Time to Celebrate

Another year of the Celebration has come and gone, just like that! It was another year filled with lots of fun, family, and food too!!

*****************FUN*****************

The kids ready for the parade to begin

MR. COOL

MS. SERIOUS

************************MORE FUN*************************

ENJOYING SOME CARNIVAL RIDES

Ronan, Lexie, and Hayden

Hayden, Seth, and Hailee

Lexie and Kayla - hidden behind the Gator's head

AND A PONY RIDE TOO!!

Katie's idea of fun ---TAKING IT EASY!!!!

**************************FAMILY**************************

(Hope you don't mind Melody - but I "borrowed" these next two from your pictures on facebook)

Hoover Grandkids (except the 3 oldest - Paige, Gavin, and Ethan)

A lot of the family members had fun running the 5K

*************************FOOD************************

 Waylen enjoying a hamburger

So, that's just a glimpse at what the Celebration was like this year - pretty much like any other year - but always filled with lots of laughs and good times.

Family Fun - Part 2

****FOUR-WHEELING FUN****

***CAMPING FUN****

Exploring a cave

Enjoying some watermelon

Taking it easy

Getting Dirty

Fun with Papa Mike, Nana, and cousins - Part One

We enjoyed our visit from our family in GA. The kids were so ready for their Papa Mike and Nana to get here. We hadn't told them that their cousins, Nicolette and Corbin, were coming too!! They were really excited when they got here. Hayden even, surprisingly, gave them both a great big hug!!  We had a lot of fun while they were here. 

******FUN AT THE PARK*******

******FUN AT THE POOL*****

****FUN AT THE DUNES****

8 months...

Our sweet little girl (Katie that is) is 8 months old today. She is growing so fast and we just don't know what to do!!  She is for the most part a happy baby, except she is a Mama's girl, and she can be fine until mama walks into the room.  She usually always has a great big smile for anyone who will pay attention to her.  She loves grinning from ear to ear!! She has just cut her first two teeth, which I think explains the few restless nights a few weeks ago.  But we had to take her to the doctor while my family was here because she started running a really high fever one night. Turns out she had strep and an ear infection.  She got a shot :(  but was feeling much better the next day!!  She is a good eater and loves to eat just about anything, especially her snacks.  And she also sleeps really good at night, and in her own bed too!!  She has a hard time sleeping good when we go camping, and I think a lot of it might be because she is sleeping with us and can't roll all over the place like she does in her crib.  --She has the cutest little giggle, and really gets to giggling when you tickle her.  She loves the kids -especially Hayden- she always has to grab his hair and pull him close to give him a big slobberly kiss!! --She is such a sweetheart and is just the cutest baby!!  --Well, here are a few pictures from the past month - most of them are from our visit with Papa Mike and Nana.

Playing with Hayden:

With cousins - Corbin and Nicolette

At the Sand Dunes - can you guess what she had fun doing?

 Enjoying the shade with Papa Mike:

Enjoying the pool with Papa Mike:

Enjoying a hot dog bun:

Enjoying some watermelon:

Had her pictures taken at the end of May -

Trip to Sand Dunes

We went last Friday (the 11th) to the Sand Dunes. We met Waylen at noon at work, stopped for lunch, then headed to our camping spot near the Dunes and got the camper unhooked, met up with Waylen's parents and his sister, Melody, and her family, -- so we got to the Dunes around 2:30 or so. The weather wasn't as nice as we had all hoped it would be, and we had had several days that week which were really nice and warm days with no wind!!! --It didn't seem to bother the kids any though...

They had fun building sand castles for awhile,

then we hiked up the Dunes (Kayla walked with her Papa Larry and was chattering the whole time)

On our little hike we found this big hole that the big kids, (Waylen and Tyler) had fun jumping down,

(you can't really tell but that is Waylen in the center of the picture jumping off down to where Tyler is standing at the bottom)

and Hayden and Hailee had fun sliding down (Tyler landing after one of his jumps)

Hayden jumping (actually hopping) down to the bottom of the hole

Kayla enjoyed just playing in the sand

Then after our hike, the kids all enjoyed playing in the water for awhile (until they all started freezing from the wind blowing so much!!!)

Not really sure what Hayden is doing here:

And if you are wondering how Katie did for her first trip to the Sand Dunes....

Well, It didn't take her long to find the dirt....

and then it didn't take her long to make her way off the blanket and into the dirt (and eating the dirt too!!!) 

and before long she was getting into the water with all the other kids!!! 

Can't you tell she loved every minute of it? And isn't she a cutie, even when she's dirty?

That's pretty much it for our camping trip to the Sand Dunes. We stayed over night, but then left the next morning because of bad weather (cold, windy (really windy I might add - thought for sure we were all going to blow away that night), and then it started raining).  We had planned on going back to the Dunes and were hoping that it would be a nicer day than on Friday, but it just didn't happen!!! Gotta love the weather in Colorado!!!