3, 2, 1, Blast Off!

When Jeff was young he and his brothers enjoyed making and launching model rockets. While Jeff's parents were in town they decided to teach the kids about rockets and launch them off. Jeff did a lot of work to put together all of the rockets and make everything work for launching them. The boys learned how to repack their rocket by the end of it all so that was helpful. Overall this is something that the kids might be a little older to really enjoy. Until then, it's a fun chance for Jeff to experience rockets again, and share the fun with his kids :).

Here is Talmage after retrieving his rocket.
Launching the rocket (sorry a little out of order).

Mhari's turn. They are pretty loud close up... Grant is ready :).

Running down the grass hill. I think the kids may have enjoyed that as much as launching the rockets :).

Getting set up.

The first day we started getting rained on so we went home after launching 5 rockets. The next day we went out again. We were able to launch more, but Talmage's got stuck on the roof of the school... just a little too much wind. It's a good thing we know someone who has access to the school so we were able to get it back. Daddy activities are fun... and they involve explosives... Mommy activities aren't that cool :).

Going Native - Texan!

Since we had Grandparents in town last week we went to check out the Stockyards and show them around... you know, what it's like to be a true Texan - Cowboy and all!

They have added a petting zoo since the last time we were there. The kids really enjoyed the animals. I wish there was a better selection of animals. Man, they sure got to see a lot of goats though :).

Mhari and the little goat.
Feeding the goats.

Grant petting the goats.

They did get to see some horses and real cowboys :).

Every day they bring out the longhorn cattle and drive them down the center of the street... instead of the running of the bulls it's more like the walking of the steers :).

Check out those horns!

Mhari saying they were all gone. Too cute :)

Since we were there we decided to check out the shops. I thought it would be fun for the kids to each have a cowboy hat. Punkin didn't want one, but otherwise we ended up with some cute cow girls and boys. Jeff and his dad even joined in on the fun :). Now we are really becoming true Texans!

Here's Talmage riding the horse outside one of the restaurants.

Sandra and Grant in their new hats. Cuties!

The whole gang with hats! I think Jeff makes one fine lookin cowboy :).

The last stop of the day was the mechanical bull. The true test of any cowboy. Jeff got on and had pretty good form...

but just didn't last too long. I guess we haven't lived here long enough to be champion bull riders yet. Maybe he'll do better next time ;). We had a great time enjoying the Stockyards!

Box full of fun!

Last week with family visiting we ended up with several extra boxes lying around the house. Honestly I don't know why we ever spend money on presents... boxes are way more fun (at least that's what the kids chose to play with). I don't have enough pictures of everyone, but let me assure you, EVERYONE loved playing in them. Some were the perfect size for boats, others were good to climb into and out of. Overall so much fun. Now I'm trying to dismantle and recycle the boxes... I can only take so much of the box fun :).

Here is Mhari enjoying a box!
Walking with the box...

Grant doing scripture journal in the box...

I see a punkin!

See how entertaining boxes are! Kids are so silly :)

3 generations...

of sleeping Williams' boys.

Aren't they cute :). We've been having lots of fun and will have more to post soon, but I wanted to say Hi to our blog and try to keep updated! It's been a fun week so far!

While we were sleeping...

Having a new baby is tiring. We aren't sleeping through the night... this little guy has to grow you know ;). It has been nice that it's summer and the kids don't have to be to school and there are no pressing engagements. It's also nice that Talmage is old enough to help get the kids breakfast and that they play nicely (sometimes) so that I can sleep for a little while longer.
Isn't a sleeping baby just beautiful!
Yesterday this is what I found when I woke up

Two girls having lots of fun in the hair stuff! Let's just say that they were very "beautiful" by the time I found them :).

The boys had made little forts for their army men and had been battling.

Here is some of the destruction.

I'm glad I get a little while longer to sleep and that the kids are mostly good during that time. I look forward to sleeping through the night, or at least longer than 3 hours, so that I can get back into a good morning routine. Until then, thanks for the extra little sleep, even if some mornings I wake up to crying, screaming kids, who are done getting along together.

Growing Baby!

Our little Clark has been here for almost 3 weeks! It's amazing to see how much this little guy has been changing! He sure has grown!

Here he is after his first sponge bath - just 4 days old. I love little clean babies!

Here he is in a newborn onesie from his aunt and uncle! They fit him so well! Daddy holding our little baby :)

Grant just loves his new baby brother. He likes to be in charge of watching out for him if I have to be downstairs while the baby is upstairs or something like that. One day during quiet I found him sleeping like this :). Clark is just 7 days old here.

He really is growing so fast. It seems like he's getting heavy instead of feeling like a tiny baby :). He's probably about the size of my other babies when they were born - not quite so tiny! I'll get more stats in a couple of weeks, but last week he was weighing 8 lbs 2 oz and was 21 1/4 inches long! Way to grow Clark!

Here's some more pictures to see him growing and changing. Enjoy :)

Recent Projects

I found this old shelf/dresser on one of our trash pick up days. It was obvious it was very old, and had not been used for a while. I figured it would be great for the baby's room. These photos are after I took off the knobs and sanded it. The knobs were really ugly - sorry I didn't get a picture for you :).

I borrowed some paint from a friend and bought some new knobs. After just a couple of coats of paint it looks like a whole new piece of furniture.

I really like the new knobs - the only part I actually paid money for too :) I love cheap projects!

The upstairs bedroom was in some serious need of curtains. We had blinds on them, but with the size of the window (72 inches square) they just didn't hold up over the years. I decided to make dark curtains to keep the sun out. With being such a huge window that room really heats up with the sun! Jeff wanted some sheer curtains so it wasn't a black window so I made some of those too.

Here is the finished product!

The sheer curtains:

With the new curtains we really needed a curtain rod and brackets. Let's just say that those are so expensive - who knew? Jeff and I decided we would rather make our own than spend over $20 on just the curtain rod. I don't know all the costs for the rod - like a couple of dollars maybe, and we had the paint and the wood for the brackets. I think Jeff had to buy longer screws too. Overall the project was way under $10! I think the bracket and rod turned out really well. Sometimes doing it yourself is just better - I think this will last lots longer than some of the other brackets we looked at! Way to go hunny!

I'm sure there are more projects in the future, but these had to get done before baby came and we could rearrange rooms. They curtains are great!

A Shower... Just in time!

My awesome friends decided that I needed a baby shower. However, since it's my 5th baby and I don't really "need" anything I just wanted to have a fun girls night, eat yummy food, and watch a movie for the baby shower. I had lots of friends come, and along with all the other fun, they also brought me presents. They were too sweet :) (especially since I told them not to bring any... I guess going to a baby shower without bringing a gift is a problem for some people). I got fun baby stuff as well as fun mommy stuff. Over all it was a great night hanging out and eating yummy food. A few friends even stayed to watch the movie.

The funny part is that I wasn't supposed to have the baby until July 5th, however I had been having contractions. The Monday after the shower the contractions were strong enough that Jeff and I headed to the hospital. I was already dialated to a 6! Let's just say we had the shower just in time. Clark was excited to get here!

Here are some pictures of the shower! Presents!


Tammy and Janet

Aubrey and Lisa

Emily, Cherine, and Amanda

The next day my friend, Maria, had her baby shower. Our due dates were just a few weeks apart so we did the baby bump pictures together. Just in case you were curious how big I got with Clark, this will be the best picture, closest to when he was born. I was plenty big enough at just 36 weeks!

Thanks to everyone for coming and hanging out with us. It was a great night and I'm so glad to have my little boy here!