{5.11.20 - 5.17.20}

Matthew and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary this week!

We went down to Bryce Canyon, which is, of course, absolutely beautiful! 

I was able to convince Matthew to take a few trail hikes with me!

And one good thing about COVID-19 is that there were very few people in Bryce Canyon! 

We hiked to Milky Falls...

...which was pretty impressive! I can't wait to bring our kids back here!

We also hiked to Grosvenor Arch in Kodochrome Basin. This picture doesn't even do it justice! It was pretty crazy!

We hiked through a petrified forest. I can't believe how beautiful petrified wood can be! // This is a petrified tree in the park.

The colors are just so pretty and some of these pieces of "wood" are so big! 

Here is another shot of Grosvenor Arch. With us as scale you can get an idea of how big it is! 

As always, Bryce Canyon can just take your breath away! 

We did a lot of driving and you probably know how much Matthew and I enjoy taking pictures of all the wildflowers on our trips! We found some Oregon Grape and some Penstemon. 

Obviously there were some beautiful cactus flowers

I don't know what this one was called but we almost didn't even see the flowers because they were almost just camouflaged. // A little sego lilly. 

Some Cliff Rose and some pink Penstemon (I think)

And of course some cute little daisies! And I do mean little! // This is view from the top of Milky Falls. The water was moving so fast! It was so fun! 

We also drove into the little ghosttown of Widstoe and wandered into the cemetary and found some of Matthew's relatives! We found Charlotte and Carel Mangum who were Grandma (Anavoe Mangum) Barnes' Aunt and Uncle and their children, Zelma and Leon Mangum. 

(This picture is a little out of place but during our hike, which I will tell you more about below, I thought these boys were lost wandering around the backside of this giant rock!) // The kids loved spending the weekend with Jeni while Matthew and I were celebrating our anniversary! They all drew this cute little fire dragons from Frozen II and I am continually impressed with my girls' artistic skills! 

And they love that they get their own Sip-Its when their aunts come! I usually just make them share a big one! Haha! 

Eli was practicing his Yoga with me one morning. // I love all the pictures Axel draws for me! And I love how he writes his name! Look at his cute little lion at the top of the picture! 

Silly boys!! 

So we are going to try to hike, or do some kind of something with our friends, the Yardleys once a week all summer! This week we went on a hike near Mayfield and found some petroglyphs! 

Audrey's daughter is the girls' age and her son in Axel's age! We love having friends to explore with and I'm glad Audrey knows lots of places for us to go explore! 

Who even knew we had petroglyphs right here, 20 minutes away from our house!? 

These kids are all great little hikers and I am looking forward to more of our adventures this summer!

{5.4.20 - 5.10.20}

Eli turned two this week. It's crazy to me that he is already two! It breaks my heart and makes my heart feel so full at the same time to see my kids growing up! I love who they are and I love watching them grow. I just really do wish it would slow down sometimes, but with every milestone that Eli passes I may or may not feel like celebrating a little! Haha! 

He is pretty excited to have his own bike! 

He was so excited to open every gift and was thrilled with everything he pulled out of the wrapping! // He was just so happy with every little aspect of his birthday! I loved seeing how excited he was about everything! 

The cutest blowing out candles face that I have ever seen! // And he was so proud of himself!! 

We took some pictures of the kids in front of our pretty crab-apple blooms. I really do wish I was better with descriptions of my kids and their personalities, but this pretty much sums up the girls in a photo. (Lyla//Alya)

And the boys...Axel is so crazy and Eli refuses to look at the camera when I want him to. 

He did not like the bees flying around the tree. 

We went on a hike with my cousin and her kids! I love Eli's lip and Alya thought the new way to carry her backpack was pretty cool! 

There was a rope anchored in at the top of this cliff and the kids each tried to climb it! 

Lyla wanted to do it so bad! I love how brave and adventurous she can be! Maybe I need to get her some better hiking shoes! // Alya tried it, but she sure didn't love it. That's okay though! I'm just glad she still tries things even when she's afraid to do it! 

He's cute! // She made it! 

Eli wanted to carry all the sticks that he could find. // There were so many rocky hills for the kids to climb. They were all very steep and they all climbed up and loved it...coming down was different story! Haha! 

We decided we needed to get Bullet some exercise, so we went fishing so he could play in the water. He is such an athletic dog! It's fun to watch him in the water. There is no hesitation, he just goes for it! // I love you, miss Lyla! 

This kid!!!! 

Sometimes I try to make her fix her smile, but other times I love that she is going through this smile stage!! 

Alya can only smile or look at the camera. Both is hard. She is so cute!! 

Here he is, refusing to look at the camera for me. I think in the second picture I only caught his face because he was showing me a rock he was about to throw into the lake! 

We took my Mother's Day picture in our new room this year! Three out of four smiling is a win I would say! It's always an adventure to get this picture! 

Here is one wall in our new room! It still needs some furniture and we need to finish the bottom of the bookcases, but Matthew built those bookcases himself and framed out this wall and did all the mudding and taping and laid the flooring. Basically he has finished this room 100% by himself! It is looking so pretty! 

Eli is a little pyro and I'm a little afraid of this new skill that he has learned! 

 

{4.27.20 - 5.3.20}

 

Eli makes the funniest faces! When he closes his eyes like this, he's hiding. And obviously he was pouting in the next picture. I love those crossed arms!!

It's spring! Which means it's time to get our garden ready! I have had the best little helper this week! // I just can't get over how cute this child is! 

The girls found a little robbin's egg in our  grass, so of course we had to get pictures with it! They wanted it to hatch so bad!! They didn't believe me that it probably wasn't going to hatch. (Alya//Lyla)

(Axel, Eli)

Spring also means pretty blossoms in our trees! // We tried to go on a hike in Manti canyon, but there was too much snow so we couldn't make it to the spot we wanted to go, so we found a different spot to play around for a little while. The kids found some beautiful wildflowers for me! 

Axel, much like his sister, likes to collect everything. 

Lyla was so brave and walked across this gnarly log-bridge. // It was a pretty little spot! I'm glad we found it! 

I'm a little behind in updating my blog, but I try to post as if I'm posting on-time. But I can't with this picture. In real life, I am posting this in October, so this picture was actually taken 6 months ago and I canNOT get over how much Eli has changed in 6 months! He looks so little in this picture!! They are such cute kids though! I love when we get to get out of the house and explore and do fun things together. I truly think that exploring and doing fun things with my family is my happy place! 

Sorry for this morbid little picture, but we made it to the lake this week! I think we will spend a lot of time here this summer! The kids' favorite thing to do is to catch these little minnows. Unfortunately for the minnows, very few of them survive my children. // He thinks it's so funny to squirt me with his water gun, and I love the sunscreen not rubbed in on his cute little face! 

I was a little surprised that my kids actually played in the water! It was warm temps outside of the water but I'm sure the water was so cold!

Lake Palisade. 

The. Best. View!! 

Apparently it's been a while since I have applied sunscreen! Sorry Axel!! // Eli is just too cute!!

Look at those lips!!!!!

I love him so much! 

Walking around town isn't too bad!! 

I love him so stinking much!! He is such a sweet heart and my favorite little Axel. I love when he is just kind of hanging out near me. He likes to play around doing his own thing while I'm just doing my own thing and just out of nowhere he likes to just say, "mom, I love you." It's the absolute best!!! // Eli's growing too much! He has a lot of belly shirts right now! 

I love these wild little girls!! The airforce did their practice run for...I don't remember what for...but they flew over Ephraim today and we went to watch them! (The video of the flyover is posted below.)

I am about to have a 2 year old! 

Here is the video of the flyover!