Beach Trip

We had a great trip to Newport Beach, California, with the Boyer clan! It was awesome to see everyone and to relax at the beautiful beach. The kids loved it--Abby had a blast with her cousins and couldn't get enough of the swimming; Katie made the rounds from lap to lap of adoring relatives for cuddles; and Alex mostly munched on sand. (Yum!)

More updates and summer pictures to come!

Joe!

The same evening my mom and Jennie left, my brother, Joe, arrived! (They even met up in the airport, since his plane from Salt Lake took them right back there. Pretty exciting!) The heat wave continued during his visit, but we had a great time together anyway.

Here we are at a Cardinals game--our first one! I thought we were all having a great time until Abby told me at the end, "This is the most boring thing we've ever done, Mom." Oh, well--you can't please everybody!

We visited the Gateway Arch, which we discovered is really hard to photograph if you want people in the picture too!

After the Arch, we took the kids to Tower Grove Park to cool off in the wading pool. Alex didn't last very long!

Abby & Katie with Uncle Joe.

We love having visitors!

We love visitors!

It was SO fun to have my mom (Lori) and the youngest of my six sisters, Jennie, come visit us in June. It was quick, but we packed a lot into it: Grant's Farm, The Magic House (the children's museum), shopping, seeing "Up," and splashing in the wading pool here at home.

Grannie getting major snuggles.

Abby on the new carousel at Grant's Farm. (We had the place to ourselves, since very few people were willing to brave the 99-degree, 87%-humidity weather!)
Alex and Grannie enjoying Ted Drewes frozen custard--an obligatory stop for a summer St. Louis visit!

Alex & Aunt Jen

Abby at Ted Drewes

Grannie and Katie

Come again soon, guys!

Alex's First Haircut

We cut our baby boy's hair and discovered that he's actually blond!
Here he is before the haircut (with a particularly wild 'do) . . .
. . . and afterwards, with the master barber himself.

Seattle Pictures . . . finally!

When my brother, Joe, was here visiting last month, I overheard the following exchange between Abby and him:
Abby: "My mom is exhausted."
Joe: "That's because she's raising YOU."

Too true, Joe. Too true. Things are a little busy around here, trying to keep up with three little ones. They are worth it though! Blogging is just one of those things that has fallen through the cracks during a fun, busy summer. Here's my attempt to catch up a bit.

We had a great trip to Washington in June! Here are some highlights:

The entire Linscott fam., as well as Luke's Grandpa Al and Uncle Paul

Fishing on Beaver Lake, where Grandpa Al lives

We spent one day near the ocean at Bowman Bay. The views from there were beautiful!

Katie and Abby wading near the tide pools

The "Original Linscott Crew" (Luke with his mom, dad, sister, and brother)

Abby and Katie had so much fun with their cousin Emie (who is two weeks older than Katie)

Lance and Luke caught these huge crabs at Bowman Bay

Abby . . . the sisters-in-law: Teisa, Lara, and me . . . Mike and Lara . . . Grandma and Alex

Alex made some new friends: Great Grandpa, "Uncle" Mike, and Aunt Lara

Some of the beautiful flowers in Great Grandpa's yard

We took some walks and hikes through beautiful Northwest forests.

Abby with Great Grandpa . . .

. . . and hitching a ride with Grandpa

Katie enjoying Beaver Lake

A canoeing expedition

It was really fun to meet my friend Heidi and her cute family for a picnic at the park. We have oodles of memories together, going back to fifth grade, so it's always great to see each other. She and her husband, Derek, along with their four kids, live in the Seattle area. We always try to get together with them when we're there visiting Luke's grandpa and uncle.

Our kids had a great time together (and proved to be evenly matched in silliness!).

It was a great week!