swimming anyone?

everyone decided to go swimming even though it was only about 80 degrees outside. i quote jon "yeah, it's cold...but not after the first few minutes!" here he is with julia and his daughter ila.

the water was soooo cold and you couldn't help but laugh...it was either that or squeal and ryan doesn't believe in doing that. ;)

even evelyn was brave enough to bear the water. she had lots of fun swimming around with her daddy.
jon with his twin girls, ila and ruby. i can't believe those two little girls got into the water--and enjoyed it!

if these two girls aren't the definition of beautiful, then i don't know what is.

i think this picture is priceless--it's not often you see all four of them together.
look closely and you can see how purple julia and isaac's lips are! but they refused to get out! too much fun to be had in the pool!
like this type of fun!
one innertube for how many kids? um, well, let's see, i have 3 who were in there, and there's katie, and 3 of jon's kids....anyway, the innertube was way outnumbered.

all the cousins together

what normally happens at a family reunion? the parents are all talking and what-not inside and the kids have to go outside and play in the backyard (at least that's what always happened to us while growing up). our kids didn't mind...they had a blast! isaac and jacob playing soccer in together.
"let me in! let me in!" oh, it was so good seeing katie again.
it was nice, EVERYONE played with each other...no fighting or "he's not playing with me!". these guys got along really well. :)

Popsicles

uncle jason and aunt karen's place is the best...not only do they have cool toys to play with, but they supply the kids with yummy popsicles! an automatic hit with all the kiddos. here we have ruby, evelyn, and julia enjoying them on the back porch.

yep, she was having a ton of fun...and she was so excited to see her cousins again.

not now mom, i'm busy!

oh, they're all related so it's ok to share germs, right?? ;) ruby was very kind and had no problem sharing--jacob especially liked it!
sticky hands! it was hot there and so if you didn't eat your popsicle fast then it melted all over you. julia's washing her hands with isaac...although when she was finished, there was more water on her shirt and pants than on her hands!

Houston Temple

it's been a long time coming, but after 8 months jason and karen were finally able to be sealed for all time and eternity with their son, grant. for ryan's family who don't know: left to right--judy swift, karen canlas (my sister-in-law), jason canlas (my twin basically), grant, and camm swift (karen's parents).

i thought it was hilarious watching jon at work--"ok, smile! just a couple more! wait, just a couple more! pretend to talk!"

more pretending to have some idle chatter (and all of us standing in front of them going "it's waya too hot--we'll wait in the car with the a/c!"). oh, but it was so much fun!

grant trying to make a get-a-way! i gotta tell you, being in the temple with my siblings and mom was incredible. the last time we were all there was at jon and callie's wedding...and that was when jacob was just a few months old. way too long ago. i can't wait to see everyone again for the 4th of july!

let's make some cookies!

i decided that julia's old enough to start learning the fine art of cooking/baking. we started off making my yummy chocolate chip cookies. she LOVED helping (and loved licking the mixing spoon).

these are the first cookies she's ever made. i let her basically do it all by herself. she got to measure, pour, and even put in the eggs (i was quite nervous about having some eggshells in there--but she cracked them perfectly and without incident). and the end results? well, her cookies turned out even better than mine do--and i kinda pride myself on my own cookies. hers were so soft and delicious! i gotta take a leaf outta her book next time! she was so excited about making them and wanted to share them, so we ziplocked them up and brought them to texas with us and let nana and joycelyn (and all the other relatives) taste them. yummy!

random pictures to share

check out our big man! he's been wanting to stand since, oh, he was less than 24 hours old. a friend of mine came to see me in the hospital when he was born--and caught him in the act of trying to stand up on my lap. she quickly told him "you are ONE DAY OLD--act like it!" :) he absolutely loves to stand. (psst! those are the closet mirror doors which ryan put up in our room--i LOVE them!).
he doesn't seem too enthused, but i was trying my hand at taking pictures with my arm stretched out. i had a roommate in college who perfected this technique.
here i am at it again. this was at the soccer games this past weekend. evelyn got upset cause i wasn't taking any of her--so here she is!

snuggle time with daddy on the bed. this always brings a smile to my face cause i remember doing this exact thing with my own dad in his room in st. louis. we don't eat peanuts in bed (an old canlas family tradition), but snuggle and wrestle time is what we do.

ok, for some reason, seeing this picture reminds me a lot of my own mother. maybe cause at first glance it looks like her (when i was just a toddler). a smile while being with her children...that's all you see in my pictures while growing up. :) love you mom.

mahi mahi!

earlier this week we had a fun night with miss molly (aka mahi mahi). little kyle was in the hospital all week long battling ecoli. it turns out that it was atypical and the doctors couldn't figure out why it was affecting about 11 different infant baby boys. no one has been able figure out the common demonator (half were circumcised, half were on formula, ect). anyway, so molly came and spent a couple of days with us, much to the enjoyment of all the children.





she's a keeper. molly had a great time playing with marcus (she loves babies). and i found out that she likes having her picture taken.



























well, i don't think that we can have a get together of any sort without taking pictures. molly and evelyn love playing together. they don't always get along...but i think it's because they're both still young and very headstrong. evelyn turns into a bossy mom around her (i think it's cause she can't do that to julia or jacob) and molly doesn't go for it (rightly so!). but everyone still had fun. as you can see, they were getting along this night.







i think i've taken so many pictures of julia over the past years that now whenever i whip out my camera, she just assumes "the pose". head tilted off to one side with a close lipped smile. that's my girl. she's an awesome help with marcus. today she started reading him her junie b. jones books. he laughed almost the whole time. :) so precious.







one last one of the crew.