4th of July!

The morning of the fourth I spent hanging out with my fabulous sister Jessica, after a run we ate a yummy meal of waffles (thanks to the Mr. for making them)!

later we bought fireworks and then went to the Big D for Zip lining, we also got to play in a bouncy house, a blowup obstacle course (not my most graceful moments) and we also got free Slurpee (those cool people own a machine!), Awesome! Thank you to the Durrant's. I am so lucky to have such cool extended family members! they are the ultimate example of work hard play hard. Believe me they work VERY hard.

Fathers Day 2016

To the fathers in my life,

Thank you.

For fathers day this year Mitch received an Osprey day pack with a camel-back, a tie, some candy and some tee shirts. 

The boys love to wear a "daddy's shirt" to bed in lu of PJ's; its adorable, but they tend to stretch them out and generally trash them so they got him replacements.

We choose to give daddy a little questionnaire filled out by the kids instead of a card. It had simple questions  "what does daddy always have in his pocket?" (money and phones); and what does daddy always say?" (its time to go). It was certainly educational. 

We also filled one out for grandpa, favorite response: "what does grandpa like best?" Eli's answer: "giving us ice cream". 

To Mitchell,

I can not say in words how much I love you. 

You work so hard to take care of our family and you do not complain, you enjoy our family and look for ways to spend time with our children. Thank you. I'm so glad we choose forever.

Love always, Your Melinda girl

Memorial Day

In the evening we went to the graves this year for memorial day as we always do. I am so grateful for that tradition and for a husband who is so supportive. It is wonderful that we have such loving extended family!

We also had a really fun day. First we went out to sandy point at lucky peak and had a BBQ picnic and the kids played with cousins.

in the afternoon the girls went to a movie, it was pretty fun to go out with my mom and sister (and baby).

We also spent time together with the Barthlome's in the evening when they came over, the guys went to a movie and the kids played.

Mothers Day 2016

Easter weekend

On Saturday we had a West Family Easter Egg hunt. The kids had so much fun, us moms mostly stood back and photographed!
Kids love the hunt, searching for eggs, the excitement is palpable. I LOVE that excitement, it probably is part of why I love holidays the way I do.

Sunday we all went to church and had a yummy meal. Easter yummy. With jello eggs (a tradition), ham and mashed potatoes, ceaser salad, rolls, fruit salad and yummy juice!

The Easter bunny brought our family a letter including the story of Jesus that we all read in the morning, the toys had to wait until evening.
I am SO grateful for my Savior and for the many blessings that we have been given as a family.

-Nice Easter photos  by Rebecca Barthlome