Durtschi side family fun!

We loved the time we got to spend with the Lewis family this summer.  We went to see them for a week in July and they came to see us too.  It is always a highlight when we get to spend time together, especially for the moms.  

On our trip to Utah they took us to the Hogle Zoo which was so fun!  They have about 3 times as many animals as we have at our zoo and the kids loved it.  They also loved stealing my phone to take silly selfies.

One highlight of the zoo was watching a snake eat a mouse whole.  It was pretty disgusting and awesome all at the same time.  We may have lost a few items and children, but it was so great!

 The kids spent an entire day planning the wedding of the year for Ty and Adeline.  It was pretty hysterical to watch them put it together and I think all the participants enjoyed themselves fully.

They were planning to kiss on the lips and the big kids made sure to have them practice, but Julie and I had to slow down that crazy train and insist on only kisses on the cheek.  I laughed so hard I cried and I also felt like time stopped for a minute.  I realized that it won't be long before there are actual wedding and these summer cousin trips will be over and my kids will be gone.  That thought made me want to cry so I just enjoyed the amazingness of the day and decided to enjoy every moment that I could.

Not pictured is a lot of tennis playing.  Julie got us hooked on tennis this summer and it has been so fun!  We even started taking adult lessons.  I am loving tennis and enjoying it so much, thank you Julie for paving the way!

When the Lewis family came to Idaho there was still a lot of tennis playing, sometimes we played in the morning and the night.  It was so much fun!  We spent a few afternoons at Grandpa Durtschi's pond which the kids loved so much!  I can't believe I don't have more pictures, I mostly took videos.  He raised them up on the fork lift super high and then they jumped off, they also raced boats and shoved each other off of boats and did a lot of giggling.  I even got in and boated with ole pops for a little while.  I love being on the water!

Over the 24th of July we had a reunion with Grandma Packer.  It was so fun!  We went to Kidztown and everyone loved it so much.  It's basically a great big warehouse full of really fun imaginative play options.  Eloise loved running the ice cream store and Logan was her #1 customer.

Everly LOVED being pushed around in the little car and laughed and laughed!

Ty and Lily helped Everly fill up her car with gas, she was just wondering why her cart wouldn't move.   Not pictured:  everyone trying to pitch the fastest, jousting wars on the inflatable animals, and dress up

Afterwards, we went to jump off of the fun farm bridge where my mom grew up.  She said that when she was younger, her dad would climb all the way up to the very top and dive off!  So insane, Teagan must have gotten his adventurous spirit because he didn't even hesitate about jumping off!  He probably jumped 20 times that afternoon and the water was freezing.  Zac jumped off a few times and Eloise got so close.  She climbed down a few times, but didn't make the leap, maybe next time.  I stood at the bottom and took a million pictures and videos with a very unhappy Everly.  Teagan is in the orange shorts.  In this picture they were all supposed to hang on the wire and count to three and drop...it didn't quite happen at the same time, which made for a really cool picture!

Happy 4th Birthday Adeline

This darling little girl turned four and we just love her so much.  Her birthday was on memorial day weekend again so she got to have lots of cousins around to visit for her birthday.  She is so excited to have all of her siblings home for the summer, that is probably the best birthday present that she could get!  She was super excited to get some new, pretty clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Daniels.  She definitely wears them anytime that they are clean.  

She is definitely going through a stage where she must wear a dress or skirt every day.  She loves to twirl and dance.  Adeline is very smart.  She may not know her ABCs, but she just does different things that show how her brain is working.  I might be biased, but I think she will be the family genius.  She is also so good at making new friends.  She is my child that has such a hard time with change and adjusting to new things like new primary teachers or a rearranged room or a schedule change so it's always surprising how quickly she makes new friends.  At the park she will go and just walk up to random kids and within 10-15 minutes she has a new best friend.  She shares and is kind and generous.  She is especially awesome with kids younger then her (except Everly) and is so kind to them!

Happy Birthday sweet girl, we love you!

1. How old are you: 4
2. Who is your best friend: Ty (no, I married him, but yeah, he's my best friend)
3. What is your favorite thing to do? Have a birthday (she asks all the time if it is her birthday yet)
4. What is your favorite color? The Whole Rainbow
5. What is your favorite food? Cake
6. What do you like to do with your family? Go to parks
7. What is your favorite toy? My dollies
8 What is your favorite sport/activity? Having a treat
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Ballet Dancer
10. How old will you be when you get married? 6
11. How many kids are you going to have? 1
12. What is your favorite book? Rapunzel with lots of pictures
13. What is your favorite show or movie? The Very Hungry Caterpillar
14. What makes you happy? When I play with my friends and they don't walk away from me to their home.  And when I have birthday cake.
15. What makes you sad? When I bonked my elbow on the couch. (funny bone)
16. What do you think about before you fall asleep? I'm hungry
17. What is your favorite part of your birthday? Having a cake, oh, and I mean cupcakes
18. What is your favorite scripture story? When Jesus comes to earth again
19. What is something that you think you will accomplish before you are 5? I want to learn how to be able to make cupcakes.
20. What is one word that describes you? Nice

Kindergarten Program for Miss Eloise

Eloise did so well at her Kindergarten performance.  She sang all the songs and did the actions and smiled and was just so adorable I couldn't even stand it.  She was looking so grown up and sweet.  Zac's new job at Encompass has been so nice for things like this.  He was able to come to it even though it was in the middle of the day and Eloise loved having him there!  I think that all of her grandparents were there as well.  She is a lucky little girl.

