Family and Friends

(this picture goes at the end of this post... but I'm not technology savy...)

June has been a fun month for us! We've had family and friends visiting pretty much evey week all month long! First, my brother Phillip and his family came to Myrtle Beach for business. They were able to squeeze in some time with us while they were here, and we had a blast! We took the kids to Ripley's Aquarium, and then to the park at Broadway at the Beach, followed by swimming at their hotel's pool. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the pool. My only keepsake from that trip is a reciept for Maddy's new flip flops... Hers went missing during our swim. Who would take old worn out flip flops? Who knows.

Ben's ready to see some fish!

Sarah trying to decide if she wanted to touch it or not...

Trying to squeeze in the shark bubble!
This was a shark tank with a bubble for the kids to pop up into, while the sharks circled around them. Getting a picture with all the kids looking AND waiting for the shark to come around was way to complicated though...

Oh my gosh! Look at that!!

Pretty neat to see a shark swim right over your head!

Then to see this one just chillin' right on top of the tunnel we were under...

Maddy attempting to show off the tank of tropical fish

Love that smile Maddy...

The kids LOVED this slide... Sarah even escaped a time or two while we were looking at other things. She wanted to stay there...

Sarah found Dori! But where's Nemo?

Ben was so good!

Checking out the sting rays with cousin Addison

The girls trying to pet the sting rays...

The kids had a great time at the aquarium. We played at the park for a little while, but not too long, it was SOOOO hot! You can see how red Sarah's cheeks are in this picture.

For some reason, (maybe I was sweating to death) I only have this picture of Sarah from the park. She was so scared to go across this bridge. But then once she stepped onto it, she loved it!



The same weekend, Uncle Stephen and Aunt Naomi came down. Of course, where there is a Stephen and Naomi... There's GRACE!!!

Sarah "holding" baby Gace (as Sarah calls her)
It was fun to see them over Father's Day weekend. I'm realizing that I need to take more pictures! How lame that I don't have anymore of us together!

We also had a fun adventure at Costco... My tire pressure gage had come on in the van. We have nitrogen in our tires, so I had to drive to Costco to have them fill up the tire, and while I was there I was going to run a few errands. Well.... I managed to leave the house without my wallet. I couldn't go back to get it (its a 30 minute drive) and as luck would have it, I had run over a nail. Costco only repairs flats on tires that were purchased from them, and once again, as luck would have it, only my back 2 tires are from Costco. The front tires are the original tires from when we bought the van, and of course, the front tire had the nail! Luck then went my way, and my three years of being a Costco employee paid off. They fixed my tire anyway, and I promised to return with my wallet and replace the front tires (they are due anyways...) The problem was that it was lunch time, and I was stuck there until they could get to fixing the tire. The free samples weren't yet in full swing... and my kids were hungry! That is when my very good friend Jen came to the rescue! She came down to Costco, and bought us lunch, and hung out with us until the van was ready. What a good friend!

and then Maddy and Ben were hamming it up, but for some reason that picture is at the beginning of this post!

Never a dull moment in this family...

Quality time with an old friend

My Best Friends little sister knew that Erin and I hadn't seen eachother in a couple of years, so she planned to have here wedding near to where we live. Well, I'm sure that wasn't her reason for having her destination wedding here at this beach, but hey! I got to see Erin and her kids, plus all of Erin's family! We played at the beach together, and then Maddy and I got to attend Mary's wedding. Of course the pictures are out of order, but what else would you expect coming from my blog? :) Erin's cousins burying Maddy
Tada!! I was a big fan of Maddy being stuck in a hole. I only had to keep track of 2 kids at the beach, since I knew Maddy wasn't going anywhere! haha


Mommy and Maddy at Mary's reception

Dancing with Erin's daughter Natalie

Maddy and her princess dancing (she thinks Mary is a princess)

Dancing with Mommy (she didn't hesitate to let me know that it wasn't as fun as dancing with the Bride!)

From left to right: Natalie, Evan (Erin's kids) Sarah, Maddy & Ben

And now the rest of the beach pictures!

Ben's very first trip to the beach... He LOVED it.

I must say, my three kids were pretty easy on me... considering I brought all three of them to the beach without Joseph!

Ben LOVED crawling around in the sand. AND into the waves... even if they rolled right over him!

I love that Erin took these pictures! Most of the time I am the one taking the pictures, so I'm never in any of them! Now my kids will know that I was apart of their childhood!

Maddy and Natalie jumping waves

Ben and Mommy...

