Sweet polka dot cake!
It wasn't hot, and they didn't last long in the water.
Layken, her sister, her friends, and her cousin.
Luke loves the beach and wanted to show me the sand.
Waaay to bright, I need to work on that, especially when Selah's head looks like it's glowing!
Jack and Levi were off playing most of the party, exploring and play fighting the ever present bad guys.
Mollie and the girls are in Iowa for a few weeks and they also came for a visit last week for a few days. They live in Phoenix and we don't get to see them very often and we were excited they were coming to see us at the new house!
I REALLY wanted a picture to document Cece and Elle's first bonfire and this is the best I could get. (Monica I need help with my new lens!) These city girls really weren't real impressed with the fire and even less with the lightning bugs! I think they just needed more time in the "country" to get used to it.
Because they both have birthdays in July I made a berry poke cake for them to have while they were here. I LOVE their pretty hair in the low light. They are one of the few girls I have seen that have hair blonder than Selah. Mollie says everyone asks in Phoenix if they're from Norway! No just Iowa.
Everyone having a Popsicle after the slip and slide.
The two oldest Cece and Jack, would you believe she just turned six and Jack is about to turn eight? Brad noticed they are already leaning apart trying to get away from each other, I guess that time of girls and boys playing separate has come! His game the whole time they were here was to hide from all of the girls and then jump out and scare them so they screamed. They did... a lot!
The three little ones. Cece and Elle LOVED the trampoline, it's so hard to get pictures of that though!
We watched a few shows from downstairs that they put on for us through the railing upstairs. Selah loved that they love to do shows, she was in girl heaven for a few days and I was so glad to get the chance to catch up with Mollie while the kids played. It was a very laid back couple of days just hanging out at the house AND sweet Mollie helped me after I got sick one of the days, only your best friends do that and don't run for the door! I loved having them here but maybe next time we can visit them in Arizona... in February!
Sunday night Brad's sister Jen and her boys got here to stay for a couple of days to hang out with cousins. We had not seen them for about a year and not even met baby Andrew so we were all very excited for their visit.
Selah did love having baby Andrew around to help take care of, she was a little disappointed I wouldn't let her hold him unless she was sitting down but I told her he's too big for her to carry!
Andrew is a great baby, I can only hope to be so lucky with this one coming! Minus the times Jen had to get up with him both nights, that part I am not looking forward to. How cute are those cheeks?
This is Nick in the woods playing with Jack, he was not crazy about me following him around to get a picture so I had to sneek up on him!
This is Grant, he turned 6 this spring and towers over our little Jack! They had a lot of fun playing army and catch together.
Aunt Jennifer went on the trampoline a few times with Luke and Selah and Luke loved it. He kept asking her to go on again with her, I think he liked being bounced up even higher.
This looks like trouble for any bad guys who dared to go in the woods.
Of course we had to have a fire for the occasion and some "smokes" that is what Selah calls s'mores.
Laura got the biggest marshmallows I have ever seen, and Selah was more than happy to try them out! 
This is Brinkley and Moses, she was hiding in the grass and would jump out at Moses. He had that great baby giggle every time.
Here she comes again!
All the kids (except the baby) on the swing set, they all posed for me. Thanks for coming out guys, we had a great time please come again soon!
They sat nice for one picture for me and then were off!
Grandpa Ken made Jack a slingshot and target when they came over yesterday. In just a little while Jack had it figured out really well and could even hit a pop bottle.
Mom and Dad brought the only fireworks that are legal in Iowa, snakes, sparklers, and confetti pops. They were fun and Jack said the snakes were pretty cool but I think he missed a little the explosive ones from Minnesota!
Playing ball in the back yard.
Jack paid $1.00 for three balls to knock this poor girl in the water, he hit the target two of the three times!
I forgot how much I have missed small town parades. On the 4th we went to the Earlam 4th of July parade and had a great time.
Luke loved when the firetrucks blew their horn or put on the siren, every time he screamed and laughed, it was pretty funny.
Ready with their candy bags.
The Des Moines fireworks were Thursday night and not super impressive, we waited forever for a 7 minute show!
Jude was not scared!
