August Family Portraits

Our traditional August family portraits!  I love that we get together every August to take family pictures with my side of the family.  We started this tradition when the Oquirrh Mountain Temple was dedicated and have done it ever since.  This time we took the pictures from the West side of the temple.  We are so lucky to have such a beautiful temple right in our neighborhood.  I have to say that I have the most adorable kids!  Unfortunately, my dad was working an missed these pictures, but we'll get him in next year.  My mom and Aly swung all of the kids, but the picture of them swinging Ben is the greatest.  He weighs around 50 pounds so he is a lot to swing!  The girls loved walking around in Aly's shoes!

Scout Camp

Oh the fun of scout camp!  Mike spent a week with his crazy scouts at camp, and they all came back in one piece!!  Well, mostly, one came back with a cut finger from his knife addiction.  Did you notice Mike's awesome mustache from his week ruffing it, he started doing the scruffy thing at Lake Powell and this is the great result.  We hung out with my family a lot and tried to have fun while Mike was away.  The kids were very happy to have their daddy back, this is the Sunday after he got home.  I can't believe Ben can still fit on Mike's shoulders.

So the same week as Scout camp we had our annual campout at my parent's house.  I hung out with everyone, but took Eliza home to sleep in our nice cozy house.  I did leave Ben and Hailey to sleep there and they had so much fun!

Brighton Hike

True weekend warrior fashion, after the Tour de Donut we headed up the canyon to do the Lake Solitude hike.  We picked up my cousin Amanda, who came with us for fun and to also help with the kids.  We met the Bower family and had a great picnic lunch before we started the hike.  Amanda and the girls (Hailey and Caelie) hung out most of the time and were great hiking buddies.  I was amazed at how great the kids did on the hike!  I thought Ben would be too worn out after his race, but he cruised up the mountain like all the other kids.  Eliza enjoyed hiking, and Mike and I took turns carrying her so she didn't have to walk the whole time.  Jon and Lynette took turns carrying cute little Simon who was only a couple months old.  The kids enjoyed running after squirrels when we made it to the lake.  It was a great day!!!

Tour De Donut

Ben's 1st 7-mile bike race!  Last year we cheered Mike on for the Tour de Donut, and this year Ben joined in on the fun!  Mike and Ben did a 7 mile circuit race. The other riders were cheering on Ben as he went around the course.  There were other kids in the race but most of them were picked up somewhere along the way.  Ben was determined to finish and did great!  The race course is full of pot-holes that they mark with spray paint.  Ben did really good at avoiding all the pot-holes that were marked, but unfortunately hit one that wasn't marked and went down and hurt his knee.  But, he got back up and kept going!  Ben was the first one in the kids division to finish the race, so he won a first place trophy!!!  And, best of all was the chance to enjoy the delicious donuts! (Ben was riding his super fast bike that he had saved $135 of his allowance for!  Ben is amazing at saving his money to get what he wants, and he saved a long time for his bike.)

A few days before this race, Ben was wondering why the scriptures didn’t mention dinosaurs before people. And where did Indians fit into the whole picture of history?  We had to have a long talk about when dinosaurs lived and who exactly Indians were.  Luckily I took a Native American class in college.  You never know when such things will come in handy with kids.

Lake Powell

Oh the fun of Lake Powell!  There was supposed to be a big group going down to Lake Powell to Mike's family's houseboat.  But last minute Mike's sister Nikki and her family and Mike's brother Tyson cancelled.  Eliza and I  also decided not to go.  I started feeling sick the week before we were supposed to go, and it didn't sound like that much fun to go to Lake Powell sick with a 1 year old.  I was dizzy, nauseous, and extremely fatigued.  I went to my Dr. and they ran blood tests but found nothing so I ended up being sick for a total of six weeks, no fun!

