bluewater days 2013: part one

The first few days were pretty repitious (and not in a bad way). We woke up and had pancakes for breakfast, then got dressed and went down to the corral to ride Dolly, William's favorite horse. Both boys loved it. Fritz squealed and giggled every moment we were in the saddle.

I probably should have showered and gotten dressed before these pictures were taken. Whoops.

If we weren't on the horse, we were on a quad somewhere. We didn't go far or very fast but it didn't matter to the boys. I taught William how to hop off the quad and open the gate for me so that I could drive through. He looked like such a big boy opening the gates and closing them so the horses wouldn't get out. A couple of times, I just had him hold onto Fritz while I opened a gate since it was locked too high for him to reach. It was so cute to see him be so protective and responsible for Fritz.

Uncle Stephen took Beck and Will on a quad ride, which they loved!

Everyone went up to the old house to work on the renovations. I don't know how many years we've been "renovating" the old house but we're actually making some good progress. We painted the entire exterior and started working on refinishing the wood floors. Can't wait to see it all done! Plus, it was fun to work all together while listening to music and talking. The family that works together, stays together!

Meanwhile, Fritz walked around in his diaper and spaghetti stained face and played with the golf clubs.

He also played peek-a-boo with me on the porch swings behind this wood post.

And found food bins to sit in.

William and Beck were reunited! They didn't play great the entire time but overall, they had a lot of fun. Please note the "Charlie Brown" on William's cup. Since there's so many of us, my parents have everyone write their name on a plastic cup with a black sharpie. For the last few weeks, William has insisted that he be called Charlie Brown. If you say, "Hi William!" he will say, "I'm just Charlie Brown." So, when I started to write William on a cup, he told me it had to say Charlie Brown and that I needed to draw on a dog on it too.

telling Beck all about broccoli.

One afternoon my favorite thing happened: it rained (it makes me mildly depressed that I'm so excited about that). One of my top 5 favorite smells is desert rain. There's this wonderful combination of crispness and earthiness that just can't be beat. I love watching the ground soak up each drop and the whole world around you come to life as it drinks the rain. Plus, sitting on the porch swings and watching it happen with my family is pretty great too. It's so relaxing!

Fritz loved playing in the rain until he and William fought over the hula hoop.

William won.

Then he was over it.

Ashley and Marcus brought their dog baby, Poppy. Fritz spent every second the two of them were in the same room, touching and smothering her. She didn't like it but she was patient. She's tiny and Fritz isn't exactly gentle, so I can't blame her for being freaked out. 

Marcus stole the hula hoop from William (just kidding - I'm sure he dumped it) and showed his stuff.