Our Summer Fly-by

On Karla's birthday in June, we had a joint birthday party for the 3 sibs. Man, they are getting old! Hehe!

Everyone was decked out in the birthday garb, like the birthday hats, and we couldn't just wear them the normal way...

The bundle of cute cousins...

I bought a patio set from a friend who was moving for $50. Just added a touch of new paint, and voila! Like new!

My sisters and I threw Andrea (the middle child) a Bridal shower! Everyone was there with the exception of Des...we missed you!

And then, of course, there is the tradition of Ute Stampede.

Once the rodeo was over, they asked for the kids to join together on the grounds for a coin hunt. We encouraged Elena to do it and she took off faster than we thought she would. She found 2 half dollars. Then as soon as they were done, they called for women 18+ and Austin was practically shoving me over the rail. So of course I had to participate! The women were vicious! The were shoving and tripping each other, so I made out with 3 half dollars and called it good:)

We had a huge family party celebrating my grandparent's birthdays. It was great to see everyone. I just love my family and my grandparents so much!!!

Just some precious moments to me.

This is Elena on the last day of school. She was so sad kindergarten was over, but couldn't wait for summer spent at seven peaks!

The few weeks before the end of school, they sent home a paper letting the kids and parents know they would be having a school talent show and that the first one would take place in their own classrooms. Elena said she wanted to tell jokes:) So we had her practice a few funny jokes and she went to school and told them to her class. The teacher sent home another note saying that she had passed the audition for the school talent show and that she would need to audition one more time before she could perform for the school. What!?!? We obviously didn't understand the process before letting her participate, but she was elated and nervous at the same time to have to "try-out". Well, she made the second try-outs, and the last week of school she was able to tell her jokes in front of the whole school and some parents:) Some of her jokes were:

"What do you get when you cross an elephant and a fish?"..."Swimming trunks!"

"Why did the cow go to the dance?"..."So he could show off his dance moooooves!"

She was so funny! And she said she wasn't even nervous because "I knew that I was funny!" Haha!

 For FHE one night, we made the girls homemade stick horses. They were extra kits I had left over from girls camp last year. The girls loved them!!!

Early on in June, we went with Seth and Natalie on a hike up to Lisa Falls. It was a super easy hike that we could take the kids on and they were able to play in the falls.

We decided to push the girls a little further, and hiked up the mountain, alonside the falls. The views were amazing and the girls were such great troopers. We promised that we would be doing alot of hikes this summer, and have yet to keep that promise:o)

For Memorial Day, we spent the weekend with my parents, Dallen, Jess, and Kaden at the cabin. We did hiking, razr riding, techno dance partying, and lots of card playing. It was a great relaxing weekend.

Here Elena is with her Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Millet. For the Kindergarten showcase, the kids had to dress up in something that showcased their personality. Elena went as a tiger, naturally.

These Little Ladies

These girls keep me so busy and complete my life. Chanel doesn't get me to herself much anymore since we usually have a small handful of extra kids at our house lately. Especially now that Bug is out of school, we don't get out one-on-one time. However, we take advantage of the time we do get together. She was being so cheesy the other day, I had to snap some pics of her sassy-ness.

 This girl is getting so big, but WAY TO FAST!!!! She had a tooth that was loose for a long time, finally, while we were out to dinner one weekend, she bit into something and that was it...it either had to come out, or she would starve to death. So I tried to work magic on it like my grandma used to but couldn't get the string trick to work so I counted to three, gave it a quick yank, and it was out!

Elena was so relieved to have it out and couldn't wait for the Tooth Fairy to come! Of course, Chanel was there for every second of it cheering her on...

...she even wanted one of her teeth pulled, haha!!!

The Tooth Fairy brought Elena a gold dollar! She was so excited:)

 My silly little ladies :o)

Soccer, Baby!!!

Our Bug is playing soccer again this Spring. She was excited at first but now that we are about finished with the season, she seems she couldn't care less about it. I'm not sure if it's because she feels a little burned out. Afterall, she just finished swim and school for the summer and doing all of it at the same time might have had her worn out. Next time, I think we'll take it one thing at a time...

So far, her team is undefeated. She has some pretty great players on her team and even though I think she gets a little intimidated, she still does good getting involved in the game and helping out her team.

Our Easter

This year we spent Easter Saturday at Young Living Farms. They had an easter egg hunt (more like an easter egg pick-up) and the girls got some yummy candy, the one thing they were most excited for. We rode in a horse-drawn carriage out to the field where all the eggs were. Luckily it was a warm beautiful day.

We had to check out the livestock while we were there. The kids saw donkeys, llamas, buffalo, horses, and chickens. They even got to pet the rabbits and baby chicks.

Chanel cracks me up. She had to be doing everything the older kids were. If they were feeding the animals, she had to feed them. If they climbed up on the fence, she had to, too! She was their little shadow.

The kids got to ride on the ponies. I felt so bad for the animals. They had to carry around all those kids and it ended up being such a hot day. They were sweating and panitng, poor things...

... but the girls loved it! :)

Easter Sunday was spent at home. Nice and realxing, just the way we like it.

Recent Happenings

Elena has continued to take swim lessons since last fall and has loved it so much. I'm amazed at how much she has learned, I can guarantee she is a way better swimmer than I am:)                                                                               

One of Elena's assignments in school was that she was able to bring home a bear to keep for a week, and then we had to document everything bear did while he stayed with us in the "Bear Book". First thing, Elena had to show bear our UTE Pride by letting him wear daddy's Ute hat. Bear ate with us, went to Bug's swim lessons with us, story time, everything... The girls love having bear around for the week.



One of the first warm days of spring, Chanel couldn't wait to get outside to play. She had to try on Elena's roller skates, and with some help, she loved every minute of it:)

We planted a new tree in our backyard. It's a fruit salad tree! It will grow peaches, nectarines, and plums and we cannot WAIT for it to start to produce fresh fruit for us (which won't happen for a few years... oh well, we're still excited!)