August Fun!

The County Fair
It's tradition we always go to the Howard County Fair each year and the kids love it. We see all the animals, watch the tractor pull contest, see the petting zoo, the animal shows, the pig races, and the corn pit, and of course the yummy food my favorite is the fried oreos! Here's the fun pictures.

Pigs pigs, and then my own crazy animals!

Preston loved the corn pit and was buried by his Dad and then Rhett then had a line of kids that also wanted to be burried and so he became the popular fav of the kids.

Janey playing by the tractors and loving running around and trying to climb and step up to whatever she could. She too loved the corn pit!

Take me out to the Ball Game!
Mormon night at the ball park and we took full advantage of the fun night. The Orioles is Baltimore's team that we cheered for.

The boys trying to catch fly balls. I am pretty sure the biggest boy had the most fun!

Cupboard Fun

I heard lots of laughing and fun I come down and see this.

Where are the pots and pans

What fun kids have! Preston then wanted to climb in and Janey enjoyed shutting him in. Preston thought it was quite fun. Gunnar then wanted to go in too but as he got stuck decided he was now too big to climb in the cupboards anymore.

Grandma and Grandpa come to Visit us!
Grandma and Grandpa surprized us by coming to see us this summer. It was so fun to see them. The kids were so excited and everyone had fun. We got to take them to Philadelphia, Gettysburg, and the Farm Baughers. They stayed at the Bed and Breakfast here in Sykesville and loved it - it was great to have them so close! They picked the perfect week to come the weather was so nice, the next week we had an earthquake and a hurricane!

Here we are in Philadelphia

And Grandma's Favorite was Gettysburg! Lincoln is one of her favorites!

Gunnar's First Day of School!
He is a KINDERGARTEN!
Yes I have a kid going to school! It is crazy! I still remember him as my baby who wouldn't leave my hip and now he is off to school on the bus!

He survived the first week and now two! We are very proud of him. Gunnar's teacher is so sweet and Gunnar already has a new friend who he talks about every day "ETHAN". I am amazed at how life has changed for us - he knew only those I choose through neighbors or church and now he talks about people that I have never met! I guess I'll have to be extra nosy now. Gunnar has come home with stories and games and has only told me one time that I should of been there at school with him, the day he got lost on picture day, but he was found! We had a big first day of school celebration with a huge breakfast and cookies when he got him. And the whole fam was there at the bus stop! It has been lots of fun!

July Excitement

Yes it's been a really long time. But better now then in another year. July has been so much fun. Soooo I wanted to post some pictures of memorable moments for my Mom and fam to see how cool Maryland is and to move here tomorrow :)

First - Fourth of July in DC!!

We had soooo much fun. What a remarkable feeling to be in the center of the core of our country. Between the Lincoln and Washington Memorials - the leaders of our country when is just beginning. IT WAS AMAZING!Here's the fam on the lawn - do you see the Lincoln behind us! Can you tell everyone had a blast?

Rhett and Camie - it is so fun to be married - it will be ten years this year. I have an amazing and wonderful hubby!! I sure love him.

We went with the Spire Family. Had to include them too - the kids all had fun together.
The Fireworks were amazing - Gunnar was in complete AWE to how big they were. They had music with it and it was really cool.

Second - NIAGARA FALLS!

Oh yes another soo much fun place. We had the time of our life - what a wonderful wonder that the Lord has created for us. The boys loved getting wet, Janey hated it but endured, Rhett and I were kids too and loved being sprayed by this amazing fall.

Gunnar wanted to get right in the middle of the fall and count to 10 while we were on the hurricane deck. Next time he says he wants to do it again and count to 20! He was very upset when we said it was time to go - he wanted to go again on the Mist of Cave tour!

Preston loved the water too - I couldn't believe how brave the boys were. On the cave of mist Rhett and I split up so that Janey didn't have to be so brave. Here is our little Janey on the Maid of Mist boat tour. She isn't screaming here but she does have the look I can't believe they did this to me. She just hated getting sprayed other then that she was really good on the trip.

Third - Palmyra

We got to go to the pageant, which Rhett and my Dad were both part of at one time of their lives. We went and saw the sacred grove, where The Book of Mormon was first printed, and everything there. It was an incredible feeling to be there and how appreciative I am for Joseph Smith and the first saints that brought the restored gospel back to the earth!

Here we are at the pageant with some Nephites! Gunnar stayed awake the whole time but Preston and Janey feel asleep. Preston waited though tell his favorite part with Samuel the Lamanite on the wall.