Back to Lake Powell. Mike took Ben and Hailey and they had so much fun!  Mike's parents, and Becky and Justin, with their boys, were all there.   Hailey was brave and learned how to knee board, she was great and hung on like a champion.  Ben also enjoyed  knee boarding again for his third year.  These pictures are from their adventure to the Indian ruins.  They went swimming in canyons that had 200 feet deep water.  They collected rocks, bbs, shells, shot Mike's bb gun, jumped off mini cliffs, went on a hike  and dug up crystals.  The kids shot fish with marshmallows out of a homemade blowgun.  Ben jumped off the boxes on the back of the houseboat, and Hailey jumped out of the deck of the houseboat.  Ben was disappointed that Mike wouldn't let him jump off the roof!  Next year.  The pictures of the kids eating on the rocks were one morning when they woke up before everyone else, so they went on a little hike and ate breakfast on the rocks.  Ben a Hailey had an amazing time!

Fourth of July Weekend

What a weekend!!!  It all started with a great bbq at my parent's house.  I love my parent's backyard, it is the best for summer bbq's and fun.  The kids had a great time slip n' sliding down the hill, then we had a great meal as always.  My cousin was married the previous day, so my dad's Aunt Connie was in town along with the parents of the bride (who were from China).  This was a normal crazy bbq for us but our visitors were a little surprised by some of the fun things we did.  Aly  had made some cupcakes that looked like corn on the cob, and they had no clue what they were or how to eat them.  We also made smores in the fire pit and they had never seen those before in their lives.  We showed them all great things American I guess.  We ended with a great firework display from the fire pit and had a great time!

The next day we headed out for some camping and motorcycle riding with Mike's family.  His brother Cory was there with his family, along with Mike's parents.  All my kids love riding along with Mike.  I love motorcycle riding also, but am not brave enough to take the kids.  Ben did great riding on his own, but there were lots of kids that wanted to ride the smaller motorcycles so he mostly rode with Mike this trip.

And the fun weekend continues!  On the actual 4th of July our neighborhood did a great parade and breakfast!  The parade went down the street to the church and was led by a firetruck.  Ben thought it was a race so he cruised out ahead of us to beat all those slow parade goers.  Breakfast was great and the kids even got a turn to spray the water from the fire truck's hoses.  After breakfast we decided we might as well use our pass of all passes and headed to 7 peaks.  We thought it would be busy but it was mostly empty.  We had so much fun and got to go down all the slides we wanted.  Ben's big goal of the summer was to go down the shotgun falls, which is a slide with an 8 foot drop at the end into a pool.  He had to learn how to swim across the pool on his own before he could do that.  I had Hailey and Ben in swim lessons and we had gone to 7 peaks before this.  We told Ben if he could swim across the swim pool on his own he could go down shotgun falls the next time we went to 7 peaks.  We never imagined he would actually be able to do it any time soon.  Sure enough, the next swim lesson he swam across the pool on his own.  So, he got what he wanted and we went down shotgun falls multiple times.  He did so amazing swimming on his own!  I was surprised how many rides Hailey and Eliza could go on.  Mike took Hailey and I took Eliza on my lap and we went down almost every tube ride.  I thought it would scare Eliza, but my little crazy thing loved every second of it!  We ended up going to 7 peaks about 6 times during the course of the summer

June Randomness

Oh how I love summer.  We bought this awesome $5 pool, and it was a big hit.  The kids would put the slide in it and slide down, and have fun in the backyard.  In this picture we were playing in the backyard and Mike returned from one of his crazy scout hike-in overnighters.  Mike is a great scoutmaster and his boys love all the great stuff he does with them.  Ben is hoping Mike is still the leader when he turns 12, but I'm not sure Mike feels the same way!

Eliza is a silly kid and loves blow-drying her hair.  Whenever I blow dry my hair, she always need a turn too.  Future Cosmetologist maybe?

