Caleb, etching, family

 

Saturday night of the reunion we had Dannys BBQ. Pulled pork, beans, rolls, watermelon, salad. Yum!

 

Katy loved the baked beans especially, and the sauce was all over her when she was done.

 

Caleb distributing gifts from the grandparents from the Philippines.

 

We had Benjamin over to share about his mission. We saw pictures, heard stories, and were able to feel some of the spirit of his mission. It sounds like it was spiritually strengthening and a good growing experience for Benjamin. My kids were blessed to be able to hear all about it!

 

We had Caleb stay at our house for a little while and it was awesome. This is right as family night was about to begin.

 

Caleb and I played some games each night. We were jenga masters! I think it might have been the first time he didn't use them for epic battles.

 

Caleb had waterfights with the kids each day. They were in paradise!

 

I took the kids to their first ever experience at a movie theater. We watched the dollar viewing of Penguins of Madagascar and they all loved it. Except Katy, who spent the majority of the film with me outside the theater room.

 

Caleb told us Mexican food was hard to get, so we got steak burritos grande and churros and enjoyed a feast with Jim during lunch one day.

 

His last night, we got tons of goodies and Risk and texted Daniel to join in the epic battle to come.

 

More waterfight with Caleb.

 

We made a full Thanksgiving dinner- including stuffing :) for Caleb on his last night. We brought out all the Tday decorations, plates, candles. It was awesome.

 

Once we finished dinner, the battle was on! We chose to end the game once someone conquered 25 territories. Caleb was the winner after taking over North America and capitalizing on the extra armies. It was a fun game full of food and song.

 

The morning Caleb left the kids played hide and seek with him and enjoyed some final fun before Caleb had to go back. We love Caleb and hope to see him next year too!

 

One of our two new Uromastyx lizards from Morroco.

 

The full reptile setup.

 

The kids end of swim season party was fun. The kids ate and swam and ate and swam. Katy ate two pieces of pizza and was pretty good in her stroller.

 

Nicole with her age group getting participation medals. Mike also got a special award- the Hammerhead Award- for always being happy and energetic. As he skipped up to get his award with a grin on his face, the coach said, "See what did I tell you he's always happy."

 

We finished the kiwi trellis yesterday. One plant can produce 100lbs of kiwis and we are looking forward to that!

 

First stage of acid etching our concrete. We power washed, deep cleaned, rinsed, let dry overnight, then bright and early worked as a team spraying, scrubbing and misting the tan acid etching into the concrete.

 

It looks pretty good at this point. We could buy more and make so none of the original concrete shows at all, but we are okay with how it looks and once it is rinsed and the high gloss sealer goes on top it should look really good. The lighting here is a bit off. I'll get better pics when we are finished. At this point I just wanted to lay down and rest :)

 

We took family pictures while everyone was here for the reunion.

 

My forever family.

 

All of the Ostlers in front of the temple.

 

In front of the temple with better lighting. What a blessing to have had everyone here! What an incredibly fun and energetic bunch!

Ostler Family Reunion

 

Fun on the back porch! I love how this extends our living space.

 

Josh and family arrived Tuesday evening and we went the next morning to Jordan Lake. The lake was the perfect temperature and I loved how Katy could play on the shoreline without worrying about incoming waves.

 

The kids spent tons of time playing with their uncles Daniel, Benjamin and Caleb. It is truly heaven to them to be with such awesome men!

 

Pizza night! Feeding the masses was not an easy thought, but turned out to be very low key. Health factor was not too high either, but I joked that this was like a cruise where you just eat whatever and gain a few pounds :)

 

Marian doing devotional and sharing scripture stories. It was great to see everyone gathered and supporting the spiritual strength of our families.

We went to Pullen Park on Thursday and enjoyed the playgrounds as well as the train ride and carousel. The kids- all sweaty 15 of them- were hovering right outside the train gate in anticipation of the ride, and the adults- all sweaty 11 of us- had to keep reminding them not to run over the train conductor.

 

We were first in line and took up several of the first train cars. The kids LOVED it!

 

Ryan on his horse.

 

Jake on his giraffe.

 

After the rides we had a picnic by the lake.

 

Our professional pb&j machine!

 

On Thursday, we also got a leopard gecko named Sunny.

 

This dude is friendly and fearless. He comes right up to the glass on his cage and puts his front feet up and stretches his neck as if begging to get out when he sees you. He sleeps during the day but if you sit in front of his cage he wakes up and comes out to beg to be held. We are all in love with this little dude.

 

We had a bbq of hot dogs Thursday night and were watching some random kids movie.

 

Caleb's sprinkler car wash was a major hit and they also had a big water fight with little pistols and a few larger water guns. And a bunch of water balloons.

 

After all of the chaos subsided, Josh held a devotional on families. He was great at getting all of the kids to participate and it was really incredible how they all listened. It was such a blessing to see my kids listening to a beloved uncle and having him bear testimony of the gospel. You can never get too much of that!

 

Friday morning we left bright and early for an epic beach day!

 

Katy and Nathan under the canopy.

 

Sheri and her girls came to play as well, and Daniel brought a date. We were quite the crowd and it was SO much fun!

 

Beware the three year olds!

 

Caleb didn't see the cups for the water cooler so he improvised.

 

Massive sand wall/bath tub that the kids hid behind as the tide came in.

 

The delicious chicken salad didn't have a scooper so we washed out a sand shovel and were totally fine!

 

Ginger cookies- yum! Joe and company left Sunday afternoon and we felt so blessed to have them here for so many days!

 

Girls at Pullen Park

 

Daniel took some pics with a film camera, here's another of Jake.

 

All of the Ostler grandkids!!

 

Katy baby enjoying the park.

 

On Monday we went to Marbles. Katy loves the toddler room!

 

The other kids came in to explore for a few minutes.

 

Hiding in the tree house.

 

Celebrating Evelyn's birthday on Monday night!

 

The girls were cold and shivering, playing with Evelyn's doll we gave her. Josh left the next morning and we miss them!

 

My wolf den went on a hike and I took the oldest three kids with me too. Beautiful weather for a nice little hike!

 

Our kiwis are starting to grow like crazy so we had to start the trellis. Daniel and Caleb came over and worked in the sun and pouring rain digging holes two feet deep- through rocks and pvc pipe and Carolina clay.

 

Lining up the posts. We didn't get to finish anything but setting the posts thanks to the pouring rain that was just starting as I took this pic.

 

Jim put Katy right to sleep at church and even with all the noise of church getting out she was fast asleep cuddled with her daddy. There is not much sweeter to me than seeing moments like this.