Wedding Dress Shopping and Gateway Fountain

Yay! Bri is getting married! All the girls were able to head down to Gateway for the wedding dress shopping extravaganza. It was so much fun seeing Bri all gorgeous in her beautiful wedding dress! I have a friend from high school Jana who has her own photography business. I was checking out her blog and I saw a photo shoot in March that she had done of her single brother Jacob. I sent her a message that my cute sister Bri and her cute brother Jacob should be set up. So with a little help from Facebook, Bri and Jake started chatting and are now engaged! They are getting married September 30th! Thanks for letting us join in on the fun of wedding dress shopping Bri!

Mormor, Nicole, Eliza, Aly, and me

After the dress shopping we headed for some fabulous French pastries, and then I met up with Mike and Ben and Hailey for some fun Gateway time. Ben had so much fun in the fountain!

My Kids Say and Do the Darnedest Things

I used to keep a journal of all the funny things Ben said and did when he was little. Then cute Hailey came along and life got busier and I rarely kept my funny kid journal anymore. Now I try to put little notes of funny things in my phone so I can keep track of them. Here are the last few months of funny kid things:

6/27 Eliza is on the roll again! She rolled over from 3 weeks to about 6 weeks and then she chunked up and wasn't able to roll anymore. But, she learned to roll over from her belly to her back again. I think she learned how to do it just because she hated her tummy time!

7/5 Hailey was playing with a toy gun and running around the room saying "I'm going to shoot you Eliza". Ben was playing by himself in the other room and yelled "DON'T SHOOT MY BABY!" It was so funny because Ben was so serious, and wanting to protect Eliza. Ben and Eliza have a special bond. Ben can make Eliza laugh by just looking at her, and he loves to make her happy.

7/8 Hailey likes to "read" me books. Ben has learned how to read, so we are always practicing. Hailey has picked up on it, and sounds out words while she pretends to read. She makes up great stories to whatever picture book she is looking at. Hailey read me books before her nap. She chose Cinderella. Hailey's version included the song "If your happy and you know it" and a stepsister that let Cinderella go to the ball. I love my cute smart Hailey.

7/12 Ben's friend Isabelle was playing at our house. Ben asked Isabelle "Do you know what a galaxy is? It is lots of planets and stars together. Do you know where we live? We live in the galaxy milk!" I asked him where he learned about galaxy's and he said he learned part at preschool and part from Super Mario Galaxy 2 Wii game. Got to love the Wii!

7/16 I was working and I got a call from Ben. He was talking super fast, and I couldn't understand all that he said. But I did understand that he and Mike had broken something and he was very sorry and wanted to tell me the truth. It was so cute! When I got the whole story I found out that Mike and Ben were having a butt-kicking contest, whatever that is, and broke this little wood sign of mine. Mike asked Ben if they should tell me that a bird flew in the window and broke the sign. Ben said no, trust is something you can't break, we need to tell mommy the truth. Then Mike asked Ben if kids always tell the truth. Ben said that mommy's and daddy's always tell the truth and kids tell the truth most of the time. Berenstain Bears books teach again!

7/21 Eliza was having tummy time and she kept rolling over onto her back. Ben was very upset and said "Eliza is supposed to be doing belly time not rolling over time, she is breaking all the rules!" Gotta love my Ben that always follows the rules!

7/25 Ben got passed a note from a cute girl Cierra in his church class. She had worked on it all through sacrament meeting. It had a little envelope with a heart drawn on it and a note inside. It said Ben I like you, do you like me? It had two boxes to check; one if Ben liked her, and one box if Ben wanted to be friends. Here we go!

Tour de Donut 2010

This was such a funny day! The Tour de Donut is a circuit style bike race. The bike racers go 7 miles then eat as many donuts as they can then ride 7 more miles and eat as many donuts as they can and then go 7 more miles. For every donut eaten, there is 3 minutes taken off their total time for riding the 21 miles and eating the donuts. Mike is a great bike rider, but not such a great bike rider and donut eater! The first picture shows him eating his first donut, and he is still smiling. The second picture shows him on the second lap eating his 5th and final donut, as you can see he is choking down the 5th donut! Ben has wanted to go see dad on one of his bike races all year, so this was a fun time to see Mike race. Ben and Hailey were great cheerleaders! Mike's friend Jake managed to down 17 donuts, and another friend Regan was the winner with 25 donuts eaten!

