Mini-Updates

We've been doing plenty this summer, but I just haven't got the camera out much to take pictures or had really anything exciting to put on the blog just yet. :)
Mostly we've been doing swimming lessons and just trying to keep the boys occupied. haha
This week starts Brayden's visit with my parents. It will be nice for him to have some time away by himself and for me to get a bit of a break too! haha The other boys will have turns too.

Also this coming week is finally Billy's vacation! wohoo! We had grand plans of going to Utah and had many things planned there, BUT things don't always work out and the more we thought about taking all the kids on such a long car trip - especially the babies - it seemed like it just wasn't the right time to go.
Then we had planned on camping for a few days but the camping spots we usually go to either have burn bans (no campfires!) or are all filled up! So I think we've found a compromise to still have fun and camp a little. We'll try camping with no fire for one day and if its really no fun (no cooking marshmallows or roasting hot dogs or sitting around the fire at dark!) then we'll stay at Grandma Beki's and do some fun things there.
The remainder of his vacation will be spent getting some projects done. Work on vacation! wohoo! Unfortunately he doesn't have any time during the week or weekends for these projects so his vacation will be the only time he'll have!

Let's see..other updates...
We took the kitty we rescued to the Kitty Rescue now so he's just waiting for a home. He's at Petco every Saturday afternoon if anyone wants to see him. He's super cute and SUCH an energetic little thing, always wanting to play. We'd take him but we already have animals coming out of our ears here (well not literally yikes!) Three cats, three lizards and a dog. Brayden is begging me for a guinea pig and Owen and Alex are begging me for a fish tank. *sigh*

Okay that's about it for now....the pictures I'm posting aren't anything too exciting but I sure was excited when I found these camera lens that Billy had gotten me for a birthday present or something but I never used them. I didn't have the time to go through and check everything out - I just used my normal lens.

It's a super cool lens (macro?) for zooming in on things way up close. Everything else in the background fuzzes out. I'm excited to try it out some more, maybe on our vacation on some pretty flowers or butterflies, etc.
Here are the pictures I took to try out the lens:

Some leaves on a plant...


The dragonfly decoration on my doorway:

Some windchimes in my doorway:

And now an up close picture of Alex's lizard...you've been warned! It's really cool though. For a size comparison, his lizard's head is only about the width of 1.5 to 2" although it looks much bigger in this picture: