Goodbye Summer

Sadly summer is coming to an end. You wouldn't know it by the weather outside - it's still ridiculously hot and miserable with the humidity (we are still getting used to humidity). Andrew starts school in 9 days and everyone else in 10. They start all transition grades (K, 6, 9) a day earlier so they have less people around to learn the school. We decided to do a Hawaiian theme dinner with loco moco, a yummy tropical drink, and delicious cheesecake Ben made. We said our favorite summer memories, made fun of poor Andrew then played hand and foot with the bigs while Landon and Zack played with the littles downstairs.

Oh these boys....Andrew is a really good sport! Andrew, Zack, and Landon had to head out for a tween/teen skating rink Friday night. Zack loved it - Andrew said it wasn't his "thing" but would go again. I love teen-agers :)

These two leave for college in less than 3 weeks!  Ugh!

Next up - Back to school dinner!

 

Sacrament Treats

A few Sundays ago we were waiting for the sacrament to get passed.  The bread came, Nick enjoyed it - wanted another one. We told him he only gets one. Then they blessed and passed the water and he yells - "OH GOOD! THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!"  

Another sacrament memory. In the middle of the quiet passing of the sacrament Nick busts out "MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN!"  This boy does not possess "quiet mode"

 

Bless You

As we were driving home from Chris and Ligaya's house tonight Andrew sneezed. 

Kal said "bless you", 

I said "bless you " 

Zack said "bless you"

Andew's response?

"No problem!"

🤣🤣🤣

Luke Bryan Concert

We are concert people now! Well, kind of. Our older kids have been to 4 concerts this summer and love it! Well, Ben wears ear plugs to not damage his hearing....but....

We decided to go to the Luke Bryan concert and introduce Zack to concerts. We were a group of 12, 6 Furnesses and 6 Ericksons. Our car grabbed 2 pizzas on the way to the concert, thinking we would eat it in the parking lot, but traffic was so nuts we polished it off before we even parked! It was almost 95 degrees so eating it in the car with AC was a much better option!

This gorgeous girl turns 18 today! We had to mark the special day so we got her a light up "birthday girl" sash and crown. You must have lights if going to a night time concert! And we love to embarrass Taryn so win win! Thank goodness she is a good sport! 

Kallie has picked up on the Furness habit of buying concert shirts. It was crazy hot, so she didn't put on her black one she bought to model for me. Just sitting in the open air (but in the shade) we were dying and it never really cooled off. Poor Luke Bryan was soaked by the end of the first song!

Shawn brought back drinks for his family and I thought he bought them beer. Doesn't that look like a beer label and can?! Liquid Death?!  Aka - water.

Can't take this guy anywhere....

 

Our 20 year anniversary shirts!

The whole clan!

These girls sang and danced all night!

When he sang it sounded just like when you hear him on the radio. The opening acts were very rough - but he sounded just like he always did. He has such a great voice.

Ben is not a huge concert fan. He's a good sport though :) Christopher isn't a country fan - but he put up with it for the night.

Zack's first concert! I hope he loved it. I actually didn't sit by him so I don't know...he was with Landon on the other side - so I'm sure he loved it.

Andrew wasn't a huge fan either - but he was a great sport. I can't wait for our next concert!

 

 

Model Kallie

While we were in Hawaii this year, Aunt Amy took some amazing pictures of the older girls. These are Kallie's model shots. How gorgeous is this girl?! Of course Nick saw it and ran to join the fun. Not only is she gorgeous on the outside - she's stunning on the inside! Love this girl of mine!

 

A House of Boys

I have these little blocks that spell out "family" "Smile" "love" "summer", etc. The other day I came in and found that not only has Nick colored all over them in grey marker (lovely), Andrew has changed up "family" to "mafia".  Well, mafia is like a family...right? I don't hate it....

 

Saying Sorry is hard....

I told Nick he had to sit on the stairs on time out until he was ready to apologize to Zack for spitting on him. I think it will be a while...he's snoring....

**He woke up about 20 minutes after I took this first picture. I asked him if he was ready to say sorry. His response? He just turned around and fell asleep on the stair landing. I think he is tired.....

 

Being 3 is hard (on mom)

Sometimes it's hard being a big brother. Mom makes you test out lighting, play with balloons and for some reason doesn't like it when I mess up her little photoshoot. #threeyearoldsarehard

 

Xander is ONE!

I can't believe our Mr. ONEderful is ONE!  How does a year go by so quickly?! He is the easiest baby. Xander has 6 teeth, crawls like a pro, can do stairs (up AND down), eats everything, loves to go go go, loves his red car, and wants to do everything Nick is doing. He loves noise and craziness - so he is the perfect little man for our #6.

 

Scary Little Stair Climber

Well, it's official. The scariest time of toddler-hood. When your toddler can climb up the stairs but can't go back down and also doesn't have the sense to be scared of the heights or falling down the stairs. To make things even more stressful our stairs are wood - and land on wood.

The other day I was laying on the couch very jet lagged - just trying to rest for a bit - when Xander started crying. He normally doesn't cry - so I knew something was really wrong. I got up and started looking for him and he had climbed up two sets of stairs and was at the very top of the stairs almost to Ben's room. I tried to not scream, stay calm, and quickly (but not startle him) get to Xander and pick him up. Baby gates are great - but I just need him to learn to climb down the stairs and then I can rest again.

 

Church in Lahaina

Zack was too tired to stand up and take a picture for me. He always makes himself right at home - where ever he is....

We were able to attend church while in Hawaii - which is always fun. It is amazing to me how that building is filled every Sunday. I had to go out with the boys and discovered most the ward members were sitting in the RS or Primary room listening to sacrament meeting. It was quite the party in the halls and rooms.

Funny story, we wanted to get a whole family picture with Grandma and Papa so I called after two gentlemen as they were walking out of the building - only to discover it was Ed! We had a great chat, caught up a little bit (after we reminded him who we were!) and even met up a few days later at his house for a swim and tour. Blessings all around!