Here we are where The Book of Mormon was printed - the boys thought this was their favorite part of Palmyra. They still even mention the printing block and stamp. Here the Sister missionary is showing them the little letter tiles.

Here we are in front of the Sacred Grove. You can sure feel the sacredness of this place.

The boys are standing where the plates might have been hidden underneath. Do you see Preston's dog Pluto he was with us all day!

She's Here!!

Janey Elizabeth Rhees has arrived! Janey came early Tuesday morning at 2:18 on May 25th. She weighed in at 8 pounds and 3.7 ounces and was 21 inches long. We sure love her and are so glad that she is here with us! Here are some pictures of her big day!!

Here we all are right after the delivery. Birth is such a miracle and special experience!
Below is a picture of our nurse and midwife who helped delivery Janey safely into the world.

We are both proud parents and glad she is here.Here is our little princess already with a bow! When they took Janey to get her first bath and all cleaned up, she came back to me with this adorable bow hat!
What a princess I have!

Here are the boys and their little princess! Gunnar brought Janey a big balloon for her big birthday and Preston brought her a purple ball which he took home with him after asking her if it was okay.
Gunnar was really excited to hold her and see his new sister. He sure has been excited through the whole pregnancy and as soon as he saw her he said she is "this big Mom"Preston didn't want to hold her but he did want to carry the car seat with her in it :)
And the family of five is headed home together!! Do we look crazy or what?

Easter Fun

I am so behind I don't even really know where to start but to just start before a whole year goes by without ever a new post! Sooo here is to our most recent Holiday of Celebration! EASTER!!
We had a wonderful Easter! Gunnar was the most excited and loved filling his basket with eggs and then lined up all the eggs in a row to see how many he got! Which was 27!!! Preston loved the candy! And at one Easter Egg hunt he sat himself on the hill while everyone else played on the playground and ate every single piece of candy that he liked - mostly the chocolate - the jelly beans he is not such a great fan of!! At an Easter Egg hunt I had a friend take some pictures! You can see my belly is growing and the time for #3 arrive is around the corner! We are all excited to welcome her to our family come May 28th which is the official due date!We were able to have Micheal Dammon over for Easter - this is our second one in a row! We are almost calling it a tradition! He stayed the night with us and got to watch Conference with us and I don't know if that was enjoyable as the two boys were wild as can be for 4 hours of Conference after Easter Candy! But very rare did anyone sleep:) We also went to the pond on this beautiful Easter Sunday and Rhett brought a net taped it to a stick and frog hunting was the game!! We were very successful and caught five frogs! Two of which were even connected and would not seperate - Gunnar seems to find lots of two things that are together - Rhett and I laugh and smile at each other and then tell Gunnar to just leave those two be for now. Preston was our frog spotter and even caught one all by himself! We had a wonderful meal which Rhett claims it was only because Micheal was there but I assured him it was for the Holiday and even if he was just there I would still try to be fancy!! Here are a few pics of our day and the frog hunting team, Gunnar had to hold every frog and yes has lots of warts now, just kidding!

Concerts in the Park

We love our concerts in the park! And unfortunately we didn't go to as many as we would of this summer had the weather cooperated. This year for the concerts we added baseball to our bbq and music fun! Gunnar loved playing baseball and running the bases. Preston would go around to but not stoping at the bases. It was a wonderful time to be together as a family and visit with friends! We have a wonderful neighbors the Hirtles in some pictures along with the Baldwins who would BBQ with us too!

The hitter of the night!The whole baseball team!Blanket time with music!

Joshua, Preston, and Nude Gunnar (just kiddding he just has his shirt off)

The guys hard at work eating as many hotdogs as they can!

Briggs, Eric, Rhett and a friend of Baldwins that I forgot

THE FAIR

Yes, the Howard County fair has come and gone! We love going to the fair, it brings back lots of fun memories for me as a child, the kids love the animals and playing, and the wonderful fair food This time I tried the FRIED OREOS, it was YUMMY YUMMY!! Here are some pictures of the evening we had at the fair!

Our family picture eating our yummy fair food!

The kids with the cows! They have so many cow barns it is amazing and we went in every single one for the kids! And they even got to pet a couple! They also had this area for kids and there was baby chickens, and ducks, and baby rabbits, and baby piglets! It was so cute!

At this kid area the favorite part was the corn pit! Gunnar swam in it and played and played in it!

Preston jumped in it and even tried to eat some of the corn! Which quickly was ended!

Fairs mean tractors! Here they have tractor races and it is so much fun to watch! We all bet which tractor is going to win. Here is Rhett with the boys on a tractor!