August 2015, Happy 38th Dad!

This little guy is known for his hair.  Everywhere we go people make comments about his adorable blonde curls.  These pictures are from after a bath when he actually let me brush his hair.  It was fun brushing through such beautiful curls.  No, this is not how I do his hair, I was just having fun!  The other day I made a comment about his hair and he responded by saying, "Daddy have hair too!"  He was letting me know that he and daddy both have curly hair.  This little guy melts my heart!  Love you, Porter!

I grew up with three little brothers.  Kind of funny that I now have three little boys of my own!

These two are pretty good with Ephraim.  Zerin, of course, is always kind and loving to him.  Porter, on the other hand, is more rough and tough with him.  He's also two, and doesn't fully understand that Ephraim is just a baby.  However, it's fun to watch Ephraim stand up to Porter now.  He fights for things he wants and frequently he wins.  Porter will come to me complaining that Ephraim took something from him.  I guess you have to be a strong, determined one to be the baby of five with four of three of them being brothers :)

Ephraim definitely knows what he wants now.  He LOVES to go outside and if he thinks you're taking him and then you don't, he screams at you.  He'll also do that if his brothers and sissy go outside and don't let him out.  We sure love you, Ephraim!

My orange boys!  Just a coincident that they were all in orange.  Hyrum and Porter have become quite the buds over the last several months.  In fact, when Hyrum was gone for a month this summer Porter would frequently say, "Go pick Brother up"?  (Porter calls Hyrum Brother).  Porter loves to play rough and wrestle and tackle and Hyrum loves that he has someone to rough house with.  Hyrum has lots of fun teaching Porter how to play football and basketball.  As a mother, it's one of my favorite things watching them play together.  Pretty amazing since they're 10 years apart!  Thanks, Hyrum, for being such a good big brother!

The excitement of making popcorn!

Happy 38th Birthday, Daddeo!  Here he is with his two twins.

And here's all five!  What a blessed man he is!

Poor little Ephie, all he wants is his mama.  It's wonderful being so loved while they're little!

Dad's favorite things are cuddles, kisses, and hugs.

Jon is such a Meacham/Vickery.  It's a little creepy how much he looks JUST like his uncle's in this photo.  The funny thing is, Ephraim raises his right eye brow the exact same way.  Some family traits run deep!

Lydia's gift to Dad.  It's a picture of her as a baby.

Out on another camping/fishing trip with Dad.  For about a month now he's had someone working Fridays for him at the office.  It's provided our family with the opportunity to create a lot more family memories in the great outdoors.

Boys love their fires

Thimble berry galore!  The boys LOVED this treat!

Looks like they have a pretty good life :)

Dad says this canyon is much deeper than the picture alludes to

I believe this is Hornet Creek Reservior

Hot chocolate, yum yum!

Zerin completely agrees!

These looks are priceless!  Such precious little children and oh, how I love you!

Great team work, boys!

Enjoying the fruits of their labors :)

Cleaning his catch, way to go fisherboy!

Brother's selfie

One day I wanted to run into town.  Alone.  Dad was going to bring the kids and meet me at the library.  Zerin was determined to run with me.  We learned this kid has some serious endurance, tough feet and a strong determined will.  I left and he ran barefoot all the way to the highway with me (about 3/4 mile).  Keeping up quite well I might add.  Dad was following in the side by side to give him a ride back to the cabin.  Zerin threw a horrible fit but we finally got him in the side by side and Dad managed to get him home.  As soon as they got back to the cabin he took off again.  Barefoot again.  Dad followed once more in the side by side (that's where these photos come from) figuring he wouldn't make it that far.  After all he'd already run almost a mile barefoot on the gravel road.  Boy, oh boy, was Dad wrong!  He made it almost to the end of our neighborhood again.  These pictures give me a good laugh and tell the story of our boy, Zerin, quite well.  Very stubborn and strong willed once he sets his mind to something.  I have no doubt these traits will serve you well in life ZeriBoo!

This looks a lot like Dad looks from behind when he's running.  Dad was an all-star cross country runner.  I'm sure Zerin will be too if he chooses.  (He chooses is the key phrase:))

All worn out and cuddling with Dad

This little big guy is known in the Council nursery for his ability to eat.  He sure can pack it in :)  Whenever I use my Kitchen-Aid in our Fruitland house Porter comes up to me and says in the most adorable voice, "You making cooookies, Mom?"  He LOVES to help make cookies and of course samples along the way.  I adore this fro-hair blondie of mine!!

Zerin's loves to help with cookies also and usually patiently waits until I say it's okay to take a taste.  Porter on the other hand just can't help himself...

