THE MULLEN FAMILY CAMPOUT!

Last weekend we got together with the Mullen Fam for our annual campout. We went up and camped at Newton Dam. Who knew you could have so much fun at Newton Dam!!? :) Newton is where Todd grew up so it was fun for him to go back and visit all his childhood memories. Todd was telling the boys all the stories of him growing up...where he hunted, the ditch he had a bad bike crash in, the fields where he moved pipe, the trees he used to jump over, where he played baseball, etc. It was so fun to hear all the stories and see how happy Todd was thinking back!!





I am hesitant to post some pictures because of all the bald heads and super bad farmer tans. But I will anyway because they show how much fun we had together! ha ha :)

Well, were should I start? Ok, I guess I will start with this awesome picture of Todd's brother Jim..ha ha!! There were some rope swings at the reservoir that we decided to try out. Well, one of the rope swings didn't last long. Jim was taking a turn on it and as he swung out over the water it totally broke. I am sorry Jim, but it was really funny! I am glad I had my camera to catch this moment!!!! :) There was another rope swing so we all still got a chance to try it and it lasted through all of us!

Todd taking off to make his big splash.

Ouch!! The little splash in this picture is Pace and you can tell by everyone's reactions that it didn't go to well. Pace wanted to try it so bad but was kinda hesitant. When he finally did, he let go of the rope a little early and barely landed in the water. He got a good scratch on his belly but was ok. He came up smiling and said he liked it but he for sure didn't want to go again!

It felt like an eternity that I stood on the stump holding the rope before I finally dared to let go. There was nothing pretty or graceful about my swing, but it was a blast!!! Even though when you landed you could just stand up in the water, Todd still had a noodle ready to throw me to save my life. I am not that good in water!! :)

Briggs cooling off with a popsicle and adding some sticky to all the dirt on him! :)

Todd, Pace, and Jaygen

We had a couple fishing boats there that the guys took out fishing and the kids loved to just go for rides in them.

After all the exciting swimming, we went to the gun range and had a little family shoot-around...lots of fun!

Jaygen shooting his BB gun

Todd is a super good shot!

I got 3 out of 5 when it was my turn...not too bad!

It was such a hot day and we had kept really busy, so i finally got a chance to just float on the water in a tube. Well, it didn't last long. All these cute little kids started splashing me like crazy. It was me against them so I had no chance!! :)

The last day of our get-together was Newton's 24 of July celebration so we decided to join in on all the fun. The celebration started with some fun runs. Some of the grandkids ran the 1 mile and some others ran the 5K. Candace, Melissa, and I also ran the 5K...fun, fun, fun!! The rest of the fam was there to cheer us all on.

Pace did so good running the 1 mile run! Todd rode his bike and kinda followed along with Pace. While he was running, Pace told Todd that is was taking a really, really long time. He did awesome. It was a long way for such a little guy!!

Jaygen was amazing too. He ran the 1 mile in about 9 minutes which I think is so good for a 6 year old! Jaygen is really liking running in these little races...yea!!

I made a PR running the 5K. It was down hill but who cares, right?! I still did it and that is all it took. I have the running bug back so bad now I can't wait for my next race!!!

All the family members that ran a race...good job everyone!!!

We couldn't miss out on the Newton parade. If we would have been late we would have missed it, but that is just the perfect length. They threw good stuff too!!

The kids were having a great time!

After the parade, we headed to the park to get in on all the festivities there. It totally reminded me of Delta but much smaller. I was loving it!!!

No, this isn't a picture of me bossing someone around because I never do that (ha ha) but it is a picture of Briggs getting ready for his little kids race. It was so fun watching them. Briggs didn't really know what was going on, but oh well. None of the kids did!

Pace's turn...the older the kids got, the more serious it got. Pace totally took off!

Jaygen's group was even more serious. Jaygen was totally in it to win!!!