Here she is with her little friend and neighbor Hazel.  They are both in Mrs. Jensen's Kindergarten class this year.

The Wax Museum

In fourth grade, if you get Miss T. Call, you get to participate in a wax museum.  It was seriously one of the coolest things we have experienced as parents at a school!  Teagan got to choose any historical figure to do a project on.  He chose Mozart.  He read a book about Mozart and then wrote a paper, made an amazing display, and then for the culminating event he dressed up as mozart and acted like a wax figure as all the parents went through the museum.  It was so fun to see all the different people that each kid chose to study.  I actually learned a ton!  Grandma Packer totally saved the day and made all my dreams come true when she agreed to help Teagan make his tri-fold board.  She has all the cool supplies, printers, and imagination to match Teagan's ideas and it was the best.  He had so much fun with her because he could say a crazy idea and instead of saying that it would be too hard she would run with it.  When you have a mom like me (who can tend to be a little bit on the practical side) it's nice to get a grandma who can be creative!  Yay for having a village to help me grow these kids!  

Jamaica!

We had an AMAZING time on our trip to Jamaica with the Daniels family!  It was a blast and we all want to go back!  These pictures are not in order, but you can see that it was so fun!

The traveling was definitely not a highlight, but the kids did amazing, especially considering their ages and the length of the flights, I was really proud of them!

We arrived at about 11:30 pm and there was a guy making balloons and passing out drinks when we got there.  It was a great foreshadowing of all the good things to come!

The kids loved the fact that they could go between the sand and the pools all day long.  The sand was so fun to dig in and Teagan loved jumping the waves.  There were bars and restraints all over that we could get food and drinks from for free.  Teagan became an expert almost immediately and could always be found with a strawberry daiquiri in his hand.  

One day we went on a walk in the morning to see a cool bridge.  We ran into a guy that had been snorkeling for fish!  He had caught so many, it was pretty amazing!

This was the only picture that we got of the whole group!  Just missing Quinn and Grayson (they were too little and stayed home with their grandparents).

Collin is the little boy in the background.

Adeline was a little social butterfly and made friends with a few other kids while we were there.  I can't remember this first boy's name, but the second one was Collin and they were inseparable.  She spent several hours a day playing with him in the sand and on the water slides during the day and running through the grass at night.  When it was time to go she got mad and refused to say goodbye.  It was kind of sad.

Everly was so good the entire time and was satisfied with naps and food on the go.  She loved all the people and loved that everyone was constantly talking to her and giving her attention.  Once we got home and she wasn't constantly being held she got a little cranky, but she has adjusted back to normal now.

Eloise loved the drinks to and asked for an icee everytime we passed by a bar.  It was the best!

Each night we ate at a different restaurant.  I think this one may have been my favorite!  It was right on the beach and had such a gorgeous view!

One of my personal highlights was wind sailing!   I somehow convinced an apprehensive Teagan and Taylin to go with me on the first day (it was pretty windy).  We got out there and the boat was just flying because of the wind!  We were catching air over each wave and Teagan and Taylin were so scared!  They were very near tears, begging to turn around.  I was having the time of my life and couldn't stop laughing, it was so fun!  I was able to go out again the next day with Sheena and Adam and Zac and it was still really fun, but not as windy so it was a little slower.  It was really fun.  Teagan got to also try the water tricycle and saw a sting ray with Uncle Adam.

By the end of the week everyone was getting tired.  Adeline fell asleep many times in the stroller, at meals, and anywhere else she could lay down.

I even fell asleep in a restaurant one night with Everly while we waited for our food.  Sooooo sleepy.

Everly learned to sleep just about anytime anywhere.

The kids spraweled out on the beds and didn't ever budge all night, they were exhausted from all the playing!

On our last full day it was a Sunday and we decided to divide and conquer.  Zac took Eloise and Teagan on an excursion to climb a waterfall in the jungle.  It was only for ages 6 and up because there was some swimming involved.  It was really cool and they all loved it!

While they were excursioning, Me and the little girls went to church in Montego Bay.  It was such a cool experience.  We hired a taxi to take us and it was about 30 minutes away.  We were driving all over these crazy streets and I thought we were going to be lost for sure.  We got to a church and I about got out, but when he asked they said that it wasn't the right one.  Down the street we found another but there was no-one outside to ask so I just ran over and peeked through the window.  I could hear them singing the opening song and I recognized it and knew that we had found the right place.  Right in the middle of a scary looking town I felt so much peace.  It was testimony meeting and the spirit was so strong.  Each person had so much conviction.  I wanted to go up, but there was a line the entire time.  Even with that tiny congregation.  Afterward this young man came over and asked me for "sweeties" I eventually realized he wanted candy and treats or gum.  He tried to get Adeline to share her gum but she wouldn't, it was pretty funny.  Then he asked to play on my phone and then when that proved to be boring he asked to hold Everly, he was sure a crackup.  I wish I still knew his name!  

It was SO sad to leave, we were not ready and would have stayed for another few months before we got sick of vacationing.  The flights home were fine and we survived.  We got right to planning our next adventure.  Family trips are my new favorite thing!