Dancing in the Driveway

Our kids come up with the greatest activities for family nights! This one was all Hailey's. Her family night was for the whole family to go out on our driveway and have a dance concert! Oh, what our neighbors must think! But, we all had a great time jumping and dancing and being part of the audience! Hailey was in charge of all the choreography and did a wonderful job. Needless to say I'm putting her in her first dance class this September.

The all important final bow!

(Notice that Hailey is airborne in the first picture)

Fun in July

Happy Birthday Aunt Elise! We were able to go up to a fun and fabulous birthday dinner up at Mike's Grandpa's house. Elise was actually able to hold Eliza without her putting up a fuss. My cute little Eliza is such a mommy's girl!

We had a high school friend get together at my house, and it was so much fun to see Jana and Katie and their cute families! It is amazing that it has been 12 years since high school. Hopefully next time we can get more of the old gang back together. The kids had a great time at the park across the street from our house. In September Jana and me will be related! My sister is marrying her cute brother Jake!

4th of July Weekend

Go Mike Go! This is one of Mike's many races this summer! He did 3 rides that were 100 milers. This was the end of the Tour de Riverton which was a 34 miler. The kids had a fun time waving in Dad at the finish line. After the race my sis-in-law Becky met us at Riverton Park for a fabulous time at the carnival. The kids loved all the carnival rides! Then we got a Little Caesar's pizza (which is Ben's absolute favorite) and went to a park and played. It was such a fun day!

Jaxon loved the train! He did not want to get off! He would have stayed on the train all day!
Hailey wasn't quite sure she wanted to ride this roller-coaster. She told me it was scary but fun. Ben and Donnovan loved every second!

Hailey was in heaven in her purple starship

Summer of Swimming!

So this has been a fabulous summer with lots of swimming! Here are just a few pictures of the many times we were able to go swimming. We have gone at least once a week. I decided it wasn't such a great idea to take my camera when we went swimming so I don't have too many pictures. We are lucky enough to have a pool just a couple of streets away from our house. We also had a lot of fun going to the swimming pool with friends in our old Riverton neighborhood. Last summer Hailey would usually just last 10 or 15 minutes and get cold, so we didn't swim a ton. But this year, both Hailey and Ben are my fishes and love to swim! They are both great jumpers and had a blast. Eliza was usually sleeping in her car seat on the sidelines while we were swimming. But, Eliza also did great in the water. One swimming day when my mom joined us, she sat in the water and splashed for 45 minutes.

Zoo with Cousins

This was a great day at the zoo with my sis-in-law Becky and her two cute boys. The kids all had a ton of fun, we love the zoo!

This was so funny, Ben loved was trying to get the elephant to squirt him and it took a few tries before it finally did. Hailey was not so happy when she got sprayed!

Father's Day Sleepover Fun

Every summer we sleep over in tents in my parents backyard and watch a movie on the back of their house. This year we combined our sleepover fun with Father's Day and my mom's birthday! It was such a fun night! We had a fabulous BBQ dinner, and everyone opened their great presents! We set up our tent city in the back yard, and the kids had a great time playing in them. Jacob joined us this year, and even set up his own tent in our backyard. Hopefully he had fun at our crazy family traditions. At dark we started the movie Up on the back of the house. Aly made her famous "sticky popcorn" and we had a great time watching the movie. Everyone headed for their tents to sleep and I took the long 3 minute journey home to sleep in my bed, and Eliza slept in her crib. Mike and Hailey were sleeping on our air mattress and half way through the night the mattress was half blown up and it was flat by the time they woke up. So Mike got little sleep, but as always Ben who can sleep anywhere slept great!

I love celebrating the father's in my life. Thanks dad for all that you do and all that you have done throughout my life. Having little children makes me more grateful for all of the camping and other adventures you took us to. I'm grateful for the example you set. Thanks Mike for being the most fabulous father to our children. Our kids adore Mike, and he is the perfect hands on dad! We also got to go to dinner with Mikes family on Sunday. I am thankful for my father-in-law and all he is willing to do for our family and children. I love all the father's in my life! Happy Father's Day!

