We have fit a lot of fun things in this summer and are feeling so blessed that we had so many people come visit us here, clear in Indiana. I am so grateful too that I survived my trip to Idaho. It was wonderful while was there, but definitely a hard trip getting there and back.
My little baby has turned 6 months old. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. It has gone by a lot faster than I remember with Porter. She has brought a calmness and a joy to our lives. She is so sweet and mild mannered. We love her so much.
Liddy is now eating cereal and loves it. She had her 6 month appointment and she weighs 15lbs and 9 ounces and is 26 and 3/4 inches long.
During our trip to Idaho we were lucky enough to be there when little Madalyn (sp?) was born. Liddy and Porter also got another girl cousin on the Tlustek side. Her name is Jane.
I had to put this picture up. We went to the water park and Sam had to fulfill his mean brother now mean uncle duties and torture poor little Porter. I think Porter loved the attention though.
Our little Liddy is quite the cruiser. She is crawling everywhere and pulling up on anything she can get a grip on.
Aren't these the cutest kids around. I loved taking pictures of all the cousins lined up and smiling. We just got done riding the carousel.
Porter sure loved Mary while we were in Idaho. I'm sure it was her kidness and attention she gave to him, but a little of it was that he wanted to do whatever little Ashlon was doing. Ashlon and Porter have a love hate relationship. I hope with the next visit it will be all love.
We had to go camping while we were in Idaho even if it meant a whole lot of work to just stay up at Warm River less than 24 hours. We had a lot of fun. We even floated down the rapids. I can't remember the last time I had done that. It was still as fun as we remember.
The kids sure had some fun swimming with us. I was so happy that Porter was brave enough to float down the river on a tube with me. He and Shaylon were the only ones brave enough to do it.
I love that my dad loves to be a part of my kids life. Even though there tempermant doesn't permit it at times. He loves to hold them and win them over. Liddy is pretty mild mannered and just sat there with them as they enjoyed the fire together.
Here is my pretty little girl sitting up all on her own. She also loves to sit in her walker and scoot around.
This picture makes me laught, but it is a rare occasion when all of them are looking, plus we have a smile from Liddy and I guess you could call it a smile from Terry.
While we were in Idaho we got together with Liz, Melanie, Julie and Shawna and all their kids. It was perfect and I loved it. All the kids played and played while us girls just chatted under the pavillion. I sure wish we lived a little closer for times like this.
Here are all the cuties again on the famous couch in my mom's kitchen. I feel like we always take pictures of all the kids on that same couch. Anyway, I love getting pictures of all of them together. Porter, Liddy, Kolby, Shaylon, Ashlon and Max (just days before little Maddalyn was born)
Here they are all eating lunch together. Gracee, Shaylon, Kolby, Emme, Ashlon, Max and Porter. It was a wonderfully healthy meal of Ramen noodles. They all loved it though and we had to make like 5 packages.
Liddy 5 months with Lucey 3 months.
Liddy with a cute little smile.
Of course that gator was a hit with Grandpa. There were even seat belts for the kids. The loved it and could have ridden around for hours on that thing.









This spring we debated back and forth on whether or not to do a garden. We finally decided to get the ground tilled and now we are seeing the beautiful fruits of our labors. It is so fun to see and are excited to have fresh vegetables later this summer. It has been hard work though.


I pull out the camera to take a picture of Liddy and here comes Porter mimicking the exact position or action that Liddy is.
He has started wanting to hold her a lot and pick her up. He can hold her pretty good, but it is the picking up that is a little scary. He about pulls her arm off trying his best to get her up. There has been a lot of teaching going on in our house in the past few months and being a good example has put on a whole new meaning.
I sometimes wonder if their little jabbers and coos are understood between the two of them. Because like in this picture and the next I just find them talking face to face like this. Porter will often cup her face in his hands and just talk to her so sweet.

Another fun thing we have done this summer is take Porter to his first movie in the theater. The local movie theater here in town has free kids movies every Wednesday morning. We wondered how our little Porter who is such a tornado would do. He surprised us because he did great as you can see in the picture above he was glued to the big screen. He is following in his dad's footsteps. He loves movies. The movie was Horon Hears A Who. It was a pretty cute movie.








Here I am standing in the replica of Hagrid's shack. I am standing in front of Hagrid's clothes. He was a giant.
We walked down Navy Pier and took a picture next to Lake Michigan. It was beautiful, but looks and feels more like an ocean. I forgot my camera and had to just take pictures with our camera.