Bloody Bowling

So, I wouldn't have named this post what I did if we were British.  However, I tend to try and come up with alliterative titles when I post and this worked quite well for me :)

We had a spontaneous moment the other day and the Bryan family went bowling.

It's a rare thing that the whole family goes on an outing like this.

It's just often so much easier to stay home with Ben while Andy takes the other kids out to do something.  For some reason though, I decided we should all give it a try.

At first, it seemed that Ben wasn't going to want to bowl but we finally got him going.

We had to help him choose his ball and carry it over to the lane...

...set it on the stand and push it down the ramp.

He loved it and signed "more" after each turn.

I was pleased with how our little outing was going so I turned to Andy and said, "So far so good."

Not too long after, Ben was screaming with a bloody nose.

In between turns he just wanted to go up and down the couple of steps by our bench.

Well, he tripped and fell and hit his nose.

I ran and grabbed a bunch of napkins from the eating area but not before it got all over his and Andy's shirts.

Eventually we got him to calm down and from there on out, instead of climbing the steps, he sat on them in between his turns {his own choice}.

I wish my photography skills were better...I'm always getting blurry and dark shots, so that's what you folks get too :)

Matt had quite a unique technique of bouncing his ball down the alley ;)

Abby also had interesting form but usually got it rolling pretty straight.

Love the face!

Josh's expressions were pretty fun too.

BTW, these are happy expressions :)

...and Andy danced :)

Ben won by a landslide!

Even with the bloody nose it ended up being a good family activity.  I'm so glad I didn't choose to stay home with the little man.

Burlap and Initial Door Wreath

I decided it was time that my front door had a new wreath.  

I love Hobby Lobby's selection of burlap ribbon.  They have lots of styles and colors.

I went at the right time too because it was all half off.  I grabbed several spools and then had to choose between them.

The burlap hydrangea is also from Hobby Lobby...isn't it great!?

As a matter of fact, the other flowers and the letter "B" are all from Hobby Lobby as well.

The only think I did not buy at H.L. was the fabric that I used for the bunting.

My original intentions were to stencil "hello" onto the fabric but then decided it would probably be too much.

I had also planned on hot gluing the ribbon to the styrofoam wreath but as I wrapped it around, it bunched up and became awkward so Abby helped me hold it in place while I pinned it at about every other wrap around.  It looked great so I just kept it pinned.

Ben had to get in on the action and pose with the wreath.

I love how it turned out...I love the color combo.

Even Andy liked it!  That's kind of a big deal when the hubs gives a thumbs up to one of my crafty creations :)

July Odds and Ends

Lots of little things this month...

I know it's kind of hard to tell but this is a picture of my three oldest watching "Upside Downton Abbey" on Sesame Street.  They all felt like they needed to turn upside down to view it :)

Andy and I actually went on a date in July!...I know, it's rare :)

As usually happens on our date nights, if we don't have something specific planned, we end up shopping.  Andy had to try out the pillows at Bed Bath and Beyond.

So this next thing is not a little thing but I only got one picture...

Ben and Andy and I went down to Primary Children's in the middle of the month and they gave us the go ahead to start tapering off the diet.  At first, after they had asked us how he was doing and we told them about his weekly clusters, they wanted to increase the ratio (make it even more strict) and possibly add a new med in the near future.  We assured them that we really didn't think that would help his clusters...the diet has not really touched his tonic clonics at all and we've seen no change in them when we've increased the ratio before.  After discussing it with us, they thought that we were probably fine to come off of it.  Yeah!!!

I was so thrilled!

It will most likely take about 3-4 months to taper and be completely done, but I am just so happy that we are in the process now and there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

This picture is of the new entrance to the hospital.  It is much nicer and well done.  My brother things it looks like pringles hanging up there :)

Again, I guess not a very little thing but I wasn't there to experience it so I don't feel that it needs a full post on it's own :)

The week after our Kidd family camp Andy and my brothers went backpacking in the Wind Rivers.

They were gone for 2-3 days and had quite the time.

These are some of the amazing pictures he brought home...

GORGEOUS!

I was proud of him for taking a couple of selfies...even with mosquitos on his face :)

Next time I want to go!

We celebrated Grandpa Kidd's birthday...

 One of my cute cousins that I only see about once a year.

 Talking to Grandma about family history.

91 years old!

 Grandpa reading about his gift from the family.
He has a terrible tremor and is most annoying when he eats.  Dad found this online and we all chipped in and ordered it for him.

 

 Dad took Ben on a walk and found a ditch to play in :)

Shortly thereafter, he had a couple of seizures and hung out on my lap for quite a while.

He did perk up close to the end of the evening enough to eat his dinner.

My uncle served his mission in Thailand and so when we gather at his house, it is often curry night!
He usually makes three different kinds of varying heat.
I love it and need to get his recipes :)

It was also Great Grandma O.'s birthday a few days later.

Andy and I were talking recently about G Grandparents.

We realized our children still have 6/8 great grandparents alive.

Andy's mom lost her mom right before he and I started dating and my dad lost his dad when Matt was a baby...so Josh and Abby have memories of him also.

What a blessing.

At our last family night, Ben was so tired and eventually fell asleep on Matt's lap...pretty cute :)

Kidd Camp 2014

For as long as I can remember, my mom's side of the family, the Kidds, have always had a campout in July.  Many fond memories have developed from the Kidd camp over the years and it's fun to now have my kids sharing in that experience.

The last few years we have been going to a beautiful little site that overlooks the whole valley.

Sometimes we camp one night with our kids and sometimes we don't.

This was a time that we didn't so we just drove the short distance both evenings to spend time with everyone.

I think it was the day before or maybe even the day of that Grandma Kidd ended up going to the ER because of some severe pains.  She ended up "camping" in the hospital and we missed her and Grandpa terribly.

The first evening, Ben was easy and was content to just sit with Grandpa or do his iPad

Preparing dinner...

I apologize for the rest of my pictures.  Most of them seem to be blurry.

Mom gave a wonderful program the first night on our family history complete with pictures and stories.

Matt pondering on the view of the valley below.

The next evening we went up and Ben was in heaven in the blow up pool.  Thanks Amber for providing that...it made his night!

To get him out we had to literally drag him out with the promise of popcorn.

A little bit more of a challenging evening than the one before :) but I had a lot of help from everybody and he was very happy so it was okay.

I'm not sure what James is looking at but it's a great smile on Josh :)

With the help of Aunt Norma, the kids put on a cute version of "The Princess and the Pea".

Then it was time for some "Minute to Win It".

Mom flung that shoe on the table in record time.

Josh literally got his on the table on the very last second!

It's a little bit harder with tennis shoes :)

Andy and Abby tried out Uncle Jo's hammock.

And then I had Andy take Ben home (we drove separately for this very purpose) so they could get to bed and the rest of the kids and I stayed up to play our new favorite game...Ligretto..or Dutch Blitz, or Pounce or Nertz...whatever you want to call it :)

Uncle James has such long arms and always wins this game so we made him sit the farthest from the piles of cards :)

Abby didn't want her picture taken (hmmm...sound familiar Mom?) 

Thank you Abby :)