We Interupt These Posts...

I got tired of doing vacation pictures, so I thought I would take a break and post these 2 videos. I love my children, but sometimes they are a little strange!
In this video, it shows why we never have to get a pet! Who needs a dog when you have a baby? She pees on the floor, she eats food people drop, and she plays fetch!


For this video, I don't even know what to say! Cole came up with this all by himself. I'm guessing 10 years from now he will want this video burned. Until then, enjoy!

My Cousin, My Friend

One of the nice things about being part of a big family is that there is always someone close to your age that you can play with. This was true when we were kids and is still true now with our kids. The only downside is that we are spread all the way across the United States. While we were in KC, Emily discovered that she has a fun cousin named "Medidith" (Meredith) that she had not really gotten to play with before because she lives in New York. Thankfully, we can meet in the middle at Grandma and Grandpa's house!
Emily and Meredith loved to do lots of the same things. They were always talking about their new friend that was also their cousin. It was very cute.
They danced together.
They made a leaf book
and listened to Great-Grandma Watt's advice.
They watched a magician together with amazement.
They also did some crafts together.
Hopefully there will be lots more fun days together in the future!

Start Them Young!

When you root for a not-so-successful franchise like the KC Royals and want your kid to be a fan as well, you have to start them young! That way, when they realize that the team typically loses more than they win, it is too late. They are already committed! So, Cole has had Royals' jerseys from the time he was little and we try to go to a game every time we go back there. This time was no exception!
Thanks to Uncle Bill (I don't know how we missed a picture with Uncle Bill. I think that was by his design!), we had prime seats. (This just adds to Cole's future problem. He's never going to be able to sit in the cheap seats for any sporting event. He's way too spoiled!)
After a while, Cole was getting restless, so Uncle Bill suggested a trip to the "Little K." An area designed for the kids.
Cole got to take some swings in their little stadium.
Oh wait. Uncle Bill is in the background there!Then he got to run the bases.
They also have a place where the kids can pretend to race one of the Royals players.
Cole had no idea who they were, so he just randomly picked one! (Not the super slow one Uncle Bill suggested!)
He also got to ride on Slugrrrr's Merry-Go-Round
And to make things even better, the Royals had a comeback and won the game! Hooray for the KC Royals!!

The 4th of July!

One of my dad's favorite holidays is the 4th of July. So I grew up with the 4th of July being a major holiday that included lots of fireworks and a big BBQ. In Utah, however, very few fireworks are legal. So, this year I thought it was time for my kids to celebrate the 4th of July Grandpa-style!
Grandpa started them slow. He let Cole help him check out the some of the launchers and make sure they were ready to go.
Then, he took them to a fireworks tent and let them pick out some stuff that they thought looked like fun.
"Let's see here, should we get tanks, race cars, or boats. Ok, how about all of them!"
Cole and Emily hit the jackpot and they didn't even know it. While all of the fireworks that they got here would be a full 4th of July for most people, this was just the beginning for Grandpa.
Once they got home, Grandpa started them off with smoke bombs and parachutes. No kid can resist those, right?
Emily jumped right in without a problem!
She even wanted to throw her own smoke bombs.And hold her own smoke canister.
Cole, on the other hand, was still a little apprehensive!
(Does his smile look a little forced here?)He did decide chasing parachutes was actually fun.

And he loved to have tank wars.
After all of that work, Grandpa finally won Cole over.
He was ready for the big show! (These are the 16,000 or so firecrackers that they light at the beginning of the show.)
They tried to build a tower to hang all of the firecrackers on so they didn't set the grass on fire. However, that became a little more difficult then expected! How many intelligent, successful men does it take to construct a fireworks tower?
More than you think!
I'm not sure how I missed a picture of Addy in her 4th of July outfit, but Em looked pretty cute.
The fireworks that night were beautiful and fun. Grandpa did a great job as always orchestrating a wonderful show!
I think in the end, the 4th of July in KC was a success. The kids ended up being ok with the fireworks, even the louder ones. Hopefully these types of pictures are a thing of the past!
I guess we'll see next year!

Here Come the Cousins!

Like I said in my last post, after a few days at Grandma's house, lots of my cousins started showing up. There got to be so many kids there I didn't know what to do! There was always someone to play with and admire me. (Especially my cousin Weston. He's a little obsessed with me. As you'll see though, I managed to work that to my advantage!)
Here is a picture of dinner one night (just the kids' tables mind you), just to show you the kind of chaos I had to put up with. I don't know how they got all of these kids fed, much less themselves!
I kind of liked it though because there was always somewhere to snatch a bite of big kid food. Whether it be begging from an aunt, uncle, grandma, or grandpa, from someone's plate, or in this case, being in the right place at the right time. (They wouldn't let me have any of the droppings though, something about strawberries being off limits. Rude!)
I also managed to coax a few (ok alot!) of bites of ribs from my cousin Weston because he thinks I'm so cute!
However, he was way too slow!
So, when someone distracted him, I grabbed the whole thing from his hand and hurried and shoved it into my mouth. (He was tough, he didn't even cry. He just want and talked Grandpa into giving us more! I don't think Grandpa understood what the story was, so he just gave him more rib to make him happy!)
There wasn't just lots of good food at Grandma and Grandpa's. There was also lots of stuff to do and people to play with.
We got to swim. (Tabitha looked so cute in her swim gear! I was a little bit jealous.)
The big kids played sports.
(Or something. I'm not sure what Uncle Damon is doing with that big white pole!)
Cole thought he was cool because he got to play lots of Wii with our Uncles and big cousins.
I also found these pictures that Mom took. I think I must have been napping when this happened since I am not in the pictures. (I don't know how, I tried really hard to not nap while we were there. I didn't want to miss anything!) But, I did hear them say something about a magician. Really, a magician at the house? Who does that? Grandpa was responsible I'm sure!! From the looks of the pictures, Cole and Ally thought it was amazing!
The most fun part of all was spending time with family. It is so nice that every once in a while, we can go see most of our cousins, aunts and uncles, and great grandparents.
For once, I wasn't even the smallest one. (Ok, I might still have been the smallest, but at least I wasn't the youngest!)
And thankfully, Emily could hold my cousin, instead of trying to hold me!
We even got to see Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Watt. If I thought it was crazy, I can't imagine what they thought about all of us! (It's a good thing we are all cute to make up for the chaos!)
We are so blessed to have such a great family! Hopefully we will get to see all of them again soon!