Kalispell Trip/Nikki pic preview

We went to a birthday party for my friend Becca's little girl (Braelyn). It was a lot of fun! They had a slip and slide and a bouncy house with the hose under it. Their dog Echo seemed to enjoy having all the kids around!

Pool Day at Stodden! The kids like to lay flat on the concrete when they need to warm up. It works well!

Erica was good at making baby Cooper smile. He's the sweetest guy!

Noodle war is always fun!

Lots of cool kids in the pool. I'm glad Kels and Abb were ready to smile...Ave and Link not so much!

There's a better one!

Lots of cousins! We got to see Drea, which was wonderful. She makes me laugh a lot! We have from l-r: Drea, Liam, Ave, Hawkins, Austin, Cooper, Landon, Lincoln, Carter, and Teague. Good times!

These three had a great time together. Liam and Drea are just a year younger than Teague.

Almost time for the annual Nikki summer pictures! I took a few with my camera just to see how they were looking. Nikki managed to talk Grandma and Papa into getting in their this year. We started out at the Lexington Gardens, which are beautiful and wandered around Uptown.

This cool rock wall was over by the old Salvation Army building. It had some nice little footholds.

Lookin good Lando Commando.

Link decided Erica's glasses might help him smile more.

I just asked them to pose real quick for me and took this. I love the way it turned out!

Hawkins decided he would like to take some pictures himself.

Link was attacking me with gladiolas!

The gardens are so pretty. I know Ave isn't really paying attention here, but I just thought the stairs and flowers looked neat.

One more just for me.

My cousin Kathi and her husband Mike bought a cabin on Flathead lake last year. We went up to spend the day there. It's absolutely gorgeous! The water is so clear.

We went out on the boat. Link snuggled in with me.

Teague was the official flag boy for awhile in case anyone crashed while waterskiing. He quite liked sitting with Grandma and his buddy, Aunt Diane.

Jocko did pretty well for her first time! Her dance skills must have helped with her balance. Unfortunately she cut herself on the board and had to quit. She was getting it!

We decided to just all plop in and cool off. It felt so nice!

Me and my three monkeys. What a fun day!

Kathi, Mike, Josh, and Luke jumped in too. Josh and Luke are super nice kids, and pretty awesome at water sports.

Ave and Luke were born about two weeks apart. He's quite a bit taller than her!

Landon is quite a good little swimmer. He paddled out with me a few times. I should say we had Landon and Lincoln stay an extra few days with us so they could go with us to Kalispell. Erica and Kelsie had to get back for training, and Erica didn't trust Hawkins to stay.

Kathi found Ave to be hilarious. She was in a great mood. She had a song and dance to go with that mask!

Teague thought it was really fun to lay on the back of the boat with Luke.

My big boys enjoying the beautiful day.

These two are happy little weirdos!

Go Jocko!

Mike was really patient with explaining how to do it. She caught on quickly!

Kathi can chug a beverage while surfing. Kyle was highly impressed by this skill!

I think Josh and Luke were explaining the game of when to jump off as we got close to their dock. It was quite fun. The kids loved it!

What a happy Lincoln face. He is such a good boy!

The windswept hair was looking good.

Buster Bear did a little swimming. He loves water but was a little nervous about us going away on a boat.

They had two kayaks that the kids loved. It's such a pretty, calm stretch of water too.

Linky Lou in the sunshine! You can see Ruby (their Golden Retriever) behind him. Ruby absolutely loves to play fetch and swim out in the water for a stick.

Ruby and Buster really liked each other!

Avers and Link having fun in the water.

Teague was searching for quarters by the dock. Mike's Dad throws them in there to find.

Good job Ruby!

They went out on the boat a second time to do some tubing. My kids are big fans of that. I stayed behind with Buster and Josh and a couple other people. Josh and I had fun just diving off the dock over and over again.

They're back!

Link liked to paddle out by the dock and then have me push him back in.

Teague really enjoys kayaking. He loved it at Canyon Ferry last summer too.

Two little kayakers.

Kathi took a couple pictures that I stole. Here are my three tubing!

That's Jord, me, Ave, Kyle, and Carter about to jump off some rocks. Josh and Luke are fearless. They jumped off from way up by the dead tree on the left. I jumped by that little bush coming out of the side.

More tubing pics

Carter and Landon caught some air here!

What a beautiful all around picture. So pretty.

Link got in for a ride with the ladies.

Erica gave Lando some money to pick out something at Target. Kyle and I tried to get him to buy this just because Erica would be horrified (rightly so) by a WWE belt. He wouldn't go for it though. Ha Ha Ha!

We heard they had a trampoline park there. It wasn't too impressive, but it wore them out a bit.

I don't know why this is out of order. Just a big bunch of us in Flathead Lake: Jordan, Carter, Ave, Link, Luke, me, Kathi, and Josh. I can't thank Kathi, Mike, Josh, Luke, Art, and Aunt Diane enough for how fun that weekend was.

Chilling at Aunt Diane's house. Buster and her dog, Lily, had the most wonderful time playing. Buster slept all the way home without moving at all!

Teague with a stick! Shocking right?

Two silly little boys

I asked them to pose. I guess these are technically poses...

Awww...best buddies.

Teague and Ave had a little game going. They had a great day together.

I love these pictures! I managed to catch some really great jumping in poses: Landon and his huge muscles...

And Carter with some cool gun fingers. That mask makes me laugh every time!

This one should go in his yearbook when he's a senior!

Poor Link was worn out. He and Grandma had a nice little cuddle.

There is nothing like a weekend of swimming and sunshine to wear kids out.

Dad did a good job taking care of my gardens while I was gone. Everything was blooming nicely.

Time to go to the pool again!

Linky loved my puppy. I'm glad he has some pets of his own now. Here he is getting ready to head to Watford City with Papa. He has been loving kindergarten!

Landon and Duke got along well. Landon is such a handsome boy. I can't believe he and Carter are sixth graders!

Time to get Papa ready for school. I like him to look kempt some of the time!