Lexy turned 9 - on June 26th! That is how far behind I am.

Lexy turned 9 this summer and had a small gathering of friends. For her birthday she decided that she wanted her hair cut short. I was OK with it, Dad wasn't so sure, but when it is a birthday request who can argue? It is a cute hair cut, but I am ready to have her long gorgeous hair back. Her hair is the hair that I have always wanted - just thick enough and no frizzy, wave thing if it isn't dried thoroughly.

Pinetop to visit with family!

We made a quick trip to Pinetop to spend time with Patrick's brother Ryan, and his family, who were visiting from Utah. This gave us sometime to also spend with his gracious Aunt and Uncle and his parents who also came up.

The girl's made a fairy village and kicked back!

In the meantime us adults sat around and chatted, while Breck slept!

Mexico 2009

We had a wonderful trip down to Rocky Point at the beginning of June. We got to stay at a condo in Bella Serena, which was absolutely beautiful! Here we are on our first trek down to the beach.

Kalley spent her time finding sea creatures. There are about 20 tiny crabs in her pail. Lexy spent her time making sand castles.

I spent my time under the umbrella with Breck who was only 2 months old, and who wouldn't love making this guy smile.
At least until the tide went out and we could go look for crabs. Kalley is a mini me of me - if you can't tell? My favorite part of the beach is finding wildlife. Besides catching regular crabs and hermit crabs, we caught a couple of tiny fish and shrimp. Here we are on our crab hunt!

Patrick loved to spend his time playing with the girls on the beach. Lexy and Kalley finally ventured out by the last day, but only Cassidy was brave enough to go in the water at first.

At night time we came back and showered and ate dinner outside on the patio, and just enjoyed the breeze. Here is the view!

Here are all the happy faces!

And the exhausted bodies!

It was over way too fast! I love coastal living!

Deer Springs Ranch

Our first adventure was Deer Springs Ranch just outside of Kanab, Utah. I have been going here since I can remember. We had a weekend with my parents, my brother Mitch and his family, and my sister A'Lisa and her family.

Where else can you still do this and not get taken to jail?

My favorite part of the Ranch is riding horses and we all got to ride them thanks to my Uncle Dale - the real Cowboy!

If you are wondering where my picture is -because I did ride- well it was one of those pictures that we hopefully not ever turn up! Just when you feel like you are looking good after just having a baby because your stomach is much smaller. Well, then you have a picture that reminds you what you really look likeand reality has set in!

Here are all the kids waiting for the turn to ride. And that is Mason (Mitchel's boy on the right) who really knew how to act like a cowboy!

Summer was crazy! I think we had 2 1/2 months of fighting and a baby not sleeping. It wasn't until I sent them back to school that I realized - they were the problem. Breck will sleep for 4 hours straight now! Needless to say we were trying to get the house in order so that the first day would be as smooth as possible. Without fail no one was cooperating and so Mom started yelling. I went in my room to feed and put Breck to sleep and gather my sanity before heading back out when I found Cassidy being oh so sweet! I had to get it on film. Now that I have some peace and quite maybe I can send a quick update on our summer, (The parts that were enjoyable!), and blog again!

For those of you who know what I freak I am about how the vacuum needs to leave straight lines you will especially get a kick out of her carefree vacuuming approach. I don't think that she had ever vacuumed before. And if you are wondering what she has on her head - they are ear plugs for shooting guns. I got them for Patrick a while ago and he had never used them. Once we got the Oreck vacuum and realized how load it was we decided that they would get used after all.

Lessons in Life

My children have been learning a very hard life lesson. Since Breck was born we have lost 3 animals, all of which resided inside our home. I have already blogged about Maddie but we also lost 2 gerbils. Lexy and Kalley had both bought themselves a gerbil just over two years ago. Jasmin died 6 days after Breck was born and then Flower died on Saturday. It wasn't a surprise when the first gerbil died because she had seemed like it was coming for sometime. But Flower was a surprise. We think she may have chewed up some of a pom pom string and choked on it. She wasn't doing to good in the morning and by the night time we found her dead. So both Gerbils are now together in heaven with Maddie. The kids have had to learn that animals, as well as people, all have to die. They have taken it pretty well. Now we just have 10 chickens - I am thinking summer vacations are going to be a little smoother!

Breck's Blessing

We blessed Breck on May 3rd. Because the flu had visited some family members on both sides we seemed to not have as many there. But I also think that we just aren't used to more of Patrick's family leaving us for Utah, since we blessed Cassidy. We miss all of you! It is great to have such wonderful families!

The McConaghie's

The Allen's