It's Harvest Time!!!

What ya say we go pear picken'!!!! Yahoo! It's Autumn time, I love it, I get all excited when I start to see the leaves turn and I feel like listening to Christmas music. And I get excited when it is time to harvest the fruit!! So that is what we did. Mom, Aki, Leejean, and I all went out to Aunt Barbra's house and picked her pares. Yum Yum Yum!! We started out picking them one at a time. Then I decided that was too slow for me, so I climbed up in the tree and started shaking the branches. It was raining pairs. They came down in dozens and mom and Aki caught them in a big tarp. Kind of like water balloon volleyball only with pares, Hehe!! Then leejean showed up and let us know how easy it is to booze a pare. So we started using this big ladder. Leejean climbed and would toss them down to me. Mom was so great she took over the job of playing with the kids. She pushed them around in the cart and they ate all the fruit they could stand. Whitney had the most interesting diaper after pare picking day. hehe!

Here are the kids sitting in the cart enjoying their fruit. They didn't just have pares. They had pomegranates, gapes, and pares. We had to put Whitney and Lealani in the box so that they would not escape. hehe!

This is Whitney's new smile. She squints her eyes, wrinkles her nose and shows off those teeth that she doesn't have. (10 months and still no teeth). But as you can see from her shirt she had enjoyed her fruit a little too much!! :)

A Tribute to Summer Fun

Well summer is over, so here are some memories of what we were able to do this summer 2008.We went swimming with Mollie, Heath, Preston, Mark, Aki, Lealani, Derrick, and Daddy at Roaring springs in Boise. We rode the water slides and played in the kiddy pool. But I think Whitney liked the Lazy River the best it was where she finally got to take a nap. My favorite was seeing Mark, Heath, Derrick, and Berny play in the wave pool. They were acting like little boy who had just discovered the "funnest thing in the world!" They would dunk each other, jump in the waves, or they would let the waves carry them up to the shore till they were beached. They all had such big smiles on their faces and were having so much fun. hehe! Preston decided that he wanted to copy daddy. I have never seen to boys giggle and laugh so hard as a wave would crash down on them. HAHA!! I guess you would have had to have seen it for yourself. These are pictures that we took after we were done and getting ready to go home.



For the fourth of July Candace called and said, " Hey I am going to Carey Lake to go boating with my family. I am almost to you house so hop in and come with me." Well interestingly enough we did not have any plans for the fourth of July, so I called up mom and dad, and they brought Mark and Aki and we all went boating. We had a lot of fun Aki had never been before so..... Mark put her on the knee board, thats Love :) hehe! She had a hard time getting up, and when she got back she was shaking, She admitted to us that she is terrified of water. OOPS!! But the funny thing is that right after that she went out with us on the tube. I was amazed, Aki is a brave girl. She liked the tube. That crazy girl kept saying faster, faster! and I thought, "I though I was going faster." (Princess Bride, hehe!) She even started getting up on her knees. Once they did start going FASTER!! I ended up with Aki on top of me, which wasn't too bad until we started hitting some bumps. Ouch!! Candace really wanted a thrilling ride so when we turned she would say "LEAN!!!" and we would all lean into the turn. One time we leaned so far that we leaned Candace right off the edge, (hehehe!!!) and the weight difference sent me and Aki bouncing and souring through the air. We were pretty excited that neither of us fell off. Until the driver slowed down to go pick up Candace. Without the boat pulling the tube, the tube nose dived into the water and sent Aki and I in face first, BAM!! Candace said that we were lucky the tube dumped us because if not, she would have! haha!

This summer Whitney learned that she LOVES!! avocados. She thinks they are the coolest thing since breast milk and she can't get enough of them. The only problem is that when she eats them she makes a huge mess. So since it was so hot I could just strip her down, put a towel under her and let her go to town. Now it is getting colder so I will have to think of another way for Whitney to have her avocado time :( Just kidding, I'll just turn up the heat.

Feliz Cumplianos a Lindsey

Our friend Lindsey had a birthday, she is Zulema's daughter. They are from Mexico, so the party was extra fun. They had a pinata, great food, and we got to practice our Spanish. We loved it. The birthday girl is the one in the red hat, sitting on the ground, smacking little Angle in the face. hehe! I think she turned two . She is such a doll and very small for her age, so we can relate :)

Playin' at the Park

A while ago we all went to "The Story Book Park." It was a blast there was so much to do. I don't know what people thought when they saw all of us big Kidz! playing on the theater stage, climbing through the tunnels, and going down the slides. But we used the excuse that we had our children with us. hehehe! This is a picture of all of us playing in the speed boat.

Lealani, Whitney, and Mattie are getting ready to go down the slide. What dare devils they are...... Just kidding, of course we held on to them as they went down. I think Whitney is about 5 or 6 months in this picture.

Aki, Mark, Whitney, and Lealani are taking a break from all the fun.

I think Mark and leejean were having a contest on who's baby could hold on to the monkey bars the longest. Looks like Maddie won and is still going strong.

I love this picture. I wish that Joshua was looking at me. I think it is so cool that all of these guys could balance on this thing without Matthew trying to knock them off :) haha! I love how much all the nieces and nephews love Matthew and like to play with him.

Hanging out at La Casa De Grandma and Grandpa Marquez

Yea for Whitney, She rode her horse for the first time. This is our horse Little Man. He was born to our Mare in April and his mother died. So our wonderful neighbors took care of him during the day but for about four months I had to go five mile out of town to feed the house at 9:00 pm, 1:00 am, and 4:00 am. The funny thing is that at that time Whitney was waking up at about 3:00 am to be fed. It was great!! ahhhhhhh! But it was worth it because he lived which means Whitney has horse to ride. She was so cut when she first got on him. She Got so excited Grandma Debbie could barley hold her, she was kicking and squealing. Little Man did not know what to think. Especially when this squealing little baby started grabbing his hair and pulling his ears. Look out Little Man we have created a Cow Girl, actually I guess she would be a horse girl, because she really doesn't like cows :)




Whenever we got to the Grandma and Grandpa Marquez casa Whitney loves to sit with Grandpa on his chair and watch TV with him. Recently Whitney has discovered that Grandpa has some very interesting hair under his nose, and that if she can gets a hold of that Grandpa will squeal. So she has decided that pulling that hair is more fun than watching TV and she will stop at nothing to get a hold of it. At first Grandpa would fight it and move his head all around but those pinchy fingers were relentless. Now he has decided that if he wants to watch any TV he will just have to endure the pain. So they both watch TV as Whitney runs her fingers through his mustache and every once in a while you will hear a Yalp!! from Brenave if she happens to get of both pit bull hands entangled in his beloved mustache. What can I say he loves his grand baby!! And he's tough! hehehe!!

Debbie did Whitney's hair.

The Kevin and Sylvia Ellis Family Reunion

These are the pictures of our mom and dad Ellis family reunion this year. We went up to the south hills for the weekend and had a blast. We went for a walk to find a good place to hide the treasure that Shannon had brought. On the way back the girls and I noticed that there were some pretty yellow flowers on the side of the road so we picked them and put them in our hair. But Lili did not have any pony's in there hair so we had to tie the flowers in. No worries she looked so beautiful. So beautiful that Preston wanted some in his, but he didn't have any ponies or long hair. Poor little guy!

Shannon planned a treasure hunt and a (stuffed) animal hunting safari. After that we all took some family pictures but I don't seem to have Derrick and Shannon's family :( It was so much fun. Derrick put on some great paint ball wars that lasted two days and Wesley gave everyone some rides on the four wheeler. I think he gets that passion from Kip :) I can't wait to see him on a snow machine, hehe! Decon really had a blast eating dirt, I wonder what his diaper looked like after the reunion. We had a wonderful time and I can't wait to do it again.

To Grandma Great's house we go!