Tent City

Watching the movie UP

Best Dad in the World!
(with a great glow-hat)

Ben's Graduation from Preschool

Yes, I now have an almost kindergartner! My amazing Ben graduated from preschool! Ben spent two fabulous years with Ms. Amber. Ms. Amber was the greatest teacher! She spent so much time preparing and teaching Ben and his friends. He learned everything from ABC's and how to read to composers and artists and everything in between. Ms. Amber always told me how much she loved Ben in her class because he always showed so much enthusiasm for everything they were learning and doing. This is Ben, he is so excited about life and learning. He was always so disappointed when he was sick and couldn't go to school because he was worried he would miss learning something.

The last month of preschool they were learning about dinosaurs. One day they were talking about meat-eaters and plant-eaters. Now, Ben has heard a hundred times about meat-eating dinosaurs, but it didn't sink in until one day at preschool. Ben asked Ms. Amber if dinosaurs were made out of meat, because they were talking about how dinosaurs sometimes ate each other. Ms. Amber explained that yes they were made out of meat, just like we eat the meat from cows or chickens. Ben exclaimed, "What? We like eat real chickens!" I guess the secret is out! I always thought he understood where everything came from, but I guess he is a real city boy!

A while ago at school, Ben asked Ms. Amber how long he had to be good to return to Heavenly Father. Ms. Amber usually wouldn't address such issues at school, but she knows that we are both LDS. So, she explained to him that he had to try to be good for a long time, for his whole life. Ben asked if she was sure about that. She said yes. Ben thought about that for a little bit, and then said "okay I can do that". This is my sweet Ben, once something is explained to him he thinks about it - processes it in his own way- and then he completely accepts it as fact. Oh, how I love my Ben! I can't believe that he is on his way to kindergarten. He was sad to leave his preschool friends and Ms. Amber (he asked if he could bring her to kindergarten). But, he is so excited to go to kindergarten, and is counting down the days until he starts.

Sad Eliza

Eliza is usually a very happy baby and rarely cries! She cries when she is hungry or tired or needs me. I couldn't resist taking pictures of her sad faces one day. I don't know why, but I think her sad faces are the cutest. When she starts to cry, I usually start to laugh or smile because she looks so cute, and then she stops crying.

Mike was his normal super dad and took the 3 kids into the Dr. while I was working on June 11th (Hailey's Birthday). Eliza needed her 4 month check-up and Ben needed his kindergarten check-up. Eliza weighed in at 16 pounds! She was in the 85% for weight, and the 50% for height and head. I have so enjoyed Eliza's infancy. Maybe it is because she started sleeping through the night early or maybe because she is such a cute happy girl. She has such an amazing relationship with Ben and Hailey. They can just talk to her and she laughs. Eliza is my perfect 3rd baby!

Hailey is THREE!!!

I can't believe my sweet Hailey is 3! I was getting her up from her nap the other day, and I looked at this tall beautiful little girl, and I thought when did my Hailey get so big? Hailey is my girly-girl who loves anything PURPLE! For her birthday she wanted a big girl bike, and it had to be purple. Her fabulous bike-riding father special ordered her a purple bike, which made her so happy! We didn't get pictures of everyone who came, but we had such a fun party at the aquarium with family and friends! We decorated cupcakes in little mermaid fashion, and Hailey couldn't wait to eat one. But, the minute we start singing happy birthday to her she grabbed a piece of pizza and started eating that instead, silly girl. Hailey's favorite part of her party was playing games in the sunken ship. We just set up a little bean bag toss, and a ring around the birthday cake games. The kids loved playing the silly games, and loved the silly prizes. It was a perfect birthday day!

Officially we had her birthday party the day before her birthday, but you couldn't convince Hailey of that. It was so cute, when we got home from the party I was going to get her out of the car, and she raised her hands up and excidetly said "Mom I'm 3!!!!!", she had the biggest smile on her face. We have been counting down to June 11th for a while, and she was so excited to turn 3.
This is one of my favorite pictures of Hailey. This is December of 2007, making Hailey about 6 months old. She had the craziest hair until she was about 9 months old! My happy little red-head! Hailey was born June 11th 2007, and was 7 pounds 11 ounces. She has brought so much joy and happiness into our family. Hailey and Ben have been good friends from the beginning. Hailey is my little fireball, and she brings so much spunk into our lives! We love you Hailey, Happy 3rd Birthday!