The boys got a little something painted on their faces. Pace wanted a baseball, Jaygen a snake, and Briggs wanted something pink. I whispered to the girl painting that he would just have a basketball...he was not going to have pink. So we just pretended and Briggs thought he got something pink! :)

They had a great big slip n' slide there that Briggs and Pace had a good time on. You can see them both there with their pants falling down..ha ha!

The park had lots of stuff for the kids to do. Jaygen took off and did some things on his own. I know he did a sack race because he came back with a ring pop and said he won it in a race. Who knows what else he did but he had a good time.

That morning we made a spontaneous decision to sign up for a volleyball tournament that day. Our team consisted of Todd's siblings and some of Todd's neighbors from growing up, Todd and Susie Maughan's kids. They were the nicest people ever and I loved getting to know them. I think we all thought we were going to just get beat out because our first game was kinda a disaster but then we won our second game and that changed everything. After that we kept winning! I wish I had more talent to contribute but instead I just kinda pretend I know what is going on. It was double elimination and we finally got beat out and took 3rd place I think. I felt bad our kids were stuck in the heat at the park all day watching us play but it was so fun!!!

Tana, Jim, Ben, Kevin, Todd, Me, Brody, and Tracy...the volleyball rockstars!!!!

I was sad that our reunion was over. We all had a great time! It was really fun getting out and doing all these fun things with Todd's family. Thanks to Kevin and Candace for putting together so much fun!!!

Proud Pet Owners!!!

I really don't know how this happened...well yes I do...but it doesn't mean I like it!!! I am totally not a cat person but we got ourselves a kitten. Our neighbors have always had enough cats to take care of the mice for the whole neighborhood, but they don't have them anymore. We have never had a problem with mice, but with having a farm field next to my house, I don't want to chance it!! Our neighbors down the road had kittens and everyday when my boys came home from playing, they would bug me about getting one of their kittens. At first I wouldn't even listen because I HATE cats but then I got thinking it might be good to have one outside. So, before I knew it I had agreed and now look what I have gotten myself into!!! The funniest part is that my boys are kinda scared of the little thing so they don't even dare to touch it...ha ha! We have had the cat for a couple weeks and they are starting to warm up a bit. This picture is the first night we brought the kitten home. She was scared so she just hid under our deck. My boys weren't wanting to get to close to her either so they just layed and stared at each other. I was laughing so hard at them! :) We actually even gave this little kitten a name. That was the funnest part for my boys. They wanted her to have a full name so what we came up with is Sassy Socks Mullen. She looks like she has white socks on all four paws so the name is perfect. Even though I think the name is cute I WILL NOT LIKE THIS CAT!!!

And then there is our other new pet...Jaygen's fish. This one doesn't bother me because it is just a fish and Jaygen has had fun feeding it and taking care of it. We had to give the fish a name too and Jaygen was having the hardest time deciding. But we finally came up with Long-hair Wally Mullen. Oh, I think Jayen is so funny!!!

After all this has happened and we now have two of my least favorite pets, I think we should have just given in and gotten the boys a puppy like they have wanted forever!! :)

MIGHTY T-BALL PLAYERS!!!

This t-ball season was super fun because Jaygen and Pace got to be on the same team. They had their last game this week and they were soooo sad. It was a blast watching them play. The main goal for all the little boys was to slide at every base as they ran around...so funny! The dirt was really hard and hurt, so it took Jaygen and Pace until the last couple games to dare to slide...they were pretty cool!! And one of their favorite things about t-ball was the treat they got after every game. Oh well, I know they liked to play too because they would wear their t-ball clothes all day on game days. They would also pack their backpacks with their gloves and balls to take to the games! I am glad they had a good time. They had a fun little team!!! Jaygen is in the middle at the back and Pace is on the right in the front:)

Pace kills me...he always wanted his shirt tucked in because he said it was kinda too long so it made him not as good!!! He is a pretty good little hitter and he has quite the strut when he runs:)

Jaygen is such a funny kid...he wore his soccer shin guards to every game, exept the last couple, because he said he needed them to protect his legs when he would slide. Everyone would always laugh at him. He decided to just start wearing his pants instead! Jaygen is pretty quick. He can really move around the bases:)