We got to spend some time at Grandma Greats house a while ago for family home evening. We made a nice dinner and had a music recital. I have been taking piano lessons from Diana Sutter in exchange for me teaching her daughter, Olivia, voice lessons. So I was able to play in the recital. Yahooo!!! I played "Come Fallow Me." Derrick Mom and Matthew all preformed as well. Derrick got up and played something that he had heard, and with his natural ability to hear and play music, he sat at the piano for a minute, figured it out and played it. Who would have thought, Derrick, and builder by day and a musician by night!! hehe! Matthew played some music that he learned from the music fest that he went to at CSI, and mom played some songs that she had been practicing. It brought back memories of mom playing the piano while I was growing up. She never had a lot of time, but would play anytime she had a free moment which was usually early, early in the morning. I remember waking up to her plunking and pounding away at that piano and thinking "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, why does she have to do this." Well now I am learning so that I can plunk and pound away at the piano at all hours IN THE MORNING!! hahaha! The power, the absolute power(quote from Aladdin)!!! But really that was what made me love music. I saw how important it was to mom, that she would sacrifice her sleep (and ours) to learn to play the piano. Oh, and it wasn't just in the morning. For family home evening we would stand around the piano as she stumble trough three or four song and we sang. But if we complained we would sing another. haha!!! I love it, mom was so smart! And I want my kids to love music too so look out Whitney Mommy's going to learn how to play!!

I Think my most favorite thing about this night at Grandma's was the way that Aunt Diann and Grandma played with Whitney. We were in making the food and I could hear them in the living room. It sounded like two little girls playing together, or arguing over a toy. It reminded me of when Mollie and I were little and would play dolls, and I would be brushing the dolls hair or putting cloths on it and Mollie would say "no no no, you don't do it like that you do it like this." Than I would say " I know what I'm doing, don't tell me, its fine." But all of this was we did quietly because we knew that if mom heard us she would take away the toys. Well this is exactly what was happen, as I listened in I could hear that Aunt Diann was trying to bounce Whitney in her arms and then toss her up in the air, and grandma thought that she was being to ruff. She would say, very quietly, " Diann, you can't toss her like that, your eye sight isn't good enough to catch her." Then Diann would reply, " butt out, my eyesight is just fine, and she likes it." this went on and on. And I just laughed as I imagined what grandma and Diann might have been like as little girls, playing with their dolls. So I went in and got a picture of it!!

Swim Day

We had a swimming day at Aunt Stephie's house!! it was so much fun!! They were all a little nervous to try the cold water but grandma put some warm water in. That was all Lealani needed to have an excuse to get in and she started splashing and having a ball. Then it wasn't the water that made everyone else nervous. It was the wild Island girl making waves. Gracie thought that it would be a good idea to get in because she was thirsty and Jose just had to have a piece of the action. But Whitney needed some convincing so I showed her the pink toy on the side of the pool that made a squeeking noise every time she grabed it.

She decided that it was something fun and held on to that thing the whole time she was in there. But that crazy Island girl never did stop splashing her in the face and you should have see some of the looks that Whitney gave Lealani. HAHA!! At least she never figured out how to splash Whitney without splashing herself too. hehe!!!


Joshua had this whole thing down. He hadn't even filled up his pool, or taken his cloths off before he was all wet and chasing all the babies around with the hose. Poor Jose, he got got sprayed. Once Joshua's pool was full he was diving in and loving his own personal "big boy tub!!"



After we were done we realized that we had forgotten all of our little swimmers diapers and all the babies had these saggy diaper bums, it was the funnies thing seeing all their skinny little legs and a big bulging diapers. You should have seen Gracie trying to walk, she wadled!! haha! hehe!

Family Reunion Babies

This picture was taken at our Ellis family reunion. We lined up all of the babies and their mama's that were born this year. Our family is growing and this isn't even all of the babies this year!!

Mission Reunion

Berny's Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Lake, recently gave their homecoming talk and we were able to go to Utah and hear it. I was so happy that we went, it was so much fun. I loved meeting all of Berny's mission friend and hearing all of their embarrassing stories about Berny. Actually I don't know it I had more fun hearing all their embarrassing stories about Berny or telling them all of my embarrassing stories about Berny. Either way, I think we bonded :) hehe. But I really loved meeting President and Sister Lake, they were wonderful and so loving to all of their missionaries. I can really see why Berny loves them so much. President Lake told me about a nickname that he gave to Berny in the mission, that was inspired by a picture that he had in his office of a big work horse carrying a huge load. He said that you could see the strain of the work horse as he hunkered down and gave this job all he had. So Berny's name in the mission was "the work horse." I thought that was pretty funny because that is what I called him when He told me he was going to be taking 19 credits and work two Jobs this year, grrr, I never get to see him but goodness I love love love my work horse :)

Oh ya!! We got there pretty early so we had some fun with the camera. You know sense we all (Whitney) looked so pretty that day. I love my family!!