I can't believe Joshua is 8!

Our second son Joshua just turned 8 a couple days ago. He requested a monster truck cake so I did my best! When the candles were lit it actually looked like the monster truck was going to jump through a ring of fire. It was pretty cool! I'm just so proud of Joshua and the special son he is to me!

Sunflower heaven!

One day I was looking over at the hills across Inkom valley and noticed a yellow haze all over them and realized that it was sunflowers. Thousands of them, so I ventured into the hills to take pictures of them. You just can't not be happy around sunflowers!

To love the swallows or to not love the swallows...that is the question!

Starting last summer we've had little friends building homes on our house. By all means I love birds and the little nests they build and the cute little babies that make cute noises, but.........I do NOT like the mess they leave! If they want to live here I really wished they'd clean up after themselves!

Scouting with Jon

On Saturday we all went with Jon to do one of his most favorite things...any guesses as to what that is? Yup you're right...look for elk! Jon is the master spotter and he found some of course. They were too far away to take pictures of though.

Instead of where's waldo, let's play where's the deer? The first pic is a doe. Someday I would love to get a high power zoom lens!This one was a little buck.
We drove right by this cute little fox. Sorry it's blurry.
We also drove by this beautiful hawk.

And there's nothing like an amazing Idaho sunset! The pictures don't do it justice!

The Stosich Reunion

Well thanks to one of Jon's cousins, Jeanne-Marie, we were able to have an awesome time at a family reunion. All because his cousin had a dream, that all the family was together she decided to dig in and plan it. It consisted of the family from Jon's mom's side. (She's from a family of 11 kids...yep you read right...11 kids!!) And there were very few people that didn't couldn't make it...it was awesome!

There were so many fun activities like eating cotton candy!A huge blown up water slide!
Playground sets to play on!
Water fights! Yes everyone got wet...everyone!!
Ruth brought 2 horses for horse rides.
Jon helped her.
Marshmellow guns!
And the fun just went on! Thanks so much Jeanne-Marie for putting on such a great reunion!!

Mohawk Day!
It was time for a haircut so why not have a little fun while we're at it?!


My brother David joined in on the fun!

Rock on dude!Jon's softabll
We love to go watch Jon play ball. He's great at it!

Sometimes Jon pitches in softball but most of the time he plays 1st base. Can you see the ball flyin'?
So focused!
Firework Fun!
The boys cannot get enough of doing fireworks so I thought I'd give it a try to take some pics.
Above is a bottle rocket...shhhh....don't tell anyone. :) And below is a fountain...we call this picture the firework Christmas tree!
I love how it looks like Andrew and Josh are surrounded in fire. They were swirling sparklers.
The rising moon. Still a work in progress to photo the moon.
Bragging rights!
I just have to brag a little about my brother (okay my step-brother) who is just awesome! I've had the chance to spend the last 2 weeks with him and we've had nothing but fun! Well, I know he's had to put up with my boys bugging him now and then, but he loves 'em! He is amazing with music and I've just loved hearing his talent. He is super talented with the violin and he has basically taught himself to play the piano. And he sings awesome! Love ya David!

Lots more fun stuff!!

4th of July Parade in Idaho Falls!
We went up to IF Saturday morning to hang out with family and see the parade. Here's a shot of some of the kids. I'm missing Oli's kids, they were on the other side of me.The BMX bikers were awesome! They did some sweet tricks!

Ever since I've been getting into Scouting more and more, my respect for the flag has shot up! I just love our country! Here is part of the color guard that was marching in front of the American Flag.
And here is cute Abigail saluting the flag as it goes by. Don't you just love the bows Katie made for her too!
My sister-in-law's husband Charlie was in the parade and some of the kids had the chance to ride with him to throw candy. Here they are running to him.
I had to put a plug in for all my family that went to Skyline High School....GO SKYLINE!


My 1st 5k Run!!
Well...I did it! I didn't think I could but I did! This picture gives me way too much credit...I was pretty flushed! And now I'm going for a 10k in September! Yeah...I'd love to think I did this in 8 minutes, but it was definitely 28 minutes...still not too bad I guess. I was so glad to make it to the finish line! I was reaching out to give Joshua a high five, he's in the red shirt under the time sign.


The New Favorite Toy!
We finally took the plunge and got a riding lawn mower (so we didn't have to mow with the push mower for 3 hours every week!) I kinda had forgotten about Andrew's "fast car" and saw this when I looked out the window. How cute is that?!!Like Father Like Son!


The Beauty of Inkom
We just keep loving Inkom more and more! I call this first picture "The Beautiful Weed" because that is exactly what it is!We've been lucky to see some rainbows lately since we've had so much rain.