I signed the kids up for swimming lessons at the Daybreak pool.  I signed up for group lessons, but Ben and Hailey were the only ones in their group.  I was amazed at how well they did with their lessons.  We took one or two a week.  By the end Ben was swimming on his own, and Hailey was doing amazing.  She can swim underwater holding her breath for a few feet by herself.  She is really good at floating on her back.  She got better and better at trying to use her arms, but can propel herself with her feet like no other.  Ben worked really hard at trying to blow bubble through his nose and mouth while swimming.  The instructor started with him swimming a few feet and by the end of the lessons he was swimming across the pool.  They are both learning how to go under the water without plugging their nose, which I still do, so I'm glad they won't be following my example.  Eliza just had a great time hanging out in the shallow end while the kids did their lessons.

On June 27th we took in Hailey for her 4 year old visit.  She was in the 80^th percentile in height which was up from 45% from the prior year.  Weight was the same at 45%.  I think the funniest Dr. visit ever was Hailey's 18 month visti.  Our Dr. was asking me if Hailey was talking at all.  I said, wow, you have no idea she never stops talking.  Just then Hailey grabbed the Dr.'s stethescope, and says "can I see your stethescope?"  Our Dr. started laughing so hard and said well she definetly doesn't have any problem talking!

Daddy Daughter Dance Date

Mike and Hailey before their Daddy-Daughter dance.  Hailey got a cute corsage on a fabulous slap bracelet, it was so cute!  She was looking forward to this night for weeks!

Our Primary Presidency organized this fun night!  They had decorated the tables so cute with pink and purple everything.  They had a great dinner and dessert.  They had a red carpet that all the girls got to walk down.  Then they took pictures and had a dance.  This is Hailey with one of her cute friends, Ava Livolsi, at the dance. 

Father's Day Celebrations

Do these pictures look familiar?  I took similar pictures last Father's Day celebration.  Last June Bri and Jake were dating, now they are the cute married couple.  Everyone else looks pretty much the same!  Happy Father's Day to all the great Father's in my life!

My kids loving going to Mormor and Buddy's house.  They have the greatest backyard, and we have so much fun there!  They added a great hammock this year and everyone loves it!

Eliza walked around all night with corn on the cob in her hands. Corn on the cob has been a big hit this year!

Our family parties are never boring!!  We pulled out the slide and as you can see, Eliza is showing how the slide is supposed to be done.  But, all the grownup kids got in on the action and we had a good laugh.  There were a lot of great crashes!  Jake was the best, maybe because he is the tallest!

My brother Blake and Mike giving it a try!

Got to have the smores!  Nothing ends a great celebration like roasting marshmallows!  My kids love doing this!  Did you notice that Ben is a knight?  My mom made these awesome bags for each of the kids, the boys are knights and the girls are princesses.  Their favorite thing to do is play with all the fun stuff in their bags whenever we play at mormor's.

Mama Mia!

Surprise!!!! Here's where my Mom finds out we are going to Mama Mia in just 1 hour!

Happy Birthday Mom, girls night out style!  Mama Mia is a girls tradition in our family.  We have watched the movie outside on the back of my mom's house every summer since it came out.  Of course we all know the songs and dance along. This time we got to enjoy the Broadway version.
We had so much fun! I couldn't believe how good the play was. The main actors has such amazing voices and made the play so much fun. We had a guy sitting in front of us that was probably in his 50's and he was so funny to watch. He started out by tapping his leg then moving his body to the music and by the end he was dancing and waving his arms. We also had a lady sitting behind us that would snort every time she laughed. It was so entertaining. I haven't laughed for so long and so hard in a long time.
 The best part was that we didn't tell my mom about it. Aly made up a story about taking her to see a concert downtown. Instead we took her to a little Greek restaurant across from my work and surprised her with this present. Inside there was tickets to the play that night and Mama Mia shirts. This was her reaction as soon as she saw what was inside the present. It was so awesome that she was so surprised and so excited about it.

Hailey's 4th Birthday!

Ahh, the beloved pillow pet!  When we were in Disneyland she saw this giraffe pillow pet and loved it.  I asked her if she was going to buy it with her money. The smart girl that she is, said 'well my birthday is coming up soon so I think I will get this for my birthday, and I'll buy a Tinkerbell set with my money'.  So, we successfully smuggled the giraffe home without her knowing we had bought it.  She was so excited when she opened it!  She now sleeps with it every night.

