Yee-Haw Miss L

Miss L reminds me so much of myself sometimes.  She loved riding the horse.  You'd never know it, considering she didn't crack a smile once, but when we took her off she had a meltdown.  Grandpa took her on another ride later. (We don't have a lot of exposure to horses at here.  I was shocked when I moved to Texas and had to hunt and search just to see a horse or a cow.)

 Little D was fascinated and pointed and giggled and talked about it with Grandma.

But when it was his turn to ride he wasn't so sure it was cool.  He hopped right off that thing.

M wanted nothing to do with it.  He was content to hang out with Grandma.

 And do crazy, silly dances to get camera attention.  I love how it looks like he's doing the robot here.

 Our friends Josh, Sarah, and Stetson were there too and we owe them a thank you for letting us borrow their horse.

 I love my little cowgirl and her desire to ride!  That's my kinda girl.

Kamas Parade

My family and I went to Kamas several times.  Once to play at their awesome pool., once to eat at the best little burger place besides Dairy Keen, and for their Fair Days Parade.  Little D enjoyed his second parade ever. The first parade was last Christmas and he screamed through most of it.

 My uncle drove the Little Miss Wasatch Royalty for the parade.

 There's my sassy little niece.  The guys next to me said, after she blew a kiss as me, "She really wanted you to get a good picture."  That's her, she knows she's got it.

Old Friends and Park Adventures

He's such a happy little guy.  I enjoy him so much.

 There's something about this pic that I really love (besides the obvious love for my beautiful girl).  I can't pinpoint it but I just love it.

 Remember Sweet Baby Mia, that had the heart transplant a few years ago? Here she is three-years-old and oh-so-adorable.  I wanted to take her home.  But I'm pretty sure her mommy, or her big sister, would hunt me down.  She is such a sweet little girl.

 I met up at the park with a bunch of girls from high school.  They were all so pretty and had the cutest children.  I've seen a few boys from high school who look so much older and so different, but all the girls are gorgeous and even prettier than they were then.

Thanks for a fun day girlies! 

Oh yeah, and right after we took this picture my Aunt and Uncle called to me.  They don't even live in Heber but were up visiting their daughter.  They are actually in this picture in the background.  It's a small world.

Wrestling with Grandpa

Just like his siblings at this age Lil' D loved playing in the shoes.

They all enjoyed their wrestling time with Grandpa.  Even Miss L warmed up to this. 

 Mr. M is so sad we are moving further away from Grandpa.  I keep telling him maybe Grandpa will come see us more!

 My boys are always tackling their friends (who mostly happen to be girls) and now I know why.  They learn from Grandpa...and well, me because I learned it from Grandpa.

 I know I hurt some people's feeling when I say W. Texas isn't that pretty to me.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  But I was struck one morning as I looked out the window at my parent's house at this view.  To me this is beauty.  Green is my favorite color so it shouldn't come as a surprise. :)

Dairy Keen - My Favorite Food Place (Part One)

I love Dairy Keen.  I ate there five times I think (in 3 weeks - I normally eat out once a month), it's no wonder I gained 9 lbs. while visiting. I had to get a shake every time too.  They have the best shakes.

My kids love it because it has trains all over the place and with every kids meal they got a weapon.  Over the course of the vacation they got eye patches and swords, blow-up bats, water guns, and dart guns.  And I didn't get a pic but wish I would have of these amazing coke machines they have.  They are state of the art and have something like 150 flavors in them.  It was crazy.

The train on the wall.

My niece Saige, my amazing friend Jade, and Malachi eating their nummy food.

 Pretty girl.

 Smiley cutie.

Thanks to Saige for being the photgrapher so there is proof I was in Utah. :)

Camping With Grandpa (Part One)

One of the best things about where my parents live is that you can just pack up and go camping within minutes.  Several times while we were they we'd all go up in the evening and then Little D and I would pack up and head home to sleep at my parent's house. 

My nephew Kaige on the rope swing.

