Camping Family Reunion

We went camping in southern Utah.

It was a big family reunion with Jared's family.

We had a lot of fun.

It was cold at night though.

Hot during the day.

Other then temperatures not being what we liked.

It was a pretty good time.

We did have a few mishaps.

Mishap #1 taking 5 hours to get there!

It is only supposed to take 2 hours.

Don't always trust your GPS on your smart phone.

I don't take the blame for this one though.

I printed off a map on how to get there.

If we followed the map.

We would have drove right to it.

Instead we followed a brother in law (who shall remain nameless).

He was following his "smartphone."

Wasn't so smart on that one was it.

Mishap #2 we had NO pump for our air mattress.

Our solution:  my poor husband.

He blew up, not 1 but 2!

He was so lightheaded after that.

I can't imagine why.

Mishap #3 Keira freaking out about where Bella was at night.

We brought Bella with us.

We figured she could sleep in the tent.

With us.

Everything was fine.

Until 3 AM

We hear "dad, I need to go to the bathroom."

After that , Bella got out of Keira's "bed"

Keira was NOT happy.

She wouldn't settle down about it.

The dog would NOT stay in Keira's "bed"

End result was me yelling at Keira.

I told her I would send Bella outside with the bears.

I told her I didn't want to hear another sound.

Every time I heard her.

I said "is that a sound I hear."

She stopped pretty quick after that.

We were pretty tired the next day.

Almost everyone in camp heard all the commotion.

We only got pictures of the one mishap.

We have our memories for the others.

We had 4-wheelers.

Connor's favorite!  

He didn't want to get off them.

Ever.

Big surprise!

The kids had so much fun playing with cousins.

Nyah even got to play with cousins that we never get to see.

The distant ones.

Jared's cousins kids.

She had a lot of fun.

I was glad to have kids her age to play with for her.

They had fun games planned for us.

It was very entertaining watching these games.

They even got Keira playing.

That surprised me, that she willingly participated.

She didn't throw a fit about it either.

Success!

There was a small pond nearby.

The kids kept catching frogs.

They had  so much fun doing it.

This boy, had little sleep at night.

We all did ha ha.

He didn't have a nap either.

He would NOT stop going.

He was SO tired!

This picture, you can see it in his eyes.

We went to see the kids at the pond.

This is how we found Jayda

Sitting in the pond.

I loved it.

There is just something about

seeing my kids explore

get down and dirty

just to play!

I love watching them.

Even if it means her being really wet.

and dirty.

The older cousins, found a way to make face paint.

Nyah was all over that idea.

Playing with more frogs.

Connor seeing,

and touching it.

Nyah's face cracks me up.

The VERY tired boys!

Look at this kid!

Look down.

at her shoes.

or, lack of them.

She didn't want her shoes on.

They were bugging her.

she walked everywhere

barefoot.

Like it was no big deal.

funny girl.

Poor dog!

She got tortured.

ALL weekend.

Of course,

it was all my kids.

doing the torturing.

These 2 were just laughing

and giggling

all through dinner.

It was fun to see them have fun together.

This is how we strap a 2 year old down.

He won't stop to eat if we don't.

He is so busy. 

All.

The.

Time

This kid got SO dirty!!

This was our view.

On the way home.

So many fires this year.

It's scary.

and sad.

Much needed sleep!  

He was gone within 5 minutes.

You can see Jayda behind him 

sleeping away.

We were all so tired!

Gotta love summer fun.

Playing.

Getting dirty.

Getting wet.

Seeing family.

Enjoying the sun.

BBQ's

Love summer time!

Sidewalk Chalk Festival

This year we went to the sidewalk chalk festival.
It was really fun and really cool.
There are so many amazing chalk pictures to see.

People are so amazingly talented.

That is definitely not something that I can even come close to doing.

They had music and a lot of different booths set up to see as well.

This one was really cool.

They let the kids sit on Captain America's shield.

This was Jayda's favorite.

Don't know what the look on her face is for.

Funny Kid ha ha.

Jack Sparrow is my hero!

It was neat watching them create these pictures.

I made them take a picture in front of my favorite ha ha.

I love Dr. Seuss!  

I love how the way they did it makes it look like a book.

The kids got to have a dance competition.

The winner got an Avengers pinata filled with candy.

Nyah was the winner.

Love watching her dance.

She really gets into it.

Nyah and her winning loot. 

Free Cotton Candy!

Yummy!

All the girls in our family (especially me) LOVE it.

The boys (Jared & Connor) not so much.

It was a lot of fun.

I highly recommend it.

The kids had a blast.

Jared and I had a lot of fun.

All in all a good time.

Happy Birthday Nyah!

This year Nyah turned 10.

We decided to let her have her first big sleep over.

I remember having sleep overs when I was younger.

I asked her what kind of theme she wanted for her party.

She wanted arts and crafts at her party.

I figured with that theme I would do rainbow colors.

With the help of pinterest, I think things turned out pretty cute.

Next was on to how many kids to invite.  

Nyah came to me with a list of 30 kids!

Yes, that’s right 30 girls.

I, in NO WAY wanted that many girls at our house.

First thing was first, we had to narrow down the list.

We narrowed it down to 17.

Ya, thats still quite a number of girls.

Her cake turned out pretty awesome.

It was 6 layers.

