The Cabin

We went to the Taylor's cabin for the weekend over the weekend of the 4th of July. We always have fun when we go with them and we are thankful that they allow our rowdy boys to come :) Tess loves being outdoors!!

 Tray and Jayden getting ready to ride dirt bikes

 Marinda and I rode in their Rhino while all the boys rode dirt bikes and four wheelers.

 Tess loved it! She was so happy to be riding outdoors. Marinda was kind of scared to be driving the Rhino by herself but she did great!

 Ed and his faithful little follower (Talen). Seriously, how cute is that?

 Tess had to take a turn too!

 Our crazy son Tegen thinks he is a lot bigger than he actually is. He had to go for a ride on Ed's HUGE dirt bike, but he did a great job!

Tegen's New Toy...

So Tegen finally got a new dirt bike. I now have FOUR dirt bikes hogging up tons of room in my garage. Tegen has been riding a 70 for the last couple of years and he was just getting way too big for it. So Tegen and his dad had to go on the hunt for the perfect new bike for him. He found it in Utah- a Kawasaki 140 blah blah blah... I don't know the details! I just know we have 3 VERY happy little boys! The Saturday after Tegen got his new bike we took them riding on some land at my parents house. Talen now rides the 50 by himself and Tray is on the 70. They all loved it and never wanted to stop...

This is Talen- he is doing awesome!
Tegen- the little turkey thinks he can already jump this bike.

Tray started doing jumps too and riding even faster- great- just what I need!

Seriously- look how huge this bike is!

After riding their gear was really dirty (from a previous ride) so Ed hosed them off- ha ha ha!

Oh Me, Oh My... Time just keeps on marching by!!

We are now officially on day four of summer vacation and we are loving it! In fact we've been so busy there hasn't been much time for me to blog about all of our fun times. Here's a recap of our month:

We went camping to Fall Creek. It was a beautiful weekend. We did get rained on Saturday afternoon though. And boy did it rain... A LOT! Ed had taken the boys on a ride and they got caught in a total downpour. Ed says that he now knows the meaning of the words flash flood!

Yea- ha ha! Me on a dirt bike... funny right? I jumped on Ed's bike for the picture and then jumped right back off. My job is to stay back at camp and read a good book!

Tegen is getting to be such a good rider. Ed says that he can go up the big scary stuff with him now. You can see the mud all over his face (and clothes)!

My parents got a Razor. They brought it over to our house so we could check it out. Of course the boys all loved it... All of my boys loved it (that includes Ed ha ha)!

The boys going for a ride around our neighborhood!

Talen did a 4 year old tumbling class this year. The recital was at the end of May. It was adorable. They dressed up as lions and did a little gymnastic routine to the "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." It was really cute! He enjoyed it a lot.

Of course the pictures didn't turn out at all since it was dark in there, but that's okay. Maybe you can get an idea of what it looked like!

Tegen has been doing piano lessons this year and this was his piano recital. He did a great job. I was really proud of him. He doesn't even grumble too much about practicing every day. Maybe one day when he's an adult he'll actually be able to play (unlike me). Unfortunately, I was one of those kids who cried every day about having to practice so my mom let me quit taking piano. I get so mad at myself that I didn't keep it up. I would love to be able to play. Ed says that's why I keep trying to make our boys take piano! I think it's cute when boys know how to play the piano!

We have been on the go constantly! Summer keeps us so busy... but I love it all! There's nothing better than enjoying the warm summer days playing with my kids (when they aren't fighting that is!)

Labor Day Weekend

I feel as if summer is officially over now! We went camping for our last big summer weekend. We went up to Kilgore and took the dirt bikes (of course). We can't really go anywhere without those things. We went with Ed's parents and had a nice, relaxing weekend although it was REALLY cold! Saturday was a fairly nice day but by Sunday it was windy and rainy and on Monday morning we woke up to SNOW- okay it was really more of a sleet/slush but still... brrrr!

Talen and Grandpa Murdock went for a ride in the buggy. Talen loved it!
Okay- could Ed possibly look anymore like a redneck if he tried? I totally love the dirt bike boots with the shorts look. The sad part is that he actually went riding like this at one point!
This is how we spent a lot of time this weekend. Thank heaven for modern day electronics! They played the laptop quite a bit. Okay- they didn't just play games on the computer they did play cards and Dominoes. I relaxed a lot and spent time watching movies and reading a couple of books... ahhhh it was a little bit of heaven!
So this was all I could capture of the "snow" but it sure FELT cold! Thank heaven for a nice toasty warm trailer! Believe me I had the heat cranked up in there!
This may not look like a strange picture to anyone else, but look at Tegen in the back. He is riding Ed's bike! Tegen is like 50 pounds and he is riding his dad's HUGE dirt bike with absolutely no fear! What a psycho kid! Also, Tray is riding Tegen's bike which is pretty big for him too. We sure had a good time. I am so sad that another season of camping has come to an end. I just love getting away from life for a few days and being with my family having fun!

Camping at Fall Creek

I have been slacking on posting lately... We have been doing so much, but I haven't had time to blog it all. A couple of weeks ago we took the kids camping to Fall Creek. We loved it! It's so nice to get out and enjoy nature sometimes.

Ed and the boys standing next to the Falls
Here are me and the boys being crazy... that's what we do best!
We went camping with the Smith's and the Gutke's, some friends of ours. Ed make a sarcastic comment to Mindy and when we came back from our little drive to the falls... this is what we saw. Ed's bike had been toilet papered. Ed says... just wait... and he'll get her back!

The Boys Day Out!

Ed took the boys dirt biking to Heise a couple of weeks ago. They had so much fun! Ed said that they are getting to be really good riders. Tegen rides a Honda CRF70 and Tray rides a CRF50 {if you aren't dirt biking people then this would mean nothing to you :)} Anyway- they both ride their own and Talen rides on the front of Ed's. Our older two boys have always loved dirt biking and would ride with Ed for hours. Talen- not so much! He will cry and tell Ed to slow down but he is getting more used to it and starting to really enjoy it.

All my boys!

Tray
Talen
Tegen- ready to ride!
What cuties! I know they don't realize how lucky they are right now to have a dad who wants to spend so much time with them, but one day when they are older they will realize how lucky they are. I love that they have something that they all enjoy doing so that they can spend some time doing some "male bonding"- ha ha! Guess where I am when this is going on? Yep... either at home reading a book or shopping. Either way- I'm somewhere nice and warm and non-dangerous!

Go Big or Go Home!

Go Big or Go Home was the theme for the dirt bike race that Tegen and Tray did in Salmon this weekend. They had so much fun. We arrived on Friday night and took our trailer and parked right next to the track. They were so excited when we got there that they had a hard time sleeping. The announcer woke us up at 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning and they were ready to ride!

Tegen raced in a Heads Up class and did really well. He was pretty even with another biker on a Yamaha and they kept taking turns taking the lead. Tegen lives for riding dirt bikes. He took first place on his first moto and second place on his second moto which placed him at first place overall. He loved it!
Traysen looked so tiny out on that huge track compared to the bigger riders, but those little riders sure can ride! He had a blast too. This track is approximately 1 1/2 miles with all kinds of jumps in it, but they cut the track shorter for the pee wee riders. I must say that I am thankful they didn't have to ride the whole track because it was huge!
Go Tegen! Number One!
Awesome job Tray. Way to go- 4th place is awesome!
Talen still has a couple of years before he will ride, but he managed to have a ball this weekend too! He made some new friends and played in the sandbox all day!