The 4th of July

This 4th of July was GREAT! I am so greatful to be an American! Watching the fireworks this year brought a tear to my eye. To have the freedom to do such small things that we take for granted every day. Thank you so much for all the men and women that protect us each and every day! My heart goes out to each and every one of you and your families.

So Rayce FINALLY got a day off this summer. The poor man works so hard! On his day off (aka the 4th) he decided that he was going to give us an art lesson. I personally didn't want to do it because I am such a horrible artist! So don't mind our messy garage, but this is offically our family art studio!

Rayce told each of us to go and pick something that they wanted to draw. Shylee picked a Dora toy, Icee a princess, and Cayge a Storm Trooper, but he ended up drawing a shark like me.

This is Shylee's painting of Dora the Explorer. Squint your eyes, if your lucky, it might be like a magic picture and pop out at ya!

This is Icelynn's painting of Snow White. The bottom of the picture is Snow White, the rest is the animals in the forest.

This is Cayge's chalking of a shark. Man this kid is incredible!!

This is my Very FIRST chalking of a Great White Shark. I haven't drawn for well over 15 years! I am so bad, but I was actually proud of my self on this one, it turned out okay.

Shylee was just looking so cute that we had to ruin it. She had started by getting a little smug on her upper lip, and Rayce and I finished it off for her!

In Pullman, Washington every year they have a big celebration at the park. So later that day we went to the park. They have big blowup toys for the kids to play on, a HUGE barbeque, and awesome fireworks. This is our 3rd year in a row, and we love it! Rayce works for the company that rents the blowup toys, so our kids get to play on it for free. It's nice!

It's pretty rare that Rayce lets me take a picture of him, but he always looks so nice!

My hansome little cheeseball! He is getting to the age where he doesn't like his picture taken, so this was all he would let me take.

Icee going down the gigantic bouncy slide.

Then it was Shy's turn, I think she went down like 150 times! No Joke!!!

I was so bummed that this one was blurry, because her face in this picture was so darn cute!

Before we went, I made sure we got a little girl time and we all painted our toenails red to match our clothes. The girls love getting "pretties" on!

My Favorite Hair Do's

So, I LOVE doing my girls' hair! I can't do mine for the life of me, but I can theirs.

This first one is little braids around the hair pulled up in a messy bun with ribbon.

Shylee's hair can be pretty difficult sometimes. It is still really fine, and totally a mullet! (Not as funny as it sounds!) So this is upside down dubble pigtails with ribbon tied at each pony.

The next two are pretty much the same, but this first one just has more pony's in.

This one has fewer pony's in.

This is the same as the first one, just not so messy and no ribbon.

If you have any good ideas, let me know, I am always up for a challange with their hair!

Shylee and her "Chocolate Friend" Oliber

When we were in California we met up with Corolee's friend Oliver. So Shylee right off the bat decided that she loved Oliver! She called him her "chocolate friend Oliber." It was so cute, and to top it all off, I think that he loved her just as much. I show her these pictures and some on my phone too, and she has to kiss him! It is just so cute that they are complete opposites, and yet perfect together.


This one is at lunch when she first descovered that he was there. She would peek over the bench at him and "eye flirt" then she finally asked if she could go sit with him. The rest is history!


This one is at Huntington Beach. I think they are looking at the Goodyear Blimp.


Oliver is pointing out the dolphins to Shylee.


This is at the Aquarium of the Pacific. She would go to him every chance she could get. Poor Amanda, it was like 102 degrees and she's prego!! You go girl!

The two of them checking out the large shark tank.

I LOVE this one. She didn't want him out of her sights!

This one is just of Rayce and Oliver. In a matter of hours they became great friends! I just think this one his really funny because Rayce is SO pail and Oliver is just so dark.

The innocence of a child is priceless. We raise our children not to judge a person because of anything, and we were so proud of our children when they met Oliver. They loved him (and Amanda!). One of the nights Shy had been crawling all over Oliver while running around the hotel room. Her and Icee had conked heads in the middle of it all and Shy ran right past Rayce and I right over to Oliver. Later Icee was sitting on his lap and mentioned how dark he was. He said to her that she should go and get a towel to help him get cleaned off, (it was just the color of his skin) Icelynn looked at her hand with a little worry in her eyes and tryed to wipe hers off. Most people might have been affended, but Oliver was great. Thank you to Oliver and Amanda for helping us teach our children that color NEVER matters, that we can all be friends no matter what! We love you guys!