more summer fun with fox cousins!

The kids had so much fun playing outside...Grandma has the best toys.  A giant water slide...GIANT balls that you fit inside and roll down.   It's always fun when you have a crowd cheering. Cousins are the BEST!!

Grandkids!

Ok, so trying to get 11 kids 11 and under to sit still and LOOK at the camera is no easy thing. We made two seperate attempts and both were comical to say the least.  Cute, for sure though!

The 4th of July!

It was SO hott. There poor little faces were constantly red and just dripping but they were such troopers and just loved every minute of it all!

 Poor Giselle was so terrified of the fireworks.  She hid behind the chair below for a little while and then ran screaming for Grandma's house when she just couldn't handle it anymore. It really surprised me since she is so adventurous and carefree but I guess everyone has to be scared of something at some point!

                                                 She peeked through the chair for a little bit..but not for long!

After we did the fireworks and sparklers at Grandma's we raced to Fairfax high school to watch some of the big boomer ones.  Giselle stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa Fox we were sad to leave her but she was not sad to miss it!  Thank you Aunt Nichole and Uncle Erik for providing all the yummy treats. No thank you to all the crazy bugs hopping and jumping ALL over us. The kids loved it though and it was just what we hoped for!

Virginia: week 2- Cousin fun is in full swing!

I think the BEST part of getting together during the summer is just getting to know each other.  The cousins are getting older and are really getting involved in what we do.  They were the ones that said, "Let's play baseball".  Who can turn them down..no Fox man, that's for sure.  We all went out and played a few innings. It was so much fun to see them get so into it..a few more than others. Did you check out Genna's concentration in the above picture.   Since it was an impromptu game we were bummed not everyone was there but we now know there will be lots more of that to come. I also see the fox gene of golf has begun in a few of the little guys. Jacob has been super interested and little Johnny ( Larry's son) loved the golf club as well.
Jacob and James were loving riding the bikes before the game.  They both are pro's.

First week in Virginia!

The kids and I started the vacation to Virginia with a drive with Grandma Fox.  She flew in and we set off the next morning.  I was super prepared with a bag of dollar store goodies and plenty of snacks. The kids did great and we made it there in 11 hours and 20 minutes.  Not bad since the GPS said it would take 11hours...we made 3 stops..but only did potty and gas at the stops.
We got in and the kids were so excited so it took a little while to go to bed.
The next day was dentist appts. for the kids and I.  We are so blessed that Grandpa Fox is our dentist.  We had the whole crew in for cleanings and they did great.  I was really nervous about Jacob since he had a filling filled last year and it was kinda traumatic..we didn't do it at Grandpa's office.  Luckily one of the hygienists let Jacob ask a million questions and hold every piece of equipment..his favorite is the suction..I mean who doesn't love the suction tube?
I kept forgetting my camera so I am really bummed that I have very few pictures the first week. Don't worry I more than made up for it the next week.
Wednesday we went to Cafe Rio and met a few friends from church.  The kids were so excited every time they turned around another friend was there. Luckily we were able to eat outside because we were a big group and a lot of kids and very loud!
Thursday I had to go back to the dentist for a tooth that has been bugging me for a little bit..turns out it was cracked so I had to be prepped for a crown. I have my mother's teeth...not good!
We also went to Chuck E Cheese. I remembered my camera but only snapped a few pictures.  We also got the cutest shirts from Grandma Fox. They are all red with their initial and name underneath. I thought they were so cute.  Aren't Giselle and Lucy so cute. I have a bunch of cute pictures of the two of them I will post later.  The picture of Nolan cracked me up. Nolan is Jennifer's youngest. Jennifer is Brett's sister.  He is riding a horse that you direct what it does. He took it very serious and if you know Nolan you know he's a serious kid. So the concentration in this picture is just priceless.
Friday night a HUGE storm came in with 70-80 mph winds. It was the freakiest thing. I was on the phone with Brett when I heard the wind coming. It was like a wall of wind. Within probably 15 minutes or so the power was out.  What we didn't realize is that a big part of  a tree had cracked off and fell on the drive way.
So the next morning. Grandma, Grandpa and I went out to see how it all looked. I can't believe I didn't take a picture but it's probably because we had no power and it was boiling hot!  So we moved the big tree in the road...I had quite a few friendly creatures on me after that...eek!
Luckily Brett's parents had a generator and got the fridge and freezer running but that's all it could handle.  With it being so hot we decided to see if we could stay with a friend for the night.
Luckily we have very kind and generous friends.  We stayed with the Kotter's and then went to our old ward the next day!

