Tuckered Out

Fall Break

My mom, my sister Kimberly and her kids Kyle, Aubrey and Olivia came down to visit us during their fall break. Tyler loves his cousins so much. We loved having them come hang out with us.



Aubrey and Emily



Tyler would spontaneously hug his cousins. It was so cute to watch. Here's a group hug.



Having fun with the bubble machine.

Summer Wrap Up

This post should tie up the loose ends of our summer activities.

Darrell spent tons of time getting rid of the black lava rock in the flower beds. Here are some before and after pictures.













Darrell put the lava rock into a rented garbage dumpster.



When the waste management company came to pick up the dumpster, the dumpster was so heavy that it started to bend the crane they used to lift it. The company ended up bringing us another dumpster and poor Darrell had to shovel out half of the lava rock from one dumpster and put it in the other one. Darrell's own words: "I NEVER want to see another lava rock again!"



Every week the city's "parks management crew" would come and mow the open green space across the street from us. Tyler loved watching the mowers.



Some summer evenings our little family would go for a walk. Sometimes we'd stop at the neighborhood school for Tyler to play on the slides. The girls hung out in their car seats in our double stroller.













Tyler discovered he loved "cycles," as he called them. He'd eat 3 or 4 every evening.



This summer was all about Tyler learning about being a big brother.



I love these pictures of Tyler feeding his baby a bottle.

Labor Day

We visited my parents on Labor Day. It was also the county fair.

My nephews Jonathan and Nathaniel participate in 4-H and showed their sheep.






The spectators:









Having fun





The next day my niece Laura participated in the horsemanship activities. She won 1st place in the keyhole event.



More "spectating"



Hanging out at Grandpa and Grandma's house








Attending the big parade. We always stand where the parade starts and get TONS of candy.







It was a fast weekend trip, but we loved being with family.

Surprise Trip to Calfornia

(My goal is to be caught up with my summer posts by the time the holidays are here. Seeing as that would be next week, we'll see how I do.)

Darrell's parents celebrated their 50th anniversary on August 3 of this year. We weren't able to be there on that day to celebrate, but thanks to help from Darrell's sister Brenda, we were able to surprise Darrell's parents by showing up unannounced a few weeks later.

Brenda was so good to come pick us up from the airport and transport all 5 of us along with 3 suitcases, 3 car seats and two strollers to her house where the surprise was going to take place.

Here are the girls showing off their outfits that Aunt Brenda bought them.



Aunt Brenda and Megan



Here is Tyler taking a nap on Brenda's bed. He fell asleep playing with hangers.



The plan was to have Darrell's parents come to Brenda's house for dinner. When they pulled up to the house, Darrell, the kids and I went back in Brenda's bedroom and shut the door. After a few minutes we all came out into the living room and said, "Surprise!" It was THE BEST surprise! Darrell's parents were so shocked. The last thing they expected was for us to be there.

Darrell, his mom and Emily


Grandpa and Megan



Happy 50th Anniversary! We love you!



Cousin Jeff and his girlfriend Brianna



Tyler loved being outside with the dogs.





Skateboard time!



We were so glad that Darrell's grandma, Nellie, was able to finally meet her great granddaughters!

Nellie and Emily



Nellie and Megan



One day we went out for lunch and Tyler was so exhausted. The only one who could comfort him was Aunt Brenda. He fell asleep in her arms.



We went to the beach and Tyler LOVED it! In fact, he threw a right royal fit when we had to leave that could be heard by EVERYONE! Yeah, we got a few stares!













We had such a wonderful time on our "surprise" trip to sunny California.