38 and Counting

Two parents, ten children, eight in-laws, one "adopted" exchange student, 17 grandchildren and one more on the way makes thirty-eight and counting!!  For the first time in EIGHT years my entire family was able to be all together (Eight years ago there were only 14 of us.).  It was WONDERFUL!!!  I wish we could have had more time together. Hopefully it won't be another eight years again, especially now that there is only one more sibling left to serve a mission. 

The fun with everyone started on Saturday, July 2, 2011.  All of my siblings were finally here and we had a barbeque with the extended Butler family, i.e. my grandma and aunts, uncles and cousins.  On Sunday most of us were all able to go to church together, minus a few due baby blessings and responsibilities in other wards, etc.  After church we all got together for dinner and had a family friend take a few pictures of all of us.  Here we are!!

Shelley, Idaho

Texas, Susan and Family

 Shelley, Idaho, Me and Family

Colorado, Benjamin and Family

Iowa, Edwin and Family

Arizona, Joseph and Family

Soon to be Colorado, Leonora and Family

Oregon, Richard and Family

Idaho, Maria and Josh

Idaho, Daniel

Idaho, David

Belgium, Adrien

All 38 of Us.

All of the Grandchildren

After pictures we all loaded up in our cars and caravaned down to Paris, Idaho for the festivities down there.  We set up a tent city in my Grandpa Stucki's backyard.  On the Fourth we enjoyed some great activities, starting with a flag raising ceremony at 6 am.  Several of us participated in the annual KVSI fun run which goes from Montpelier to Paris (8.6 miles).  Leonora and I walked/ran together with our little girls in the jogging stroller together while Linden ran and Kevin watched Anton and Zackary for us.  It was lots of fun.  At the end of the run we got a great breakfast at the park.  Then it was back to Grandpa's to get cleaned up, packed up and eat lunch.  After lunch we enjoyed the parade.  It goes down one side of main street in Paris, then turns around and comes back up the other side, so everyone gets to see everything twice.  It is my favorite parade, right there with the Spud Day parade.  After the parade we all got loaded up again and took off for Shelley. 

Back in Shelley we had a barbeque and then all took off up to Idaho Falls for the BEST fireworks show EVER!!!! All three of my little ones LOVED the fireworks. Anton said it best. "The fireworks are making me so HAPPY!" Poor Linden had a pretty hectic birthday. We owe him!

I forgot to take pictures of anything on Saturday, Sunday and Monday until we were at the fireworks.

Here are a few cute pictures taken while we were waiting for the show to start.

Push really, really hard James and just maybe you can get the stroller rolling!

Zackary, quit putting the parade beads up your nose!!  James finally got the stroller rolling, a little bit.

Anton with his Oreo teeth. So excited, just patiently waiting.

Isabel, shorlty before the show started.  She had so much fun!!

Independence Day is my FAVORITE HOLIDAY EVER!! Especially since I have gotten back from Ecuador and realize how truly blessed we are to live where we do, enjoy the freedoms that we have and the great riches that this country offers. I am grateful for all of the sacrifices that have been made for me to be able to enjoy this great day with my family.  I made a little slide show with music, it might be cheesy, but I love it.

Anton summed it up when he saw the slideshow. "THAT WAS A GREAT DAY!" Yes, Anton it was. 

 

The next day was our last day all together, before people had to visit other family and needed to start leaving to get back to their homes.  Mostly we just relaxed at home.  We also did a service project, we put together Hygiene kits and then on Wednesday we delivered them to the Humanitarian Center, had a picnic at the Green Belt, and visited the Idaho Falls Temple Visitor Center.

Assembling the hygiene kits, thanks to everyone bringing stuff to contribute we got about thirty of them done.

On Tuesday we also painted rocks.  Although, in some cases it seemed more like the kids were painting themselves.

Dinner time was sometimes hectic with so many children to get fed, but it was also the best part!

Four of the five babies born last year.

Five of the ten grandsons.