A Romney Rally!

You might be wondering why I have this picture in this post.  Well let me tell you.
Jennifer ( Brett's sister) told me that she heard Mitt Romney would be having a rally over by her house. Now, she should have known better than to have told me that because I of course said...LET'S GO!!!
So we packed up all 8 of our kids and went over there. Not knowing what to expect or prepared for oh say a line over a half mile long.  We got in line and waited and waited and waited.  The kids actually did a really good job of just standing there but it was hot and we were not prepared with snacks or drinks, anything. Luckily a volunteer was super nice and brought us bottled water and even went back and got us more when she realized how many of us there were.   We didn't pre register so we had to wait in a separate line before we could get in the security pat down line. Luckily the registration was quick and easy.  After a good hour and half of waiting in line we finally got to go inside..which was a warehouse.  It wasn't very big and there was quite a few people.  My big girls were super excited to be there and kept yelling GO ROMNEY!!! It was adorable..well at least I thought it was adorable.   The place kept getting more and more crowded and louder and so the kids were getting more and more anxious.  Of course they always do quite a long introduction of special guests and important politicians before Romney comes out.  While waiting for each speaker the kids would dance to the music and talk..sometimes rather loudly. Well quite a few of the older women in attendance...yes WOMEN. Were not to happy about our cute, absolutely adorable children being there.  They kept Shhhh the kids and telling them to be quiet. which by the way NO ONE was being quiet there.  I couldn't hear very well what some of the women were saying which is a good thing because I wouldn't have just smiled.
A staffer of Romney took some cute photo's of all the kids holding stickers of Romney but I haven't been able to find any of those pictures. I did find the above photo from the Rally and I'm pretty sure one of those ladies was one that was not so nice to us.  If I had known what she said I would have been happy to tell her. That I brought my children here so they could know who mommy was talking about. So they could know that they aren't too young to get involved. So they could know this is their country too and that it's important for them to know who is running it.  I want my children to know that I want the best for them and just because I have these adorable kids home during the day does not mean that I have a lesser right to be there than anyone else!!
We ended up only staying for a few minutes of his speech but that's OK. I am still so glad we went and I am so glad my children could experience being a part of history.  I kept telling Jennifer that this is an adventure..and I am so glad she came with me.

The BEST packing tip EVER!

My sister in law Nichole mentioned on facebook that she was going to do the storage bag trick for packing clothes and wanted to know if anyone had success with it.  I had never heard about it so when one of her friends put a link to someone else doing it I clicked it and was intrigued.  I couldn't believe it. I got ALL 5 of my children's clothes in ONE suitcase.  I packed 8 outfits for Jacob and Giselle each. 7 outfits for the big girls. Each bag had a shirt, pants and undies.  I also packed swimsuits and church clothes for all kids. Yes, I also packed church shoes...all in ONE suitcase.  I also loved that while I was on vacation I never had to dig for something.  I was lucky to be staying with my in laws so we had a washer and dryer. So I would just put the outfit back in the bag ready to go. I didn't keep it as neat as I would have liked but packing up was so much easier since I knew I had enough bags for each outfit.  So if you are going on a trip and want to get pack a lot with a little space. Storage bags are the way to go.
 FYI for anyone interested: make sure to squeeze as much air out before zipping up!!!
I used quart sized bags for Giselle and Jacob and Gallon size bags for the big girls. I also took a sharpie and labeled each bag. I now have a pile of bags ready to be used for our next trip!