautiful view outside our condo. It was the perfect place and the setting for lots of good times until all hours of the night!