Summer turns to Fall

Guys, I'm still alive. This whole "blog life" has really taken a hit now I'm a homeschooling mamma. We are all trying to figure it all out!

I really wanted to get some pics up that could be a great reminder of what the end of our summer and beginning of our fall looked like this year. We became the Welzenhams and added our family, and they moved out in August. We began our school year.....and survived our first "semester".


Here's Ella, looking fabulous.

I grabbed a couple of my favorite mammas and we took our boys to Water World for a date. It was fun, and wet. Memories made. 

The girls are the best.

B-ham Academy Began...

Ella started ballet and tap. We all died of adorableness.....

James finished his 2 year men's discipleship class (which I was super proud of him for) and the class celebrated at a super snazzy restaurant. The Flagstaff House is the real deal, folks. I even wore lipstick, yeah, it's that fancy....

We took the kids to the Revolutionary days, they loved the old-school punishment. We built one for the basement (just kidding, don't call CPS!). 

We finally made it up to Red Rocks Amphitheater. It's GORGEOUS! 

The boys played flag football...it was insane. Many, many hours were spent at the field this year as they were not on the same team (mom wipes tears and sweat). Here's the skinny..... Micah's team lost in the final seconds during the "super bowl", and Josiah's team brought home the big fat trophy. We learned a lot about rejoicing in each other's successes and losses....

I turned 29 for the second time  and finally got to try me some fancy, smacy fondu. It was amazing. How lucky is this girl?!

Caleb went on his first horseback ride (he calls them dinosaurs and none of us has the heart to correct him!). It's my favorite!

James had field days at school. It was fun, and this girl did "toe fishing" about 5 times in a row! 

Josiah turned 8 (pinch me now!) and my brother brought him this water purifier stick, so we all tried to drink muddy water. But my brother took it to another level and drank toilet water, true story!

We got new (free) couches. Oh, and these people are my life.....

Summer and fall always calls for face paint. It's not a real "summer turns to fall" moment without massive amounts of face paint. 

Wow...I love my people.

Lets see if I can keep up with 'em all!

Lake Havasu City 2015

Our second vacation of the summer was a trip to visit my Grandparents in Lake Havasu, AZ. We went a couple of years ago and had such a great time with them. This year we were joined by my sister and her family. It was a few days of sugared up kids and sunscreen, just like my childhood. 

My handsome nephew Gabriel. Those eyes. 

The kids were kept entertained by hunting down a lizard. It was actually quite impressive they finally caught him. My niece Annabelle was especially proud.

 Swim, snack, watch cartoons. That's the life!

We ate In-N-Out 3, possibly 4 times. I don't remember, it was all a big huge Double Double blur; delicious, fried blur.

 We had the **best** time ever getting from Lake Havasu to the lovely city of Las Vegas. We had planned on having my Grandpa take us into Vegas to catch our flight. Well.......that didn't happen due to a car issue (the car literally stopped working in the middle of the road) so we had to hunt down a car rental. Turns out I ended sitting on the floor for two and a half hours while being kicked in the face by Caleb. Good times, real good times.

That lovely car ride was then followed up by a romantic walk around the streets of Las Vegas with all four of our innocent children. To be fair, it wasn't all bad. We bought M&Ms at the factory.

Caleb did horrible on the plane, more good times. Needless to say e were glad to get home, but so happy to get time to spend with my Grandparents. Especially after losing James Gramps, we needed some time with them. 

And now the school year begins!