mini rave

Caitlin and Brain we're sweet enough to come watch the kids one night while I took Steve out on a surprise date. And while we were out they had a party of their own.

In the dark "raving".

In the light, looks like both my kids are about to hurt Brian.

Back in the dark.

Back in the light.

My favorite part is Brian's ladybug eyes :)

Thanks again for watching the munchkins guys, they love you both and I know they had a blast with you here :)

Boys and their toys

Seriously how could I not smile when I saw Dublin lining up all his cars and trucks :) I wish I had taken a picture when he was all done because there was a HUGE line of them, until Tessa got up from her nap and went Godzilla on him toys.

Road trip part 5

This sweet little lady wasn't so sweet on our trip to visit family so we ended up calling it quits early and heading home. We really enjoyed our time up in Utah with our family and we can't wait to back again, just next time we want a happy Tessa to join us ;)

Also cleaver Aunt Shanade made some cool finger paint (but it kinda turned out more like finger gel) and the kids had a blast painting away! Except for Cameron who was down for a nap.

His turned into a 3-D artwork :)

I love that all the children are being so still and listening to Uncle Andrew and then Tessa is the blur. Clearly she was more interested in causing chaos then listening to anyone.

And finally our trip back home was an experience, luckily it was a good experience. I made the whole drive home (655 miles) by myself with the two kids in one day! And they were AWESOME!! Not once did they cry or whine. Seriously I was amazed and so happy :) Also when we got back to my Grandparents house we found my sweet Tessa! I think all her sweetness stayed there on our way up. She was so happy and playful and laughing and smiling! I couldn't believe it. She must really love her Great Grandpa and Grandma Challman :)

cousins

One of the things we really wanted to do while visiting our cousins was to take some cute pictures of them all together. Well that didn't happen. By the time we got around to taking pictures some people (Tessa) were not having it.

One of the best pictures we could get of them all. Ugh maybe next time with some better planning we can get them all smiling for the camera, or heck I'll even take them all just looking at the camera at the same time ;)

I love that the boys look like they're having a great conversation here and Ella is super bored with it.

This is Ella's "I can't see so I need to hold my eyes open look" ha ha so pulls the look off well :)

This was the only pose/thing that all the kids wanted to do. Too bad Tessa was just a little to small to get all the way up but at least she wasn't screaming and crying anymore :)

Notice Ashlynn going for the sippy cup that was left behind.

Road trip part 4

One of the best perks of being on vacation was all the shopping we did :) We usually spent the morning playing and getting ready, then some shopping, home for lunch and naps and then playing the rest of the day. I wish I could always have that schedule ;)

One if Tessa's favorite hobbies while we were there was playing with Ashlynn's car seat. She would buckle and unbuckle that thing all day long if she could!

And of course no trip would be complete without an outdoor photo session.

By this point (about 2 minutes into taking pictures) they were both done! And wanted nothing to do with the camera anymore. Which is kinda strange for my kids.

I love that his kind gesture of a hug turned into him fish hooking her in the eye which turned into some hitting and screaming and me putting the camera away.

Luckily they both calmed down enough by the time we decided to take pictures with Ella, Cameron and Ashlynn later that day :)