Selle Family Pictures

It was great to have Tyler's family back together this summer. Or course we took family pictures!

Sam is 10!

I only have eight more years this this sweet boy.

Maren is 8!

I cannot believe my baby is 8!

Maren got Baptised!

Maren got baptised on July 9th. It was a beautiful day. She was so excited to get baptised and even more excited to receive the Holy Ghost. She was thrilled to have a dress that "went out" when she spun around. The things that make little girls happy, right? My mom and dad came from Utah. Mist and Blair and the kids came from Parker. Tiff and Cory and girls came from Fort Collins. Tyler's mom and dad came from Vegas. Adrian came from Utah and Brandt and Stephanie came from Seattle. It was really fun to have so many people come from out of town.

MOMSELLE

I love this! My friend, Leslie, sent me this!

Cub Scout Day Camp

I went one day with Sam to his scout day camp. Of course his favorite things to do were archery and bb gun shooting.

Four Wheelin'

Crazy four wheelin' hair! And it was cold up in the Utah mountains. I had a shirt, a jacket, and a sweatshirt on. Brr!

Todd is back!

Todd is done with his mission. All 41of us went to Utah to be there for his homecoming. It was great to see him. 36 out of the 41 got sick. We were puking our guts out. It was not awesome. But it was all worth it. We went to a cabin in the mountains, just below Park City, UT. We saw a moose family, went four wheelin', got sick, and many of us ran a race (half marathon, marathon, or 5k).
The picture with all the boys next to the map, is of them pointing in the world where they each went on a mission for the LDS church.

Fathers and Sons

Sam and Tyler went on a day hike down in Colorado Springs for the fathers and sons this year. They didn't get a campsite early enough, so they had to improvise. It was fun and had some beautiful views. Check out the elevation!

Horse Party

My niece had a horse birthday party and Sam and Maren got invited. It was a great time, despite the pink helmet Sam was forced to wear.

Moab with Maren

At the end of April I finally took Maren to Moab. I love to go jeepin' in Moab with my dad. It is so thirlling and exciting. Maren was so excited that she got to come this time. We met my mom and dad, my brother Kent and his daughter Adyson, and my brother-in-law Jer. It was such a great weekend. We did Elephant Hill, of course. We saw paper rock. We hiked up to the confluence, where the Green River meets the Colorado River. And I got to drive on SOB Hill.
We all crammed into one hotel room too. We didn't sleep much as you can imagine. Kent and I slept in the same bed, with the girls on the floor and my mom and dad in the other bed. Little did we know my mom snores! It was kind of funny. Kent and I would just laugh and try to go back to sleep. My dad talks in his sleep and one night had a whole conversation with some guy who was an "idiot". Making memories is what we are doing! But next time, we might need seperate rooms:)

I wish...

Every year I wish I could stop the clock and my kids would stop growing up. Every year my wish is denied. Maren just turned 8 last week and Sam is turning 10 in two weeks. Where does the time go? And do I feel like this just because I only have two? I love these kids.

Pine Wood Derby

Sam made a green luigi car. He had a great night.

Laundry Room Done!

The last of our home improvement projects! I think we are finally done renovating this house. Yeah! We have lived here almost five years and the renovations never seem to end. But I think they just did. We stacked the washer and dryer, added a second shelf in the closet, replaced the floor with new tile, and added the cabinets. It is finally functional. I love the space and love that all my crap has a spot, with some room left over.

Laundry room demo

I was thinking about all the many traits that I got from my mom: long, nice legs, good hands, small feet, great skin, long, flat, big bum (sorry mom, it's true), and major clumsiness (remember me falling off the stool and almost breaking my leg?). One of the craziest things I got from my mom was my demo, renovation, carpenter, use a saw or hammer skill.
My mom is a crazy lady when it comes to renovations or do-it-yourself projects. She once changed out a 50 gallon water heater BY HERSELF, because my dad couldn't get to it fast enough. Oh, and she was in her 50's! She wanted intercoms in the house they were building, so she wired the whole house for intercoms and put them in HER SELF! She has mad hammer skills too. She can paint anything, hang anything and rip out anything.
I definitely got this crazy, mad skill from her.
She passed it on to some of my other sisters too. Tara once put in her new dishwasher by herself, because her husband was out of town. But not all the sisters got the skill. Mist would rather wait for ten months for her sweet husband to hang a picture, than do it herself. Can't you just eyeball that sucker and get 'er done? Nope.
Kim, Cam and Tam are somewhere in the middle. Given the right motivation, they might get crazy. They are a little more cautious, so maybe not too crazy. Tiff doesn't own a home yet, but my guess, she's with Mist:)
So our VERY LAST renovation project for this house is the lanudry room. It needs new tile and new cupboards. We are stacking the washer and dryer to accomodate all the new storage space. I also need one more shelf in the top of the coat closet to accomodate the bins for winter gear (snow pants, hats, gloves, scarves, etc).
Tyler went out of town last week and I decided to get started on the demo! I took a sledge hammer to the old tile, ripped out the old shelf on the wall, and built a new shelf for the coat closet. I got the project rollin'. I can't wait until it is all done. The new tile is in, and the cupboards are in. Hopefully the washer and dryer will get put back tonight. And the project will be complete.