July Vacation

Our vacation started out at home when my sister Emma came up with her two boys and my brother Ray and his Wife Stephanie and their three kids drove through in the motorhome for a day on their way to Palmyra. We had one fabulous day with everyone. We saw the OKC Temple, Sonic Headquarters, National Bombing Memorial, and ended up in the backyard swimming and BBQ-ing. It was awesome. Thanks everyone for visiting us. We had a blast.

After a very very long (21 hr) drive to Utah, we had a great time staying with Pagah and Grandma Annie. We played with cousins, did 4th of July fireworks, ate Cafe Rio...

This was the best 4th of july pic I could get of my kids. they were not interested in posing for pictures, they only wanted to play. I can't blame them really.

Every Morning Grandma got up with the kids (it was especially nice after getting in at 4 in the morning from a 21 hr drive) and took them on walks and fed them breakfast and played with them. Grandma, will you come live with us?

We love our Grandma and Pagah! Thanks for letting us stay!

After three fabulous days at the Ashtons, it was time for the Martin Reunion. All Dan's siblings, and families got together in a cabin up in Heber for three days. It was so much fun. It was a huge beautiful cabin with a game room, hot tub, beautiful balcony overlooking the aspens and mountains in Heber. It was awesome. We put together a huge puzzle, swung in hammocs, played pool and Uncle Micah's Wii, Had a Fireball Island championship game, card games and soaked in the hot tub, while the cousins roamed around and played to their hearts content. It was great!

Cousins, cousins and more cousins!!!

(Anna, Margie, Katie, Tyler, Jakey, Madison, Ella, Caroline, Kloe, and Ivan)

We just couldn't get enough of the mountains, there's none where we are. When we saw our first mountains in the distance coming into Denver Margie pointed them out with a loud "Look Mountains!" We stayed two more days in Utah before heading home - We went hiking with Liza and her kids to South Fork, one of our favorite places (can you see why! look at that view!) We hung out with the Martins again, and Uncle Micah showed us the method to baking his famous cookies. It was so much fun and well worth the drive. Thanks everyone for helping us have a wonderful trip!

Happy Birthday Margie, Happy Father's Day Dan!

Happy Birthday to Margie. She turned 4 on Sunday June 21. She is getting so big It's hard to imagine her as the tiny 6.14lb baby she was. We had a playdate at our house already scheduled so we turned it into a birthday party with her friends last week and then on Sunday we had a few more presents for her to open and she shared a brownie with Dad for Father's day. I sure love that sweet little Goose! Happy Birthday! And Happy Father's Day to the most wonderful Husband in the world! I love you Dan.

A fun weekend with the Hansens

We went on an awesome trip to the OKC Zoo

It was very hot and muggy so the water sprayers were a highlight.

Here's Margie and Ethan going for it.

"Margie, pretend you're scared of the big T-Rex"

Group pictures with 2 year olds... not happening.


My sister came and played soccer with me and rocked the house.

She even kicked the ball into a girls face! I wish she could play with us every weekend. (This is after the game.. nice and sweaty.)

Bugs Mommy! Look at the Bugs! Jakey's new fascination.

After the soccer game a trip to Martin Park. We love this place.

Two Cousins swinging together.


Margie loved her baby cousin Beckham.

Happy Children! Ethan, Jakey, Margie and Beckham


Auntis Becca loved Baby Beckham too!

Thanks guys for a fun weekend.

Tribute to a Red-headed Boy

Jakey's Birthday was on April 22. I have to give a tribute to a small red-headed boy who gets into everything but always gets out of being in too much trouble with his charming smile, personality and stubbornness. We love you Bubsy/cinnamon bear/stinker goose-boy!

Is that the sweetest baby you've ever seen!

1 Year Old Jakey with a smile to melt your heart!

CHEESE!

I love my little boy! (Yes he's a boy, with a big sister who has lots of dress-up stuff)

So on his actual birthday I took the kids out to ice cream. (Dan was out of town.) and Jakey thoroughly enjoyed his ice cream as you can see. He kept asking for more like a broken record and ended up heping mom and Margie finish ours also. This boy loves treats!

