Evelyn is 4 years old!!

Evelyn's day finally arrived after a month-long countdown!

 So fun to celebrate with cousins! 

 Super big monkey is now always snuggled next to her in bed every. single. night.  In the morning when she comes into our room from her's, she brings it dragging along. 

Legos from her cousins & goin' fishin' from her aunts.  What a great birthday!

 All she wanted for her birthday cake were cupcakes and a candle that was a "4".  So cute!  I'm glad she said so because I wouldn't have found one for her.  What. a. doll. 

A fun Summer

We have had such a fun summer this year!  My sister and her family came to town, and so we stayed busy playing with cousins and friends.  It has been wonderful!  These are some pictures from the 4th of July week.

We hiked to the camp on Timpanogos Cave with cousins.  We saw the “heart” of the cave, and other amazing and beautiful creations.  Above, Ashley & Natalie & Evie are eating some snacks after the long hike up to the cave.Natalie & I inside the dark cave. 

On July 3rd, we decided to take the kids to the children’s parade in Centerville.  I thought about what kind of things my dad had still on hand that has wheels for the two 3 year olds.  I came up with Roller Racers!!  My dad jimmied up some rope and Megan & I pulled Jacob and Evie along the parade route.  Evelyn held on so good and just loved being pulled around.  It was  a lot of fun.  Centerville had their fireworks display on the 3rd and so the 4th of July, we had a spectacular show in front of my brother’s house.  I love this holiday!We have had some fabulous opportunities to play in water this summer.  Our family got passes to seven peaks and so we have been a few times there, to a couple splash pads with cousins & friends, and also to Tingey’s pool.  One one such occasion, Evie discovered the flippers.  She kept tripping over herself, but had fun discovering how they worked.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

A couple days ago, we went to my sister’s 2nd grade class to do my presentation on Asia.  I traveled there a few years ago, and so now I go into her class each year and show them some of my souvenirs and we play Asia Bingo with pictures reflecting some of the things about Asia.  It is always a lot of fun.  This year, Evelyn came with me and she was great.  She loved playing bingo, and especially loved eating the noodles with chopsticks after. 

I hope everyone has a fabulous valentine's day!

Funeral Flowers

This month, 2 of my uncles on my mom’s side passed away within 2 weeks of each other.  Both were old and had lived wonderful lives.  It was a fun reunion as a result!  I loved seeing my beloved cousins and talking with them.  It was also wonderful to hear the beautiful words my cousins expressed during the funeral about their fathers.  They were amazing men, and I know my mom adored each of them.  The second funeral was close enough that I could deliver the flowers for it from the nieces/nephews and my mom & her siblings.  It was an honor to put these together to celebrate their life!

While there, I snapped this photo of my mom and her only remaining sibling (out of 7).  This is her older sister.  I love this picture of them!

Wonderful Family!

We have had a glorious August playing with family!  My sister took us to this fun splash park that had a playground next to it.  The splash park was plenty big for a lot of children to run around and  then when they were watered-out, they could run over to the playgound.  It was heaven for kids, AND parents!Evie & Maddie had so much fun running around together.

I came upon James sitting over a water spout and this is the shot I got!Another day, we went to the children’s museum with all the cousins and grandma & grandpa.  Here’s grandpa building up a wall, and letting the kids knock it over.  Such a great grandpa!J, Emi, Maddie & Evie working in the construction area.This shoot what where you put in a ball and air would draw it up into the tubes and you could watch it go around and around.  I think Evelyn did this about a hundred times!  Evie’s cousin J is so good to her.  He made sure she was okay in playing with everything.Here’s our future news anchor! James!Another day we went to the Davis County Fair.  The kids all got a balloon animal.  You can see the parrot’s on their shoulders and Evie got an elephant.  This was the highlight of the day for everyone!  The water balls!  You get inside, and just roll around, jump, or lay there.  I was so surprised at how much Evelyn enjoyed playing in there.  I was standing by just in case she freaked out, but she didn’t at all and just played around and around.  She had a “Ball”!This miniature horse was the only animal Evie dared to touch in the petting zoo at the fair.  I think she was more comfortable with it because this summer she has been riding horses, and so even though it was the same size as another animal in there, because it was a “horse” she knew she liked it.  The very last activity was that each child got to pick a ride.  Evie & Jakey went on a bounce-house slide a few times, and then this boat ride.  They each chose their boat, and after 1 turn around Evie realized that jake was in a pink boat, and she wanted a pink boat.  She screamed and cried the rest of the ride.  Luckily no other children were in the ride with them and luckily she didn’t try to stand up or get out.  It was a fun, and fabulous and long day at the fair!It was so sad to have a family of cousins go home, and the others start school…but, what a fun summer with them!

Summer Family Vacation

We had a wonderful Summer vacation a couple weeks ago!  we went to our cabin in Southern Utah and while there, Justin & I took off to see Grease at Tuachan Theater in St. George, and the next day my family met us (with Evie) and we watched The Little Mermaid with everyone.  What a fun vacation up in the mountains.  I didn’t even take very many pictures….

The little Mermaid was adorable!  I was a little worried about a 2 year old’s response (the show didn’t start until 8:45), but she stayed awake the entire time and loved it!  She also loved roasting marshmallows!  Doesn’t every kid love that!?!?

Pioneer Day Celebrations

Our pioneer day celebrations started on Thursday when we visited the Days of ‘47 parade float preview party.  All of the floats were displayed in an exhibit room and they had a marching band going around the room playing songs.  It was so festive!  Most of the floats had information about creating their float and then they had some sort of interactive thing for the children.  This float was an underwater theme and so they had a girl with a mermaid skirt on sitting there for kits to have their picture taken.  She then handed them a seashell to take home.  It was darling! 

This float had a giant fisherman on it, and so behind the float they had a fishing pond for the kids!  They got a piece of candy to take home. 

at one place, they had this darling cutout to take a picture.  Evie & I smiled for the camera!

They had clowns making balloon shapes for all the kids who stood in line to wait for it…

….and we did!  Jackie & Evie both got a {floating} butterfly. What a fun event to visit!

Our adventures continued when we traveled to Panguitch to play with my family.  We went to a family reunion one of the days where we did crafts (we were in charge & did rock painting and decorating chipboard letters for kids/adults), rode horses, had a candy launcher throughout the day, a rubber ducky race in the creek, and fireworks at night.  What a fun family reunion celebration.  The most joyful thing for me was Evie’s reaction to horses.  At first she was unsure, but grandpa talked her through the saddle, and what it is for…and by the end of the day, she threw a fit when it was time to get off!  She literally rode them until the sun went down!  Thanks to her awesome cousins & Aunt B for riding with her and leading the horse around. you can kind of see the candy flying through the air in this shot. Setting off the candy launcher…Down by the river to watch the rubber ducky’s.  We didn’t win, but Aunt b won first and received a gift card to an ice cream shoppe.  We promptly used it! Thanks Aunt B

This was the highlight of the trip for Evie.  Saturday morning, most of us woke up early to drive back to the ranch for a 5K run.  It was such a beautiful morning and a chilly 39 degrees.  As we ran, it warmed up (of course).  We were rewarded for getting up early with cinnamon rolls and orange juice.  Thanks Dan, for organizing that event!