My mom came over and gave her what she asked for - clothes!  She is the funniest girly girl!  Other than the pillow pet, all she wanted for her birthday were clothes.  My mom and sister came over and brought her some super cute outfits!  Then my grandpa Marsh came over with a present too.  My grandpa Marsh is so good at always remembering birthdays, and he always has the greatest handmade cards!

We had Hailey's birthday party at Mike's Grandma Margaret's pool.  I only got a few pictures, but we had a lot of fun.  Mike's parents, sister and her 2 kids, brother and 2 kids, my brother and their 2 kids all came.  (Why does everyone have two kids?) We swam and then had pizza and cupcakes at Grandma Margaret's after.  Hailey got more new cute outfits, so she was a happy little birthday girl!  It's weird, Hailey has always seemed so grown up, but I still can't believe she's 4!  Hailey is such a cute girl and brings so much fun into our family. 

Bowling

We signed up for the 'kids-bowl-for-free' program during the summer.  This was our first bowling experience.  The kids had so much fun!  They were a little disappointed that they weren't getting strikes or spares like they always do when they play wii sports.  But, once they got over that they had fun!  We have gone a few more times and it is quite the adventure!  We went with their cousins Nathan and Maelie, and all Eliza wanted to do was run away, but she did bowl a few good frames.

Hailey was so proud of her first game!  She bowled a 100!

Hailey's First Dance Recital

Hailey is just so adorable!  Hailey worked really hard all year doing tap and ballet every Wednesday.  She loved it when Mormor would take her to her dance lessons.  She always was so good at listening to her teacher, and she did so great her first year of dance!  She was very excited for the final recital when everyone could come watch her.  She wasn't nervous at all.  She did two different dances, one ballet and one tap dance.  All of the girls had to wear their hair in buns with no bangs.  Hailey has short hair and bangs, so this was a bit of a challenge. Mormor did an excellent job with her hair, and it didn't even move when we took it out!  I remember dance all growing up, and I hope she enjoys it like I did.  I asked her if she was going to do dance next year and she said, "mom why would I do dance? I've all ready learned everything I need to know".  So, we'll see what she decides next year.

Daddy, Grandma Kaye Lynn, and Ben with Hailey

Mormor, Buddy, and Aunt Aly with Hailey

Little Princess

Horseback Riding

Snack time with dad!  My mom watches the kids on Friday's when I go to work and they always have make-up snack time.  They get to choose random things and put them together to see if they are good.  My kids love doing this and always ask to do make-up snacks.  Ben's favorite is mixing yogurt drinks and apple juice, and Hailey likes making food look like flowers.  Mike works from home on Friday, so he always gets delicious treats brought up to him.  It is his favorite part of the day.

Mike's mom had some friends with horses, so we set out for a fun horse riding adventure.  Eliza loved chasing the ducks, which was definitely her favorite part.  Hailey and Ben had never ridden horses before so they were super excited.  They both had a blast.  There was this sheep that absolutely loved me and Eliza!  He just kept coming up to us and rubbing his head on my leg, a little awkward, but somewhat cute.

Boy's Only Hike!

Mike and Ben went on a hike with our friends Jon and Carson Bowers.  This is on the wetern face of Mt. Timpanogas, its called the grovecreek hike.  Mike is the scout master and wanted to test out this trail to see if his scouts could hike it for one of their overnighters.  It was about a 7 mile hike. Mike went with his scouts a few weeks later and Ben did way better hiking than all of the12 and 13 year old scouts!

Ben said the hike was awesome!

After the hike the boys went to the Purple Turtle for some shakes!  Mike tells me this is a must tradition, although I have never been there before. I hear it's delicious.

On a side note.  Ben, our deep thinker, came up to us and wanted to know who was Heavenly Father's dad and grandpa and grandgrandgrandpa.  I let Mike answer that question.