Friday, September 22, 2017

{9.11.17 - 9.17.17}

I can't stand how much I love this!  
The girls asked if they could paint on some wood today. I think their projects turned out super cute! After Lyla saw Alya's grumpy smile pumpkin so wanted a grumpy smile for her flower. Who am I to say no?  
I am getting closer to being done with the girls' quilts!! // Don't let that face fool you. This kid LOVES strawberries! 
All three of them love this. Axel thinks it's hilarious and the girls are surprisingly really good at carrying him! 
My babies turned 4 this week! And I tried really hard to make them some cute unicorn cakes, but they turned out to be more of a fail than even I thought they would! Lyla told me, "if that's the best you can do..." (She wanted the eyes to be more than a line!)  
At least the rainbow effect inside worked for me!  
 They were not allowed to peek at their present in the garage!!
 They said "MY VERY OWN BIKE!!!"
Lyla loves her new bike! 
And so does Alya! They rode around the garage for days. They would come inside and play for a minute and then announce that they were going to go ride their bikes for a minute. This pattern went on for 3 days!
Lyla is sporting some of her new birthday clothes...and helmet! // He had to try on sister's new boots!
I've said it before...this boy loves shoes, and they definitely don't have to be his own! 

{9.4.17 - 9.10.17}

We had some fun adventures this week! I love "busy" weeks like this!
 On Labor Day we took a drive to Capital Reef
The kids had fun doing a couple of short hikes and pretending to be bears. Axel did NOT want to be held - surprise surprise! Lyla, however, did NOT want to hike sometimes! Haha!

The girls stacked their own rocks! 
 Lyla and the left, Alya on the right.
We found a little spring with this old broken down truck, so we played around a little! 


Alya was worn right out! I don't know how she sleeps on these bumpy roads! // Lyla was bright eyed and bushy tailed...maybe it's all the hiking she got out of doing! 
The views were gorgeous!  
If I remember right, this is a view of Cathedral Valley. 

We ended up in the pine trees and quakies for dinner. We got rained on a little but that won't stop these kids! They loved wondering around and playing with dirt and sticks! Especially Axel-who was buckled in his carseat for the majority of the day! He was such a trooper! // Lyla found a woodpecker feather!
The kids found a little haven from the rain and claimed it as their own hut! 


It's hard to get a good family photo with a good shot of the beautiful view in the background... 
Jeni invited us up to go through the Dinosaur Museum with her and Grandma! Axel loved it!! 
The girls loved the sleepover they got to have with Jeni afterwards! (They liked the Dinosaur Museum, too!) 
Axel and I got to enjoy some alone time while his sisters were at Jeni's house. I thought he'd be bored out of his mind without the girls, but he surprised me! He was very content the whole time! 
On Saturday we went and drove up Hell's Backbone on the Boulder Mountain. It was beautiful!! 
I don't know exactly where we were, but there were hundreds of lakes on this mountain. We found a couple of them and the kids had a lot of fun exploring. // Axel, of course, did not want any help getting over any of the logs and rocks.  
I love this blue eyed boy!! // And this silly Alya! 
Log walking! "Arms out for balance!" -Alya // Lyla 
Axel's turn on the log. He loved everything about this. The "balancing" and especially the jumping off! // Dad and Alya 
We found a pretty little waterfall. One of the perks of being on a mountain where there are tons of lakes! // We tried to fish at this little lake but didn't have any luck...but it was great to enjoy the scenery! 
 Axel was so done with being in his carseat, but he is such a pain to hold in the front seat. He just wants to pull on every lever and push every button and play with anything and everything he can see. So Dad let him sit on his lap. As you can see, he thought that was pretty cool!

I love these beautiful colors! As much as I like summer, there really is something so exciting about fall.  
For some reason I thought this was beautiful. Obviously there was a burn or something (maybe a bug?) that killed these trees, but I love all the new growth and all the colors. It was just kind of a testament to me that beautiful things come from hard times and change. 
While his dad and sisters were trying to find a spot to fish (with no luck) Axel and I got to have a little photo shoot!  
Can you see the road in the middle of this picture? And by road, I mean bridge. I think this is why this mountain is called Hell's Backbone. On either side of that bridge it is a straight drop off. But it was so pretty!! 
She's trying so hard not to smile! While the girls and Matthew were fishing Axel and I just wandered up and down the dock and up the stairs. Alya ended up walking up above where Axel and I were and she just stood there like this, watching. Something about the way she was standing made her look so big to me.  
We stopped for dinner and while we were eating, this owl flew right over our heads and landed at the top of that tree. He sat and watched us for a really long time. It was kind of cool!
On Sunday -we decided to play hooky from our regional conference and drove over to Strawberry to watch the Salmon run.  
It was pretty cool! We couldn't get too close to any of them so the pictures aren't what I wanted them to be, but it was still pretty cool! 

And obviously, since we were here we had to fish...or rather try to fish! I think the cold water surprised Axel a little! // I love this picture of Lyla. She's such a ham!
I wish this picture of Alya wasn't blurry, but it's still cute! // Axel loved throwing rocks. This kid is resilient! He had to have been cold since he got his bum so wet and then he was walking through the grass and thistle like it was nothing! Crazy kid!  
We may not be able to catch any fish, but Matthew is pretty good at catching crawdads!  



I love adventures like this! I love when we get to see new things and explore as a family! It makes it even better when the kids are on bored and have fun with it! (It's always worth it, I know...but sometimes the whining makes me wonder! Haha!)