Time with the other Ellers!

Aaron is the brother of Jared

Jared and Angie

Cousins getting ready to hit a pinata! Christian was so thrilled to be able to finish it off in the end. Taylor answered the question about which commandment was first, so she got to hit the pinata first. I was amazed at how polite they were about picking up the candy!

Bella's head was in the water so much I couldn't get a picture of the 4 of them out of the water.

Christian and Kaytee

Meliah, Toree and Taylor

Before the swim at Grandma and Grandpa Reeves home

Jared and Angie and the girls are finally going to be moving back to the states after being in Korea and Germany for way too long. We were excited to be able to spend some time with them these last couple of days before they get settled in Oregon. The kids all loved being together! Christian loves that Kaytee is into the same things that he is, they really got along great, there may even be some cousin crushes going on there. Lizzy and Bella have always played together so well and having Ashlee, who is a little older, gave them a whole new perceptive on ways to play! It's so amazing how quickly they get re-acquainted and how much love they have for each other.

Camping at home!

On Wednesday night Christian had his friend, Calvin over to spend the night. We didn't want to hear them talking all night, so we decided to let them sleep outside in the backyard in a tent. We made it a really fun camp at home night. Sang a song while we roasted marshmallows and made smores. The kids really enjoyed it and everyone seemed to have a good nights sleep except for dad. Here are a few pictures of our fun evening together.

A week with the girls!

This week has been a little different because it's been pretty much the girls and I all week. Christian has been at Disneyworld with Grandma all week (more to come later about that). It has been a really fun week! The girls have played together so well and are just so cute the way they play. They are pretty creative and so fun to eavesdrop on. Here are some of the highlights of the week!

We had dad for one day which was nice because he could withstand the cold water.

They were trying to damn up the water

Sisters!

Picking Beans at the Hagbergs! What a blast!

You think maybe they want to go camping? They even brought out some graham crackers and marshmallows, they couldn't find any chocolate (you all know where that went!)

The girls playing tea party in the backyard.

Meliah with her cousin Taylor at the park in Y.C. (Sierra was there too but I didn't get her in the picture)

Lizzy with her cousin, Kate.

Independence Day!

Meliah and Aaron dressed in white ready for her baptism

The kids before the baptism

Some of the cousins that came to her baptism


What a wonderful day it was! We started off the day with Meliah's baptism. It was a really nice experience for everyone. She was so filled with joy after she got out of the font that she was bouncing. She had the biggest smile on her face... she just sparkled! There was so much family and a few faithful friends that were able to attend (4th of July made it a bit hard for some). After the baptism, family came to our house for lunch and visited! But then came some real dare devil fun out at Ian's parent's house. Right when we got there, Kat and Aaron pulled a tick out of their dog's head, which was pretty gross, but it gets worse. Aaron smashed the tick and it splattered dog blood on his face. It was really wierd but funny now!

Christian with his best buddy, Ivan

Meliah loved the outfit that Kathryn helped her put on (it must be fun if she gets to wear pink). She had a very careful first ride with daddy running behind her. After a while he said "she is going so slow it's not even as fast as she rides her bike!" He didn't seem to worry as much after that and neither did I.

Lizzy with her daddy!

She was all smiles the entire time.

The boy's had been riding the quads for awhile but Lizzy kept saying that she wanted to ride one. I was hesitant but told her as long as Daddy drove. Then Meliah decided she wanted to ride too.
My thought was... "I don't want her to die the day she got baptised!!" Well, they all rode and had a blast! Christian has had several opportunities to ride with his cousins and loves it so much he wants to save his money to buy one. Funny Boy! We told him we don't have a place to ride it or keep it, he said we could keep it with the Pietz's quads. Kathryn just said, "or you can't just ride ours!" It was such a fun day. We ended the evening with so many fireworks that Ian said we would be there for a couple of hours! It went a bit faster than that and thankfully no injuries occurred. There's just such a great feeling being in a wide open space like that, the kids can roam and explore and feel a bit of independence! It was a great reminder of the freedoms we do enjoy in our country! It was a wonderful day for our family.

Happy 4th of July!

The 3 kids dressed up for Sunday!

We got a new concrete slab laid out this morning. This is the kids putting down their handprints. I'm very excited about it, it's been something I've wanted for a few years. Thank you to all the guys that came and helped out! We really do appreciate you!

This is Skip and Aaron doing the finishing work when I finally got the camera out.

What's up?

Elizabeth has been waking up coughing every morning. After I give her some cough syrup or a cough drop she seems fine for the rest of the day and even into the night. I always thought coughs got worse by the evening. If anyone has any ideas of what might be going on let me know. I feel really bad because it's being going on for 3 days and I haven't done anything about it because I forget... until the next morning! I've tried the humidifier but it just makes her cough deeper sounding. Has anyone had this before?

Has it really been a decade?

Happy Birthday Christian! We are so grateful for Christian in our family! He has been a wonderful start to our children. He is such a great example to his sisters. He is very calm, quiet, sensitive and has a mind that never stops. He is curious about everything and often says, "I have a question". Many of his questions need to be looked up. One time, I found out that Aaron ran back to the internet, found the answer and then looked real smart that he knew the answer. He loves his cousins and he loves boys! It is such great day for him when he gets to spend some time with dad or with one of his boy buddies. He is a great musician and loves to play the piano. Christian also loves mathmatics, and recently was given the invitation to test out of 5th grade math for next year and start 6th grade math. He has been studying the 5th grade math book this summer so he can do that. He also loves scouts, baseball, basketball and playing video games. He is growning his own pumpkin plant this year and is hoping for a pumpkin by halloween. We love our gentle giant!