Almost July?!?!?

And here's life lately...

My brother and his wife had their first little baby...Arabella. Such a sweetie! (Congrats again, guys!)

 We're still coaching our grass to grow in.

 The kids are just hanging out most days.

 Isaac turned 4 May 24, but we didn't do his party until early June. He had a great time and is still loving all his new presents-we did a rocket theme. The cake was surely the worst I've decorated, but Isaac liked it and it tasted good so all is well! :)

 Adam is still cute. (And drooling like Niagara Falls!)

 We finally redeemed a Groupon purchased for Pump it Up-an indoor place with a bunch of giant inflatables. The kids had a blast-good thing we have 3 more trips to use before September!

 We've had a mix of weather lately (no kidding-it's Iowa, right?) and on this especially hot day we tried out one of Isaac's birthday gifts-a pool! It's just the right size for the deck (remember our yard is still under construction!).

 This is my latest nap-time project. I am working on a template for a vinyl tree. I'll just cut the vinyl with scissors and stick it up there. I plan to collect pictures of ancestors and add a cute quote. So far it's going pretty well.

 We planted a garden it's doing surprisingly well considering the lack of care it's received. We just planted pumpkin seeds the other night for Family Home Evening-mainly because we realized the germination time will have them ready just a couple weeks before Halloween!

 Yep, still cute!  :)

 As is a summer tradition for many families, we caught our first monarch caterpillar of the season and it's already gone into its chrysalis. We actually watched it go through this process and it was AMAZING! (Thanks, Grandma for the giant container of cheeseballs that now houses our little butterfly-to-be!)

 Still cute-no actually, this is his "before" picture at the salon for his first (and much needed!) haircut. Crazy, out of control, whispy, Einstien-like? Yes!

 And the good ol' thumb comes in handy at any time during the day.

 And the after. Ahh.....much better! He looks like a new man. No, really, I'm still getting used to the new look.

 Just making sure he's still cute.  :)

 And as for things not included in pictures-life is good! We are busy, busy. Jake is running for Iowa Senate so our Saturdays are pretty well booked with a parade or two for a good portion of the summer. We will go to Nauvoo later in the summer for a few days, but we are mostly just here and hanging out. It's wonderful being in our new home-though decorating is taking forever! I really will get some pictures posted soon now that we've finally gotten some pictures and things on the walls.