{9.20.2021-9.26.2021}

This week was a really big weak for these beautiful girls! 

The girls have chosen to be baptized! They looked so happy on their baptism day and I hope that they were able to feel the Spirit that I could feel around them on their baptism day. I hope that they will continue to know for themselves, and try to understand why we make these kinds of covenants with our Heavenly Father. I hope that they will continue to strengthen their testimonies of the gospel. I hope they will continue to strengthen their relationship with their Heavenly Father. I hope they always know how loved they are, and not just on their baptism day, but everyday! 

{9.13.2021-9.19.2021}

I love this smiley little boy! He loves to swing, and I think he's going to be so sad when he's too big for the "baby swing." 

Alya started her second year of ballet this week and Lyla started her first year of tumbling! They are both so excited and I am excited to see all their improvements this year! 

And my little girls are officially eight years old!! They are beautiful little girls and I hope they had a great birthday! 

The boys love that they get to play at the park while the girls are in ballet/tumbling! They are getting so brave and climbing to the top of the caterpillar! // The girls got to go have a birthday sleepover with Jeni this weekend, so Matthew took me and the boys to Strawberry to go see the salmon run! 

 

Of course we had to stop and look for bucks while we were out and about! But at least Dad found a spot that had plenty of piles for the boys to climb on. 

Rainy days sure make beautiful days! It was fun to see the salmon and spend some time with my boys!

{9.14.20 - 9.20.20}

The girls were so excited to bring their spotlights to school for their birthday week! It was a lot of fun to go through old pictures with them and help them pick out what they wanted to put on their posters. 

My girls are seven. I can't even believe it! They were pretty happy with their gifts, I think! They both got a new set of books. Alya got one about unicorns, and Lyla got on about dinosaurs. She also got a t-shirt with her favorite dinsosaur - a Troodon - on it. It's getting fun to buy them gifts as they are both figuring out the things that they like, we have been able to start to personalize their gifts a little big more! 

Lyla asked for a wolf cake for her birthday...

...and Alya asked for a fox cake. 

I love these pictures of her blowing out her candles! That prep!!!

Alya was given a cute little leotard as one of her gifts! And she got to start her first day of ballet on the same day as her birthday! She was pretty excited, and I was a little surprised at how emotional I got watching her walk into that studio to do something she has been so excited about!

My little bike gang! We decided to hit up the park one day this week to let the boys race around the bike track.

Spiderman...obviously he would be crawling on top of the piano, right? // My little hillbilly trying to hold on to his toothpick! 

This is about as much as we got from our garden this year...with the exception that we got about 10 more of those delicious little tomatoes and of course way too much squash and zucchini, and I was able to can a few pints of beans, but it was a pretty sad little garden. Hopefully next year we can get a little more luck! 

We had a wildfire pretty close to home!

Matthew has his dream job, which allows him to be on the mountain every week taking  care of some amazing property. The owners of the property let Matthew have one of their bull tags. I was pretty excited for him and I think he's pretty happy with this big boy! 

It didn't score quite what he wanted it to, but he is a good looking bull if you ask me! 

We went up to see my grandpa in his nursing home. He has been sick for a long time and he actually ended up getting Covid so we really thought we would be saying goodbye soon, so the boys and I headed up north after we dropped the girls off at school to go be with my dad and sisters. They ended up running to a gas station and they brought the boys back a super nasty sucker!! Axel thought it was pretty cool! // The boys and I met up with my cousin and her boys to go on a hike this week. The leaves are starting to change colors and it was absolutely beautiful! 

Axel and Jax! // Eli and Mama!

We didn't make it to the end of the trail...one day I plan to! But the boys had a lot of fun just climbing on everything and probably went twice as far as Kass and I by the time they ran ahead of us and then came back to us and climbed on every climbable rock! // I didn't know this cute little boardwalk was up this canyon, but I'm glad we found it! It was so cute! 