We also enjoyed lots of good food, visiting, games, fishing, visiting caves, shooting, and watching all of the cousins play together.  The kids exhausted themselves running around, jumping on the trampoline and getting in water fights with all of the water guns that Grandpa got for them.  It was a great few days together, although not nearly long enough.  We miss all of our family.  Thank you so much for making the effort to come and visit.  It was great.  We LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

A Bridal Shower and Wedding

The last friday in May we had a bridal shower for Brina. It was a blast. Thanks to Misti for hosting a great party.

We all got to decorate shirts and wear wigs. Here is a group shot.

The beautiful bride. Doesn't she look lovely in her green wig?  Wonder if she will wear it at the wedding?

Having fun with Karaoke.  Everyone's favorite song was Fernando by ABBA.

Our hostess and Keith.  He dared to come up from the basement to join in the fun for a little bit and pose for a picture.

Isabel in her shirt.  It was getting pretty late and I decided to get a picture of her before we left and she was either zonked or cranky.

The next morning I got the kids to pose in the wig.  They thought it was pretty funny that mom had purple hair.  When I told them they could also, they couldn't resist.

Zackary had to model the hair.

Anton bore with the itchiness of it long enough for a picture.

Isabel:  Get this off of me. NOW!!!

Brina and Darin got married on June 11, 2011 in Boise.  We drove over there to attend the festivities.  On our way over the kids were great.  We only had two stops.  The first was just a quick little restroom break.  About another hour down the road Zackary had let Isabel play with his doll, Matilda for a little while.  When he got it back he was complaining about how Isabel had gotten Matilda all dirty.  I just assumed it was from the crackers on which Isabel had been snacking.  A few minutes later Linden and I noticed a funny smell and decided we probably should pull over at the next gas station to check out our little darling's diaper.

When I went to get Isabel out of the car I didn't even know where to touch her!!  It took about fifteen wipes so that I dared touch her to get her out of the car seat.  I then went inside holding her very carefully so as to not get myself dirty.  The boys followed so they could use the bathroom again while Linden stayed out to sanitize her carseat, the car and Zackary's poor little doll, Matilda.  We got to the restroom to encounter a nice long line of women waiting their turn.  Luckily the diaper changing station wasn't in use.  I proceeded to get Isabel cleaned up when Anton decided to announce to everyone that "Isabel's poo leaked out of her diaper!" To the entire room of women.  We got lots of laughs for that announcement and a very red-faced mom hushing Anton. I had no idea such a little girl could have so much come out of her. Oh, such good memories.  (Don't worry, I didn't take any pictures to post.)

Thirty minutes later we were back on the road again and luckily didn't have any further incidents on the rest of our drive.  When we got to Boise Darin's sister let us use her washing machine to do laundry and further get everything cleaned up.  THANK YOU.

Brina and Darin were married at the Rose Garden in Julia Davis park in downtown Boise.  That weekend they also had an Iron Man Triathalon.  After an hour of driving around trying to find a way around all of the closed roads we FINALLY found the park.  Luckily everyone else had the same problem.

Anton and Zackary got to be the ring bearers.  They did a great job.

Here comes the bride.

The ceremony.  Anton and Zackary stood so quietly through the ceremony.  They made such cute little ring bearers.

The boys were making such cute faces I couldn't resist posting this picture.

Isabel was more interested in playing with a rose petal from one of the rose bushes than in looking at the camera.

All of us at the wedding.

Brina and Darin made their own wedding cake.  I think it turned out really well.  What a memory for them.  It was quite a brave decision.

The cute couple.  Congrats Brina and Darin.  We are thrilled for you!!

A wedding is never complete without a kiss!!

This and That at the Zoo

Our little boys sleeping.  No matter how much room they have in bed, they always end up right next to each other and Zackary is always uncovered.

We had a fun outing to the zoo.  Here the kids are enjoying a "bear cave." Notice the map of the zoo in Anton's hand. He refused to let go of it during our entire trip throughout the zoo.

The kids and I on the lion.  They loved seeing all of the different animals this visit, however, their attention spans were quite short.  We made it through the zoo in record time.

The baby zebra. Anton and Zackary loved seeing this little baby.

Linden with the kids in the little playground area.  Getting all three kids to look at the camera at the same time is impossible.