Seth's 13th Birthday

Can you believe this boy is a teenager!!??

 I sure can't. Time flies when your kids are growing up!! 

We kept things pretty low key around here--plus that's his style anyway. He woke up to the special chair all decorated for him.  All he wanted for his birthday was breakfast burritos for breakfast, smothered porkchops for dinner, and his friend AC to come over to "hang out". Sam informs me that I can't call it "playing" anymore now that he's 13, it's just not cool anymore :)

 Him loving his dinner is probably an understatement but so glad he likes my cooking. We made butterbeer cupcakes for his treat (those candles are suppose to be in the shape of a 1 and 3--in case you were wondering).

 We hung out all day. Seth and AC mostly played video games (one day that that is legal so Seth takes full advantage of it), but a few times we all played games with him too.

 Blowing out candles and being silly.

 Laughing over Sarah's card. She made it all by herself and it turned out super funny.

 Everyone watching him open his presents.

 He also got a new music stand (finally one that's tall enough) and a "spinner" CTR ring (which got stuck on his finger after this picture because I got it a size too small, oops! we had to bring out the soap but we eventually got it off!)

Here are 13 things we love about Seth:

1. His sense of humor--oh my that boy loves to play with words.

2. How much he loves his dad. 

3. His sense of duty to fulfill his calling.

4. His courage to stand up for what is right.

5. The way he naturally steps up and is a leader.

6. His ability to create--wow! it's amazing.

7. The way he takes care of his sisters and brothers. Most of the time he is amazing with them.

8. His imagination. He lets it have free reign when him and Luke are building Legos and it's quite awesome what he comes up with.

9. His brain. He is so smart--now on to channeling it!

10. His sense of fairness. He knows what is right.

11. His smile, it's quite contagious.

12. His ability to read anything in a very small amount of time.

13. He is a good, good kid. Sometimes I forget but then I get a glimpse of what he has done and his potential and I am so amazed.

Tents...Handcart Trek

 Sam and I headed off to Martin's Cove for our Stake's Handcart Trek. We have the opportunity to be a Pa and Ma and are excited to go. As part of that we have to have 3 tents. 

 We borrowed some from the scouts so we set them up (to make sure we knew how to do it and so we didn't look like dorks in front of our "family"). The kids thought it was pretty cool. They helped us set them up and requested to sleep in them that night.

Never a great idea since they get up so blasted early but they had a great time and now we are pros at setting the tents up. Sweet! 

4th of July

Happy 4th everyone!!

What a great day we had. The weather finally cooled down into the 90s and we were so thrilled. Some good friends invited us over for a bbq and boy did the kids have a great time!

 They had water all over which was absolutely lovely.

 The slip-n-slide and water under the tramp were the favorites.

 Seth enjoyed annoying the little kids with some other boys his age.

 Sarah couldn't be separated from the dog (not a joke!!)

 We enjoyed lots of visiting with great friends,

 and then after a crazy windstorm that blew almost everything over (including the bbq'er) and having to take refuge in the house, we headed outside for the fun part.

 FIREWORKS!!

 This boy was so excited.

 Sam and Doug had gotten some "special" fireworks to light off (our friends live outside city limits--yeah!!) and loved being boys again with them.

 Sparklers--classic fun.

We ended the night by watching the city's fireworks at csi. They were beautiful! I am so grateful for this country and the wonderful freedoms we have. We are so blessed.

Lake Lowell

 Last weekend Kathryn, Luke and I took an impromptu trip up to my parents to hang out with the sister and see my niece be blessed.

On Friday their a/c broke and since the temps were well into the hundreds we had to take matter into our own hands. 

 My sister-n-law Jill invited us to hang out at Lake Lowell with them and wow did we have a blast.  It is about 8 minutes from my parents house but growing up we never went there--who knows why, but man is the water dirty but it is oh so fun to play in.

 The kids were in heaven digging and Kathryn was in love with trying to do headstands under the water.

 Jill's parents were so nice to let us try out their jet skis so we cruised around on those several times and man were they so much fun.

 Kathryn got to drive for some of the time and she thought she was pretty cool.

 Luke hated going fast but after a few tries he finally settled down and had a great time.

 The rest of the time at my parents was filled with hanging out in their basement (where the a/c still worked) and trying not to roast our brains out. When the upstairs reaches 93 degrees inside you know something is wrong!!

 The kids loved being together though--we don't get to see our Seattle cousins very much so it was lots of fun to hang out together. Here they are watching a you tube video on Grandma's phone :).

 And trying to take down Uncle Brian. So much fun!!!

McIntyre Family Reunion--Part 3

Boy did we have some sad kids at the end of the reunion but lucky for us, the last day was a blast!

 Emily and Natalie did the annual candy toss--the kids were in heaven.

 We took some fun family pictures in our "reunion shirts".

 Luke got to play in the fire one more time.

 Emily and Natalie entertained the kids with a few crafts that they loved.

 These three boys played some more.

 We took a family shot of everyone that was in camp at 4pm the last day (My dad and several others were out fishing:).

 My dad with his brother and 5 of his sisters.

 Then it was on to the anticipated event of the week: "Fear Factor".

 The kids and adults each had their own disgusting things to try.

 Seth trying not to get freaked out.

 Girls trying not to throw up their food.  So funny to watch them!!

 Some of the fixins (sardines).

 Love this shot of Sarah and Lizzie.

 The adults getting ready to try.

 No cheating.....

 Watching the activities.

 Sam trying to get his food down.

What a fun and wonderful time we had. Sam and the kids didn't win their events but they were quite brave and it was hilarious to watch their faces. Thanks Chris and Jen for such a fun activity.

What a wonderful thing it is to have such a great family to hang out with!!