A whole lotta fun at Bear Lake

We can't remember a time where we spent so many summer days at Bear Lake, probably since before we had children! It was so much fun this year. The Smith reunion was great for our children because they had so many cousins to hang out with that they don't ever see. Good times!

First days of school

Kerstyn's classroom
Putting her backpack away

My little tweens!

Kemp's in 5th grade this year, Cami's in 4th and Kerstyn is my newest kindergartener. It was a lot of fun going school shopping this year. Kerstyn is our little fashionista. She notices everything that is cute and in fashion. She was putting together outfits and having fashion shows with Cami for a whole week before school started, so fun. Kemp basically lets me do his shopping. As long as what I get him is comfortable and cool. They have been walking back and forth to school almost every day, and I have been meeting them with Christian in the stroller. Kemp and Cami picked Kerstyn up from her classroom yesterday and they all walked together by themselves, it is hard to let your babies grow up isn't it?

Christian-10 months

Aren't babies so angelic when they are sleeping?

Here is our little cave dweller!

Oh yea, he knows what he's doing!

I have to clean that up every night!

Uncle Scott got ankle surgery and bubby got to go for rides on the walker

He thought it was way cool

With his partner-in-crime, cousin Will

Wow, I just got back from spending 5 days with my sister Caroline in San Diego (pictures coming) and Christian was so cute when he saw me through the window at the airport. I missed my family so much, BUT definately a wonderful getaway! He is so big I can't get over it. He is 10 1/2 months and here are some cute things I have noticed about him lately:

1. He makes lots of interesting sounds with his mouth- clicks his tongue, drums his lip with his finger, and raspberries.
2. He pats my chest and says "Mama".
3. He points at everything and says, "dis".
4. Loves to open up cupboards, he is finding all my tupperware.
5. He has very ticklish feet, to which his sisters love to tickle torture him.
6. He has 8 teeth- more than our other 3 at his age, so he tries to eat everything and is always choking. Kerstyn leaves food out where he can reach it and someone is always hollering- "Mom, hurry- Christian is choking!"(AAHH-very frustrating).
7. He LOVES real mac' n' cheese and spaghetti, he goes to town stuffing his face with it.
8. He loves to tease my parents dog, Mayzee. He gets this devilish look on his face and chases her to pull her tail or ears, and then when Mayzee growls, he cracks up. Very funny!
9. At his last Dr.'s visit he was 19 lbs.15 oz, and 29 1/2 in. long.
10. I have stopped nursing and now he sleeps thru the night, yea!

Funeral service for our dwarf hamster named Elizabeth (or Lizzie)

Doesn't this look like a fun cage?

Our dwarf hamster just died this weekend, and we feel totally clueless as to why? It just must have been her time to go. She had plenty of love, food, and water. The kids wanted to bury her outside next to the garden. When we buried her they put this little stick in the ground and then marked it with a bigger stake. They are thinking about making a sign for a real grave, so cute. Kemp kind of ruined the mourning for our pet by saying, "maybe if Naomi (our other hamster) also dies then we can finally get a dog". Hopefully he isn't outgrowing his sensitive side!

Bubby-boy 9 months

We call Christian bubby-boy and it actually started with us saying chubby-bubby, but I don't think he would appreciate chubby for a nickname. He has changed so much this past month it's insane!!

• The weekend of the 4th he started crawling and 2 weeks later he was already pulling up and standing by the furniture, he also crawls up the stairs-AH!
• Christian has SEVEN teeth, no lie. Four on top and three on the bottom. With his teething comes runny noses, fevers, and no sleep. Yes, most of July I have not slept.
• He likes to rock out to music. Beyonce's Single Ladies is one of his favs, he bobs back and forth.
• He LOVES boat rides on Bear Lake.
• He is obsessed with the hamsters now. He always tries to pull down their cages. In fact the Elders were over for dinner and he pulled off the wheel and luckily one of the elders grabbed it in time or we would have had yet another hamster escape, geez-louise!
• He loves pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo. He pulls the blanket off so fast we can barely say peek-a-boo, he thinks it is pretty funny.
• His favorite sounds are "dis", ba, da, ma, ya, ah, na, and la.
• He is loving snack foods now, some favs are cheese, pretzels, little puffs, bananas, graham crackers, and grapes. Grandma peels a whole plum and gives it to him and he goes to town on it.
• He loves nursing- he still gets up to nurse in the middle of the night, but hey whatever works so I can get some sleep!
• He likes to play Daddy's guitar!

Kerstyn's Future Plans

A couple of days ago Kerstyn and I were running errands and I asked her if she wanted to be a singer when she grew up, because she was belting out a Taylor Swift song from the radio. She began to unfold her life plans. Here they are:
1. She is going to be a rock star.
2. Her "honey" (aka husband) will be a policeman.
3. They will have 2 dogs- a Chihuahua and a police dog (she thought maybe I didn't know what that is and told me it is a German Shepard).
4. She is going to have a black van and her husband will have a white one.
5. They will have a 2-year old girl named Rose.

Now for a 5-year old who rarely answers me when I ask her a question-she does the huh? thing all the time-it's like trying to talk to your hubby when he is watching t.v.; she sure shocked me with this one!

Tri-City Champs! 13-0, Go Mets!

Kemp's baseball team did so awesome this season. They were undefeated and beat the West Haven Rockies in the tri-city tournament (Roy, Clinton, and West Haven). The score was 3-2, and the game was a real nail-bitter. My niece Brittany came with us and is probably too embarassed to ever go to another sports game with me again. Yes, I am a psycho mom. When the pitcher struck out the last player, and the game was over all the boys ran and piled on the pitcher. Kemp was beaming after the game, his smile was from ear to ear.

He isn't very happy to be #1, is he?
The team

Receiving the championship ball

This was the first of the tournament games. Kemp got walked to first and then made it around to home.

Up to bat-Kemp is always nervous when he steps up to the plate because in the first game of the season he got hit right in the mouth by the ball. He was tough about it and excited that he got to go straight to first. He had a really fat upper lip for a couple days.