We also had a little party with some friends when Dad got home and I made an awesome spiderman cake.

Happy Birthday to Jakey!

I have to add this photo in the mix to show how stubborn he can be. We have been fighting naps since around 18 months (just like his sister) so usually we just put him to bed early or sometimes we just find him passed out on the floor which he did a few sundays ago. Note that if I had put him in his crib he would have cried for at least an hour or more and no nap would have taken place this day. It's usually on his terms as you can see.

Happy birthday Jacob. We love you so much.

I hope the terrible two's don't make us all crazy!

What's been going on at our house

I know it's been forever since I've posted so I thought I'd do a rundown on the past few months and what we've been up to. We had a little flood in our kitchen (I'll post that later) which have kept us very busy and in a lot of chaos, but we've had a lot of fun also. My two goosie kids are getting so big sometimes I wonder where the time is going. We've been rockclimbing in our garage. Margie picked up on it very easily and by the end could go almost to the top by herself. The kids and I went on some preschool fieldtrips to the Express stables to see the horses and the Myriad Gardens. We went with our Dad on his day off to the aquarium and got to touch the rays and see the sharks swim around us in the shark tunnel (Margie didn't like that one) and chase Jakey through the crowds (he's so dang fast! Does anyone know where I can get one of those harness leashes?) we also saw lots of fish and turtles. Easter came and went, that's the best photo I could get that morning of the two kids before church - little turkeys! Margie got to plant some flowers at the library storytime and when the weather is nice we're outside on our bikes or in the backyard. So that's a rundown of the last few months at the Martin Household. I'm sorry I'm so bad at keeping up with this, it's just been busy around here. I'll do better!

Dan's birthday and a streak of crazy weather

Happy Birthday to Dan on Jan 25. We made an awesome chocolate cake and had a fun afternoon. He's wearing his new shirt in this picture and blowing out the candles that the kids put on the cake, a little heavy on the one side. We love you Dan!How about a snow day! Dan got to come home early and stay home for 2 days. It was the usual Oklahoma ice/freezing rain/sleet storm which kept us indoors for a few days. We had a great time cruising around the neighborhood on a walk one day.

So the snow was monday through Thursday and by Saturday we were at the park with sweatshirts on going for a hike. Crazy Oklahoma Weather!

Here's Dan's second place mustache in Fronterra's Great Mustachio Bash. (Shaved from the goattee (sp?) seen earlier. I couldn't help laughing every time I looked at him.

The latest storm was just yesterday. We were very blessed to get missed by the tornado that hit a mile away and ripped the whole back end of a Chuck-e-cheese off and the roof of Target and damaged a bunch of other homes and other places. We did get a ton of Hail. Pea sized up to Gumball sized. This is a scoop of hail from my back patio and the size of the biggest ones.

20 things we learned from our trip

We took a trip to California to see Dan's Grandpa Holt for New Years. Jake and Debbie (Dan's brother) came down from Utah and a bunch of Aunts and Uncles and cousins came from Mesa also. We had tons of fun playing on the farm with lots of cousins. We continued on into Mesa to stay with my brother Ray and Stephanie and their family and then to Sierra Vista to see my sister Anna and John and their new baby Isabella. It was a fabulous trip. Here are a few things we learned.

Our kids really do love eachother!

We love to have cousins the same age.


Dan is a super goose!


California is a long car ride!

A day on the farm can make you tired!

We love our grandpa Holt!

A lasso is a great tool for picking oranges and Grapefruits.


Jakey is a Ham! (We actually already knew that)

Daddy knows how to feed the cows. Cows can't bite you if you throw the hay at them.

We have a lot of cousins, and we love them all!

Eating Oranges and playing in the dirt makes you sticky and muddy.


This boy loves his Daddy!

Playing Barbies in the tub is a lot more fun with a cousin than a brother.


Glow bracelets are awesome! (as are more cousins)

Auntie Anna is the coolest. Especially when she lets Margie cook with her.

She's even cooler when she makes a pancake in the shape of "M" for Margie.


Baby Isabella is super cute and has great hair!


Orange trees make great forts.

Cows have different hair styles.