Looking Sweet

Gracee and Jamison got dressed up before we went out to dinner last week. They looked so cute I had to take a picture before we left. Jamsion has been wearing those cowboy boots non stop for the last two weeks because he can put them on by himself. He was wearing them around the house the other night with his PJs. He looked pretty goofy.

Dress Rehearsal

I don't make a good blond.

Gracee wearing a pumpkin costume and a cat mask.

Jamison in a grass skirt.

Gracee in some kind of funky wig.

Pumpkin Carving

The finished product!

Gracee doing long hair for her female pumpkin.

Jamison scratching hair into his pumpkin.

Gracee didn't want to touch the slimy stuff so Mom did all the work.

Jamison had no problem digging into the slime.

Gracee and her pumpkin

Jamison and his pumpkin

Boxing night

Jamison started puching me the other night. I tried to explain to him that we don't punch people. Well, Gracee over heard our conversation from the other room and pulled out Mom's kickboxing gloves.














I was finished as soon as the gloves went on. They showed no mercy.













Yikes.... Look at that hairline.

Time to rake the leaves!

Gracee and Jamison were playing in first leaves to fall this year. They wanted Dad to run and jump on the pile of leaves that they had raked up. They promised that it would be as soft as a pillow. For the record it wasn't.

Gracee laying in a pile of leaves.

Hudson, Master H, Hudsey, etc...

Hudson has taken on several nicknames in his short time with us. He's 3 1/2 months old now and thankfully a very good baby.

Weekend Warrior

Jamison stayed up late Thursday night watching a high school football game at Bronco Stadium. Which he followed up the next day by helping Dad mow the lawn, clean the windows, change the tire on Grandma Jeanne's truck, and changed the battery in Dad's truck. By 6:00pm Saturday evening he was running on empty. The poor kid put his unfinished piece of pizza on his plate and quietly said, "done". He was sound asleep while I washed the pizza from his face and put him to bed.

The month in review

We had a good visit with Grandma Jorgensen while we were in Idaho Falls. The kids were excited with the little presents that grandma gave to them. We tried our best to get a photo with all the kids behaving, but as you can see Gracee is rolling her eyes in this one.

Gracee and I decided to take the big four-wheeler out on the sand dunes. Gracee surprised me by coaxing me to take her down a sand dune that I was nervous about riding down. It was steep, but we gave it a try. After making it down the dune alive she said, "do it again, do it again." So we did it three more times before I called it quits.

JaNell took the kids around the back yard on Justus's four-wheeler.



















Jamison cooking his hot dog on Saturday night. His hot dog faired better than his marshmallow. He kept sticking the marshmallow into the flames so that it would catch on fire. Which gave him the opportunity to blow it out. Heidi was cracking up on Sunday night when we had Grandma Jeanne's birthday cake. Jamison kept repeating "fire, fire, fire" in the deepest voice possible while shaking. His intensity was kind of creepy.





















Hudson at 2 months old

Sorry, I have been a horrible blogger this month. So you are getting the month in review entry. One reason I have found little time to blog is because the family has been on the road for a significant amount of time during the last few weeks. We traveled to Salt Lake twice and over to Sugar City once. However, now that I am taking a class at Boise State and JaNell is back to her regular teaching schedule at the gym we will be staying put.

Family Vacation

Gracee dressed up as a monster at the children's discovery center

Jamison spent at least two hours playing in the water

Our family at Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City

We decided to take a quick family vacation to Salt Lake City, UT. We drove down late Wednesday night and stayed until Sunday afternoon. The kids really seemed to have a lot of fun with their cousins and the activities that we had planned. On Thursday we spent the day at Hogle Zoo. We saw animals like bears, elephants, an albino alligator, a sloth, and everything in-between. Friday we spent the entire day at the Gateway Discovery Center for kids. JaNell and I just sat and watch the kids have fun. They had an absolute ball. They could have spent the whole weekend there if we would have let them. On Saturday we went to MaKayla's (cousin) baptism. It was a good break and fun vacation for the whole family.

Swimming Lessons

Gracee just finished her two week swim lesson course. She had tons of fun learning to do things like; putting her head under the water, blowing bubbles, kicking, and floating on her back. Gracee was excited that her Aunt Jana was able to be her teacher.

