It's great to be 8

Abigail celebrated a very special birthday on July 19th and the celebration lasted for a couple of weeks with the climax being her baptism.

 We were in Colorado on Abigail's actual birthday. She got a few gifts while in Colorado: Grand Nan and Papa gave her a bracelet making kit, Heather & Shane gave Abigail an elephant ballerina purse (this couldn't have been more perfect for Abigail), Dad, Mom, Emily, & Elizabeth gave Abigail a backpack for school, stuffed elephant, and gift certificate for stompeez.

 One of the best things about Abigail turning 8 is that she gets to go to activity days. This is picture os of Abigail on the way out the door to her first activity day activity. She had a blast learning all about the pioneers.

 While in Texas, Abigail got her ears pierced as one of her gifts. She has done amazingly well at cleaning her ears morning and night and shows more and more responsibillity every day. Grand Nan also took her to the Build-A-Bear workshop.

 The BEST thing about turning 8 is that Abigail was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on August 4th. I can't believe that Darin and I are old enough to have an eight-year-old. Really, where has time gone?

 Emily was so proud of her big sister on her baptism day. (Elizabeth was proud as well, she just opted to eat her breakfast insted of take pictures).

Daddy & Abigail on her baptism morning.

 Right before entering the waters of baptism.

 Abigail had the love and support of several cousins and her good friend Eden.

Pictured from left to right: Elizabeth Ralphs, Eden Barua, Ariana Bowes, Emily Ralphs, Abigail Ralphs, Isabella Ralphs, Madeline Ralphs, & Jacob Bowes

 Grandma & Grandpa Ralphs

 Grand Nan & Papa Stocker

 Proud Momma & Daddy with their BIG  GIRL

 Uncle Shane & Aunt Heather Booth

Abigail with Uncle Jeff & Aunt Kim Bowes and cousins Ariana & Jacob

 Bishop Kim Guymon & Primary President Joy Reece

Cousins Madi & Bella Ralphs

Summer 2012 Vacation - Part 2 (Denton, Texas)

The girls most favorite thing to do every summer is visit Grand Nan and Pa pa's house. I enjoy visiting too to see family and friends.

 Grand Nan set up some fun sleeping quarters for the girls, they each had their own space that they crashed into at the end of the day. Emily fell asleep so quickly one night that she forgot to take off her sunglasses.

 We visited the Fort Worth Children's Science Museum and the twins thought it was really neat to sit on a bed of nails.

 They also rode a simulated horse (not the same as the real thing).

 Elizabeth's favorite place was the hospital for babies. She loved caring for her baby doll. I know she will be a great big sister when baby Carson comes.

 My mom is the most social person I have ever met. She decided to throw a fiesta pool party so that I could see several friends and family members while in Texas this year. She also was pretty sneaky and told the guests to bring a baby gift for little Carson as well. I was so blessed and got so much stuff. I think I am pretty well set for his arrival, thanks to my Texas loved-ones.

 Emily found a new place to crash this night under the umbrella in the living room.

 Abigail and Papa had a special date to the Ball Park in Arlington to see the Texas Rangers play.

 The girls got to love on their cousin Thomas a few times.

 Uncle Lonny was alot of fun to play playdough with.

Cousin Andrew is the best at doing legos with.

Summer 2012 Vacation - Part 1 (Avon, Colorado)

This summer, we were able to take a fun summer vacation and our first stop was in Avon, Colorado where Grand Nan and Papa Stocker have a time share. The pictures are a bit out of order, but at least you can get the gist of what we did while in Colorado for a week.

One of the family's favorite thing to do on vacation is go hiking. The first day everyone was there, those that were interested went on a hike. Grand Nan, Papa, Heather, Shane, and Abigail hiked this hike and they had a blast soaking up nature along the way.

 Papa Carl treated us to a white water float trip (class 1 & 2 rapids). It was the girls first time in a raft and they LOVED it.

