More Summer Fun!

July came in a hurry this year.  Rich and I were gone most of June and flew home on June 30th.  Jeremy and his family flew in from California the next day.  We hadn't seen the Fresno Crowleys since December and boy were we lonesome.  We picked the crew sup at Dulles Airport and didn't even stop to take a deep breath for two weeks.  What great family times.

We missed having Lauren here with the rest of the family.  She visited Virginia most of the month of  June.  We wish we could have Lauren ALL the time.   I think this is a wonderful girl.

                                       Here Lauren and I are at church.  We were the only ones in the chapel so we took our picture on my iPad.  Rich was in choir practice so we had some time to kill!  Ha Ha!  What
 a cute girl she is. Love her so much.

   

                                        Now on to July!

Jeremy;s family has grown this year.  Baby Chase had his first trip to Virginia and his brothers and sister can fill up a house quickly  Look at these cute faces!  Carsen, Emery and Tanner.  Grandpa takes the best pictures.  This one makes you smile all over.

This is our baby Chase.  Just look at those kissable cheeks.  What a doll baby he is.

 He is turning a year old this week and has been walking for about a month.  He is such a happy litte guy.

 Jeremy and family and Gabe and kids spent the first day at the Water park.  Jeremy met up with Matt Carlson and family who were also visiting VA. (They were friends in Fairfax, roommates at BYU and  married those California redheads who were also roommates at BYU). Chase stayed with Grammie and Grandpa.  He was not happy about being with these strangers.  He would look at me like I was the enemy.  He was really happy to see his family when they returned from the water park.

The next day the girls  and I were  off to the BEAR store for all the litte girls' birthdays.  WOW!  Can you even imagine the twinkling eyes at this event.  Not to mention the smiles.

First we had lunch with this guy and the little girls were pretty tickled

 

He had their full attention..  Charlotte, Emery, Audrey and Jocelyn

 

 

                          Then each darling girl picked out their new stuffed animal.  What fun!

                                       Jocelyn wasn't quite sure what to do and was in awe of the entire process.

 

Emery was next.  Jocelyn, Melanie and almost a picture of Shelly and Chase.

 

This is Charlotte in the pink stripe shirt.  She got a new kitty and was so happy with it.

 

Then it was Audrey's turn!

 

Here are four happy little girls.  I didn't get one picture with them all looking at the same thing, but what a fun time we had.

 

 

 

 

We made it to the 4th of July with great expectations.  What do you suppose these cousins are cooking up?

 

Jocelyn in the back eyeing baby Chases' walker

 

Then she gets herself stuck and can't get out!  Hilarious..

 

We had the feast! 

 

 I had to show my traditional fourth of July crabcakes!  Only the boys and I eat them, but boy are they yummy.  How did I get three daughters-in-law and a husband,  ALL who do not eat seafood.  Crazy..-- it's a conspiracy.  Andrew grilled the hamburgers and hot dogs on this very hot day.  Thanks Andrew!

 

 

 Shelly hiding behind her plate of food.

 

YUM!

 

 

Matt and Gabe diving in.

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 We stuffed ourselves full and then wentt to our Culpeper 4th of July Parade.  Okay, I am a little short on pictures of this, but know we had a great day!

 

Here are the little girls at the parade.  Another great picture by Grandpa.

 

 

 

Pinwheels in the yard!

 

You know for some reason the pinwheels didn't interest Tanner and Carsen.  This cute picture was after chalk painting the driveway and Uncle Andrew chasing them all over the yard.  By this time it was getting late and everyone left for the fireworks except Chase and Grammie.  This time Chase was asleep so he didn't have to be  worried about his stranger Grammie. 

We kept busy for the next two weeks having family time.  Jeremy went home after the first  week and Shelly and the kids flew home on the 16th.  I may have some of the events out of order, but most of the family went to the Nats game, Shannon toured Jeremy and boys around Capital Hill, we had another family dinner, and a birthday party for Audrey. 

                                                Grandpa Crowley and Chase

 

Audrey's princess birthday cake made by Melanie!

 

Jeremy and Rich waiting for their piece of cake.

 

 

The kids all took turns attacking the pinata that Melanie also made.  It was stuffed with candy much to their delight.  Andrew and Melanie with Audrey ready to take the first hit.

So all in all July was family bondage time ...............Ha Ha!  I heard someone say that last week.
We had great fun with everyone together -- just missing our Lauren. 

Here are a couple of really cute pictures of Carsen.  This one is at Mountain Run Park with Grandpa Crowley.

 

 

This is Carsen's cool dude picture!

