The Hawkins Happenings: July 2014

Idaho Summer Sunsets

We have had some INCREDIBLE sunsets the past few days! I love this one. It seriously looks like a bouncy ball in the sky!

It went from this....

to this...that night!

The next night was even more gorgeous! I wish you could see the redness of the sun without the glare from my camera. It was AMAZING!!

And my favorite sunset....

not only were the clouds amazing, but I just happened to be where I could get my barnyard in the picture too! LOVE IT! What is absolutely crazy about these two pictures is that this was the opposite end of the sky from where the sun was setting. These are facing the east!!

I have said it before and I will say it a million times more

I LOVE SUMMER!!

My BIG, Little Boy

I am still trying to convince myself that my little boy Dallin (11 years old) is bigger than I think! He amazes me! He is such an incredible worker. He loves to work and is great help! His daddy has had him out driving the semi to haul hay for the past few weeks. Hard to believe my 11 year old can drive a semi! Scare me to death! He is great at it though. I sat in the car and watched him for quite awhile the other day and am just blown away! I love this little guy to death and he is growing up WAY TOO FAST!!

If you look close you can see the brim of his baseball cap in the window.

I am so grateful Heavenly Father sent us two little boys who get to work along side their daddy!

Cousins and the Water

We seriously can't get enough of the water this summer!

Back Row:Dallin, Katie (Oakley's friend since Macady was at girls camp), Oakley, Me, Yvonne holding Memory, Kiana, Ciara, Tara and Rhett

Front Row: Sage, Laiklie, Violet, and Paityn

We have taken the kids with the Hawkins crew to float the river 2 times now on our kayaks. What a BLAST!!! We went one morning this past week again. The kids are getting to be professionals on a kayak! It is so fun to watch them be on the river.

After the river we took the kids over to Great Grandpa and Grandma Romrells for sandwiches and more water fun!

Laiklie and Sage are two peas in a pod! They are BEST FRIENDS! It is amazing to me that we could take two little girls from two totally different worlds and put them together and they can become INSTANT friends. Laiklie needed Sage in her life! We are SO GRATEFUL for new cousins!! These two are besties for sure!!

It was a windy day...but that didn't stop the kids from coming up with games to play in the flooded yard. Thank you grandpa for flooding it for them!

Dallin and Rhett (standing) Ciara under Kiana and Oakley under Katie and Laiklie and Sage trying to figure it out in the back ground.

Laiklie, Violet, Sage, Rhett, Katie and part of Kiana. They ran too fast to get the others!

The girls pow-wow! Making a plan to get the boys!

And of course, because Grandpa Romrell is AWESOME, we ended the day in his hot tub!

What a great day!

Ryan's New Gun

Ryan CANNOT wait for hunting season to get here. Right now in the middle of farming that is all he can think about. It doesn't help that Oakley and Dallin both drew on antelope hunts and they changed the hunting rules this year and so now Rhett can even hunt as a 10 year old! Ryan is dying to get out there and hunt!! So....he decided he "NEEDED" (I went through the "needs" and "wants" talk with him that I give my kids when they NEED something! Ha, ha! He reassured me he "NEEDED" it!) a new gun. He wanted one without a kick, but with a scope so the kids could get use to shooting through a scope.

Rhett...

Oakley...

Dallin...

And our littlest hunter Laiklie. She seriously CANNOT wait to be old enough to hunt. She is just like her daddy. When his hunting magazine comes in the mail she swipes it and carries it off to her room. What a girl!:)

They all did great with the new gun and they were all SURE that the bullets that hit the target were "theirs!" Ha, ha! Love it! Love this little family of mine!

Friends + The Lake

We have spent a lot of time in and on the water this summer. We love having kayaks and have found fun places to take them. This day we ran to the lake.

Oakley was sure she needed a friend. Everything is better with friends!! So Katie came!

These girls are so much fun!

The neighbor Kaleb happened to be in the right place (our house) at the right time (working to earn money for scout camp) and got a free trip to the lake. Dallin loved having a friend!

Rhett and Laiklie buddied right up and enjoyed the afternoon together too!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE SUMMER!!

Drive-in Movie

For the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE (yes....I am in my 30's) we went to a drive-in movie. We went with the Hawkins cousins. Other than some sound issues and a dead battery in grandma's car afterwards we had a great night. We watched both movies and didn't get home until after 2am. What a fun experience for the kids though....the ones that could stay awake anyway!:)

Oakley and Macady

Grandma, Rhett, Dallin and Paityn

Laiklie

Water Kickball

Ryan flooded the yard the other day and it was SO HOT....I was glad the kids came up with water kickball on their own! Great idea kids!

Dallin and Rhett

vrs

Oakley and Macady

Great way to cool off on a beautiful summer day!

Jacobson Family Reunion 2014

Every summer my parents have a family reunion for their kids/grandkids. We ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT and look forward to it every year!!

This year we all met at my brother Shane's house for 3 days of fun. It was over the 4th of July which made it extra exciting!

How could you not love these two as you sisters??? I am SO BLESSED!!

Dallin gave lots of bucking bronco rides to the little boys. I love this picture of him and Skylar's little chubby cheeks!

Grandma made matching t-shirts for all the boys!

Sam, Seth, Casey, Colton, Emmett and Ethan, Skylar, Rhett, Tyce, Colin and Dallin

And matching t-shirts for the little girls!

Taelyn, Aniston, Fallon, Bailey and Sophia, Laiklie, Danica and Selena

And strippy shirts for the big kids! Poor Caleb was the loner boy with Kaden and Jake missing!

Miriam, Leslie, Caleb, Paige and Camille, Ali, Oakley and Madeline

Yay for the bigs!

Yay for the littles!

LOVE THE JUMPY PICTURES!!

I happened to get a few pictures of the football game in the corrals. The blue shirts vrs Cody and Shane.

Look at the arm on that little Dallin! Love it!!

We were all told to bring a 4th of July inspired talent or skit. My kids made up a cute little skit about waiting for the fireworks.

Grandpa reminded us after the skits about the real reason we celebrate the 4th and that freedom isn't free. It comes at a price.

CAMP JAKE - we filled the yard plus some!

Two tired little boys! I got to share my tent with these two little men. (Rhett and Tyce)

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY FROM THE HAWKINS

The parade

and some waterslides to cool down afterwards

and a few sword fights on the trampoline

Then off to ride the horses. Dallin's FAVORITE part!!

Oakley took a turn

and I love this picture of my brother giving my little Laiklie a boost! :)

Rhett

Then off to the fireworks! We are definitely a crowd when we are all together!

The last day of the reunion we learned a little bit about some of our ancestors - John Tanner - and then went over to the cemetery to find where a few were buried. Super cool!