VACATION!!!!!

Get ready for this!!!!!!!! We just returned from a much-needed vacation and all the details and *amazing* pictures are coming soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But first I need to do some laundry. And sleep in my own bed.

The Birthday Girl!

The birthday girl with her tiara!

Then she spied her cake and needed to remove her tiara so she could get down to business!

Until the "fire" went on the candle......that threw her a bit and the finger went in her mouth.

Candles aside, she was now ready to dive into her cake!

Mmmmmm.

Wait, what is this??? He's clean!!!!!!

Feel free to chew your way into your gifts!

Her cd player was a huge hit! We took 17 video clips of Izzy dancing to the tunes!

Finally getting the hang of this gift thing.

Now it's official!!!! The party is over, the cake is eaten, the gifts are opened........whew!

Jasmine had a great time! She is such a little sweetie pie! What a year it has been! Part of me feels like she has been here forever, the other part feels like we just picked her up yesterday. I still remember calling Scott from Florida after seeing her for the first time and telling him how beautiful she was. And he was like, "Uh huh, I'm sure she is." And I was like, "No, I mean she is really beautiful, like an angel. She's perfect." I couldn't get over how beautiful she was. She had a light about her that I could see and feel. There was something about her......that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

Now a year later, she still hasn't lost that glow. She is still an angel. She still smiles and giggles and coos. She rarely cries, usually only if she gets hurt. She is a little mover and is trying very hard to start walking. She's not afraid to take risks (much to my dismay). She is a joy to have in our family. And everyone still calls her "Baby Jasmine".

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Jasmine!!! We love you!!!!

Speaking Of Babies.........

There she is!!

All 1 year of her!!

Sooooo sweet!

With her signature smile!!

Our baby turned one today!!!!! Sweet little Jasmine Belle had a birthday! Now the really nice thing about turning one is that if it's a really crazy busy day, you can always celebrate your birthday the next day when it's more relaxed.

And that's exactly what we'll do! Tomorrow we will have her party. But today, I had to take her in and have her pictures done. She was a little slow to warm up to the photographers but when she did......we ended up with 70+ pictures to choose from.

It broke my heart not to buy the whole kaboodle of them......all $598 worth of them!!!! I tried to justify that for a brief moment, couldn't do it and walked out of there with still way more than I had planned on. Doesn't it always go that way???? What happened to the $9.95 package I was going in there to buy?????

Oh well, she only turns 1 once. She's come so far since those early days........I will post more tomorrow after her party.

Happy Birthday Princess!!!

Babies!!!!

And now a break in the heat news to tell you we have new babies at our house.......3 of them to be exact!!! Two are *bi-racial* and the other is full black! We're not sure how many boys and how many girls yet.........because they are GUINEA PIGS!!!!



Sabrina's Guinea pig had 3 adorable babies last night while we were gone! We came home to bundles of fluff!



Interesting tidbits of info here: Did you know that guinea pigs are born with their eyes open, all of their teeth and fluffy, fluffy fur intact??? They can start eating solid food after 4 hours! And interesting note: they are not born with all those crazy cowlicks in their hair......we're pretty sure the mama makes them with all the licking she does after birth!!! Right now they are super cute with smooth coats.

Still Trying To Beat The Heat, Part 2

Feet in the water! A very good thing on a very hot day!

Beautiful waterfall!!!!

Cracks me up how we always have to stand sideways if we have a baby on our back so you can see them!!!

Nothing beats wading in the water!

And wading in the water some more!

I think he was trying to fill his pockets with sand to bring home!

Beach girls!

Hmmmm, purple swim suit, purple shovel, purple bucket....are you starting to see a pattern here?

Wednesday we decided to be smart and head to the beach again in an effort to beat the heat at home.

And since our favorite family lives at the beach, it makes it very nice to spend the day there with them! Thanks Ball family for showing us the beautiful waterfall and hanging at the beach!

When we got done checking out the waterfall, we headed over to the beach. There was some fog that covered up the sun and it was actually a little chilly! It was delightful!!!

On our drive home, we could feel the heat as we headed over the mountains and we arrived home to the 107 degree sauna!

Much cooler today......I think 97 was the latest temp I saw for today.......we're doomed!!!!

Baby, It's Hot Out There!!!

Our view on our way to the top of the world!

Sisters almost on top of the world!
Sam hiked with Miss Savannah on her back! You go Girl!!!

Here we are: The Sweatballs!!!!

Seriously, we were a mess! I promise we brought Isaiah, but he was on Bonnie's back!!

These were brutal!!!!!! Especially with a baby on your back!!!

Here go the kiddos down the super scary stairs!

Bonnie and I going up the killer stairs! Yep, that's Izzy on Bonnie's back. She didn't bring any babies with her and she offered to carry one of ours!!!! Can you believe it???? That's a true friend!!!

The view made all that sweat worth it!!

Cooling off at Klootchy Creek!

Izzy throwing rocks in the river.

Sitting pretty

Looking for something in that water!

At the GIGANTO Sitka tree....check out those roots!!

Isn't it beautiful??? Now if only it had been 30 degrees cooler!!!

Trying to get a cute picture at the cool tree. Look how nicely the Ball children are waiting. Then look at those two goofy girls in the middle! What are you doing, you two???? Stand up straight!!! What? You can't???? Oh bother.....

Well, ok the girls are behaving now but Izzy is done. "I'm outa here!"

We are trying to beat the heat over here and thought we had a great idea for today........turns out it was a fun idea but not so good for keeping cool!

We went with the Ball family to Saddle Mountain to go hiking. Our logic was: it's at the beach, it will be so much cooler! Right? Wrong.

Neither of our families had ever been there. We will definitely go again when it's about 30 degrees cooler! It was gorgeous!!!

Besides the heat, there were approximately 588,997,890 flies landing on us constantly. Some of the time they would actually bite! Not so fun.

After we were all completely drenched with sweat, we drove over to Klootchy Creek ('m sorry, but I just love that name....Klootchy Creek.....so cute) and had lunch. Actually we just about passed out in the car from hunger, so we broke out the sandwiches while we were driving over there. The Ball family ate lunch while we jumped in the water! We were so HOT!!!!

The kids chased crawdads around, threw rocks and just enjoyed the water. I had to drag them away. We will be back Klootchy Creek, just you wait!

Haircut!!!

Tanner *pre-hair cut*, sporting his Richie Rich look.

Does he look concerned???

I think it's all an act!

Soooooo much better!!

With 12 people in our family, it seems like someone always needs a haircut!!! Our boys get their hair cut at home by their Dad. Ever since Levi was about 5 months old, Scott has cut his hair every Saturday night.

Now that there are 4 boys that need their hair cut, Scott has decided to let someone else give it a try. Today was Sam's first attempt. I think she did a great job!

**Tanner's comments during the process: "If she messes up my hair, I'm suing her for $2!!"

After taking a shower: "Mom, there's really no need to use shampoo or conditioner now! There's nothing left!!"

"Mom, feel it back here, it feels like a deer!"