The Little Things

While we were in Utah over the 4th of July, we packed our week full of fun activities.  I would dare say that it was our most fun trip home together yet!  The first day we were there we made a stop at Walmart with Tiff.  There is never a dull moment with her and Joe.  It doesn't matter where we are, these two always make it fun.  I had this idea to buy some blue kick balls for the kids to hold in our family pictures the next day so we ventured over to the toy isle.  These two could have played in this isle for hours I'm sure!=)  This first picture makes me laugh every time I look at it because they weren't posing.  This is them in real life!  A couple of crazies!=)

 After our Walmart trip, Joe went to go see his dad and Tiff and I made a trip to Menchies for frozen yogurt!  This place is amazing, and Tiff and I almost always make it a point to go together whenever I'm home.  The first picture we took, I totally blocked Braden and wasn't even paying attention.  Tiff had to say "uh, you totally just blocked Braden with your big yogurt cup!!"  I just busted up because I hadn't even noticed!

The second time was better!  Look at that sweet face!.......Braden's!=)

That night we went to the park with all of my siblings and their families, some of my cousins, and Britt's brother and his family to play a serious game of Skyball!  Now, some of you may be saying to yourselves "What is Skyball?!"  Well, my friends, it is one of the funnest games ever!  It involves a sponge type bat, and a small round ball that looks like this....  No need to wear a glove, it doesn't hurt when you catch it!  The rules are pretty much the same as softball or baseball, but we decided to add a little excitement and said we could also throw the ball at the players who were running, and if it hit them they were out!  We had SO much fun!  It takes skill to run to the bases, and also dodge the ball while doing it! It also adds A LOT of laughs!

While the adults played, the kids did this!

They seriously ran up and down this hill so many times!  They would yell as they ran down it, and since they were running it sounded so funny! Kinda like when you bounce a kid on your knee and they make noise while you do it.

These two couldn't be any cuter!  They are so fun at this stage, and I loved watching them run and play together.

Tate even took a turn at bat

Pretty sure he got a home run!=)  He'll probably play professional Skyball when he gets older=)

Don't know who had my camera and took this, but I look pretty serious!  I was focused on hitting it out of the park!=)  Joe did say that maybe our kids have some hope at being athletic even if they get my genes after he saw my mad Skyball skills!  Ha ha!

After a while, some people took a break and others filled in.  Aunt Vicki was so sweet to bring her kids and come watch us!  It's always so fun to spend time with the Afematas!

Brittany was the pitcher for their team.  Pregnancy never stops her!  She played like a champ!

Here's the whole group- minus Ty, Talisha, and Reggie.  I think Joseph is crying because they lost!=)  Ha ha jk, he's wiping sweat.  I like to believe it's the first reason though!=)

It's the things like this that I really miss....when everyone gets together and we just play games.  Nothing beats it really! This night didn't cost us a fortune, we didn't travel to some exotic place, we just spent time together laughing, joking, and making fools of ourselves.  Life doesn't get better than that!

After the games were over, Tate decided he was really thirsty and the lid on the water cooler was just slowing him down!=)  Ha ha he cracks me up!

Dallin dumped the water out before we left, and Tate and Braden were occupied for the next 30 minutes.

They sat on ground and chomped down on the ice.  I can't really blame them, it was the good ice from Sonic.  They tried to eat the ice on top that hadn't touched the grass, but I'm sure every now and then they ate some grass along with their ice.  They didn't seem to mind it one bit!=)

Braden's hand was SO cold when I picked him up.  Pretty sure he was close to giving himself frost bite!=)  The ice was just too good to stop eating it though.  It's ok buddy, I do the same thing with ice cream and brain freezes!=)

Love this boy!  Nothing is better than being around these sweet kiddos, and our sweet kiddos in Texas.

Being away from my family has really made me appreciate every moment I get to spend with them when I get to go home.  There were lots of things I took for granted before......not anymore.  I try to cherish every single minute I have with them.  It's the small things in life that mean the most.