July 2012 Happenings

We moved into our new place the week of July 4th and were welcomed by a great group of neighbors.  They invited us to join them in their annual firework shoot-off.  If you've never been in the Seattle area for this time of year, you have truly missed out!  There isn't much that is illegal, so you see and hear some amazing things all around you.  We didn't bother putting the kids to bed until they were done because it was so loud, but they did pretty well.    

One Sunday afternoon in July we drove to a local beach and took some pictures.  It was a beautiful day.  Look at those blue skies!

 In July we also got a visit from Kevin's brother Lance, his wife Heather and their son Eric.  What fun that was!  It happened to be the night of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics, so we had a party and enjoyed some time with them.  The kids were so excited to have them and fought over who they got to sit by.  

 I think Heather was the most sought after one.  She would read them stories and answer questions.  When they left, the kids didn't know what to do without them!

I found the kids on the landing of the stairs one day playing with their stuffed animals and blankets.

Gotta love this little guy trying to shave like his daddy while taking a bath.  I remember doing the same thing as a kid!

Jackson is too funny.  On afternoon during "quiet time" or naptime I let him paint and then minutes later found him like this.  He told me he was superman!

We frequented a nearby "U-pick" farm where we left with raspberries, strawberries, potatoes, peas and squash.

The kids loved riding in the wagon of course.

Madison wins the "stinker of the year" award for sure.  She is my little climber.  I constantly find her on a table, bathroom counter or even on our high counter in the kitchen.  She decided to climb up and have an early dinner as I was trying to get everything on the table.  I guess she was hungry!

 

When Madison wakes up from naps, Kaitlyn loves to jump in the crib and they have all kinds of fun together!

 

We met some friends at Country Village which is a cute shopping area with a great park and little train which the kids had a blast on.  Even Madison sat still for the whole ride.



In preschool last year Jackson made this awesome dinosaur.  I decided we couldn't keep it, but I promised we would take a picture and keep that forever.

Our playgroup did a 24th of July Pioneer celebration and Madison joined right in on the sack races.

We went to a park where there is also a lake with tons of sand.  Jackson was especially in heaven.  All he wanted to do was DIG!

Christmas Time

Yes, I do know its June and I am finally getting to Christmas.  I really don't have many excuses either.  Life just kept passing me by and I got further and further behind.  I just decided I needed to sit down and attempt to catch up.  So here I go. 

We kicked off the Christmas season by going to my sister Alyssa's ballet performance in The Nutcracker.  It was great and she of course was amazing! 

My parents took Jackson and Kaitlyn.  Oh the grandparent spoilage!

My sister in law Alisha (Josh's wife) invited Jackson and Kaitlyn to be a part of the live nativity her family puts on each year before Christmas.  It was so much fun.  It we FREEZING so the kids wore coats and hats under their costumes.  Here is my little wise man and angel...

One of the older girls made sure Kaitlyn was where she needed to be. Kaitlyn was so proud to be an angel.

My cute Jackson made sure they knew he wanted to be a wise man from the very start.  Once he gets his mind set, there isn't much that can get in his way.  I think he gets that from his dad!  I love the picture below of the two tall wise men with Jackson right behind them (in red) pointing to the star.

Now Jackson is in between the other two wise men.  Oh my little guy.

There are our two little stars of the show.  Kaitlyn's hat fell off, so she was probably a bit cold, but still seemed to be enjoying herself.

This is the kids with their Aunt Cassidy after the performance.

We spent the day before Christmas Eve with my family.  "Christmas dinner."

Making gingerbread houses.

Santa came.  My girls weren't so happy, but Jackson was so excited to sit on his lap.

Amazing, Kaitlyn actually touched Santa's bells!

Little Madison

We stayed Christmas Eve night with Kevin's parents and acted out the nativity with Jackson as Joseph and Kaitlyn as Mary. 

Christmas morning was exciting of course.  We could hardly keep the kiddos downstairs before it was time to come up.  Madison didn't really get it, but thought it was fun to play with toys!

My little Kaitlyn got a "Tangled" table and chairs that turns into a castle.  We got lucky.  We found it the year before at Target's after Christmas sale for $12! 

Merry Christmas!  :)

Random Pics to Catch Up

Kevin has been taking pictures on his I-Phone and thought I should put some cute ones on the blog, but they are a little random.

Kevin took Jackson to a BYU football practice last year. I think it was in the spring, but as you can see, it was snowing! I love J-Man's cute little smile.

We visited the Provo Temple one day and the beautiful tulips were out.We also went to the Salt Lake City Temple. The kids are always asking to go since mom and dad go without them a lot. I'm so glad they recognize the special place that the temple is.They also had tulips there. I love that my kids are holding hands. We went up to see the Christus. How sweet that Kaitlyn is folding her arms. Sometimes children can recognize when something is sacred. She was only about 21 months.

A little perspective of how small we are, yet how Christ recognizes each of us. This picture was on our way home from Philadelphia. I wasn't so good at blogging about that trip. Jackson wanted to help his dad out washing the car! He has some shaggy hair! We let it grow out all summer and he was in major need of a hair cut when we arrived in Utah.On one of our pit stops, we all got out of the car and let the kids eat lunch on the grass. We also played tag. There was an older couple sitting nearby and they were quite entertained by two kids chasing their mom around while holding a baby in her arms (Kevin was filling the car up with gas).Kaitlyn found Madison's hat and put it on while we were driving. Hilarious.

We stopped in a VERY small town in Colorado and they were having a fair. We thought we'd grab a bite to eat first so we didn't have to just eat fair food. So we went to the recommended place. They seated us, and then we sat there for 15 minutes before anyone even talked to us! So we finally asked a waitress how long the wait for food would be (our kids were losing it already) and she wasn't sure. She said that was the busiest she had ever seen it (there were probably 6 other occupied tables). We decided to go to another place, so we chose Pizza Hut. Once again it took at least 10 minutes before someone said "I'll be right with you." We heard that 3 more times before we were seated. Then it didn't look like we would be able to order for awhile. We ended up leaving again, and went to sonic where the food actually came quickly so we could eat. I guess that town isn't used to so many people eating out!

We finally made it to the fair and had fun on some rides.

Kevin remembered staying in Vail, Colorado when he was younger, so we decided to go home that way and enjoy those mountains. It was beautiful! We were so glad we made that choice. We got there on a Sunday afternoon and enjoyed walking around.

Our favorite sculpture was this one called "Repentance" by Walt Horton. Its hard to see, but the bear has an arrow in his rear end and there is a little indian boy standing in front of him looking very guilty.

Kevin found a great deal for us to stay and have breakfast at a resort. They even had little bathrobes for the kids. Precious.

The next day we let the kids hit balls on their miniature golf course since kids under 4 were free!The end of August my mom's family had a family reunion at the Heber Valley Girls Camp. We had a lot of fun with everyone. My kids loved playing in the dirt and running around with cousins. They have a ton of fun things to do around there. We went on the paddle boats and did a rope swing(see picture below) where you get harnessed in and they pull you way up high and then you have to let go.  Its scary, but so much fun!  My kids didn't go up too high, but I was proud of them for trying it out at all!  This happened to be on my birthday (and my mom's) so we had fun celebrating with everyone.

Is there anything cuter than a little girl with pig tails and a polka dot skirt wearing her big brother's fireman boots?Well, maybe baby sister sleeping in her crib like this: