July things

The raspberries came on, and Isabelle and Maddie deserted us, leaving for Oregon to pick.  They each pick about two flats each, every morning, and then play with cousins all.day.long.  Great times they're having and great memories they are making!  All of my kids have loved, so much, having this opportunity to go stay with my parents and do this!!  It's a bit hard for Shawn and I to part with them so long, though...

Creative cousins spelling out "Kerns Family"

Nolan took care of the Jonson's dog while they were out of town.  I got a kick out of watching my three little boys while they did it.  They are all so cute and all at such a little- boy-looking stage. I love it!:

Isabelle, Nolan and Abram took swimming lessons, and on the very last day, Abram came home and jumped into the pond.  This has been a HUGE fear of his all year long.  He has wanted to jump in and swim with the kids, but just couldn't do it. He was pretty pleased with himself:)

I really like feet.  Just had to take a pic of the cute feet (featuring Maddie, Isabelle, Nolan, Abram and Pace) that were surrounding me after scripture reading one morning:

We had our friends, the Riley's over for Sunday dinner.

13 kids = chaos!:

I loved to see the great help Pace was to Shawn with fixing the vaccuum cleaner. Also, have you noticed that whenever Shawn is doing something heroic he is wearing his Captain America shirt?  Or maybe he's always doing things that I think are heroic;)

Caged beasts one Sunday morning:

Pace experienced the carousel and decided he liked it as long as Maddie held on to him:

The summer reading program at the local library became our social life and entertainment for a couple of weeks.  The kids won free swimming passes, laser tag games, miniature golf and all sorts of treats around town.  Plus the free prizes said that they could invite a friend, so they would either invite a friend, each other or cousins, depending on the day.

Here, Pace is attending a class to get another page passed off to get another prize:

Shawn worked LOOOOnnnng hours all week every week and could fall asleep really fast whenever he got the chance:

I kept up with the weeds in my yard and made sure to enjoy time just sitting on my front porch and reading or looking at it at least once a day:) View from the front porch:

Ahhhh.... I love summer and warm air and flowers and working in the dirt. Isabelle snapped a picture of me after a long, sweaty day of weeding.  I've got to admit that I looked at it and thought, "whoa!  I look like a 40 year old woman!"  But then I decided I liked it anyway and sent it to Shawn, who was at a scout camp or high adventure or something like that.  He loves hat pictures:)

On a different day, I had to take this pic of Nolan on the front porch, while we were talking, because I loved how his eyes were the same color as this pillow.  They didn't look as intensely blue in the picture, but you get the idea.  He is a very blue-eyed boy!:

Caden left for a week long NASA camp in Boise and then California and with the two girls in Oregon and Kami working day and evenings, that left me with just the three boys the majority of the time.  Shawn and I set up the tent and slept in the backyard with them one weekend.  I took them swimming (alone- I thought that was very brave!), to the splash park, we picked lots of raspberries and made jam, walked the green belt to see the IF waterfall per the boy's request (with Shawn), and went on many errands.  It was so strange to have such a small family.  Especially on Sundays with only four of us on the bench at church.

We even exercised together because I couldn't leave them home alone to go to the gym:

They did all the moves I was doing.  It was SOOOOO cute.

We've had a great time with our boys, but we're missing our girls and are excited to see them in a few more days!