Sizzlin' Summer

Wow, to start the summer off we had a family reunion. ( mom's side of the family, the Ball reunion) We had the annual easter egg hunt on Candy Mountain....




Brooklyn was helping her Dad find lots of candy!

They were enjoying a shady spot after the hunt!

I see some CANDY!

Easy Candy!

On Your Marks....

GET SET........ Go
THat WAs the First Reunion!

THe Rest of the Day was spent in Lewisville having races, playing Minute to win it! And EATING!

WE Braved the family vacation again and went to Lagoon! We bribed the kids, and set the goal that when we finished reading the scriptures we would take them to Lagoon.....Well, we finished the scriptures and so we went to Lagoon. Here are the pictures to prove it!

Yellowstone Park

So, We finally went somewhere!!! Yeah! Greg has a job in West yellowstone, and had a free hotel room, and Last weekend we could get into the park for free.....So we loaded the kids in the van (yes, we have a van now....) and headed out.... Funny thing, the van is segregated. The boys have to be on the drivers side, and the girls on the passenger side.

Straton traveled very well!~Thank You!

The kids loved the hotel....we didn't even go swimming, I guess cable TV is entertaining enough!


The first thing we saw when we entered the park was a Black Bear! Look closely, it is under the pine tree on the right! We got to watch it walk all the way up and over the hill, it was just moseying along! Guess when you visit Yellowstone a telephoto lens comes in handy...

Then we saw some Elk...


Oh, Look!, Kids! Aren't Kids Lovely! Such a rare find, especially looking like they love each other and are having fun!

"Hey Mom, can we go down to the river?"
Moving on....We headed to, You guessed it, Old Faithful!

Along the way we saw some buffalo (Bison if you are politically correct)

The beginning of the show, above, and the grand finale! It was 130 feet high, and lasted a couple of minutes! ( I know because I was nursing in the visitor center while the show was going on, so I bugged the ranger and got all sorts of good info.) Olivia is photographer here! It is so nice to hand the job over....Didn't she do a good job!
The kids waiting for the show to start, woops out of order....oh well.Brooklyn being her own person, standing alone, tired of everyone else....Or just being 2 and saying...."I can do this myself"
Some thermal feature along the way home. Olivia was photographer again....guess where I was....Yep, Nursing In the van! Vacations are so much fun!

Pretty....
Stinky, at least the wind was blowing away from them, (According to Greg)

Mars...
Olivia is such a good Photographer!

The End

Straton Ronnie Nelson

Yeah!!! He is finally here! while in the hospital, Q changed the to do list to "had a baby" since it had said "Have a baby" for way to long!

Straton joined the family March 4, 2010 at 9:19 am. He was a hefty 10 lbs, and absolutely adorable! The kids were really excited to come and see him. They were very shy at first around him, but then they became more comfortable and would hold him!

Just Look at those cheeks! He left the hospital at 9 lbs, so he seems a little smaller now, although all he does is eat!!!!

Brooklyn checking out her new brother! We can not call him Mr. Brown anymore, it is "Her baby" or "Taton"

Rachel calls him "Fuzzy Guy" because of his fuzzy head!

Brig is really excited to finally have a brother.....he is going to teach him everything he knows!!!

Olivia really likes her new brother, and says that she wants a million baby brothers!


HOme....finally!

AWWWWWWW......cute!

Twelve days old, and having fun taking pics of Straton! He didn't really like getting his clothes off, but he enjoyed laying on his tummy....I love the frog legs and the wrinkles....:)

Green

Hey, I just wanted to post a GREEN Update! Brooklyn's new dress is green......The Magnet boards/ swinging dooors from the store are green......

They are for sale if anyone wants them! Cute for a craft room or something....

Aunt Bubbles gave this to Brooklyn for her Birthday....she can really pose pretty for me, Although she learned most of it from Rachel........Still, she is very cute in GREEN!

Last of all, I have a new entertainment center! It was the GREEN cabinet from the store, and I got to keep it! (Finders Keepers!) Greg and Patrick painstakingly hauled it up the stairs, and we modified it a little to fit a TV, and It holds a lot of stuff! I am in love with it, the kids will grow to like it too! (They think it is ugly and old! When it is actually cute and distressed (And Old)! So, that is the most exciting things I have to Blog about.....But I LOVE the color Green, so now you all know!

skating with cousins

Slow and steady, that's the way we go!

still going! (Energizer Bunnies)

Brooklyn the free rider! She loves Aunt Becca Now!

Having fun after the skating trip......