Breakin' A Record

So my goal here today is to write the longest blog imaginable. It shouldn't be too hard since we haven't been on here for the entire summer. I have been dreading this because so much has happened and I haven't kept up on any of it. It has been great though. As most of you know we've had Josh's brother as our house guest this summer aka O.T.P. (Our Token Performer) For those of you who aren't aware, instead of going to law school and spending millions of dollars on a fabulous education, and the summer studying for the bar exam, Matthew should just be doing voice overs. He does the very best Arnold Schwartzeneger, Movie Preview Guy, and gay man alive. He also does a pretty killer Owen Wilson. I made him "perform" quite a bit, but you would too if you heard it! You never really know how having someone move in (even temporarily) is going to go. For the record, it was great. He may have a different story, but that's our side of things. He played constantly with our kids, watched every episode of "So You Think You Can Dance" with me, came to bbqs, church and family dinners. He even allowed himself to get throttled over and over in ping pong matches with Josh. All in all, a terrific summer. Here is a photo collection of almost everything we've been up to...

Mason was laughing so hard he kept swirving. He could hardly stay on the bike. But I'm not sure who was laughing harder, him or me.


I already wrote about the air show. But I love this photo and it was a great part of our summer.


Oh, I am in so much trouble! I just wanted to give the baby a bath.


We took a trip with our best friends. For the last two years we have visited Nate's family in California. This year was Josh and Rach's turns. We went to Rachel's hometown first. Yep, some time in good ol' Idaho. I heard Matthew spent 6 weeks there one day. Anyway, her family is great and we had a fabulous time. The kids make everything more fun. They are the best of friends.



After the trip to Idaho it was Josh's turn to brag about where he grew up. Nate, Rach, Reese and Damon came with us for a week. We had a great time. These are photos before a serious day of paintballing. It was awesome. My brother, Matthew, Dom (my brother in law), Nate, Rach, Jim and my husband...a good time for sure. The photo of Rach and I is her showing how she's planned to protect my neck since I was the only one without a scarf. If a paintball came flying, this would be her sacrafice. That's why she's my best friend.




Lots of love in the Big Sky country



Love from grandma Sellers


Babe, we are so totally in Montana now.



Are you kidding me? Love this.


Hiked the "M" with 4 kids and lived to tell about it.


Mason and his best friend Reese having a blast at grandpa and grandma Sellers house.


Mason with two of his 45 grandmas. My kids really are so lucky.


One of my favorite shots from the summer. The hose at grandma and grandpas house. Awesome


Great grandpa playing dolls. He's the best. Izzy will tell you.


Poor Great grandma had to read and read and read. It's Izzy's favorite thing. Matthew's done plenty of that this summer too.


Make sure you brush the teeth in the VERY back.


Get him Becky. He totally deserves it.


We bought her a potty because she is very interested in getting out of diapers. Mason was putting it together and when we left the room for a minute we came back to find her sitting on it with the seat on her head saying, "hat? hat? hat?" Maybe we aren't entirely ready.


No words


Us waiting for Matthew on a lazy sunday morning for church. I died when I saw this. DOES IT GET ANY BETTER? (The answer is "no" for anyone who's conflicted.)


This is us saying good bye to Matthew. It was horrible. The kids took it hard. Obviously he has his own family to get back to, and a job search to begin, but we miss him something terrible. We really wish Becky and Paul could have made it to visit too. Who knows, maybe we can pray the job situation will bring them a little closer to home than Florida...here's hoping...If not, we are definately going to have to be dedicated to visiting them. They are so great, and before this summer there hasn't been much of a chance to get to spend time together. Whatever they decide to do will be great. Clearly they've proven they can handle the "uh-oh's" life throws their direction. Whatever happens is gonna be wonderful. Love you guys.


Mason put on his dino costume and wanted Izzy to dress up too. They chased each other around the house for hours laughing at each other.



He has taken an interest in mowing the lawn...I can't imagine whose kid he is! He has to jump to get the mower off the ground to turn it. Check out that air.


So there it is. I feel so much better now that we're kind of caught up. Stay tuned for photos of my kids own bedrooms. They have been sharing a room until two days ago. It was hard for Josh and I. Our big boy has officially moved downstairs. More to come...