He's not to happy that the yummies in the pan are all "gone gone".  Thankfully, they were healthy"ish" no-bakes because we all had a few too many :)

Ephraim, Emma, Lydia, Layken, and Kira.  A boy I used to babysit passed away due to a Heroin overdose at the age of 25.  He was only one month old when I started babysitting him.  So tragic for his family :(  Lydia and Ephraim came with for a quick trip up for the funeral.  Lydia was grateful for the opportunity to play with her besties.  (Anikah was out of town)

Ephraim 9 1/2 months

So sad to have to part with cousins but so blessed to have wonderful cousins!

Dress up time with Kate

Handsome Hyrum

I was trying to get video of him walking to send to Grandma Shauna but he kept just crawling up by the fireplace.  He's our earliest walker, only nine months.

He's also our only thumb sucker.  I tried and tried and tried to get him to take a pacifier to no avail.  The pacifier always worked well with the other children.  It served it's purpose well and then was taken away.  End of story.  I'm guessing it's not so easy to "take away" the thumb...  It is pretty adorable though.

Redfish Lake July 29th-Aug 1st, 2015

We had the fun opportunity of spending a few days at Redfish Lake in central Idaho near Stanley.  My cousin, Shauntae, and her family go frequently so this year we decided to join them.  The drive over was short in distance, beautiful in scenery, and LONG in time.  At least, long for how many miles we covered.  Pulling a trailer didn't help either.  The scenery was pretty amazing; lots of hot springs.  Once we got there the view of the Sawtooth's was spectacular!!  Redfish is a gorgeous high mountain lake with beautiful peaks all around it.  Lots of good hiking to other high mountain lakes also.  Unfortunately, we didn't have the time or energy with all our small children this year to make it on any.  We rode bikes, swam in the lake, visited the fish hatchery, visited the ghost town Custer, and played with cousins.

Lydia and Brinley fishing at the fish hatchery.  The Stanley fish hatchery is definitely the best I've ever seen.  They release King salmon every morning at 9am (we caught the very end of it) and they have a kids fishing pond with poles and worms provided.

Fish on!  Way to go, Sis!

Porter trying his hand at it and Jon staying busy trying to keep the lines baited and untangled.

Porter's definitely in his terrible twos.  He is a curious and very hands on little guy.  Keeps me quite busy.  To get him to sleep at night was a bit tricky with all of us in the trailer.  I finally decided to put him in the stroller and walk him to sleep at night.  The weather was perfect and that turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the trip.  So peaceful, calm, and beautiful.

Our adorable little Zeri!  We missed Hyrum on this trip.  Unfortunately, the only time that worked for us to go was the week Hyrum was at Scout camp. 

Me trying to fish with my precious little cuties!

Our three little boys

Ephi at 9 1/2 months and mobile as ever.  Walks around things and so close to walking on his own.

These two are quite the buds.  Thank goodness, Zerin's the oldest because he's so kind and gentle and almost always willing to share.  (He's playing with the worm dirt, yuck!)

Beautiful Sissy!

The kids sure love to ride the bike with Dad.  That's an awfully handy trailer!

The Sawtooths.  Awe, that view is nourishment to my soul!  I'd love to go back and spend time hiking those things...

Mining for gold at Custer

Custer was quite the awesome ghost town.  Very well kept. 

Zerin is our endurance boy.  (see August's post about him chasing after me).  Lydia rode home with Shauntae's family and Jon and Porter took off on the bike so I was left with these two. They have quite the list of sites to see and Zerin wanted to just keep walking and walking and see them all.  It was toasty outside and he had on little sandals and long, hot pants.  That boy's endurance always amazes me!

To say Lydia had a blast with these two (Brinley and Cienna) would be an understatement!  She LOVED having some fun girl cousins to hang out with.  Where she lacks in the sister department she makes up for  in the cousin department.  Now, if she could only live by some...

Somehow this is the only view of the lake we took a picture of.  So sad because it was amazing!

Zerin and Ariana.

They were also the best of buds.  Ariana's a year and three months younger than Zerin, seven months older than Porter.  Porter didn't play much because Shauntae and her in-laws that were there both brought dogs and Porter was terrified to leave Jon or I's side.  

As wonderful as Redfish was, and as much as the children enjoyed it, I doubt we'll ever go back.  The number of people there was too much for Jon.  I have to admit it was a little much for me also.  We were grateful for the opportunity and would definitely love to visit that country again, maybe just not the campgrounds around the lake.  We missed you, Hyrum!