Memorial Day Weekend Motorcycle Fun

We were able to head out to the Pony Express trail in the west desert for some off-road motorcycling. Mike was getting in late Friday night from D.C., so Mikes parents came and got Hailey and Ben and they headed out for some camping in the desert. We have taken Ben motorcycle riding since he was tiny. We told him he would be going to camp in the desert overnight. On the way to the camp sight, Ben was asking grandma and papa where all of the sand, cactus, pyramids, and camels were. I guess he thought he was going to the Egyptian desert. They had a fun night sleeping in the Utah desert, and then we drove out with Eliza Saturday morning. We had so much fun motorcycle riding. Ben and Hailey couldn't get enough rides with their dad.

I love Hailey's motorcycle riding outfit, this is so her! Girly, but loved every second of riding with dad.

One of the great entertainment of the day was searching for colored bb's. Ben decided he needed a bird's eye view, so climbed up this tree to find more bb's. It worked, he actually spotted some from the tree.
Eliza was the only one who wasn't a fan of camping. It was cold, windy, and smoky from the campfire. She was not happy when she was outside! Luckily, we had the motor home to hang out in. I made Mike take the kids on all of their rides. I love motorcycle riding, but am not brave enough to take my kids yet.

This BB gun is Mike's Fathers Day present. He got it a little early, but we had fun with it.

Fun with Friends!

Mike was out of town in Virginia this week for work. We were able to have a couple of really fun days with friends. Isabelle and Ryan were able to play with us one day, and we went to the park and had a blast. Isabelle slept over that night and we were able to go to the zoo in the morning.

When we put the kids to bed at night we ask them what they want to sleep like. We usually get answers like; a red eyed tree frog, bear, princess, purple turtle, etc. I asked Ben what he wanted to sleep like and he responded that he was going to sleep like a prince. So, I said goodnight prince Ben and he said goodnight princess mommy. I think that might be the best title in the world!

These are pictures of Ben, Ryan, and Isabelle. They are 3 best friends caught in a 5 year old love triangle. Ben told me when he was 4 that he was going to marry Isabelle. I told him that would be great, we love Isabelle. Then Ben, Ryan, and Isabelle all went to the same preschool this year. Ryan and Isabelle were already friends, and Ben and Isabelle were already friends. So, Ben and Ryan soon became friends. Ben told Ryan he as marrying Isabelle, and Ryan told Ben that Isabelle had already agreed to marry him. Ben still tells everyone that Isabelle is his best friend, but he is sad because she is going to marry Ryan. I told Ben that he just needs to fight for Isabelle! But, my Ben is 100% trusting of anything pretty much anyone says. So, he says that unless Ryan changes his mind he can't marry Isabelle. Too funny!

Ben also told Mike that he was his 3rd best friend. Mike asked who his first and second were. Ben said that Isabelle was his first best friend and that Ryan was his second best friend. I guess dad has been moved out of first place.

Ben still tells everyone that Isabelle and him are twins. Ben and Isabelle were born on the same day, October 19th 2004. I try to explain that they are friends with the same birthday, but he is convinced that they are twins! My mom was great to help me all week with the kids while Mike was gone. We hung out at her house at night, and she came to the zoo with us. I'm pretty sure that Hailey would love to go live with Mormor, oh how she loves her Mormor!

These are random pictures. I love my fat happy baby with all of her many rolls! Eliza started sleeping through the night in the middle of May. It has been so wonderful to get more than 2 or 3 hours of continuous sleep!! She started sleeping through the night before she reached 4 months old, she is by far the first of all my kids to bring me sanity. The next picture is of my kids in their minivan jungle. While Mike was out of town we went to a flower sale, and filled our minivan to the brim with our good finds for our new yard.

Aquarium Field Trip

Here are some pictures from Ben's preschool aquarium field trip. Hailey, Eliza, and I were able to tag along with these cute kids. We have a membership to the aquarium and my kids love going to see the fish and animals.

I love this picture of my princess kissing the frog!

We were getting into the car to go to the aquarium and Hailey said "Mom are you 30 fat?" I thought, yes I am 30 and fat. I asked her what she meant, and she said "well I am 30 fat and I was wondering if you were 30 fat too." I figured out that we had weighed Hailey recently and she was 30 pounds, and she was wondering if I weighed the same as she did. I was relieved that my Hailey didn't think I was 30 and fat!