Back 2gether Again!

Lori designed the cutest shirts and mom and dad bought them for all of the kids.  I love the pictures we did two years ago and I'm so glad we did them.  We were missing Caleb and Elijah this year and who knows how often we will have everyone together again. 

I have the best nieces and nephews and I love each one of them. I really missed Elijah and Caleb, but I'm really proud of both of them for being where the Lord wanted them to be!

The front of the shirts say "Ham it up."

I love how much fun these cousins have together. My kids LOVE spending time with their cousins.

They are so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents who love them so much.

My favorite thing about my family is how much we laugh together.  We all love to have fun and make each other laugh and there is always a ton of laughing when we are together.  A friend from church commented on a post I put on Instagram about Oregon and we were talking about it on Sunday and she said, "I had fun reading the comments from your family, they sound like so much fun, you can tell you guys have fun together."  So true!

We snapped a few pictures of the kids while we were waiting for the group picture.  The grounds at Otter Crest are so pretty, I love all of the different flowers.

Cute kids!

I like to tease that four kids is way too many (and some days I feel like that) but I sure love each one of these kids.  I never knew I could love someone so much until I had kids.  Each of the kids are so unique. They are fun and challenging in different ways.  This motherhood thing is the hardest job I have ever loved!

I am in awe of single parents.  Keith is the calm to my crazy and I would never want to parent without him.  He works so hard for our family and then comes home and asks what he can do to help at home.  He loves the kids so much and they know it.

Kyle and Damon, the youngest and oldest grandchildren. Both of these boys have a special place in my heart (apparently I talk like an old lady now).

We also have the best husbands and fathers in our family.  We missed Earl and he is no exception, they all are so hard working and take pride in providing for and protecting their families.  It's a good thing we all married such hard workers because it would have driven my dad crazy if he had a lazy son-in-law! I know my parents love their in-laws and are so grateful that we all chose good ones.

We planned to have a fire on the beach and roast hot dogs, but it was too windy.  I was disappointed because that is one of my favorite things, but we still had a fun night.  Gary barbecued hot dogs for us and then the kids had fun roasting marshmallows in the barbecue after that. 

It was fun to watch the kids run around and play.

I sure lucked out in the brother department!

Keith enjoys visiting with my family as much as I do.

The kids love swimming!  It was so cold when you got out though. 

The boys loved wrestling Keith in the water.

It's so nice when Keith is away from work and he can just spend his time playing with the kids.

They love when dad doesn't have to go to work.

I thought this picture was cute of all of the girls.  All of the kids had a great time playing a lot of different games in the pool.

I can't get over how much Ammon looks like Gary when he was young.

Gary and Julie had to leave a day earlier than the rest of us.  When they went home a big group of us went to Newport and looked in the shops. 

Cody knew we would want him in our family picture.  I'm glad he knows he doesn't need an invitation!

We had fun watching someone catch crabs and looking at Jellyfish on the pier.

Every night I would go over to Gary and Julie's place and visit with everyone.  The older kids would come with me and Keith and the little two would go back to our place.  I hanging out and talking and laughing together.