A BUTTERFLY GARDEN . . .

For Trey's birthday this year he received a butterfly garden ... that you order larvae and once you recieve them in the mail you put them in this fancy little habitat and watch as they turn into butterflies!! Well me being the slacker that I am, hahaa, I never did order the larvae, even with Trey's constant reminders, it was just one of those things that I kept putting off (I know Jaime you can kik my butt later)!! So a couple weekends ago we were out working around the back yard when Clay noticed a catepillar scootin along ... we called for the kids and it didn't take long ... with Daddy's help they had Trey's butterfly garden all set up and ready to put the catepillar into his new home, hopeing it would cocoon!



It didn't take long at all and it curled itself up in a leaf and formed a cocoon!!

Now is the waiting game to see what will come next ... pretty exciting stuff!!

PUMPKIN PATCH . . .

We made a trip to MacDonald Ranch Pumpkin Patch again this year with the Creel Family and once again had a great time!! I totally sucked it up in the picture taking dept. for some reason and I am still kicking myself that we never snapped a family picture ... so unlike me ... so these few snapshots are it for this trip!! Poor Trey .. got about 3 steps in the gate and the allergies kicked in sneezing and sneezing .. little man's definitely not built for farm life!!!

Rilyn was a little unsure about the wagon ride out to the pumpkins and would only sit on her daddy's lap!!

When it came to picking out pumpkins, we had the same rule this year "you can only have it if you can carry it"!! Rilyn picked out a teeny little pumpkin just her size that she was very proud of!!

As you can see Rhett is pushin' the limit with his ... struggling to get it back to the truck ... he kept saying "uggg this is really heavy tho guys" hahaaaaa!!!

One of the kids favorite things at the whole ranch was the lasso's and roping the pretend cows!!!

After the pumpkin patch we grabbed some dinner and had a great time bs'in and catching up with the Creel's!! Til next year . . .

FIRST GRADE ASSEMBLY . . .

We made it home from vacation in time to attend Trey's very 1st assembly .. which was extra special because he was 1 of 6 students to receive an award in his class! He got an award that reads "ALL SUBJECT AREAS" for his academic success as well as his character in the classroom and around school!! He was pretty serious up there receiving his award from Mrs. Tewers in front of the crowd and even got a high five from the "hawk" (his school mascot) as well as his Assistant Principal!!!


We are so proud of you Trey ... keep up the good work dude!!

TWO IN ONE VACATION . . .

With summer quickly coming to an end we decided to turn our "October Anniversary River Trip" into a two in one trip and headed up to San Diego for a few days after our time at the river!! And although the youngest Kaintz kid, Miss Rilyn Kate, was in full terror mode the whole 3 days at Beach City we still managed to have fun and the entire trip was a success and a great end to an amazing summer!!!

THE RIVER . . .

Our Family, Lacey & Cody and the Skaggs Crew all rented a house on the water at Martinez Lake for a 3 day weekend of fun in the sun!!! We arrived mid day on Friday (I'm not even going to mention the trip down as it is one I'd rather just forget!!) got unloaded and settled in with daylight left for a little river action so we loaded up on the boat and headed for a sandbar. Jaime was pretty surprised when she realized that we weren't going to a "bar" but to a spot on the river where the sand is out of the water called a "sandbar" ... hahaaaa ... we all got a good laugh out of that!!


Our puuurrrty boat (atleast she looks purrty when she's on the water!) or as Rilyn would say and I quote "she's sexy"!! Pretty sure she heard and learned that one from her daddy!!!

The Kaintz & Skaggs kiddos ... better known as the "Skaintz Kids"!!!

Rilyn took full advantage of Aunt Lacey's hammock, taking a record nap!!! The cutest thing ever was when Clay realized she was sleeping on the hammock, he immediately got some rope and stakes to tie her down so that the hammock wouldn't flip over

We also met up with some friends of ours from Yuma ... the Haines Family, Sharp Family & Kerley Family!!

The Ladies!! (Jamie H., Me, Jaime S., Lacey, Teresa & Donna)

The Guys!! (Byrne, Sean, Jesse, Cody, Clay & Bryan)

All the kids, and I mean ALL the kids (eight total) insisted that they ride on Aunt Lacey & Cody's boat ... hahaaa ... of course Lacey & Cody were like we don't care ... so with lots of hesitation and argument ... HAHAAAA SIIIIIIIIKE ... we let them!! This left Me, Clay, Jaime & Byrne on our boat with no kids and Lacey & Cody with all the kids on their boat!!!

On Sunday we packed up and then headed out on the boats for a few hours of fishing before calling it a trip!! Once again all the kids except Rilyn were on Lay & Cody's boat!!

BEACH CITY . . .

Our trip to Beach City was a little different this year for two reasons, one being that we only stayed for 3 days when normally we stay for 5 to 7 and second we stayed in a hotel opposed to with my grandparents!! We had lots to do and not much time to do it so we stayed very busy the whole time we were there.

