It's a SNAKE!

I was outside using the Weed Whacker in the front yard. As I headed around to the side of the yard, I saw a snake staring at me between the wheels of Grant's bike. It took me a second to figure out what it was, and then I RAN inside and screamed to Andrew "There is a HUGE snake in our front yard!" His reaction? "COOL!" My reaction? "Get him out of here!"

My brave Prince Charming went out to battle the snake. He was over 4 feet long, and was not happy about us bothering him. At one point, Mr. Slither tried to get away, but Andrew reached into the bushes, grabbed his tail and yanked him back out onto the driveway! Not long after, we had a whole crowd of neighbor kids over looking at the snake.

What do you do when you find a snake? On Saturday? We called the POLICE! The first cop said with no hesitation, "I am NOT touching that thing!" When his backup arrived, he was a bit more brave. We got the snake into a pillow case, and they took him to "relocate" him.
SCARY! The biggest snake either of us have ever seen in the wild! But, we are now safe again!

Here's a cute picture of Drew after church today. He loves bread!

And Clark and Faith? Um...Let me just say goofus on the roofus! Love those kids so much!

The Many Faces of our Drew-bug

Our little Drew-bug is 14 months now, and I am just enjoying every single day. People often ask "Aren't you sad that he's growing out of this stage, or that stage?" Honestly, NO. I'm not. I try to have no regrets and spend as much time as I can with my little miracle boy, and then let him grow up to the next fun stage!

He loves to scrunch up his nose and make funny faces. During this photo "shoot", he started to really perform, pulling all these funny faces, and loving every click of the camera!

Just plain silly, that's what he is. And I love every inch of his squishy little body!

Drew knows where his head is. He also knows how to say: All done, ball, a version of "dog", and he sings "Pop, Pop" (Popcorn Popping). The great thing about having Drew is that every one of the children get to enjoy each phase with us! None of them remember any other baby in our family, so this is their first experience and they LAUGH, oh how they LAUGH at the darling things he does.

Faith's Baptism

Oh, what a special day we had on Saturday! Faith was surrounded by SO many loved ones on her special day. Thank you to each one of you who came to share your love for Faith. She truly felt it, and so did we.

The only way we could get a "real" smile out of Faith is if we let her do her "sassy" pose. So, here she is in her truest form! Oh, how I love that not-so-little girl!

Daddy was beaming with tears in his eyes almost the whole morning. So pleased with the activities of the day. He gave her a beautiful Confirmation and blessing that we will always remember - she truly HAS blessed our lives and I have learned so much from this spunky little gal!

Our dear, sweet Grandma Mix, who turns 91 this month - with Grandpa Jack & Grandma Rosemary. We were so touched that they would come. Thank you for loving us as your own!

Halloween 2009

I know that it's been 2 months since my last post - sorry! We had a GREAT Halloween at L & J's house in Salem. All the cousins went Trick-or-treating together for the first time EVER! Afterwards, Drew and I snuggled on the BIG Love Sac. Drew is almost 9 months and we have just hit the "get-into-absolutely-everything" phase! So fun, but a bit exhausting!

These are the "triplets": Alice (5 months), Drew (8 months) and Ruthie (2 months). Amazing how these babies' mothers all have the same parents, because they don't look a thing alike! But, they sure like each other!

Andrew was a jailbird and I was a 50s girl. Not easy to explain to my kids what exactly a 50s girl is, but they just liked that I dressed up!

We got them to stop long enough to snap this picture: Monkey (John), Luke Skywalker (Clark), Bat (Jack), Rock Star (Faith), Cheerleader (Abbie), Alien (BJ) and Frog (Drew).

Now that Halloween is over, I am getting SO excited for Thanksgiving, where we can show our gratitude to our Savior, Jesus Christ and all that He has given us. We get to host this year, so pictures will follow!

THEN...on to CHRISTMAS! It's the most wonderful time of the year!

John Turns 4!

For John's Birthday, we celebrated with his Hawkins cousins. The kids played outside in the sprinklers, and we just had a great time!

We visited with Grandma Ottley, and happened to catch her on a REALLY great day. She was smiling, laughing and singing along with the children. Grandma is the center of our world and we just love her so much. This "Tender Mercy" came for Grandpa, as we visited on his 87th birthday.

She went back to her "unhealthy" self the next morning. Faith played Lightly Row for Grandma and Grandma sang right along!

Andrew and I went to Logan two weekends ago to visit our cousins and do a little SHOOTING! What? I had never shot a gun in my life, and until about 3 months ago, had NO desire to do so. But, we felt like we needed a little bit of training, JUST IN CASE, and I have to admit...it was fun!

What are we up to?

Some of EVERYTHING! Daddy found this toad and he quickly became John's best friend! I was amazed at John's courage to just pick him up! We were telling Faith that if she kissed the toad, it would turn into a handsome prince. But, before John could hear that we were JUST KIDDING...he kissed the toad! YUCK!

Grant with my sweet sister, Joanna. These two have a very special bond - they adore each other! Jo loves to hear Grant laugh, and Grant thinks JO (and Laren) are hilarious!

This is my sweet neice, Jane. We were trying to take a picture of her with her new baby sister, but without success. I honestly think this was the cutest picture of them all - Jane could not be more beautiful, but she certainly did not want her picture taken! We love you Janie!

Ok,,,what have we been doing so far this summer? A whole lot of THIS! Cousin Camps every Thursday, reading, jumping on the trampoline, riding bikes, scooters, skateboards, and so much more! Now that the rain has stopped, we will enjoy the summer even more. Mommy's new pasttime...the GYM! And the kids love it too!

BJ's party!

This is Drew (18 pounds) with his newborn cousin, Alice Malee. I'm so glad we captured this while they were asleep. Aren't they adorable? What makes my babies grow so big? I think I will take the credit in THICK, NUTRITIOUS Mommy milk. Thank you, thank you very much.

Darling neice, Amelia, with her "curlies" and ketchup face. Isn't she a crackup?

The "triplets" (my John, BJ - birthday boy, and Jane) all born 2 months apart from each other. This potato sack race was the funniest one. Within 4 feet, Jane fell and started to cry. One more jump beyond Jane, BJ tripped, fell and started to cry. John happened to be ahead of them, so he just continued on and finished the race. The other two DID finish with the help of the magic jumping parents!

My sisters and I. Thanks, Mom, for capturing this picture! Love you sisters! I really love living close and buzzing down for a quick birthday party - we have never been able to do this, and now I"m trying to take advantage of every chance I have to be with family!