Not funny...

I'm not sure what to do with this kid. At this point I am considering putting him up for adoption. This photo was taken after his face, arms and one leg had been cleaned. So you're not getting the full effect. He also used the red marker on the carpet!

Last week he colored himself, the area rug, and the arm of our cream colored couch blue. I'm still too upset to talk about the glitter incident.

Tattoos

Gracee went to a the Swank family reunion with her grandma last week. They had a basket full of toys, goodies and tattoos for the kids. Gracee and her cousin Brynn went a little overboard with the temporary tattoos.

The rest of us stayed home with Hudson because it was too hot to be outside all day. The high temp was 104 degrees that day.

Fireworks

We spent the 4th of July in Eagle at the Rigby's house. We swam in the pool during the afternoon when it was 102 degrees, had a BBQ for dinner, and finished the day with fireworks in the driveway. The whole family had a lot of fun.

Eyes wide shut

It wasn't planned to have all three kids close their eyes, but it turned out pretty funny. So far the three kids are getting along fairly well. Gracee is very motherly, Jamison likes to look at but not touch, and Hudson sleeps most of the time.

Weekend in eastern Idaho

Gracee, Justus and Jerik having fun at the St. Anthony sand dunes.

Gracee and Justus in the camper while traveling around eastern Idaho.

Mesa Falls

Gracee and I at a look-out point along the river.

Gracee and I went on a little road trip to eastern Idaho last weekend. We traveled in high luxury (The Rammell mobile) from Mesa Falls to the St. Anthony swimming hole and on to the sand dunes. We had a lot of fun, but we were dead tired by the time we arrived home.

Paris has new cell mates

We are finally done refinishing the bunk beds for Gracee and Jamison. Rather than using them as beds I found a much more practical application for them. Lock'em up!

Hudson

JaNell wanted me to post a new photo of Hudson because he actually has his eyes open in this picture. So far he has been a very easy going baby. Gracee is a big helper and is more than willing to hold her little brother at anytime. Jamison prefers to observe Hudson from a distance. I think he has held Hudson once. After about three seconds of holding him Jamison said, "done" and pushed him off his lap.

Jamison in Drag

Jamison owns this blog because he is such a clown. He got a hold of Gracee's sunglasses and we couldn't resist taking his picture again.

how to floss

I took Jamison to the dentist today for his check up. The dentist reported that he doesn't have a single cavity. Jamison got sent away with a bag of goodies (toothpaste, tooth brushes, dental floss, stickers...). When we got home I was hungry so I warmed up some lunch. Meanwhile Jamison had found his dental floss. He came into the kitchen very excited. I guess we will have to teach him how to use it.

Taking it easy

Five days after the birth of her third child JaNell is taking it easy at home (see photo). JaNell is determined to get these bunk beds finished for Gracee and Jamison this week. She has gotten a lot of flack from neighbors passing by wondering what on earth she is doing. The ward almost canceled our meals after seeing that she is up to doing some hard labor.

Hudson has Arrived

JaNell went into labor on Thursday night and gave birth to Hudson Lionel Purcell at 6:54 am Friday morning. We are excited to have him home and the kids are just going crazy over him. Gracee can't stop saying "he's so cute" "he's so tiny" "his ears are so small" etc...

My job in the birthing process was smooth going. The traffic on the way to the hospital was rather light at 2:45 am. When we arrived at the hospital JaNell was already dilated to a 5. About 45 minutes later she was at a 7. They gave her an epidural. We chatted for a couple of hours. Then it took about a half push and Hudson is here.

He weighed in at 5 lbs 8 oz and was 17 inches long.

NBA Finals Game 4

JaNell was teaching a scrapbooking class on Thursday night so the kids and I took advantage of Mom being gone by watching game 4 of the NBA finals. Unfortunately the popcorn was more exciting than the actual game. None-the-less we had fun.

Jamison closes his eyes everytime we say "cheese".

New Power Wheels

One man's junk is another man's treasure; so the saying goes. Gracee and Jamison are loving the new Power Wheels we found at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. We will see how long the cars stay intact. Jamison chases Gracee down the sidewalk and crashes into her.