This is the cutest little bike gang I've ever seen! 

{8.17.20 - 8.23.20}

The girls started 1st grade this week. Thanks to Covid, and as much as I don't like it, they have to wear masks to school. I think they are kind of a novelty though and they have been excited to have new accessories! I hope they don't have to wear them all school year, but I don't have high hopes. 

I am not used to having to get kids ready and looking cute and out the door by 8:00 a.m. so we were kind of in a rush to get pictures done! This year they have Mrs. Jarvis. Lyla's favorite book is "That's Not My Mermaid". Her favorite colors are red, pink and purple. Her favorite food is pigs-in-a-blanket and when she grows up she wants to be a "draw-er." 

Alya is also in Mrs. Jarvis's class. Her favorite books are books with tabs that she can flip. Her favorite color is black and her favorite foods are macaroni and cheese with bacon and BLTs. When she grows up she wants to be an inventor. 

It's been a big week at our house! We are officially done with binkies!!! Eli decided he wanted to cut his last binkie and now he wants absolutely nothing to do with them! And look at those lips!!!

Eli brought a stick inside that he has just been playing with. He got quiet for a minute so I went to see what he was doing. He had gone and pulled a marshmallow out of the pantry and piles some toys into his "fire pit" and roasted a mallow! So funny! // He has also been cooking me dinner every night. He goes to our drawer and pulls out all the toy food, puts it in the strainer and sets it very carefully into the oven. Then he waits a few seconds and says "hot" while he waits. After a bit he lets me know it's done, so he pulls it out, puts it back in his bowl and we pretend to eat, then he puts it back in the drawer. Except for the one day when he forgot to pull a couple pieces out and I preheated the oven before checking if anything was in there. Oops!! I caught it before anything caught fire, but it made me nervous. 

The boys have been wearing their jammie shirts up on their heads like this and they pretend to be long eared puppies. It's pretty funny! 

Getting in couple more trips to Palisades before the weather starts to cool off! // He's doing so good on his little bike! 

I love these happy boys! 

Axel became fast friends with another little boy we saw at the lake. I think this was our first time at the lake by ourselves. It's always more fun to have friends, so thank goodness Axel was able to find one! 

How cute is that face!? He's pretty excited about the new truck Nana got him for his birthday! 

{6.22.20 - 6.28.20}

If I were to tell you that Matthew took three sets of family pictures in one year, would you ever believe me?! Well, it happened! These are the first family pictures (with just my little immediate family) we've had since our wedding day! I am so happy with them! 

These kids are my everything! 

My sweet little Lyla! She is my tender hearted, animal loving, crazy, silly girl! 

Alya, my Munchkin! She is so kind and loving, a great big sister, goofy girl! // My little Eli! My baby boy - who refuses to be a baby! He's all boy! He's my song singing, superhero loving, sword wielding warrior.

Axel Bo Baxel! He is so creative, artistic, talented little man! 

I love this guy and I am so glad we have this crazy, crazy life together! 

How cute is this!? This bond!!! I hope it's never broken!

Alya took a nose dive on her scooter this week! (I'm SO glad it was after we had our pictures taken!) She was cruising and landed right on her face. Not even her hands broke her fall. It was the scariest thing I have ever watched! She has a pretty good shiner but thank goodness she is okay!

Eli is my little helper every morning when I go out to water the bushes and trees! He loves it and I love that he wants to help! // Matthew took us for a drive! We went looking for a spot to take our friends for our annual summer camping trip and ended up where I shot my little buck last year. It's such a pretty spot! 

This was a fun moment to walk up on! The boys were just hanging out on the stairs and Axel was reading Eli a story! I say it all the time, but I absolutely love moments like this! 

I love this happy brown eyed boy! 

And this wild child of mine! 

Her poor face!! 

This picture is Lyla to a T! Her crazy sense of style, all her collectables hooked onto her purse with the crazy hair to top it all off!