Reno in review

Instead of a long-winded written report of our trip to Reno, I thought I would summarize it with some pictures (and captions)


Matt being attacked by some of the 12 nieces and nephews that were there


One of the many times we found Nina lathering herself in lotions and toothpaste. Seriously, this girl had at least one daily offence.


Spending time with my brother Randell, and sporting my newly chopped (by not styled at that moment) hair.


Getting creative trying to fit 6 of us in one bedroom. The boys slept in the closet kind of Harry Potter style. Nina slept on a blanket on the floor at the foot of our bed.


The kids right before we left them with two of my cousins while we all went out to lunch. Things appear to be under control :) Three were napping and Cameron was with us.


After an outing to a splash park.


You'll have to ask Matt


Welcoming my brother home from his mission to Argentina. I don't know if anyone was able to capture the 2.2 seconds that we had the whole phrase "Welcome Home!" standing still and in order.


Donovan after he lost his two front teeth during Sacrament meeting. Nina pretty much knocked one out and a piece of gum facilitated the other. You can guess how reverent our pew was.

Missing picture: anything showing the 17 hour car trip each way. It was LONG!

An early Father's Day present

Since we are leaving for Reno this Saturday, we gave Matt his Father's Day present a little early so he could enjoy it. It was a surprise to learn that he wanted something that would give variety to his fishing experiences. But silly me, I should have known that anglers love belly boats, so that's what we got our beloved dad. It was also a surprise to us that Matt would want to try out his new belly boat right away, even if there was no water around. So we come home and Matt blows up the new floating device, but doesn't stop there - he wants to get a good feel for the whole set up. I came downstairs and this is what I found:


This is how we've decided to round up our kids for bedtime



Matt tried out his boat with a fellow fisherfriend last weekend at the Quincy Reservoir. He paddled around with his flippers for a good 5 hours with several bites along the way. However, as luck would have it, his first outing yielded him no fish. And as luck would also have it, once he tried fishing from the shore he caught a fish.

Why?

These cute little feet are not Nina with her friends, nor are they Nina with her girl cousins. Here are the reasons I was given last night to justify painting the toenails of all our walking children.

Nina - "My toes are long so they need some pink paint."
Howie - "I need to see if anyone will think that I'm really a girl."
Donovan - "Not a lot of people know that I like some girl things."

Cameron's awake

Cameron has been spending more time awake this past week. He did an hour and a half stretch of awake time yesterday. Cameron seems pretty mellow, especially with siblings in his face all the time. I think this is part of the cause of his nocturnal ways. My theory - when it's dark and quiet, Cameron gets worried that something must be wrong and can't sleep. I sure can't wait until he figures out that it's okay to sleep at night for longer than an hour and a half. On a positive note - I'm surprised at how well I can sleep sitting upright. I feel spoiled when I get an hour of sleep lying down. But this will all pass soon! So back to my original point, it's been fun to see Cam awake more. He's a cute and calm little guy and I hope his siblings don't drag him to the crazy side.



Donovan and Howie take this job seriously. I asked them to help Cameron with "tummy time" as a way to divert their attention from "helping" me. They thought it was the greatest thing I could have ever asked them to do. I think it's cute to see Cameron's skinny legs and body compared to his brothers.

No more training wheels

Matt took off Donovan's training wheels last week and they have been practicing in the backyard. We meant to take them off last summer, but for some reason we never got around to it. Donovan did alright, but he still needs a little more practice. We think he'll be a pro before the summer is over. Howie finally decided that he would try riding his bike too. Howie is his own boss. We can't force him to do anything! He got brave and hopped on his bike and figured it out right away. We have taken a few bike rides to the park and it's been pretty fun. And a side note, every once in a while they do wear something besides their Barcelona soccer uniforms, like on Sundays for church and for their swimming lessons.