Andrew was baptized

Andrew was baptized.  It was a special event.  All of his grandparents came and his Uncle Brett, Aunt Liz and their kids came along with a lot of friends.  It was a special day.

What a handsome boy.

There were other photos, but I don't have them.  :)

Alexis started Kindergarten.  Don't know how she got so old.

Birthday Season again

It is the September Birthday season again. 

This year Karissa turned 11 and we had a spa party.  The girls had a lot of fun and my friend Jenny and I got to pretend to be 11 again.  Needless to say, there was a lot of giggling.

We even had a pretty cake.

A week later we had a Lego Party for Andrew's 8th Birthday

Andrew building a tower in the highest tower contest

Building a boat from a random handful of legos

Blowing out the candles on his lego cake.

Random Moments from the Summer

Here are a few photos from the summer.

Spencer & his friend playing in the pool.  Notice how drenched they were.

We spent the first couple weeks of August in Utah & Idaho.
Here is a little video of Spencer trying to walk the dog.  You'll notice who is in charge.

I know this isn't one of my kids, but it is such a great shot of my niece I had to include it.  

Spencer taking a nap - doesn't he look comfy?

 The kids wanted to make "potions" from last year's Harry Potter Party.

The kids looking "Zany" for our new Eames' Family ABC Book.

For Pack Meeting they had a hot air balloon pilot come and talk to the kids about piloting a hot air balloon and let them each turn on the fire.  This is Karissa, I couldn't get Andrew's to turn out.  Funny part of the evening was when the police and firemen showed up.  Someone had seen the fire and thought the church was on fire.  It was a fun night.

What has been going on in our lives - Part 7

And finally, in the last few weeks:

We celebrated Spencer's 2nd birthday.

We went camping up near where the fires started by Los Alamos the day after we left.  While this park didn't burn, apparently by Monday the smoke was so bad you couldn't hardly see.  While there we couldn't have a fire which was interesting, but still fun.

We caught a lot of fish

Karissa decided touching them wasn't too bad -- notice the nicely painted nails.

Then decided she could probably gut one. If you want to see the video you can see it here.

The kids got very dirty since it was so dry.

Now we are just continuing to enjoy our summer.

What has been going on in our lives - Part 6

While in Idaho/Utah Brandon had a conference in San Diego and I joined him for a few days for our anniversary.

 Brandon too a lot of photos, notice the shoe in the incoming tide.

We took a dinner cruise around San Diego Bay.

Afterwards, Brandon returned to NM and went to scout camp and I went back to Utah & Idaho.

We went with Grandma Eames to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point.

And later in the week we went to a family reunion in Delta, UT where Spencer and his cousin played next to the water - a lot!

What has been going on in our lives - Part 5

My sister and her family came to visit and we went to Bandelier National Monument which is basically Mesa Verde on a smaller scale.  According to my sister's family it is better than Mesa Verde, and cheaper.

A kiva

All of us (except Brandon, of course, since he took the photo) in one of the pueblo homes in the cliff.  The kids climbed into every home they could get into. 

Inside the largest home.

Alexis & Karissa looking pretty.

A neat picture Brandon took with light coming into the cliff dwelling fire hole.

Bandelier was so much fun, unfortunately it was affected by the fires near Los Alamos, we are curious to see how much was burned and glad we got to see it before the fires came through.  The drive up there was beautiful.

Then we drove back to Utah/Idaho and stopped at Arches.

and it was windy!

We played in Idaho and rode Grandpa's new 4 wheeler

While the boys watched - Andrew got a turn, I just didn't get a photo.