Uncle Rex House!

We took a recent short trip over to the "West Side". That's what people in Eastern Washington call Western Washington.

We spent a couple of nights at Kendall's brother's house. The whole thing was pretty spontaneous and it turned out so well! We had a BBQ on the Monday night. It was pretty amazing that on that short notice, 2 of Kendall's other siblings were able to attend with their significant others. We had 4 of the 8 brothers and sisters as well as 9 out of the 21 grandchildren in one spot at one time. Pretty good for no advance planning!

6 Little boys! They were in heaven having each other to play with! Well, I guess Lucas didn't have a clue, but if he knew any better he would have been super excited!
Matthew, Noah, Paul, Andrew, Eli and Lucas.


Rex and Angie...Thanks for hosting guys! It was so much fun!


Ben and Lacey....awe too cute!


The girls: Beauties having a ball togther!


Eli and Matthew in their favorite place...dirt! I joke now that they were twins separated before birth. They got along so well and neither one of them wanted the other to go away, EVER!



Noah enjoyed some personal time on the trampoline.


Lucas was just happy to watch everyone doing their different things. What a happy kid!


Cousins...


Eli and Payge making French Toast.


It was so much fun and I'm glad that we grownups had time to talk and hang out as well as giving the cousins lots of needed play time.
Thanks Rex and Angie for having us. We love you!

Visiting Grandparents

We finally decided that we needed to visit Grandmas and Grandpas. I say that plural because, all of a sudden, they live really close to each other. My parents and Kendall's parents now live just about 4 1/2 miles apart. Pretty cool, huh? The kids are having a great time and I think they now are convinced that they will always see both sets of grandparents on any given visit. Both G & G's happened to come up to Spokane for Kendall's graduation too, so the kids are getting used to the idea of 2 Grandmas and 2 Grandpas. Fun! I'm really happy that they can have this time together. We'll have a traditional BBQ for Memorial Day and I'll get good pics of everyone. I promise!

Eli loves to hold his baby brother. He's really proud of his accomplishments as a big brother.

Rare moment: Our two oldest playing together. Thanks G & G Batson for building the sandbox. It is truly magic.


Grandpa Batson is good at putting kids to work. I don't think he had to work too hard to convince Eli to dig a hole in the dirt though!


Eric: by the fence



Super Eric!

This is for me, but you can read if you want to.

I have been wanting to blog a lot lately, but my desire to blog seems to be met with my kids' desires to, well, distract me. One needs a new diaper, then another one does too. One is hitting another, the other is slapping the first back and/or jumping on him. Then one spits up, then another one needs a diaper again. Then there's the one with the homework and while homework is being addressed two others are eating sugar and throwing it all over....Oh! see? I got distracted again. Blog, Sharon, blog...

Today is May 30th. My brother turned 36 yesterday, my other brother turned 30 last week and my sister turned 34 last month. What does that mean? It means that I'll turn 38 very soon. I'm not sure what that means, maybe just that I'm seeking the magic that will give me the energy of a 28 year old instead. I have these little boys that suck everything out of me. I love them so much and I can't believe I have been this blessed! I sat in Sunday School today and there was actually a portion I was able to pay attention to. That portion of the lesson was the teacher talking about how Hannah just wanted a son. She told God that if she could have a son she would give him back to him (God). I asked for a little while (It felt like forever to me, but I know it wasn't really that long) to have children. So, I was reminded today what my job is...it is to give them back to God. Oh Please, I don't mean right now, literally back to HIM. I mean I know it is my job to do everything I can to teach them and train them to be HIS servants, to be good priesthood holders, amazing missionaries, good husbands, and overall just valiant men. Oh boy am I overwhelmed by that responsibility, but Hey! I asked for it, didn't I? That's all. To Eric, Eli, Noah, and Lucas: I am committed to you my loves!
Love, Mom

Kendall has a BSN!

So, I started this post when I should have, but am just barely finishing it. I want to tell the whole world how proud (yes, I used the word proud, so sue me!) I am of my husband! I know it hasn't been easy for him what with having a demanding wife and bringing boy after boy into this world. But, he did it! He graduated from Washington State University with his BSN, that's a Bachelors in Science in Nursing. Now it's just test time to get his license. He's got the degree, he just needs the license to get a job as a real nurse. Please send lots of prayers our way that he does well and passes the first time around.