We played miniature golf last weekend. We all got a hole-in-one. I got three.

Afterwards we headed over to Colin's last game of the season and enjoyed some of the festivities. James was too scared to go down the slides. Colin only went down once or twice. Matthew couldn't get enough.

Until a 12 year old kicked him down the ladder.

Desoto Caverns

We went the Desoto Caverns one day. It was a lot of fun. The caverns were really neat, but we all loved the stuff to do above ground.

Matthew and his awesome posing.

James trying to copy Matthew pose. Not quite. These pictures are so representative of these two, though. Matthew's wound a little tight and James is a little more out there.

Descending into the caverns.

James was really sad because he wasn't old enough to do archery.

Yep, those are toilets.

Julianne will be our hunter if we ever have to survive out in the wilderness.

Jacob Castleton Blood

He's here!

Jacob Castleton Blood was born on August 27, 2009.

He was 7 lbs. 12 oz and 21 inches long.

And he actually has hair!!

Here he is just minutes old.

This is just after he was born, so he's got that goop in his eyes still.  But look at that cute little face!

Our newly expanded family.  Matthew was so excited to meet his new brother.  James was more excited to eat my food.

My mom told Matthew something funny while he was holding Jacob and Matthew replied, "Grandma you can't make me laugh or I'll drop the baby."  So careful with his brother.  

The handsome Blood boys all together.    

We're so glad he is finally here!  He is such a cute boy.  He looks a lot like Matthew, but with brown hair.  We love him so much and are excited for him to be in our family now.  

I am grateful for...

FAMILY!!  

This was Matthew's answer at preschool.  Isn't he the cutest?  I thought for sure he would say Wii. 

We had such a great Thanksgiving weekend spent with family!  Amy, Brien and their adorable little boy, Colin drove in from San Diego to visit.  We ate lots of food, laughed many times, suffered through the absolute worst Christmas movie ever (which is saying a lot coming from me), watched Twilight...twice, that makes a total of 3 trips to the theater for this movie (and yes, it gets better with each viewing), took family pictures, and went to temple lights.  

Seriously, where's my baby? 

Have you ever seen cuter brothers?  

I love how uncooperative James is being and Matthew doesn't break focus at all. 

Cousins!  These guys had so much fun together.  Come back soon Colin.

  

*All pictures courtesy of Kristen*

Hope you all had a great holiday spent with family!

Tubular!

In the Fall my Grandma Levinthal throws a pumpkin picking party.  This year, we got to attend.  It was so much fun!  We ate witch fingers, mummy dogs, spiced wassail, and yummy pizza.  The kids got to go into her garden and each pick out a pumpkin.  

Well, that's a surprise!  Matthew picked a small, green pumpkin.  Huh, I would have never guessed that.

James wasn't all that interested in picking a pumpkin.  He was just looking for a good one to throw.  

I just thought this picture was so Tessa.  The little princess among a bunch of boys.

This was one of at least 100 pictures we tried to take of all the little kids.  We're missing Tessa.  I think she may have had an accident and was being changed inside.  

James sat here for a good 10 minutes after our failed groups shots.  He repeatedly said, "Cheeeeeeeeeeese!"

I hadn't finished my boys' costumes yet, so my mom bought Matthew a Ninja Turtle costume so he could be like Cooper and Peyton.  Matthew and Cooper had lots of fun battling it out.  I though Ninja Turtles were on the same team, but whatever.

I think Jace is more of a loner or maybe he just doesn't care for James.  But James didn't care, he loved following Jace around.

And to top off a successful night of spooky fun, the kids all circled round the fire and roasted s'mores.  There you are, Grandma! (in the back row)

Mmm...perfect.

Day of Independence

Happy Independence Day!  I love the 4th.  It is one of my favorite days of the year!  

I bought D-back tickets for the 4th so we could watch their fireworks display, only to find out as we were on the way that the tickets were actually for the 5th.  Oops! 

Wouldn't these shirts have been perfect for a 4th of July baseball game? 

We played pin the flag on the flagpole.  Tim won.  He was right on.  Just between me and you, I think he cheated.

I just posted this pic because I love how Matthew is smiling at me.  He does like me! Sometimes I really wonder.

James passed the time crawling under the table.  He loved it.

We hope you had a great 4th!  Lots of burgers, dogs, soda, chips, Jell-O salads, fireworks, hot weather, sunscreen, family, and swimming.  That's what it is all about.  Oh, and freedom.  

Let's get together...

Last week all of Tim's sisters were in town.  We had so much fun with their families.  Matthew couldn't remember that the kids are called cousins, so he called them his brothers.  

We try to celebrate all the kids' birthdays when we get together.  Martha took them all to Build-a-Bear.  They had so much fun.  Matthew didn't want his bear, Jack Blue, to have an outfit, instead he got a skate board.  It is the most loved toy at our house right now.  Matthew really wants his own skate board and is always "skate boarding" around the house.  So he's living vicariously through Jack Blue.

Later that night we had cupcakes and really fun hats that Laurie and her girls made.  They were so cute.  I think that's either Matthew's pirate face or he's sick of having a camera in his face.  I'll let you decide.

These two could be brother and sister.  They had so much fun together.

We had so much fun, Carruths and Malones!  We're already looking forward to the next time we get together.

Christmas Eve

We had such a great Christmas Eve. We did our traditional Christmas Eve fondue dinner and had Ted, Martha, Kristen, and Donavon over. We had a great time. We also got to open our C.E. presents together and took a fun group pic with our new pj's. Afterwards, we read the Christmas story and sang "Silent Night" along to Tim on the guitar. Then we went out and looked at Christmas lights and even ran into the Grinch. It was a great night and one we will remember always.

Matthew and I made cookies for Santa. He LOVED his cookies. This was Matthew's idea for a pose. It worked. Kristen made these Santa aprons. They are so cute!
James is opening his very first Christmas Eve present. I wonder what it is?
Pajamas! (Ignore all that beautiful wiring in the back. I had a few extra lights on the string.)
Cute pajamas!