Our Camping Trip

Memorial Weekend, what should we do?? GO CAMPING, of course!

It was the first time that Rhett and I ever have gone camping with the KIDS and we had an awesome time! We went with the Linton's and Carter's from the Stake to the Greenbelt National Park Campsite right by DC, it was so beautiful - I diffenantly would recommend it!

Here we are setting up the tent - Gunnar enjoyed trying to put the sticks together!

The TENT is UP! YEAH!!!

Gunnar was excited to go camping and was pretty thrilled to have a tent and get to sleep in it. The first night was funny he had a little flashlight and kept getting out of his sleeping bag and going all around the tent - eventually he crashed - but it was fun to play games and watch from the outside this shadow constantly moving :)

Boys and their Cheetohs!
Braden and Gunnar sure had a fun time with one another! As long as cheetoh's are involved what else do you need. I think they ate almost the whole bag the first night!

What's Camping without WATERMELON and HOTDOGS!!!

These are just the cutest pictures of Preston eating a watermelon!

Rhett just kept laughing and laughing at him.

BIKING!
The Carters brought their bikes and let all of us take turns riding it! We had so much fun that Rhett now wants to get a bike hook up for us too!

We especially loved it because it was an easy way to get the kids to nap :) Aren't they sooo cute!

Here's Preston - lounging! The best thing about camping is the relaxation. Nothing to do but eat and hang out. Preston says "I'm a professional at this" and so dang cute at it too!

The worse thing about camping - I'd have to say TICKS!! We had at least five ticks each, except for Preston which had none thankfully! One morning I woke up and looked at Gunnar sleeping so nicely with a HUGE TICK on his Eyelid - no picture unfortunately but I am sure you have a pretty good picture in your mind anyways! It took a lot of tries to get that one out - but with Gunnar sleeping I could take a lot of tries - on the very last one he woke up! The Lord blessed us :) Rhett also got a tick in a funny place - but I'll let you just imagine where :)

Camping, Camping - lots of fun!

Preston's Blessing

Well since I just started I have to catch up, right? And of course these pictures are just too cute to pass up plus I haven't even sent them out to family - sooo here you go!! :) Better late then never!

Well we were so lucky to be able to go down to Utah to bless Preston. It was so nice to be with family and show off our new little bundle of joy. Preston was given a name and a blessing by his Dad, Rhett Rhees with all of his Uncles and Grandpa Rhees circling him with Preisthood power.

Isn't he just soo handsome!

And then there was another.... It is such a special blessing to have another wonderful child. I feel as if the Lord has poured out blessings upon us with giving Rhett and I the opportunity to raise such choiced spirits! We are truely grateful for our Little Preston Dean that has joined our little family, and of course for the oh so BIG now, Gunnar William.

The Brother Shot: Oh so BIG Gunnar and Little Preston Dean.

Preston's Circle of Priesthood Power!Cousin Brinley and Preston - only a couple months apart!

Here is the Rhees Clan. All of Rhett's Brothers and Sister were there along with Aunt Lois and Uncle Kent. It was so nice to have everyone together! Grandma and Grandpa's time to Squeaze!
The Merrell Clan - Luckily I have two sisters and a brother that live in Utah too. So it sure did work out nicely to have them there too. Plus my Mom was able to come up from Arizona, too. We loved having so much family around!

Grandma's are always fun to have hold the new baby - it is a good thing too seeing how Gunnar loves my hip :)

The Rose Ball

Oh the fun of dancing!! This was our first time to the "Rose Ball" and we had a blast. Rhett of course is a great dancer - always keeping me laughing and smiling as he twirls me like a princess. The Rose Ball was like a adult Mormon Prom that they have every year here so we'll be sure to make it next year too. They had great entertainment too - someone sang "how do you know he loves you" and "I'm dreaming of a true love's kiss" from Enchanted it was really cute.

Here are some friends from our ward - it was a great time to also visit and just hang out with everyone - church seems to be so hectic unless your in the mother's room :)

The Edmans, Larsons and of course us.

Our Dog - Sophie

Yes, that is right! We finally got our Maryland Dog. It has taken a few turn downs from even shelters but after much preserverance we found "SOPHIE" She is the sweetest boxer and you can see that her and Gunnar really get a long well. The first day we got here - we wanted to give her back - our life all of sudden went to three "wild" kids. The Second day she was better and in our minds we were saying well maybe or maybe not, but by the third day she won us over and now we'll keep her for sure!

Sorry I can't figure out how to turn the photos, so just turn your head :)
Gunnar loves his new dog - every morning he wakes up and says "I go see dog, Mom", then before bedtime he has to give the dog kisses - which Sophie loves to give also. Now for scripture reading he has to sit by the dog and you can see in this picture he likes to lay by the dog, too.

The Circus

We had a great Family Home Evening this week as we took off to the CIRCUS!!

Cole's Brother is smaller and was perfect for our young family.

Here is our little clown - he is just so adorable!

Cotton Candy is a must when you go to the circus, right!

Gunnar's favorite about the circus was the motorcycles and camels! And....

Riding the ELEPHANT. I couldn't pass it up - I was more excited then Gunnar. This was the first time for both of us :) It was so cool to pet the elephant and ride it too - it was short but still amazing. Maybe that will be our next pet, ha ha.

Spring in Maryland

Spring time in Maryland is the best! This is when I have to say that I absolutely LOVE it here! The trees are all in bloom and the popcorn song is really coming to life for me. You can really pick up blossoms into a ball here! Sooo of course we had to go and see the cherry blossoms in DC. It was amazing! Here's some fun pictures of the day.


Check out Jefferson Monument behind the boys!

Gunnar just ran and ran all over the place and I don't really know if he even cared about the blossoms but he still had fun going for a stroller ride and then getting out to run and pose for Mom :)

This is how Preston enjoyed the blossoms the whole time. SLEEPING! It was really nice for Mom and Dad :)

Are we not the cutest couple ever with the cutest kids :) I loved this picture - Rhett always does a good job holding his hand out to take pictures of us - and yes of course we wanted his head cut off a little bit (it hides his balding spot, shhh)

It's Gorgeous HUH?

Visit from Uncle Kent and Aunt Janelle

It sure was fun to have Kent and Janelle stop by since they were in the area. We met in the middle for a place to eat and had a blast visiting.