Flackle Football

What is "Flackle" Football you ask? Well, I will tell you. It is when your kid is playing offense, but just for one play of the game gets to play defense too and is so much faster than the guy with the ball, he accidentally tackles him while removing the flags. Yes, that is right. Brandon has started playing football...and is in some kind of football heaven.

The huddle:

In fact, I think Saturday was the best day of Brandon's life. We had a rare occurrence at our house. Cody was at a birthday party, Kathleen was swimming with a friend, and Brandon had mom and dad to himself. So what would he do, if he could do anything his heart desired? Well, take one guess. Not only did he get to play in his first ever football game, but he also got to run plays with mom and dad at home later that same day. He was really cute teaching us the plays by drawing on his hand.
Brandon and I had a cannonball contest the other day. He got this picture in the process.
We took the kids to a Hawks game and they got autographs.
Brandon had fun talking positions with one of their players.
Since Ryan and I decided to go to the fair WITHOUT our kids this year...that's right, I said WITHOUT our KIDS...we decided to make them elephant ears at home.
Oh, and I got a little domestic bug this weekend. Don't worry, it didn't last long and it is gone now. That is homemade bread you see and home something corn. I had to take a picture in case you never see the likes again.

Summer Camping

We took our kids camping this week. How much stuff can you fit into a mini-van?
My parents got us this AWESOME caddy that holds all kinds of things. We loved it. Here is Ryan putting as much stuff on it as he can.
And of course, the hot dogs:
Cody was so funny walking around with swords in his pants.
The best part about our site is that it was 10 steps to the lake.

The kids were hilarious playing cards and giggling.
Brandon had the time of his life. He LOVED going for "hikes" and found this cool tree on one of his hikes.
One night the kids were wound up (probably because we ate a million marshmallows every night). They were in the tent and not going to sleep. Ryan decided to teach them a lesson and pretended to be a bear attacking the tent. The kids freaked out and cried. But they went to sleep well after that. And yes, we are known for our amazing parenting skills.
Dancing to "Father Abraham".
We had a ton of fun on this rope swing.



Kathleen had a scary fall on one of her jumps and decided to go again afterwards. But she couldn't handle it and just laid on the tree and cried. I told her she didn't have to go again, but she insisted that she had to do it again. So I told her to take her time. She cried for a while, but then she did it. Funny girl.

Horseshoes:
We had fun making an oven out of a cardboard box and foil.


Mmmmm. Best cookies ever!
Enjoy the rope swing videos:

Triathlon

The kids got to participate in a triathlon. They were so excited and had a lot of fun preparing for it. Here they are all marked up and ready for their swim.
Kathleen biking:

Brandon:

Cody:


I was so proud of the kids. They all finished and pushed harder than I expected. They were so cute and so excited to do it. I think they all felt a huge sense of accomplishment. Way to go kids!

What We Have Been Up To This Summer

We went to a park and got a Frisbee stuck in a tree. Finally having monkeys for kids pays off.Aunt Lissa and Uncle Clayton came to visit. We went to the zoo.

Brandon wasn't sure about the butterfly on his back.
We went shopping. What could Aunt Lissa have in her purse that will keep Cody sitting on this bench?
For one of our "Friday Fun Days" we went to the Old Penitentiary with some friends.


We camped out in our back yard and watched a movie in the tent.

We finally decided to harvest our rhubarb. After we cut it all up, it amounted to about 60 cups of chopped rhubarb. Can anyone say rhubarb pie?
We went on a trip to Utah to Ryan's cousin's wedding. We went to BYU and the girls got new shirts.
The boys got new hats:
The Provo temple is beautiful, nestled in the mountains.
The best part of the trip was that Grammy and Pompa picked up the kids on the way down and took them with them. Ryan and I got to have a road trip just the two of us, and the kids warmed up to Grammy and Pompa right away and (especially Brandon) were attached to them like I have never seen.
We went to Spokane and got family pictures taken.