Some summer randoms...

Well, I'm making progress people...
I'm nearly done updating our family blog--- just a few more posts I need to make--- i.e. the post concerning Atticus and his birth; Grandma Truesdell's visit, our 4TH of July festivities and the hot air balloons, etc. etc...
While sorting through our collection of pictures we've taken over the past few months, I did find a handful of pictures I couldn't really write a whole lot about, because they were just sort of random pictures -usually from outings we've taken-but I think they're cute and wish to share them with everyone so I've decided to do just that in this post.

So in no particular order, here they are...

Grandma and Grandpa Campbell took Noah and Ian to one of the Orem Owls opening night baseball games... From what I've been told, I think the boys were more interested in all of the snacks there more than the actual game itself... can you blame them though??? That's exactly the same reason I LOVE baseball games--- I go for the ice cream- the popcorn and peanuts- the sunflower seeds and Big League Chew and let us not forget, Frito Chili  in a bag... YUM!

BUBBLES!

We bought another bubble machine this year since we used our last one SO much last year it finally quit on us... Bubbles and balloons- my boys go cRaZy over them!!!

Oh wait... did I mention we had to even actually wear jackets outside whilst playing with the bubbles?!  It was the end of May and FREEZING outside still!!! (okay, maybe not freezing enough that I allowed my boys to wear flip flops and shorts too but you understand right?! It was nearly June!  What did you expect them to be wearing, freezing or not freezing, they weren't going to be wearing their snow boots, snow pants and mittens!).

 

This little dude below is turning out to be quite the hunk, isn't he?

He's almost 2! How did that happen?!  Where has the time gone???

Since I failed to write about it before, I'll just add here that Bentley FINALLY started to walk completely on his own the week before I delivered baby Atticus.  Great timing huh?!  On that Sunday, just as we were sitting down to eat lunch, Bentley stood up in the middle of the room completely on his own... I recall specifically thinking to myself "WOW! He just stood on his own!!!"- that had NEVER happened before, then before I could finish my thought, he started to take not just one step but dozens of steps!!!  He was WALKING!!!  Better yet, he was CRUISING! It was SO FUNNY to watch him walk--- he made it look as if he'd been doing it FOREVER! He shuffles his feet like an old man. He'd even stop every couple of steps to pick something up off of the ground- crumbs I think--- the kid hates messes almost as much as I do!  He wasn't afraid to swivel and turn around to head back in the opposite direction--- this kid made walking look EASY!!!  Spencer couldn't believe his eyes when we showed him how Bentley could walk on his own... he asked Bentley, "Hey bud, so what was your hold up?"--- those were my thoughts exactly!!!  As if walking and standing on his own wasn't good enough--- the icing on the cake happened later that same week when Bentley learned to go UP the stairs completely all on his own!!! Then the week following Atticus' arrival home, Bentley figured out how to go DOWN the stairs on his own!!!  What a relief that was for me--- carrying both babies up and down the stairs at the same time was really tiring!!!

In both these pictures of Bentley, we were just heading home from the pool... we've spent a LOT of our time this summer at the pool--- whether it be our neighborhood pool down the street, the pool for swim lessons or the pools at Seven Peaks Water Park... I think it may be safe to say I'm "pooled out"! (the sad truth is my tan really sucks this summer too--- I've spent all this time at the pool and yet I'm almost as white as a ghost... I don't know what it is?!  I'm beginning to think maybe something screwy is going on with my body... I'm about to get desperate and buy a tanning pass!) I know you probably NEVER thought you'd hear me say that I'm "pooled out" during my lifetime but it's true... packing the boys up and getting them ready for pool time every day, even it's just for a trip to the pool down the street, is tuckering! There's a LOT I have to pack along just to make the trips to the pool... Spencer's going to kill me for saying this and tell me I'm ungrateful for the fact we even have a neighborhood pool for the kids to play in, but I sort of just wish we had a pool, right out back in our very own yard...  I'm sick of swimming with everyone else... I don't know, maybe I'm just a "pool brat" and perhaps that's because I grew up with our own private pool in our backyard.  Anyhow, I've been telling Spencer that since he got to put a basketball court in the backyard--- once we have an extra $15K saved we're buying an Endless Pool (click here to see one)... I'm serious, I already know where we'll put it too- at the side of the house and my free idea kit I requested regarding information for the pool ought to be arriving any day now in the mail! 