 

                                                          Cool dude Tanner

 

And.................Tanner and Chase.

 

Chasey Chasey Cutie Facey

 

Emery so beautiful!

 Of course I have tons more pictures of my adorable grandchildren.  I do have to admit they are the cutest ever.  Sorry everyone else.  The Crowley grandkids -- We are just crazy about them!  So July was wonderful times.

After the kids scattered to their homes, we did have a chance to catch our breath before Rich had some surgery.
 
Rich had his second melanoma surgery in July.  He had two removed last fall and six removed in July.  He is a warrior this guy I married.  All of the melanoma's are on his neck so he is running out of skin if you get the idea.  The plastic surgeon has been working hard not to graft.  Unfortunately another one was found in Sept so he has another surgery upcoming.  Anyway we ended July with a sigh of relief and tons of fun memories with the Crowley gang.

 

Mental Gymnastics.

Do you ever fight with yourself over the tasks at hand?  Sometimes I will even clean something that doesn't need cleaning to avoid another task.  Yes, I will admit I'm a bit crazy sometimes.  Yesterday I could not force myself to get back to my blog to finish writing about July and August.  Remember I am an English teacher.  Don't English teachers love to write?  Well, this one doesn't.  I know it's a confession.  Don't tell any of my former students.  They would be aghast to learn this.  However, I do love to read.  It's been a life long love.  I will read anything!  Even the cereal boxes when I was a child.  Ha Ha!  Did you do that?  Anyway, I opened my blog in an attempt to write about July and August and started reading older posts.  I fell in love with reading about two years ago and that seemed to give me the motivation to continue.  This blog is my only journal and I do love going back to read it.  Write your blogs girls!  You will be happy to go back and read them.

A couple of pictures I love that I wanted to record.  These came before July and are just random.

Rich and I love these beautiful flowers.  Here is our iris bed this spring.  These flowers remind us of our growing up years in Idaho.  Beautiful!  I added some colors this year.  We will see what happens in the spring next year.

 

Grandma (Mom) and Ross  - Julie's youngest.  He was 6 when she died.  Now look at him -- he is all grown up.  He looks a little like Justine Timberlake -- what do you think?   Let me tell you, this kid can do anything.  He is very clever and quick.  He is going into the Marines in November.  After Julie died in 2000, Mom sold her home in Pocatello and moved to Salt Lake to be near Julie and Jack's boys.  She volunteered at the elementary school in their classes every year they were in grade school.  She is an amazing Mom and Grandma.  She was awarded the Volunteer of the Year award for the State of Utah. 

 

Waffles at Grandma's House

Lottie and Audrey - Matt in the background.  Rich bought me the flip-over waffle maker two years ago and it has been a favorite ever since.  Of course we still go to the pancake office occasionally.  The girls love to help make and then eat waffles.

 

Lottie making brownies with Grandma Crowley

 

Lottie asked me if she could help me plant flowers.  She did this pot all by herself.  She said her momma said it was fun to dig in the dirt with your hands.  She has a wise momma (Gabrielle)  It's been a beautiful flowering pot all summer long.  Thanks Lottie!

 

 

Ha Ha!  This is too cute.  Lottie and Audrey love to have sleepovers at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  They love to play in Grandma's rollers that just stick to their hair.  They also like to stick them all over their stuffed kitty and bear.  This day they got the bright idea of giving the stuffed toys a bath in the sink.  They told Grandpa that Grandma was going to be really mad at them.  So I had to respond by being mad.  I took the stuffed kitty and bear (who were soaked) away and put the girls in timeout.  I have never seen such wailing and crying.  They sat in timeout with their arms wrapped around each other crying ear-splitting cries.  So the timeout didn't last long, but hopefully there will not be anymore bathing of the stuffed toys!

 

 

Nathan:   Here's a boy who loves his ketchup.   He will dip almost anything in it.  Then we just hose him down!  Love this handsome little sweetheart.

 

Aren't boys great!  Water from the hose.

 

This is my darling blonde  granddaughter, Emery who lives in California.  (Jeremy and Shelly)While she was visiting in Virginia I wanted a picture of her in my crochet dress that I wore as a girl.  She is holding the picture of me in the  dress with my blonde wringlets.  Shockingly I took the picture in the bathroom.  Darn, what was I thinking.

Love this picture of Jocelyn and Audrey.  Audrey mugging her little sister.  So so cute.  Audrey does everything full out -- and Jocelyn keeps up with her.

 

 

So there are a few of my random pictures.  I have soooooo many grandkid pics, I could fill several blogs.  Now on to the adventures in July.