Labor Day

Go ahead, scroll through these amazing pictures. Nathan and Richard (my brothers) along with Miles and his cousin Ashlynn jumped, dove, flipped, and flopped off the walls behind our pool. My favorite pictures are the ones when Nathan and Richard accomplished synchronized back flips. Such talent in my family. Happy to report that no one was injured.

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We spent Labor Day morning laboring poolside with the family including my Grandma Jones, my cousin Cori and her 2 boys Camden and Case, and my cousin Julia.

These 2 pictures were taken the day before. Ashlynn throwing the water, and Miles and Ellyce carrying buckets of water to the sand box.

My SIL Jena looking so pretty in blue with Masie-girl.

My Grandma and Julia. We’ll be seeing much more of Julia since she’s attending graduate school at ASU.

On the right is Case making a good show out of getting the goggles on.

Miles is always wanting to be bundled after swimming. Even if it’s 100 degrees outside. We never forget the sunscreen (what a fantastic camera! can you see the spray of liquid?).

Cindy and her baby girl #4, Natalee. Masie refused to have a morning nap, but she was a good sport and was able to stay awake to nearly finish her lunch.

Unfortunately Luke had to work, so no pictures of him. I’m so grateful for my hard working husband.

Lyla slept through most of the festivities, so no pictures of her, but this is what she left for me later that day. Gross, but had to share. The Bumbo seat has many uses including poop catcher :)

So many distractions

I’m certain I’m not the only one that feels like nothing gets completed. I think I’ve got my efficiency machine running like it should, and then I see something out of the corner of my eye that distracts me.

Take me office.

I have a very nice, fast computer. Hooked up to my machine are two sweet flat panel computer monitors.

Nice, huh.

I have two so I can open many applications at once while I jump from work, to scrapbooking, to adoption , to facebooking, to personal finance projects. I’m beginning to think it’s not such a great idea to be able to have access to so many things all at once. Besides the insurance claim I need to follow up on, kids needing me to fill up water bottles, and floors that desperately need to be mopped, I have multiple programs jamming up my thought process.

I start with good intentions and end with half results.

Maybe I should slow down.

But then I think, what would my life be like without all this distraction?

I don’t think I could be any happier than I am at this moment. I’m doing something right even with all these distractions and unfinished business. I’m happy; my kids are happy; my husband is happy.

I think my system is working…

Rewarded for 4 weeks of wholesomeness

We really do love each other! It’s been a while, but Luke and I finally made time for ourselves and went out on the town Friday evening.

Thanks Mom and twins for babysitting!

We even left the house before the kids were in bed. If you know us, you know we never do that. It’s a huge deal and takes a lot of trust for us to leave our kids for meal and bedtime. We’re working on it though. We loved our time together.

We made it to Fry’s Electronics where I found a great new camera bag for my fantastic new camera. Then off to dinner. I’ve been so good for 4 weeks and decided it was time to treat myself to some dessert. I hadn’t eaten any processed foods or sugars for 4 weeks, no joke! Didn’t cheat once. We hit up the Elephant Bar where I indulged in their calamari and coconut shrimp. Luke had a full rack of ribs. I polished dinner of with the “mini” dessert that consisted of a regular sized red chocolate cupcake topped with icing surrounded by ice cream and drizzled with chocolate. It said “mini” so I ate it all. Luke had the crème Brule. Stuffed, I was.

Then we bought me some more work-out gear at Sports Authority. Fitting, huh. Love it!

Truck loading

It’s starting to cool down just a tad in the evenings. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still hot-hot-hot! But we can go outside after dinnertime and be reasonably comfortable.

Luke often has to load up his truck for the next days work, so Miles goes out with him to ride his bike or sit in the back of the truck and help. Masie goes berserk when she sees the boys heading out the door without her. So the truck loading becomes a whole family affair.

Luke had to backwash our pool this evening. The kids loved playing in the water!

 

Sitting pretty.

I’ve been so lax about updating our blog. I’m going to try to be better!

We decided baby #3 required that we buy a Bumbo. Baby Lyla now has the best seat in the house.

Miles and one of his new best buddies, Sam.

 

Fun with Dad

Mess-pot, but oh so pretty

Dimply girl

 

Elephant? No, she’s trying to eat it.

The Wii is serious stuff

 

My brother, Richard. Showing off in our pool. I’m hoping Miles never tries this…

I’d like you to meet my new best friend.

I finally took the financial plunge and bought a dSLR camera. I wish I would have done this years ago!!!

I love it!

I can’t stop taking photos. I’m ready to take a photography class so that I can have some great skills and not just a great camera.

These are a portion of my mini shoot I took on Sunday. Lyla was still sleeping during the pictures with Luke, Miles and Masie. I’m so sad I didn’t wake her up because I love how they turned out.

Enjoy!!