A.N.Y.H.O.W... back to Bentley... isn't he a doll!  When we go swimming he prefers to just hang out poolside and snack and munch on goodies... every now and then he'll lower his bottom half into the pool by hanging onto the sides surrounding the pool--- then once he's cool, he lifts himself back out again... he repeats the process probably a dozen times or so while we're at the pool... last Saturday I took all the boys to our pool down the street and while I was keeping an eye on Noah and Ian who were playing in the deep end, Bentley decided to lower himself into the pool from the sideline... I suppose he lost his grip, because the next thing I know, I looked over to my right and saw Bentley floating on his back in the middle of the pool--- just drifting along, waiting to hit the side of the pool so he could pull himself out... It was sort of scary to see he'd fallen in without me knowing it but a HUGE relief to see that his swimming lessons with JoD had paid off.  He saved himself!!!

Oh and before I forget, I thought I'd insert here that I so totally dig summer time because it cuts my laundry loads literally in half!!!  I actually don't have to do a load of laundry every. day. because the boys just wear diapers or underwear to bed (it's pretty warm at night time here so they can do that) and I usually just dress them in their board shorts during the day... Sundays are normally the only days I really need to fully dress them--- or shower them for that matter... okay, so maybe that sounds just gross, or perhaps you're thinking, "Geez! Stephanie has gotten pretty lazy"... Did I just loose all of my "SUPER MOM" points???  In case you've forgotten, I have 5 boys now... cinco. I don't have the time or energy anymore--- well at least for now--- to style their hair or dress them up super cute... about a month ago we took them all to the hair dressers and they got their heads buzzed.  Noah really threw a fit... he prefers to have the faux hawk... he hates his head buzzed.... Surely the fact they go swimming and/or play in the sprinklers daily counts the same as bathing them, right?! 

Atticus is getting BIG!  These pictures were taken about a month and a half ago; it was his first time we took him out to the pool.

I really honestly can't tell you when these other pictures of Atticus were taken... I believe the first one below may have been when he turned 2 months old, but other than that, your guess is as good as mine!  Sorry, that's pretty pathetic I don't remember huh?  My memory is all lost now.

Oh funny note:  For a while there--I'd say during the first month or so after Atticus joined our family, Noah used to call Atticus his BROWN baby!  It was so funny, yet so embarrassing if he ever chose to say it out in public, which he did, plenty of times...  I have to admit, Atticus was pretty orange there for a while (jaundice) and even pretty red and pink--- his skin just kept changing color.

Atticus has pretty BIG eyes--- well at least for being one of my children, I like to think he has BIG eyes compared to his brothers squinty eyes... anyhow, one day Ian came running up to me and exclaimed "Mommy, Atticus' eyes are so BIG, I can see myself in them!"  I don't know if Ian truly DID see his self in Atticus' eyes, but it did sound like he was being pretty observant!

We still haven't been able to determine yet WHO Atticus inherited his looks from... he looks MUCH different than any of our other boys... I think he has Linda's (my mother in law) eyes and for some reason- I haven't been able to pin point WHY though--- he reminds me of my Grandma Sabin... I don't know what it is--- I just think of her when I hold him.

Scripture time... not necessarily when they're the most reverent and listen attentively, if you know what I mean...

I think it was during May that Aunt Laura (Spencer's sister) flew out here from D.C. to visit and meet Atticus for the first time...

Anytime a visitor drops by to meet Atticus, the boys all like to gather round and smother our guest as he or she are holding the baby!

