Update on Adam

So our baby is now eight months old and he is so cute.  He is also starting to get into more things.  Even in trouble, you can't help but smile.

Adam has become a ripper.  If any books is placed within 2 feet of Adam, he will grab it and try to rip it.  Thankfully, my mom is always giving us magazines and those are perfect for ripping.

Whitney thought she should try to make Adam look like a girl - does it work?

And Adam gets to try his first sucker.  He seemed to like it.

Adam loves toys that light up and make noises.  This little toy piano does both.  Adam can now hit things and make the noises by himself.

There is something about paper.  Maybe my babies are all vitamin deficient because they always want to chew on paper.  And Adam doesn't like to let go once he has the paper in the mouth,

Adam is enjoying being outside more.  We were invited to a birthday party for the neighbors.  Whitney is sharing her tres leche cake with him.

We bought a little chair for Adam that sits on top of a regular kitchen chair.  I like that it has a tray and we can put food on it for Adam to enjoy while the rest of us are eating dinner.  Here he enjoyed beans and noodles and a little pudding for dessert.  It was the perfect meal for him.

Hooray for our baby!  He is getting so big and he is so pleasant.  We are still working on getting Adam to crawl; he goes backward now and gets stuck places.  But I am sure he will get there. What a great blessing he is.

A Day of Free

I love free things.  Really love free things.  So this last Saturday was perfect.  We had a lot of fun and didn't have to pay for anything.

As part of the Hermiston summer reading program through the library we earned tokens to go to the swimming pool.  The weather was perfect for a day in water.

Megan was really happy to get a turn to go in the water.  Whitney and Rachel are in swimming lessons and get to go in everyday.  This has led to some swimming lesson envy.  So Megan got to do lots of splashing and having fun.

Adam has never been a big fan of the water.  He was asleep at the beginning but eventually woke up and watched for awhile.

But then he decided that he loved the water.  I splashed his legs for a few minutes and then let him stand in the shallow kids pool.  He and Megan had fun splashing each other for awhile.  There was a lot of anger when we took him out though.

After swimming we took advantage of root beer float day at A&W.  The free root beer floats were delicious.  But next year I am giving Adam his own because he ate half of my ice cream and liked drinking my root beer.

We went home for a few minutes so I could make some French bread pizza for dinner and then we hurried of to the big parade for the fair.  The girls really got into waving at everyone.

And the infamous watermelon truck.  This was our first year getting a watermelon.  Hooray!

Megan showing off her new frisbee.  This parade is awesome.  We also got a t-shirt, a bunch of little toy footballs, cheese, and lots and lots of candy.

And then we leap frogged our way back to the car - at least, Megan did.  By the time we got home, everyone was exhausted and slept really well that night.  What a fun day,

Will's parents

We were lucky enough to have Will's parents come and visit for a day.  They were driving back to Utah.

I wasn't sure how Adam would do with Grandma and Grandpa Keeler; he is just starting to feel stranger danger occasionally.  But he warmed up after a couple of minutes.

We went to the bounce house gym place that we have taken the girls to several times.  It was fun for us adults to be able to sit and talk while the girls were jumping.

Then we went to Sheri's for dinner.  I learned that Wednesday is free pie day at Sheri's if you buy a meal, so we all got to try different kinds of pie.

The girls liked their meals too.  So maybe we will go back sometime.

Unfortunately, Will's parents had to leave early the next morning.  But they were here long enough to make some pretty hair for the girls.  I wish they could have stayed longer.  Thankfully, we are going to visit them for a week over Labor Day, so that will be fun.

Right before Will's parents came, we went to the McDonalds open house.  The McDonalds right down the street from us was being renovated for the last like two months, so they had a party to celebrate the re-opening.

Ronald McDonald did a magic show for the kids.

Whitney wins a free milk shake.

And there was face painting; Megan wanted to be the kitty.  It was kind of a fun little open house.  Workers were walking around passing out free samples of McDonalds food.

And just one more picture.  Isn't this the cutest baby?

Anyway, things are going really well here.

Happy Fourth

So I know we are a little behind, but here are some Fourth of July pictures from those crazy Hermiston Keelers.  We watched a couple of videos about why we celebrate the Fourth of July and the girls made paper flags.

Here Will and Whitney sit on my mom's porch swing.  See the matching outfits - that wasn't planned.

And eating a delicious breakfast with our neighbors - well, my parents' neighbors.

Then we went to the Pasco parade.We found the perfect place to sit and everyone was eager for it to begin.  The girls got a lot of candy this year.

One of the floats at the parade.

After the parade we went back to my parents house and my dad made a fire so we could all roast hot dogs and s'mores.  You forget how good a hot dog is roasted over a fire.

The girls all enjoyed their meal.

Whitney got a slip n slide for her birthday.  This was our first time using it.  Rachel was the only one willing to try it at first.

Eventually the three girls would just scoot themselves down the slide.  Nobody liked going on their tummy.

After dinner we went to the stadium for fireworks.  It actually got pretty cold so we were glad for the sheets to add an extra layer of warmth.

The fireworks were beautiful.  Adam slept through his first firework show.  Oh well.  He can try again next year.
So it was a wonderful Fourth of July.  Happy Birthday America!

Pioneer Trek

Will and I just made it back from our stake's LDS pioneer trek.  It was amazing.  We only have a couple of pictures, but we should get more sometime soon.

Here is Will on Wednesday morning right before we left for the Stake Center.  Doesn't he look like a handsome pioneer?

And here I am in one of my pioneer outfits.  We look all clean and fresh and totally unknowing of what was going to happen next.

These two pictures are of us pulling into Zion with our trek families.  You cannot really tell but we are super dirty and tired and covered with scrapes and bruises.  But we were so excited to get to Zion, and we brought our whole family with us.  Trek was one of the most spiritual uplifting experiences I have ever had.  It was just incredible.  We worked hard all day, but there were lots of breaks for pioneer re-enactments.  The stories were inspiring.  The pioneers must have worked so hard.  Our theme for trek is a scripture from Philippians that says "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth  me."  That scripture was very appropriate.  I don't think I could have made it without strength from Christ.  It was a hard journey, but oh so worth it.  We had a great family.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.  When we get more pictures, I will make another post.

And I give many, many thanks to my family for watching my kids while we were gone.  It was a blessing to know they were well cared for while we were at trek.  Thanks!