What a summer!

Well, once again I find myself doing the monthly "ketchup"! So here it is, I suppose I will just go through in chronological order.

Mid-July we went on our annual Family Campout (or cousin's campout as we now call it). It is Matt's mom's side of the family. We go every year and there sure are lots of us! Matt's family is SSOOOO different than mine, it is interesting and fun! They are a great group. All of my mother in law's siblings and her mom all live here in phoenix, so growing up Matt spent A LOT of time with his cousins and they are all great friends. I hardly saw any of my cousins growing up, so it is fun for me to see all the cousins on Matt's Barrett side throughout the year as well as the summer campout and the Christmas party that we do every year. We had a lot of fun, though I am not really a camper. I LOVE nature and it is great to be out in it. But when you have babies, by day 3 or so, you are ready for a good night's sleep (and no BUGS!)

Here are some pics from the campout:

Isabel was SO excited when we put her cousin Eve in her pack and play with her! Too bad Eve wasn't as crazy about it! These first cousins are only 6 weeks apart! Built in best friend!

Lily "helping" me read and relax

Wishing for a good night's sleep...

Lily at one with Nature, she LOVED being in the "forest" on the "mountain" and still talks about it

My girls also needing a good night's sleep

Below is a picture of Matt's cousin David's daughter "Addie" with our niece Eve. Addie loved to be at our campsite because we had the most babies and this girl LOVED babies and was SO great and patient with them. Tragically a week after we were home from our reunion their family was in Utah and Addie and her little sister Lydia were in a horrible car accident with some of their Utah cousin. Lydia (age 6) was seriously injured, but after setting her 9 broken bones and some surgeries she is now home with her family. Addie was killed on impact. This has been such a heartbreaking tragedy, and we have kept her family constantly in our prayers. We attended her funeral on Friday, where over 11oo people were in attendance. The services were beautiful and incredibly moving. There was such an outpouring of support. I have definitely found myself hugging and kissing my girls more often the past 2 weeks.

Since we returned home from camping Lily has been OBSESSED with these pink rain boots that her Aunt Mandy loaned her from camping, she wants to wear them all the time. It is a little embarrassing to show her so "ragamuffin" in the pic, but it expresses her ridiculous attachment to these fabulous boots!

We also moved mid-July/end-August. It was a VERY busy time for us to try and move and was super stressful. Boy, am I glad it is OVER! It was the hardest move for us yet (4 moves in 2 1/4 years) because we literally cut our living space in half. I will miss our rental house...and garage...and yard. BUT the money we will save while Matt is back in school is a nice incentive. And I only have to clean one bathroom! No yard up keep, not as many counters to clean and 700 sq feet less floors to sweep/vacuum. So I am focusing on the positives. Now that we are all moved in it is not so bad. Another major plus to the apartments are that we have a pool! We FINALLY got to enjoy it (we've been to busy to use it) and the girls LOVE it! :)

Lily didn't want me to take her picture, she is being all incognito. Reminds me of a celebrity magazine!

We also went to Thatcher for the 24th of July celebration and to be with my family. Since my grandpa passed I have really wished that I could spend all my time there with my family, but this was my first trip back. It was SO great to be there with our friends and family. It was REALLY hard for me to leave. Here are some pictures from us playing at the park, somehow I didn't actually get any pictures of the Pioneer Day celebration, even though it was great.

Lily got to play with some of her Thatcher cousins, here she is "sharing" with miss Ava

Ava and her little brother Carter

While we were in Thatch we got together with some of our old college friends who live there. We had such a great time, and I really love these kids! Makes me even more homesick!

Lately the girls play SO great together. They keep each other up late (and wake up early) with LOTS of squeals and giggles now that they share a room. And I often have to come in to see what they are doing because they crack up so much. Lily has turned into the BEST big sister I could imagine. And nothing warms my heart more than to see them playing nicely together. Please ignore my laundry and my children's haggard state in the pic below!

Lately Lily has been really into "helping me" with EVERYTHING I do. Especially in the kitchen. We love to cook and clean all kinds of things. This night we were making homemade pizza, which consisted of her helping me pound and roll the dough, stir in the spices for the sauce, and sprinkle the cheese and toppings. But mostly she liked to eat the toppings :) Here she is sneaking olives from the jar.
Mealtimes have also become more fun for Izzie. She sometimes reminds me of cookie monster, if she could talk I swear she would say "yum-yum-yum-yum-yum" in cookie's voice.
The fun at dinner time has also led to more bathtime, and I can now put the girls in together and let them play, which they LOVE.

Here is Lily swinging, and cracking up. Beware, you may just want to close your eyes and listen, the camerawork is a little blair witch.

Anyway, our life has been SO busy. My new Doctor who I really love has been really dedicated to my health and checking into everything, which has been great and I am really hoping that within a couple of months I will finally be feeling good again. I have been referred out to an endocrinologist, gastroentologist, and physical therapist in addition to the chiropractor that I was already seeing. Oh, and I have 2 dentist appointments, in addition to a well-child check. It is nuts. Hopefully after all these tests we will figure out more and FIX it! :) Until then I have had between 3 and 7 different appointments the past 2 weeks and the same for the next couple weeks.

It has just seemed like the whole summer has been one of busy-ness and one thing after the other. So much of it has been crisis' that are centered around our loved ones, some that I have shared and some that are not my place to share. It is hard to watch those around you endure trials. Especially trials of the magnitude that I can not imagine. You people know who you are and know how much my heart is with you. It has been an emotionally, spiritually, financially and physically exhausting summer!

But I will tell you this, I have never been more grateful for what I have.