We've been on "stay-cation" here if you know what I mean--- so far this summer we haven't ventured out of state yet, but I'm hoping that will change as our summer draws close to an end... hopefully we can find a free week to either visit my sister Tricia in Texas or visit my family in San Diego... we'll see... anyhow, during our "stay-cation" we've kept busy visiting places like the zoo, Thanksgiving Point, which includes the Dinosaur Museum, Farm and Gardens; we've been up to the Children's Discovery Museum at the Gateway in Salt Lake two or three times since the beginning of summer; we've gone to parks, Seven Peaks and once a week I take the older boys in the morning down to Orem to The Scera and we watch one of their morning matinee kid movies (SO FUN!) and we just recently renewed our passes to the Aquarium so we're excited to visit there next week... I'm telling you the best investments I've made as a mother have been all of our passes!!! My boys and I LOVE going places and they actually behave so much better when we're out and about in public than when we're just at home--- I know that may be hard to believe, but it's true. 

I hope you LOVE Cohen in his muscle shirt just about as much as I do... Spencer detests muscle shirts on boys.... he said they look like "white trash"... keep in mind those were his words, not mine... but I think Cohen has the right look; he can really pull off the look and NOT look trashy.  Maybe it's his nice little tan he's got going on...

Alright so Bentley does the muscle shirt look too... not quite as well as Cohen does but it works... not too "white trash'ish", right?...

I LOVE these two pictures of the boys with Spence...  All I would have liked was one decent picture of all the boys, sitting still, smiling for the camera... did that happen???

Well obviously NOT!  It's just too much to ask for at their ages.

I think maybe I took the picture of Atticus above when Noah was calling him our "Brown baby"...  I don't necessarily think he looks brown, more kind of orange if anything, but I bet you this is when Noah thought he was brown.... hmm, which makes me wonder, could Noah possibly be color blind?!

Okay, so the following is the last random summer picture I have for now...

Over the L.O.N.G. winter, the boys got it in their heads that they wanted to set up a lemonade stand and make money selling lemonade during the summer... like the good mother I am, I used my gift certificate I got for my birthday on Amazon.com and ordered them a lemonade stand... it arrived the first week in April but we didn't actually get around to assembling it (who am I kidding, I DIDN'T assemble it, Spencer did!) until mid June and we still as of yet have NOT  sold any lemonade...  one of these days... I PROMISE... I won't them down... it's just that it's so stinkin' HOT outside now and we live on a small street that isn't apt to getting much traffic--- I don't really want to have to sit outside all day long waiting for customers... now if only there was a way I could convince our HOA to let us set up shop in front of the pool--- I bet the boys could make A LOT of money there.  They're going to need it--- every penny is going towards their mission funds!!!

Actually... I lied in the previous paragraph. I have one last remaining random picture...

That's me in the red above... you know, just in case you haven't seen me for a while and forgot what I looked like...  this picture was actually forwarded to me from my friend Ruth- the lovely lady in the middle- and while I'm naming names--- the chicka on the right is my old mission pal Heidi... all of us gals served in the Porto, Portugal Mission at the same time and went through the MTC together... Heidi was my mission companion twice (once in the MTC and once in the mission field) and while Ruth and I never actually served together, we served around each other and had plenty of opportunities to get to know each other during mission conferences... anyhow, like I said before, Ruth forwarded me this picture we took of us back in June when we all 3 met in Orem to chat and talk... It seems like for a while there all of my gal pals from the mission field used to live in or around Provo/Orem, but nearly all of them but two? (Heidi and Janae) have moved out of state! (Ruth lives in San Diego now--- isn't she extremely lucky?!) I wish that weren't the case and that I could see the sisters from my mission more often---it's always nice to reminisce about old times, catch up and see how each others families are growing.  Okay, so if you think it's a bit strange that I posted this picture of me, don't worry... I do too.  I'm not one to post pictures of myself really or even frame them and hang them up around my house, but apparently I need to start doing it more often.  I've been given a lot of grief lately when I have visitors come over to my house and they note that I'm not in any of the pictures hung in our home... well duh! That's because they're all pictures of our kids, we've got 5 you know, AND because I'm usually the one behind the camera lens taking all of the pictures... SO, in an attempt to quiet the peanut gallery, a.k.a. those people who complain because I'm never in any of the pictures I post, I'm adding this one.  It's not my best picture--- I'll say that much--- my eyes were killing me that evening thanks to seasonal allergies, but it works right?  It's me.  'Nough said about that... Enjoy!