All the colors of the rainbow.

Not to mention, delicious!

I was proud of it.

We got to do arts and crafts.

There was  A LOT of little girls there.

We made wooden houses with scrapbook paper.

We made friendship bracelets.

We painted figurines.

It was crazy.

A lot of fun though.

THEN, there was the face painting.

Nyah really wanted face painting.

It got a little out of hand.

Thats what I get for turning 9-10 year olds loose with paints.

The sleep over part was pretty easy going.

There was playing and movies.

They weren’t to loud.

A success.

she got everything she wanted for her birthday.

There was jewelry.

A scooter.

A soccer ball.

A new book.

Not to mention some arts and crafts of course.

I think she had a great time.

End of School

SCHOOOOOLS. OUT. FOR. SUMMER!!!

We have been singing that line around our house this week.

We are so going to enjoy this summer.

The girls had a great time the last few days of school.

Jayda got to have a luau.

She was so cute about it.

When she got home.

She showed me how to do the luau.

Her teacher “Miss Hilary” was so great with her.

She actually gets to have her again next year.

Nyah and Keira had a fantastic week.

Nyah in particular.

We had our Fun Run.

Nyah earned a lot of money.

She earned the most money in the whole school.

I was so proud of her.

She worked really hard to earn all that money.

She got to be the first to choose a prize.

We had a real American Girl Doll.

That is what she chose.

She has wanted one for a long time.

She loves that thing.

The day of the run came.

Both my girls ended up getting to dunk their teachers in the dunk tank.

For the run the K-2nd graders all run a mile.

All the rest of the kids actually do a 5K.

I think it’s a great funraiser.

It promotes healthy habits.

At the end of their run, they got to enjoy some treats.

Bagels, fruit bars, and bananas.

The fire department was there.

They sprayed them all down.

That always goes over great.

The kids love it.

We had a great time.

It was a splendid way to end the school year.

"The Suitor" Starring Nyah and Keira

The girls got involved in a play this year.

It was put on by Keira’s Kindergarten teacher from last year.

I was very hesitant about putting Keira in this.

Her teacher assured me it would be just fine.

Nyah absolutely loved the play and really thrived being in it.

Nyah ended up getting one of the biggest parts.

She had to memorize a lot of lines.

Her part in the play was an angel influence.

Her characters name was Anela.

They gave Keira a speaking part.

This really made me nervous.

It was just one line.

Her characters name was Janna.

We had her trained like a robot.

Anytime, anyone would say the line that came before Keira’s,

She would automatically say her line.

It was pretty funny.

The night of the production came.

WOW!!!!!!

You know how when you go to a performance with kids.

There is always that ONE kid that everyone is laughing at?

Well, that would be Keira.

She got bored during the show.

She started to entertain herself.

The longer the show went on, the worse or funnier she got.

Afterwards perfect strangers were talking about how funny she was.

She asked us why we were laughing at her.

That’s what makes it funnier.

She doesn’t realize the attention she draws to herself.

She had a stuffed animal and she would fly it around the stage.

During singing numbers she would frolic across the stage.

She played with the microphone in the floor.

It made a loud noise.

It scared her.

The WHOLE audience laughed.

She stuck the stuffed animal down her shirt.

She danced with it in her shirt.

I was laughing so hard I was crying.

She definitely dances to the beat of her own drummer!

Nyah on the other hand, did AWESOME!!

That kid is a natural.

She was scared that she would mess up.

She always stayed in character.

In my personal opinion she did the best with her character.

Of course, I am biased

I really LOVED watching her do something she does so well at.

Something she loves to do.

She wants to do it again in the fall.

I am all for it.

I think we will have Keira sit this one out.

Can’t have her “stealing” the show every time.

It was so much fun watching their play.

Some of their teachers from school even came to watch it.

We got them both flowers for their performances.

PS There is more blog posts to come about the girls end of school and Nyah's birthday so stay tuned...

Happy Birthday Connor!

So, this is just about 2 months late.

Better late then never I guess.

I can’t believe Connor is 2!  

They grow up way to fast.

I know all parents say that.

It doesn’t make it any less true though.

Connor has been so much fun.

He gets into EVERYTHING!!

There are some days where 

EVERY. SINGLE. ELECTRONIC is plugged in.

I keep waiting for the day he is going to get electrocuted.

There is no keeping him out of them.

He escapes all the time.

We had to get a lock at the top of our door.

We call it the “Connor lock”

I keep waiting for the day when he 

figures out how to get out even with the lock.

He is OBSESSED with keys.

We got him his own set for his birthday.

He had a ton of fun opening all his presents.

He decided it was fun to throw them.

EVERYWHERE!

Good thing there was nothing breakable.

I found him a toy for outside, off KSL.

He likes it.

I think he would live outside if we let him.

He got a vacuum from uncle Blake.

He decided to vacuum Uncle Blake.

We got him his own lawn mower.

He pushes that thing everywhere.

His birthday theme this year was cars.

I had a hard time deciding what to do for him.

They didn’t really have any themes with keys.

They didn’t have any “electronic” themes either.

So, cars it was.

It makes me sad that the days of him being so little are numbered.

I want him to be my baby forever.

Of course I have said that with all my kids.

Sadly, they all continue to grow up.

I guess I will just have to enjoy it while it lasts.