Everytime a wave rolled in, Ben would clap! He was so cute! It was a great beach trip. I'm not sure that Sarah had any memories of the beach because it's been so long since we have been! So all the kids were loving every minute of it!

We had a great time with Erin, and the wedding was beautiful! It was so nice to see her family again. I hope that it isn't two years before we see eachother again!

Now for some pics of the kids doing what they do...

Storytime with Daddy! AND yes, Sarah is wearing a skirt on her head like a lamp shade...

Bathtime! Ben loves to chew on his toothbrush! The kids love playing together in the tub... it's almost as fun as the swimming pool...

One night after putting the kids to bed, Maddy kept screaming about how Sarah wouldn't leave her alone. When I went in to see what was going on I found Sarah in Maddy's bed. Maddy posed for the picture, and then demanded that Sarah get into her own bed!

These kids are a trip!

Busy Busy!!

I have come to the realization that my blog pretty much consists of pictures of my kids. But lets face it, nobody reads this blog to see what opinions I might have, or my views of anything... They want to see the kids!! So here we go!!

We had a very busy May. Normally we go nowhere, and just do whatever it is we do... which would be to spend some time with my parents and siblings, and Joseph's parents, plus my grandparents... and Joseph's Aunt and Uncle... Gee, maybe that's why we never go anywhere! We have a lot of people we get to go see right here at the beach!! Well, in May we had the opportunity to go to Columbia to visit Uncle Stephen and Aunt Naomi (and cousin Grace of course!) and see Uncle Ryan too! It was a very interesting trip with the power having gone out for a couple hours... at night... But with a couple of flashlights we had fun anyway! We also got to play in the backyard with squirt guns and a little pool in between thunderstorms! The girls really enjoyed chasing Uncle Stephen around with the squirt guns, but the pool was a bit on the cold side...

They really enjoyed having the hose sprayed over them as if it were raining

Filling up the squirt guns

I'm not sure that Ben was too impressed with the pool...

Yeah... he was a bit cold!!

Since Aunt Naomi is the BEST photographer ever... she took some pictures of the kids.

My sweet little Maddy

We took the opportunity to have a picture taken of all 4 Jennings grandkids together. Isn't it funny how they all have red hair? Yeah, there's no denying that they are related!!

from left to right: Sarah, Maddy, Grace, Ben

We had a great time up there, but it was VERY short. We really need to go up there more often.

The next weekend we got to drive up to Virginia to see my oldest brother Andrew and his family. Abbie (Andrew's oldest daughter) was baptized, and the entire family (minus Elder Passey) was able to attend. We all stayed with Andrew too! Well, except Phillip and his family. It was crowded, but a lot of fun. All eleven of the Passey grandchildren were together, and we were able to get a picture!

From left to right: Molly, Abbie, Jake, Sophie, Ben, Addison, Noah, Cooper, Maddy, Porter and Sarah

The whole family... including a cardboard cut out of Elder Passey! Dare I try to name them all? Lets see, from left to right: (Back Row) Andrew, Molly is in his arms, Cardboard Kevin, Scott, Shawna, Ben, Joseph, Dad, Mom, Stefani, Phillip, Cooper, Stephanie (she's holding Porter) and Billy. (Middle Row) Ryan, Robbie, Allie, Erynn, Sarah. Now the front row: Sophie, Noah, Jake, Sarah, Maddy, Abbie, Addison and Joshua.

Whew. That is A LOT of people! And to think that only 4 of the 11 are married and have children!!



Joseph and I got to go up a day before everyone else and go sight seeing. Andrew took us to the White House of the Confederacy, as well as the Confederate museum and the Capitol building. It was so interesting! We need to go up and see some more!

This is a picture of me and Joseph... Not that you can really see us! We are in front of a statue of George Washington.



When we got back from Virginia we celebrated my birthday, and then of course my dad's birthday is just 3 days after mine! We had a cookout with the family at my grandparents house. It was a birthday party/Memorial Day celebration. I made my dad a cake, but we didn't have the right # candles to put on it. So my sister and I just decided to put ALL the # candles on it! haha

Happy Birthday old man!!

I think he got a kick out of it!!


After the cook out we went swimming at my parents neighborhood pool! The kids loved it.

Now, here are some random pics from the last month or so. Ben crawled off to the kitchen and spilled Maddy's water. He was having a great time playing in it before I noticed what he had done!!

My two handsome men!

And last but not least, my three kiddos were having a blast playing in the closet today. They are too cute for their own good. I love these kids!