Heather & Shane

 Daddy Darin braved the COLD water and sat in an innertube with the twins for a little more action.

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The whole gang:

Carl, Elizabeth, Misty, Emily, Darin, Abigail, Heather, Shane, & Nan.

 Nan treated Carl to a hot-air-balloon ride for his 66th birthday. They had a blast.

We enjoyed getting some R&R in the condo. The girls loved to swim. The indoor pool was literally 10 steps from our room.

 Every night the girls crashed. They had some pretty funny sleeping positions on this vacation. More of those to come!

 We walked around Vail village and enjoyed the shops, food stands, and art.

 The kids enjoyed the clown the most.

 They all got balloon animals for $1.00 each.

 We went to a children's wildlife museum and the girls loved learning about the native wildlife to Colorado and taking an explorative nature walk around the area.

 The girls loved having craft time with Grand Nan on a rainy day.

 They were also just happy going to the park to play and feed the ducks.

Funny Little 4 Year Olds

This post doesn't have any pictures to it cause I am blogging from Texas away from my laptop, but I needed to write these things down before I forgot them completly. We have had a blast on Vacation for the past week or so and have just started the "Texas" portion of our summer. Here are a few things that the twins have said that have made me giggle lately.

We have spent alot of time in the sun swimming and catching up on our suntans. Elizabeth has a white birth mark that you can not normally see, but when she tans it is obvious because it does not tan. Here was her question to me a couple of days ago.

"Mommy, why do I have a white bookmark?" (birthmark = bookmark in her mind)

I have already forgotten which of my twins said this one, but on our "Colorado" portion of our summer vacay, Papa Carl treated us to a white water float trip down the Colorado River. There were innertubes that the "brave" ones could ride in over some of the Class 2 Rapids. One of the twins said (I think it was Emily, but not sure), "I want a turn in the interpeed" (innertube = interpeed).

There has been an outbreak of Whooping Cough this year thus the need for educational commercials about getting the pertussis vaccination. Elizabeth overheard a commercial talking about how children have been dying from Whooping Cough and she came in the kitchen and said, "Mom, I really don't want to get Pooping Cough. That sounds yucky!" (The expression on her face was priceless. She was in complete disgust that such a thing as Pooping Cough even existed).

Last night, I was tucking the kids into bed and each of them were taking turns saying their prayers.
This is how Elizabeth's prayer went:

"Heavenly Father, please help Harrison be good on his mission and please bless my new baby brother Carson Kent Ralphs that he will not wiggle too much in mommy's tummy so that she doesn't throw up. Jesus Christ Amen."

What a sweetie!

Camper PROJECT

When Darin and Shane get together it seems like there is no project that is too big for them to attempt. Shane is constantly using his mechanic skills to help others out. He came up for the weekend to help Darin put a NEW engine into our OLD camper. It has been quite the project, let me tell you and I don't know how many more days my neighbors and I can tolerate our driveway looking like a used car lot. I am glad that Darin and Shane get along so well and work so well together. They are having alot of male-bonding time with a lot of grease and sweat mixed in.  

Elizabeth is a little grease monkey and loves to help Daddy and Uncle Shane. She hands them tools and makes sure that they clean their hands with the Citrus Orange hand cleaner and grease remover. Abigail and Emily could care less about what is going on outside as they spent most of their time doing karaoke in the house.

The guys are taking the NEW motor out of an older truck and puttting it into the camper.

Fun 4th With Cousins

Darin's older sister Rachelle and her two girls came to Idaho to visit and Abigail, Emily, & Elizabeth had a blast partying hard with their cousins.

They had a pizza party at Brooklyn's Playground and played of course.

In age order - Abigail, Isabella, Madeline, Emily, Elizabeth

We went to Rockland for some small town fun. The girls had fun on a slippery slide.

No 4th of July in Rockland would be complete without the kids being able to chase a greased pig (or is the pig chasing the kids).