C Mike is 10!

Here is another post to get my gross legs off the front of the blog...they are getting better by the way. Slowly but surely. Anwyay, Cameron Michael turned 10 last week. There was a day I never thought I'd survive his first year, let alone 10.

And the usual crepes breakfast, which they all request on their birthdays.

He had a couple friends over and wanted to hang out, do water balloons, eat yummy food and just hang out. It was a fun, relaxed party.

Water balloon and boys can get violent :)

He requested Cheetos, hot dogs cut up into BBQ sauce, chips, caramel popcorn, soda & cheesecake. Basically sugar.

His first ever football season has started, and I will get some pics of his first game soon. He would kill me for saying this, but he looks so cute in his football gear!

Viewer Discretion Is Advised....

I know these are super gross, but I wanted to share anyways :) Poison oak is awful! I took these yesterday, and if it's possible, it looks worse today, and now it is starting to cover my arms. I went to the doctor today, and I got some meds. I have to take some pills for the next 2 weeks. One of the worst parts about the blister/rash is that it is sooo hard to sleep! I've been tired and grumpy, and so sick of wiping nasty fluid from running down my legs. It's like a leaky faucet that never stops. The kids think it looks like sap. Audrey says I am turning 'ugly'...? I'm assuming she's talking about my legs. Anyway, hopefully in a couple days the medication will start helping. Now I know why dad hates poison oak so much! I guess some people don't react at all, most people have a mild rash, and some have severe reacations like blisters...I guess I know what category I fall into. I'm so glad I didn't take any kids with me when I went blackberry picking, I can't imagine having to deal with kids having this!

Just to make your day go better...

Did I mention I LOVE my Haley???

Whew! What a trip...Whittle update

Hello Blog. I know it's been awhile. Everyone has been so busy this summer! It seems we either haven't been home much, or we're busy with new babies. I forgot to bring my camera battery charger on our trip, and it died a few days into our vacaction. So here's a few from the beginning of our trip. I hate that I didn't have my camera for our time with Carrie's family in Las Vegas, or Benicia. Troy did take some with his phone, so once we get those downloaded I can add some. We had a great 2 weeks. We started off in Twin Falls, Id. We stopped there on our way to Utah and stayed with Nathan & Bev's family at her dad's house. The kids had such a fun time there. We took a quick jaunt over the Shenendoa Falls. I know I spelled that wrong. Anyway, it was so gorgeous!

We are missing Alex, he opted to stay and play with Cody. He would pretty much rather do that than anything else!

We went on a crowded but nice little hike with mom, dad, Trav, Kate and Clark.

While staying at Tani's before we headed out to Zion's, I got to visit Em and cute little Parker. Mom was there helping out, and Dad and Travis arrived that wknd. too. We had fun swimming at her apartment complex and getting to know Parker. Alex thought it was so funny that his feet and hands were so tiny! I think it made Alex feel very much like a 'big boy'. Mom made us a yummy dinner of reubin sandwiches, fruit and corn.

I didn't get any pictures, but Audrey and I went over to kate and clarks cute basement apartment. It's really cute! Other than living below the psycho cat Bella, it's a nice little set up! Audrey was quite taken with Molly, kate's cat. She still tells me what a pretty cat she is. While staying at Tani's I also got to visit Christa. I learned through Facebook that she also lived at Eagle Mtn. It was fun to catch up with her. I hadn't seen her since our wedding day 13 years ago. She has 3 cute boys.

We stopped at the Pink Coral Sand Dunes on our way to Zion's. It was so pretty and sandy :) It was hot, but not scorching. It was fun to explore and see the different landscape than what we are used to up here in green washington.

This is about the time my camera died. This is about half of the Whittle grandkids. I think they are listening to the rules before they bust open a pinata. The lodge was huge, with about 10 bedrooms, each with a bathroom. It was perfect for the reunion. We did a hayride, a barn dance, had fun on the pond swimming, canoeing, fishing and a slip n slide. Of course eating is always awesome too :) We did some hikes, with the older kids and some adults hiking the Narrows, a popular hike up a river canyon. I heard it was pretty awesome hiking up the river.

Anyway, that's a little of our vacation. After Zion's we went to Vegas and Carrie let us hang out at their house and eat their food! It was fun to see the girls. Haley is so stinkin cute. Audrey LOVED sleeping over. I'm not sure if it was actually getting to sleep over, or the 3 pieces of cake Carrie promised them for breakfast if they were good and went to sleep! We stayed and The Cannery, which is a huge upgrade for us Motel 6 people :) We had the pool to ourselves too. We took the kids to the Bellagio to see the fountains and have gelato. It was defenently an exciting experience for them. There's so many neat things to look at on the Strip, and then so many not-so-good things too. We didn't spend to much time down there. We then drove to Benicia where it was total bliss, for me anyways, hanging out at home, sleeping in, visiting old friends...I loved it! We did Stinson beach, glass beach, Muir woods, Sacramento, had Alex's birthday, went on a few dates, Princess Garden (still the best chinese ever). Troy and I realized that in the 2 weeks we were gone we saw every member of Troy's family (except for Carson who's on his mission), and everyone in mine (we didn't get to see Brett since he's was off to NY for work). I love summer! I'm looking forward to a routine, although I wish that routine didn't have to be gettting up early and making school lunches. Two things that I DREAD!!! Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their summer!

Summer Shorts!

I made the girls' some shorts for summer by cutting off their jeans and pants and adding either fabric on the bottom or ribbons. On one pair of Abby's little shorts, I tried some embroidery (which I don't know how to do, but it was fun to try!). I even made the girls matching hair clips to go with their shorts that I put fabric on the bottoms of. The hairclips I made for Caitlin's two shorts got lost pretty quick, but Lizzie's is there in the picture with the pink shorts they match:

And here are their ribbon cutoffs...these were a fun and cheap project!

She had a Birthday Shout Hooray!

Summer birthday season is upon us, with Audrey's 7th kicking it off. Troy had to be at a conference in Spokane, so he wasn't able to be there, but he wanted to get her something special and Skype with her so he could watch her open it. In the morning he watched her open her Tangled tower. She was so happy. She has spent months thinking about it, trying to create make-shift towers out of paper, which she would spend hours on. So she was pretty happy with a real store-bought one :)

I was feeling a lot of pressure, because well, Audrey is hard to please sometimes, and she has been planning this party for a long time. I am learning that she does have a genuine knack for decorating and loves to be festive, so I pretty much let her take over, which she is good at. She decorated 3 days before the party, which was a bit stressful since it was hard to keep it looking as perfect as she wanted it with Alex around, but she did a very good job. We did a hula party, with hawaiian music, tiki torches, hula skirts, hawaiian haystacks, smoothies and a little hula dancing. It turned out pretty well, I didn't hear any complaints from her so I'm assuming in her mind it was successful. Sigh.

A must read...

Read this book!! It is seriously incredible. I love how Laura Hillenbrand writes-Seabiscuit is one of my very favorite books, and she delivers in this one, too. Although her subject matter in Unbroken is what is so riveting. It's about a man, and his life growing up and surviving WWII. He is now 93, and I watched some youTube interviews with him, he is just an amazing man. So, if you find yourself looking for a good book, you won't be disappointed!