{8.23.2021 - 8.29.2021}

Snow cones are the best! // Axel lost his first tooth this week! 

Eli made himself a smiley face sandwich for lunch today! // The boys woke up to a bunch of balloons in their bedroom to celebrate Axel's birthday...the balloons only lasted about 20 minutes before they had them all popped. Haha! 

Axel requested a Hulk birthday cake this year! I think he turned out pretty good! // I love this picture of him getting ready to blow out his candles. 

He got lots of gifts! New cars, a new dragon, new books, new clothes... 

...and a new bike! 

I went in to check on the girls before I went to bed and found them like this! I'm really glad my kids have each other! // Joni found this picture that Lyla drew for Crystal when she was in the hospital. She is such a sweetheart and I'm sure Crystal loved it!

We didn't get very many beets this year, but the ones that we did get were HUGE! 

Rare moments caught on camera! 

{5.24.21 - 5.30.21}

I honestly never thought I'd be someone who just takes her kids to the lake to hang out for the day, but I love that this has become a new favorite summer activity. 

I am so glad we have this little spot so close to us and that it's just so easy to load up our beach toys (never thought I'd have a tote of "beach toys" in my garage either) and the kids and run to the lake for the day. 

The girls had their May Day program at school this week. It was really hot and the boys were pretty restless, but it was so fun to watch the girls do their little performance! And now that that's over...WELCOME SUMMER! 

We had to find a laundromat in Utah County that had enough machines for us to wash many sleeping bags at once. At said laundromat, there was a little coin machine that I let the kids pick a prize out of. Eli picked this...awesome?...tattoo! Haha! // Gardening season is upon us! Snotty noses and dirt do not mix well! 

I caught Lyla just lounging on the side of the garden box like this. She is such a glamorous gardener! // Alya caught a fish at Yuba!!She's so proud of herself! 

I love nights like these!!! // He is such a ham!!!

So is she! // Like father like son. My heart could explode! 

I mean!!!!

We went over to the Scandinavian Days festival. The kids got to sift for some gemstones/rocks/fossils/whatever was in the cup they dumped into the makeshift river! 

Admiring their collections! (Lyla//Alya)

Happy birthday Matthew! This guy is truly amazing! He has been through some really hard things and puts up with a lot from me. He works so hard for us and even though I give him a hard time about how often he goes hunting without us, I know that he loves to spend time with me and the kids and tries hard to give us opportunities to do things as a family. I hope he had a good birthday. (Also...that looks like too many candles on that dessert, doesn't it?! We can't be getting that old!)

 

{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! 

{8.24.20 - 8.30.20}

It was this crazy kid's birthday this week! 

He had the best reaction to all of his gifts! He was just so excited to be turning four!!

He asked for a crocodile cake this year. He loved it, but I love that he just loved that there was a "4" on the front! 

He is so excited for his new Spiderman suit! // He got some Lego sets and was very patient working with Sarah to put some of them together. 

Axel's little frog! // Lyla was most excited to make this little sea horse. 

Alya was very excited to make up her own little under the sea creation. // We went to the Grazing Pasture with Matthew to check some cameras for his upcoming elk hunt. The kids, of course, found as many grasshoppers as they possibly could and were very upset with me for not letting them keep them as pets. 

Soccer game side-line selfies! // This little boy is so busy and all boy. Any stick he picks up becomes some kind of weapon.

More soccer game side-line selfies with Alya! // I love that Lyla loves rocks the way that she does. She is very good at seeing the beauty in ordinary things...even if that means there is a small pile of rocks in every room of my house. 

This is one of my favorite views as we come down into the Grazing Pasture. All of a sudden you come into this open space at the top of the hill and as you can see, the view is amazing! It's beautiful in all four seasons! 

Eli has been a rockstar on his strider on this bike track. // Why is this kid so stinkin' cute!! 

My little soccer star! Running is not her favorite, heat is not her favorite, but I'm proud of her for trying something new! // I made these cute little hall passes for my sister-in-law's classroom this year! She is doing llamas for her decor. I think they turned out darling! 

My little cruiser on the bike track! He does such a good job!