.: Coming Home

After our week away, we were so happy to be home - especially because it meant spending time with family! Whitney, Jeff and their kids came out for a CO visit and my brother Bryson happened to be down here as well! These pics aren't really in order, but they show the crazy amount of fun we had while they were here:

We all went indoor skating - Bryson and I even traded off for part of it, but eventually had to take Rhys home for a nap. Landon stayed with his cousins!

We went to Ryan and Danna's for our our 4th of July BBQ. Since we didn't see a parade in the morning, the kids decided to run through the house while we chucked candy at them. It was actually really fun...for the adults :).

Bryson pretending that Landon's loot was gone:

Ian is definitely a mama's boy! He's getting so big!

Katie and Rebecca checking out dessert:

I thought this picture was really funny - they look like they're about to hurt someone. Really, they are just hungry :)

Grant, Matthew and Rhys!

This picture is so cute - Landon is growing up too fast!

And don't even get me started on this little guy. It's so fun watching him learn and explore the world!

Yum...

I think Rhys ate my whole piece!

That night we went to a FACE concert (a cappella group), bounced in bouncy houses and watched the fireworks. There were only three cities actually doing fireworks because of the fires, so our celebration was PACKED! You can see how cloudy the sky is from all the smoke:

Handsome Bryson. Too handsome, in fact...he got picked up by a girl sitting on a blanket behind us. I had to play Mom and tell him he only had a 1/2 hour to play frisbee :)

Matthew giving a pretty good rooster perch!

Landon loves wrestling with Rhys...pretty sure Rhys loves it too!

Big smile!

Cousins in the bouncy house!

Scott waited in line for about an hour for the boys to do this big punching bounce house. Well worth it!

On to the fireworks! Love the pose I got in this one:

Rhys was enthralled:

After the fireworks, we ended up having to walk a CRAZY long way to our cars. The shuttle bus that we took was stuck in traffic and there was a huge line...definitely not going to do that again next year. Walking a couple of miles in sandals...at 11pm...holding a sleeping baby...quite an adventure. It was really funny watching Parker fall asleep on Scott's shoulders, though - not the best idea! Landon walked the WHOLE way and didn't even complain. I was so proud :)

We took Bryson to the airport the next day. He was off to visit Brandon and Tamsin in St. Kitts!

We took all the kids to the Science museum. They had a blast!

And here are just a few of the mass lightsaber fights we had in the backyard:

Rhys loves playing ball!

Aunt Whitney with Ian

And this picture just cracks me up!

As does this one...hehe

I needed to keep Rhys home on the Train Museum day, but the Aunts and Uncles took Landon and Parker along! They had such a blast.

So cute!

Landon has a flare for the dramatic sometimes...

ICE CREAM!!

Scott and Ryan!

And I just had to include a couple of these pictures. I had to help run our youth conference right after we got home (I literally drove to the church as soon as we rolled into town). Here is the Laurel's challenge for our "mini amazing race" to kick off the conference. Someone on the team had to eat a half-gestated duck egg. These girls were slightly grossed out, but every team did it, no problem! I was so impressed! Bring on Fear Factor...