The Novel that is Our Life. Or I'm just wordy.

SO many pictures, SO many stories, and lots and lots of time... well for me at least =) It's midnight. I'm watching America's Got Talent and reminiscing about the last month and a half that has disappeared before I could say "Summer's Over."

Our crazy life became truly insane right around the time Chris and Stephanie arrived from Arizona, no connection implied =) We had a total of 11 people living in my parents' house! Every day was packed full of fun activities, last-minute wedding planning, or both and I couldn't keep up with posting. So, here's to slowing down (or not) and catching up.

Kellen has really become a little boy now. He loves interacting with the family, especially his brothers, wrestling with Sawyer and cuddling with Trenton. He understands what we're saying and has increased his vocabulary to at least .. twelve words. lol We're definitely still in the grunting, screaming phase, but then I see this smile and all is forgiven. Most of the time.

Trenton and Sawyer are still our typical, rowdy boys right in the middle of all the action. Here are the highlights from our family time before the wedding.

Smores

Beach Days

Bowling

Birthday Celebrations

With all the family dinners, ranging from 14-20 people, there was a lot of chaos every night. Every so often, I'd have to scan the room and call out "where's Kellen?" We soon noticed a pattern and obsession with a certain item. Don't get it, but it kept him happy!

Rehearsal Dinner

Our Newly Expanded Family

Welcome Josh!

And finally, the wedding day arrived. The photographers got a ton of pictures of all 3 boys, so handsomely dressed for the occasion, but here's a sneak peek from my camera.

Meanwhile, we found and secured an adorable rental in Coeur d' Alene, which we took over 6 days before the wedding. It was not the best time for a big move, so we slowly took stuff over and began to put our house together. Before we could actually stay there, we whisked away to Seattle for a whirlwind 5 day vacation. We arrived on a Wednesday afternoon and had some time to explore Bellevue, where we found an amazing downtown park for the boys to run out some energy after a five hour drive.

That night, Sawyer, Kellen, and I had a date at the Bellevue mall right across the street from our hotel, while Landon and Trenton bonded at the Mariners game.

Trenton thought it was so cool that they sat right by the bullpen and he got to watch some players warm up.

Thursday, we met up with our friends the Sawyers who moved to Canada this Spring and only live a couple hours from Seattle. We haven't seen them in years! Kristal and I had kids only months apart, so they easily paired up for our day at the zoo. Trenton and Natalie are 5 1/2 months apart and we already joked that this picture will be in their wedding slideshow ;-)

Landon and Sawyer are almost 8 months apart and were the two goofy, hyper ones of the group.

With the four oldest there is a span of two and a half years, yet they became best friends right away and what one did, they all did!

Hanging with the Dads

Since our last visit with them, we've each added a new child to the mix, only 7 months apart. Ironically, they have very similar names: Koen Jeffrey and Kellen Jesse.

And of course, in his only picture from the zoo,

Kellen has his suspicious, "who the heck are you" expression!

Catching up with an old friend is so fulfilling.

Our effort at a group shot. The kids did surprisingly well (not sure what was up with Sawyer!) but our darn volunteer photographer decided to give us a huge expanse of empty sky and ignore the cute boat we were sitting in labeled "Los Amigos." Lame. But maybe next time, since we hope to make this a tradition for years to come! How else do we get Trenton and Natalie to choose their arranged marriage?!

The next morning we were overjoyed to see Mom mom and Grandpa who had flown in at midnight the night before. We started our day together at the Seattle Aquarium, which was the first time for everyone. The boys are especially into sea animals right now and we saw some incredible species.

Then, we took a one hour harbor cruise, which was more for the adults, and ended the day with swimming and dinner at the hotel. The next morning, we immediately went to the Space Needle to avoid long lines. It was amazing to be up that high and see all of Seattle, but I couldn't help feeling a little dizzy looking down that far.

From there, we were able to walk to the Pacific Science Center, a huge museum with numerous exhibits. We spent hours there. Here are all 3 boys fitting in just one dinosaur footprint!

This oddity was out in the middle of one of the foyers and it was quite random compared to the surrounding activities, but I loved it! It's a model dining set twice the normal size. Landon said it must be how Kellen feels sitting at our table. Crazy. Anyway, I went overboard on the pictures, but the boys just looked so cute and they were actually posing so I kept going.

I love the monkey peeking over his shoulder =)

We ended the vacation with another trip up the Space Needle to see the city at night. 

It was beautiful. 

And I was so proud of our boys who traveled Seattle from 9 in the morning to 10 at night days in a row without  one meltdown. They are such good travelers, which only made our trip even more enjoyable. We had an incredible time and it was infinitely more special shared with Grandpa and Mom mom.

Sunday was another five hour drive, which put us back at my parents around 3 pm. It was at that moment Landon said, we're moving our bed and clothes tonight! Not exactly what I had planned after a 5 day road trip. We were anxious to officially be in our own place, though, so we made it happen with the help of our best friends the Drakes. We didn't have air conditioning and only one fan. We didn't have  the washer and dryer set up with four loads of vacation laundry waiting. We didn't have one bite of food in the fridge. But we were home.

We celebrated our new status as Coeur d Alene residents with a day at the Kootenai County Fair, one of our first memories from last summer. Landon enjoys himself, but Trenton, Sawyer, and I think it's one of the coolest things we've ever done lol I'm like a kid! I was extremely sad to leave knowing it would be another whole year before it was back.

And with that, school began. Landon started harassing and educating seventh graders and Trenton started the next thirteen years of his educational journey. (That will be a whole separate post! Aren't you excited for more??) I thought some routine would be a nice break from the busy summer. How naive. We are officially parents of a school-aged kid and it only gets busier. First on the menu: soccer!

Trenton is in a five year old league and we can already see how his season last year has prepared him for this year. He started out much more confident and skilled. After the first couple drills at practice, his coach asked if he had played before. I was the stereotypical proud mother =)

He practices at a local park near Landon's school in Post Falls, which is great for the other two. I can already see how much closer Sawyer and Kellen are growing since Trenton has started school.

(Disclaimer: We do not own a camera at the moment. You can only imagine what this does to me because pictures are my hobby, my passion, and my entertainment. I decided not to just buy another run of the mill digital camera, but save up for the good one. Until then, we are borrowing and it's not the best quality unfortunately.)

Trenton's First Game Day

Dad was pretty excited about his sponsor =)

This year, Sawyer turned 4 and thus old enough to join a soccer team. Since it's a younger league, they don't have a midweek practice, but instead do a half hour practice and a half hour game every Saturday. Two weeks ago, Post Falls Rec called to say his team did not have a coach, so guess who volunteered??

Growing up, my dad was always coaching my siblings' teams, so it was fun for me to watch Landon do it with Sawyer. And Sawyer is so proud to be playing soccer with Daddy. Plus, we figure this is a great way for Landon to get involved in the same community he teaches in. Already, he found out one of his students has a brother on Trenton's team!

Like his brother as a beginner, Sawyer is not real aggressive at chasing the ball or pushing his way through the mob, but his smile just lights up the field. It's going to be a fun six weeks.

If you made it to this point, you must really love us or just be really bored ;-) Like I said, I love to blog and I love to share my kids. It's my way of keeping in touch with the family and friends who live far away and who we miss dearly. You know who you are. Thank you for your love and attention.