When we arrived after checking in to our room ... our 1st stop was the bait store to buy bait and fishing licenses for Daddy & the boys ... the boys had been talking about surf fishing in the ocean for weeks before our trip and couldn't wait to give it a try as they have watched Clay do it previous years and were finally not only old enough but good enough with their fishing poles to join him this year!! Once we had all the fishing gear we headed to Grandma & Grandpa's to visit with them, for the boy's to do their surf fishing and have dinner!!

While the boys were fishing, Rilyn and I got some quality time in with Great Grandma & Grandpa!!

While we were waiting for dinner, the kids and Great Grandpa spent some time coloring and drawing pictures ... hahaaa ... which turned into the kids drawing funny pictures of Great Grandpa!!! It was pretty comical and Grandpa loved every second of it, as he is always teasing the kids!!

What is a trip to the beach without a great sunset!!! We actually ended up getting a beautiful sunset both nights we were there!!!

Our second day of the trip was busy busy from the moment we woke up as we had to fit everything in ... so we started the day off with a walk/scotter ride down the boardwalk and out to the rock pier.

Then we hit up Belmont Park, which is one of the kids favorite things!! This year was pretty cool because the boy's were tall enough to ride almost everything and they went for it!! Their favorite's were the bumper cars and the vertical plunge!!! Rilyn, little miss drama, would only ride the carousel!!

All 3 of the boys (Daddy, Trey & Rhett) bumpin' at the same time!!!

Although Trey says he really likes the Tilt A Whirl .... I have my doubt's ... hahaaa ... his face goes from woohoo this is fun to oh my gosh this is scary to I think I might puke!!!! LOL!! The 1st time they rode this I almost considered telling the guy to stop the ride by the look on Trey's face I thought for sure we were gonna be blowing chunks at some point!!! Thank goodness I was wrong!!

Watching them on the Vertical Plunge was very entertaining!!! And of course leave it to Rhett to get off the ride and say to Trey loud and clear "Dude that tickled my junk"!!!!

Rilyn said she wanted to ride the Carousel but when it came go time, she got a little hesitant and I literally had to hold her down while the lady buckled her in ... hahaaa ... but once we were moving she loved it and we even got her to let go and wave at daddy!! The boys wanted to ride too even though well lets just say they're a little old for this ride .. lol .. I must say though they still managed to look like 2 pretty cool dudes carousel and all!!!

Once we had our fill of Belmont Park and spent most of our tickets we headed out for a little beach time!! Rilyn fell asleep on my lap pretty much as soon as we got there and again took a record nap (must be something about the warm sun and the cool breeze) so she missed out on all the sand castle building and sand crab hunting fun ... but momma was loving the fact that I got a chance to sit and relax and read my book!!! The boys had a blast playing in the sand and the water even though it was chilly chilly chilly!!!

After our time on the beach we headed back to our room, got everyone showered up and ready to go out for dinner. Every year we pick one evening to walk or ride bikes down the boardwalk to Joe's Crab Shack and daddy gets his crab!!

Before we headed to dinner we were able to snap a picture of all the kiddos with Great Grandpa & Grandma!!!

This year Trey joined in with Clay and ordered crab as well ... I thought this was pretty cute even though it created alot of work for daddy!!!

We are so glad we were able to get both of these trips in and again made lots and lots of memories to keep forever!! Thanks to everyone who joined us at the river and a big thanks to the Haines Family for letting us park our boat at your house while we were in SD!!!

MEMORIES ARE AND ALWAYS WILL BE FOREVER!!!

GET BETTER SOON . . .

My Grandpa just had eye surgery on one of his eye's, which didn't go exactly as planned, and isn't feeling so good ... darn it!! So as I was trying to explain this to the kids that great grandpa has an ouchee eye and has to wear a patch on it right now ... we decided they should each draw him a picture to mail to him and make him feel better!! I just have to say that I love the creative stuff kids come up with all on their own ... hahaaaa ... all of them made a drawing of great grandpa with what is supposed to be a patch over one eye although Trey & Rhett's just look more like a black eye ... haaaa ... and Charlotte wrote on the back of her's "when you feel better I'm going to call you poopy diddle" which is what great grandpa always calls all the kids or try's to get them to call us that!!! Hahaaaa!!

FEEL BETTER SOON GRANDPA ... WE LOVE YOU SO SO SO MUCH!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLTON!!!

We made a trip up to Vegas to celebrate Mr. Colton's 2nd birthday party and spend the weekend with the Rubenstein family and had a great time!! The party was so cute .. a construction theme .. and all the kiddos had a blast making personalized hard hats, swimming, eating a sack lunch and of course grubbin down some cupcakes!!!

After the party Rilyn and Colton played on the slide and even went on a little evening stroll thru the neighborhood!! These two little turkey's are just way to cute together ... pure entertainment!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLT ... WE LOVE YOU!!!