 The best buddies having a good ole' time.

 The rainbow. 

 I forgot shoes for Little D and it was damp so we worked up this rockin' outfit.

 Rhiannon and Miss L had a blast picking wild flowers.

 Kaige got to shoot his BB gun.  He was a wild man with this thing.  I had to keep reminding him we are careful with guns and not to swing it around.  It was somewhat terrifying. I hope no one ever buys him something more powerful than a BB gun,

 Little D loved it camping.  It was hard for me chasing him around and keeping him from choking on things or jumping into the fire.  I have to admit I got very overwhelmed and frustrated a few times and have no intention of camping with him for a little while.  But look at this face, it was almost worth the torture.

 He wanted so badly to keep up with the big kids.  Sometimes I wish I hadn't have waited that extra six months in between he and Miss L.  It makes a big difference in how well they all play together. 

 I love seeing kids get dirty (as long as I have planned on them getting dirty) because it means they are kids being kids.  I

The munchkins had a blast.  Thanks Grandpa for taking them up for a little trip. 

J, K, L, Days

While in Utah I tried to continue on with our A to Z Summer Days.  I didn't get all the days, but we had to much too do!  We had some of our cousins join in.

I can't remember everything we did but I know we practed writing the letter J, played jumping games, and then made Jello-Jigglers.

 For K we let it be Kaige's special day and let him choose some of our events.  They made K pictures with things that started with K. 

 Then we played Kitten Tag where the Kitten's chased the mice.

 For L we made lighthouses.  These were really fun to make and the kids had a blast with them.  We posed them on my dad's waterfall and the kids thought that was pretty cool.  I asked M, "What is a lighthouse?"  He said, "Something you use in the dark to read."  So then we had to pull up the internet and research lighthouses. 

 We put little tea lights in them and then we did use them as lanterns. 

It was fun to do this with my niece and nephew.  My kids were used to A to Z days and although they loved it they had lost some of their excitement so it was fun to see how excited Kaige and Rhiannon would get when we started letter day. 

Cousin Fun! ..... And we are MOVING!

Grandma threw a Grandma's Sleepover for the kiddos.  She's a brave soul. 

 The girls spent the entire next day finding bugs.  Miss Peyton loved slugs, Miss Rhiannon loved spiders, and Miss L loved potato bugs.

 I even caught Miss P trying to lick a slug at one point.

 Miss R was very proud of her bucket of huge garden spiders.

 They spent so many long hours helping each other find their respective bugs.

 Sometimes they'd take a short break for some food.

 Later we went down to my brother's house to hunt for chicken eggs.  The kids LOVED this.  In fact, my brother had to keep re-hiding the eggs so my kids wouldn't have meltdowns.  Damon preferred to love on the kitty.
Look at his cute lil' mug.

 My nephew Hesston is a cuddler for very short periods of time.  He'll crawl up on her, make sure he has your attention, and then run off. He's a sweet boy and he seems to love his Uncle Caleb.

 Kaige (8 yrs.) and Mr. M. are best buddies.  M still talks about him constantly.  They had five days together and I can't believe how much Kaige taught M.  Last week at the zoo Mr. M told me, "Kaige shot a flamingo and stuffed it and hung it on his wall."  Right..... It cracks me up that M thinks Kaige knows everything in the whole world but Mommy and Daddy know nothing.

 At Aunt Brookie and Uncle Jamie's house they can also pick fruit off the trees.  Well, they could, now Brooke and Jamie have moved.

 Don't mind me in this pic I was having terrible allergies and face was all swelled up, but it's the only pic we got of all of us on the trip.

 This guy always looks so thoughtful:

 Even though she's crying, I love this pic of Peyton.  She's such a cutie.

Miss P wanted to have a sleepover every night.  The kids had a blast together and we miss them!

And now we will be further away because we are moving!  We are moving in December and will most likely be moving to Lafayette, Lousiana.  I guess we will have more Southern babies! (And no, I am not pregnant, I mean in the future.)