I'm a Big Boy Now

Yup, Denton is a big boy now. We have been atempting potty training for almost 2 weeks now. He picked out his own big boy underpants and chose batman ones. Okay, can I tell you how much I just love potting training. Oh ya, I just love washing and washing over and over again the same "big boy underwear" everytime our little "big boy now" forgets and pees all over the floor. I have gone through quite a few disposable gloves washing up messes. The good news is that Denton actually made it over the "fear of going stinky in the toilet" hurdle. He really is doing well over all.

Back to the Grind

I went back to the club for the first time yesterday and am feeling the pain today. When it is all said and done, it is worth the sacrifice of having my kids... but this is the most frustrating stage. I have 13 pounds to go before I can fit into my previous wardrobe. Now my wardrobe consists of 3 t-shirts, a pair of capris I bought at Fred Meyer, 2 pairs of Maternity capris (they are a size small though), and a few church outfits. I refuse to buy any more clothes until I can buy my old size. I do see how many women have a hard time losing the pregnancy weight though. It takes a LOT of hard work. You need to exercise and eat healthy which is the last thing you feel like doing when your life schedule and sleep is out of balance. I have posted a few photos so you can see how cute Aliyah still is and how worth it she is.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

We ended our summer with a visit from my good friend Selina and her girls. They came up from UTah while we were in WA. My Uncle has a lake cabin and so we spent 3 days and 3 nights out at the lake all by ourselves with no BOYS. Although we love our boys it was nice to chat with just girls around and to catch up. We have missed them sooo much.


Haley and Sydney took off where they left off as best buddies








Big Haylee and Mishonne are growing into such beautiful girls


Aliyah spent most of the time snoozing in her Moses Basket in the shade


The sassy Mamas having a blast

The girls loved riding in the paddle boat

From the Toes of Babes!

Aliyah just turned two months. She is constantly entertaining us with her talents; cooing, hicupping, messing her diaper a whopping 8 times a day, sleeping 7 1/2 hours in a row, smiling, and yes sucking on her Big toe. Loren had her in the "frog hold" and suddenly heard a sucking sound. He looked down and this is what he saw.

Aliyah's Baby Blessing

We had Aliyah's baby blessing in Oregon with Loren's side of the family. My mom was able to come down though. It was a beautiful day and Aliyah looked like a little angel.

I was a proud Mommy holding my gift from God.


Aliyah is so adorable in the same blessing gown that Mishonne and Haley wore.








Baby Noah, our nephew who was born 2 days after Aliyah, was blessed also.








Here is Aliyah with both of her beautiful Grandmas, Maryann and Renee.
You can see from the photos that we had lots of family there to support usWe are extremely blessed to have such a wonderful family. Loren and I always say how glad we are to have inlaws on both sides that we actually like.
We head back to Louisiana tomorrow and will miss our family sorely. Maybe some day we will be able to move closer to the northwest so we can see them more often. We are just blessed to be able to come see them each summer for an extended period of time.

Hello everyone. Here are some fun pics from our trip to Oregon. Wish I could say I miss Louisiana, but apart from our fabulous friends there, it just isn't so.

Here we took the kids hiking down to Miner's Creek. It is beautiful. Little Aliyah is in the snugglie.


Sandra and Haley down at Harris Beach






Sandra being silly with our cool shades Mom found. The beach seems to bring out the kid in us.











Sandra's friend Michelle met us on the coast for a day. We sure miss her and her family.




Sandra's Mom came to ORegon for 5 days. She was like a kid again on the beach. It was good to see her so happy.




We went to watch the sunset. How beautiful.

Mishonne and 2 cousins Perry and Elise jump the waves at the beach.
The kids have fun at the kite festival.








Mom had never been river rafting so we took her over to Heidi's and went rafting on the Rouge River. We all had a blast and it was a good workout.


Logan and cousin Johnny are best buds. This is at Tide Rock on the Chetco River.








Mishonne and Denton are little fish in the river. The kids also got to go aff a rope swing at the river.









All of the older cousins at the Marks reunion decorated T-shirts and played a war game with nerf guns. How Sweet!!

A Belated Fourth of July!

We want to wish y'all a belated Happy 4th of July from our crew now in Washington. Loren the Birthday Boy turned 36. We had a birthday gathering for him and my brother Chris who turned 18 at my Grandpa Don's home out on Diamond lake. Loren was happy because he got in a mile swim on his special day. Denton is beginning to think it is a Happy Birthday every day since we have 5 of our family members with birthdays within a month and a half. Every time he sees a cake or a candle of any kind he says, "Sing Happy Birthday?"




My Grandpa is getting rid of this old boat and decided it would be a great birthday sign for the Birthday Boys, Loren and Chris.
Here is Aliyah, 3 weeks old now, sporting her 4th of July outfit.

Great Grandma Jody, Aliyah's name sake, gets in a much anticipated love.

Great Grandpa Don gets caught catching some cuddles as well.

Even Grandpa Mike's heart is stollen by little Aliyah.

Logan having some fun with his new snorkel gear in the lake.

Haley gets to ride in the boat with uncle Christopher as driver. It was not a mild ride either. When the boat lifts a foot off the water chomping over the waves it can't be too safe. But the kids thought it was cool.










The highlight of Denton's day was getting to play on the Bobcat.



All the kids love their Opa (G'pa Carl). Logan gives the best hugs.


Haley loves her Grandma Maryann very much. She told my mom she was so excited to be at her house that she did not know which room to go into first.









Sandra got her blue eyes from G'pa Don.


Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you!!