Parade, fish grab and Charlie's birthday!

      Here it comes, photo overload!!!

The Alpine Parade wasn't too bad.

A little nostalgia.

Pigs do fly?!

This is actual size.

     Then we had the fish grab for all the boys and they all did their dad proud.

McClane was first and caught more than one fish but they kept slipping out of his hands.

He caught one and he couldn't leave him alone.

Brock was in and out so fast I didn't even get one photo of him in the water.

Carter's turn.

He didn't waste any time and I love this action shot.

Not bad!

Isaac's up.

Oh yeah!

NICE!

Mark, last but not least.

He struggled.

And struggled, he pretty much had to chuck it out and pick it up off the grass.

They got them home and fried them up for dinner, yum!

    And then this happened.....

Princess Charlie is ONE!

Kayli and Charlie cruising the backyard.

Photo shoot with the birthday girl.

Charlie loves Isaac!

I actually made Charlie's birthday cake instead of purchasing one.

Happy birthday Charlie Rose!

Charlie had plenty of helpers to open her one wrapped gift.

Candy from Grandma Baker, YAY!

And money from Grandma & Grandpa Baker too, YIPPEE!!

Birthday cake free-for-all!

Charlie got to play with her new toy for a few minutes before her older brothers took it over.

    Well that's the big events from our final week of summer vacation.  School starts Tuesday and everyone has their schedules and teacher assignments and now we just have to collect the necessary school supplies and load up the backpacks.  So long summer vacation, it's been REAL!

Giddy girl!

      So this week has been fun and we've definitely had some major rain storms, which we have needed. But the highlight of my week had to be clothes shopping for Charlie. After having Kayli and then five boys I really wanted to buy the cute girly clothes again and this time I wanted to buy things that I really loved! Thanks to a friend's recommendation I found the store with the clothes I love the most & at a reasonable price, mostly. And thanks to a lot of overtime from Greg I was able to go on a much needed shopping spree for Charlie's upcoming first birthday. We made it a girls day out and Kayli definitely thought I had lost my mind when we finally got to the store (Naartjie's) I was anticipating. I was literally giddy with excitement and I definitely went overboard but I couldn't stop myself. I think I would've bought every outfit in there if I could have. Needless to say she will have more than enough clothes to wear this fall and is going to look as cute as I had hoped :-)

Ruffles, lace and just GIRLY!

     We also had tent city and despite the very rainy night most everyone still slept over but it just became a sleepover instead of a tent city in the backyard. The food was still delicious and for the most part everyone seemed to have a fun time and the rain did let up making it possible for several people to enjoy some time around the fire.

Yes, Melissa was even here for this gathering.

Waiting for dessert.

We even had Kristin grace us with her presence.  (She's been busy all week helping with the 'Tour of Utah'.)

      And here are a few more photos from the week.

This has become a typical view for me.  Greg takes me with him to check the wells and I get a little break from the kids.

I don't know if you can tell but Charlie LOVES her brother Isaac!

Now that McClane is potty trained he likes to help 'water' the grass.  This afternoon he even did a little 'fertilizing' in the neighbors backyard. (I sure love boys!)

A blurry Charlie.

She's getting quite skilled at climbing up on things.

     This week Alpine has been having their annual Alpine Days festivities and tomorrow morning we plan on attending the parade and fireworks.  They've moved most of the festivities to the new park about a mile from our house and it's been weird not to see it in the heart of town and it's kept us feeling less involved but I'm sure after the parade we'll feel like we're back in the swing of things.  We only have one more week left of our summer vacation and I'm hoping to make the most of it.

The same but different

    Mark has huge feet and according to his Grandpa K., who use to sell shoes, Mark should be wearing a size 13 shoe.  Well just for fun we had Mark and Greg go 'toe to toe'.

I don't know if he's a true 13 but he's definitely his father's foot twin.

       Pretty crazy that at 14 years of age Mark already has 'man' feet!

      Also this week we went swimming at the Provo pool and despite it being a little rainy we all had fun.  I didn't get any photos though, it's nearly impossible to take photos when you're in the water 99% of the time.

       We also got Greg to take a couple hours away from work so we could go to the movies as a family, a rare treat/splurge.  We saw "Planes Fire & Rescue" a fun movie and most of the kids sat still and enjoyed the entire movie.  McClane and Charlie still aren't quite up for the whole movie experience but some day they will be and we'll miss having to 'wrestle' little people.

     Again, no photos but who takes photos at the movies?!

      I did take photos of this though....

This is Baby Ella Smith and she loved attacking McClane.

She's trying to eat his face and McClane thinks it's hilarious.

  And here's a photo of Mark with baby Ella.

He's enjoying this visit with his Smith cousins.

    And we can't forget our other cute Smithy's.

Sam and Ava are so cute!

    And no post is complete without a photo of Charlie!

Not the best photo but she's cute from all angles, says the bias mother!

    And that's a wrap :-)