How Do They Do It?

Are you one of those people who can take pictures of themselves and actually get a good picture? HOW DO YOU DO IT? Today was my dad's b-day and we had a little get together/party for him and my sis-in-law, Valerie. After the party and after the boys were in bed I thought it would be fun to try take some pictures of Julia and I together....cuz she was being soooo cute. Well I know I'm not photogenic and I obviously don't know how to take pictures. I see pictures other people take holding the camera out in front of them and they come out fine and dandy. Maybe it's just a lack of practice?

Our first attempt...and probably the best?

Anyway, Happy Birthday Dad! we love you! (These were the best pictures I had of the night. I took the camera out when it was dark so they didn't all work. I posted the best ones)

All the grandkids that live around here...minus A'Lyssa

(we missed you!)

If my math is right, there are 28 of these rug rats (30 total w/Cheri's twins)
Yup, dad! That makes you REALLY OLD!!

(0: Yes, Kandice does have teeth under there :0)

It's Back, They're Back, I'm Back

I've been without our computer for that past week so I've been using our old one...which doesn't work like it should. I couldn't follow any links that I clicked on or print any coupons that I couldn't pull up--doesn't make sense? Doesn't matter-The computer is fixed and back! I can't believe how dependant I am on it. So that's the "It's Back" part.

My parent are finally home after serving their mission in Nauvoo for the past two years. I haven't seen them yet but talked on the phone with them and so happy they're home. I think I'm most excited for them to see Julia because they haven't seen her (well besides the pictures). So, there's the "They're Back" part.

I've had a few things happen that I wanted to blog about and I could have pulled out the journal and wrote them down but what about the fun pictures?? Where would they go? So I decided to wait until the computer came back to blog about life. Julia is getting so good at sitting up! She can't really roll over and hates being on her tummy but she loves sitting up if there are toys to play with. She doesn't want anything to do with food yet--unless it's a little piece of bread from mom's dinner plate.

Easter came and went and this is the best picture of the three Calico Kids together--couldn't get Julia to look up. We went to Todd's G-ma & G-pa Wittwer's on Sunday for a great dinner and egg hunt. Sunday morning was cute because Payton brought his Easter basket in the house and said, "How did Grandma Wittwer get here so fast?" He knows she's the Easter Bunny (at least at her house she is).

The boys had been fighting a bit last week and I got to the point that I needed to take action. I just hope the action I took isn't considered child abuse. I told them if they were going to fight again I was going to tie them together and give them a chore to complete and they would have to work together. It wasn't five minutes later that I took some drawstring from a pair of shorts (not sure what shorts they're from yet) and tied their arms together and sent them to get the mail. Porter was bawling! He didn't want to be tied together! They came back from the mail box laughing with each other and told me about the ant that tried to bite Porter on the way back. Seemed to work, right? Well, the next day I hear them fighting again and then I hear Payton say, "We better stop fighting or mom's going to tie us together again." The fighting stopped for a moment and then started again. If it hadn't been for Payton's comment I would have forgotten about my plan of "tying them together". So I got the "rope" and tied their ankles together (kinda like you do when you're going to run a three legged race--Brenda and I were the best together) then I told them to walk around the house together and they had to work together. They were both crying this time. Sad thing is that they didn't figure out they could have easily slipped it off their feet if they wanted to--or had thought about it. It wasn't tied that tight. I had to video tape them coming around the house because I thought it was so funny that something I loved to do as a kid is turning into punishment for my kids...how does that work?

One Last Thing...

Happy Birthday Brenda!!

I consider Brenda my best friend growing up because it seems like we did EVERYTHING together! Today is her b-day and I hope she enjoys every minute! If I had a scanner that worked I would have some awesome photo's to post of her but we'll save that for another post.

Pictures Now...Details later

Julia in her Blessing Dress

Posing with Daddy

at the luncheon--Misti, Todd, Julia, G-ma Julie, G-pa Blair

R.J, Tanner & Luke Wright

Ashley, Ashton & Tayosha

Amie & Tav holding Julia

Cheri, Dalton & Kandice

Brooklyn & Mike

-Troublesome Teens-

A'Lyssa, Tayosha, Ashley & Ashton

Jeff & Trudi

Bailey, Ellie, Jul's, & Payton

Ellie & Julia

Julia, Brooklyn & Emmie

Chubby girl--Julia

Porter and Jul's

Kisses!

Payton, Julia & Mommy at the end of a big day!

Labor Day Weekend

Sunday was our first time at our new church so we decided to go instead of go camping on Cedar Mountain with the rest of my family on Saturday. (Actually it was supposed to rain Saturday and Sunday so Todd wasn't really into going camping in the mud). After our church meetings we made the spare of the moment decision to head to the mountain for the night and spend Monday there. It was so fun and the kids had a ball...even though their mom forgot their jackets laying on the bed (oops). The boys rode 4-wheelers every chance they got. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of them on the 4-wheelers because that's really where they spent most of their time. We did go to the caves on Monday and let the kids hike through. Tiff was a trooper and took Porter through one of the smaller (not so accessible for pregnant folk) caves. She had to put up with the constant crying and "I can't make it" sobs. Thanks for the great memories, Tiff. I'm glad we spent the day there...it beats cleaning the house!

Huntington/Clove Family Reunion

Every year there is a Huntington/Clove Family Reunion which is my Grandma Turek's brothers and sisters families. It's held in Hatch and as of right now the only one living is my Aunt Ada--who interestingly enough is the only one without any children. Kinda' says it all why she's still living eh? Dang kids kill us off early. Anyway, this year Todd was gone on a fire so I decided to take the kids to enjoy all the activities. They loved it!! They spent most of their time on the Merry-Go-Round but found time to rope pretend cows, run away from Uncles who were trying to rope them, throw water balloons, and ride horses. It was actually one of the more fun reunions because there were things for the kids to do. I had to put in a few pictures and videos.