{7.8.19 - 7.14.19}

This photo was actually taken in June...I was able to go on a hike to Kanaraville Falls with some of the young women. It was so fun! We only had a couple of falls but no one was hurt too bad. It was beautiful! And Matthew and I actually went under a waterfall!! It was so cool!  

Some of the awesome young women leaders I get to serve with!  

We had a chalk war with the bishop at girls camp. It was very fun and it was very fast! The chalk was gone in just a few minutes! This group of girls is awesome and I am so glad I have been able to go to camp the past few years with them!

He picked out his own outfit today. Overalls, long sleeves, his Pooka shell necklace and ball cap! He is just too cute! 

{7.1.19 - 7.7.19}

My girls brought me breakfast in bed! Lots of butter and sugar on a piece of bread (not toasted), a popsicle, an almost too ripe banana and a warm Pepsi. It was still one of the best breakfasts I've ever had!   

I think my pictures are a little off... we went to Idaho for the Fourth of July and then we left the kids up there while I went to girls camp for a week. So these pictures are mostly from the week that I was gone.
The kids got to go see Aladdin and the girls LOVED their Jasmine hair!  

I'm sure there were lots of snuggles and lots of tantrums! But I think everyone had some fun! // They got to go to Downata Hot Springs and the kids loved it! 

He's just so cool! // Eli doesn't usually love the swings but he sure looks pretty happy right now!  

Axel is just too cute! 

{6.24.19 - 6.30.19}

Oh, Axel! Such a silly boy! Also, very handsome!  

We met some friends at the splash pad this week! They had so much fun! 

I made this piece for one of my burnt June prompts. #earth/air/water/fire

Eli insisted on feeding himself for dinner. He did pretty good using the fork! // The Manti temple is so pretty! 

{6.17.19 - 6.23.19}

 Axel fell asleep on his couch the other day with his head on the ottoman. I went in to take a picture of his just as he was waking up and as he stretched and moved he just fell right off! I caught this picture just as his head was hitting the ground. Oh man, it was funny but he was not happy! (He didn't fall that hard, I promise!!)

I turned the sprinklers on for the kids again and they all thought it was great! They let me turn it up to where even their faces were at least getting splashed. Eli had a blast!!! He thought it was just the greatest thing! 

Grandma and Grandpa came down to stay with the boys so Matthew and I could take the girls to see the pageant since this is the last year in production. I think they had fun! Alya's favorite part was "all of it but especially all the angel and Jesus." Lyla's favorite part was "the part where Jesus came down and the children got to run to him." 

The primary also has the chance every year to go help pick up garbage the morning after one of the performances and when they announced this in primary a couple weeks ago the girls were so excited to go clean up the temple grounds! So we got up early on Friday morning and went to the temple. They did so good walking around picking up garbage! I was so glad they were so excited to go do a little bit of service!

We made a paper chain to help count down the days until the girls were done with pre-school. It's been quite a challenge lately to get them at all motivated to do school. I think it made it so hard for them when they realized that their friends were all done with school so they just really didn't want to have to keep doing it. This week they got to tear their final chain off the wall! // Axel is getting pretty good at his winking skills! 

We headed to the park today after summer lunch and had so much fun! Eli loved the swing, which was a little surprising to me because he usually doesn't love it...he tolerates it, but doesn't seem to like it much. But today he did! And he was just so darn cute!  

The girls had their little pre-school graduation this week! They were so funny! We kind of went our separate ways after we signed in so the kids could all go take their final testing. When they were done with their tests they got to come into the room all the parents were in one at a time and pose under the balloon arch. Each child was introduced by the Upstart staffers..."This is Lyla. She just graduated from Upstart and she wants to be a doctor when she grows up." // "This is Alya. She just graduated from Upstart, and she doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up, but her favorite food is macaroni and cheese with bacon." Haha! Also, she walked down the hall and stood there with this look on her face the entire time! It was so cute!  

I think they are pretty excited to be done with school and they cannot wait until Kindergarten!  

 Here is my burn for "historic"

 I made a couple of tweaks to it after I posted it on social media. I added a few more details to the tree on the left and obviously put our last name and the year we were married. I think it's pretty! 

 This is a commissioned piece I finished! She has a son name Max so she is going to put this in his room above his bedroom door! 

This prompt was for trees. I decided to free-hand this one instead of sketch something out and transfer it onto the wood. It's far from perfect but I'm pretty happy with it! It was good practice if nothing else! 

At the park there is a little dirt BMX-type track behind the playground. The kids luckily rode their bikes to the park that day and actually spent most of their time motoring around the track. They were so brave and did so good and I was very proud of them! 

{6.10.19 - 6.16.19}

This Sunday was Father's Day and I had the kids answer a little questionnaire about their dad. Then the girls got to answer another one at church. When Matthew got home he read through their answers and I captured these pictures of the girls listening to him. I thought they were pretty cute! 

Here are Lyla's answers:

My dad is 18   years old.

He has brown   hair and brown   eyes.

His job is working for EcoLife . 

For fun he likes to play with us . 

His favorite team is both of ours. 

His favorite color: brown 

His favorite place: his mom and dad's house and fishing with us. 

His favorite song: the Father's Day song. 

His favorite car: our SUV. 

His favorite fruit: blueberries. 

His favorite drink: ? 

He likes to camp, fish and play   with me.

He loves to eat fish. 

He is really good at hot potato. 

He always says: baloney 

He is happy when we are nice. 

He is SUPER because he takes us camping and fishing. 

I love him because he's so nice. 

Here are Alya's answers:

My dad is  8...no 89...no 38...13   years old.

He has brown   hair and brown   eyes.

His job is working. 

For fun he likes to opening presents (because he had fun opening his Father's day present).

His favorite team is us! 

His favorite color: blue 

His favorite place: work 

His favorite song: the Coyote Song 

His favorite car: the SUV 

His favorite fruit: oranges

His favorite drink: soda pop

He likes to play   with me. 

He loves to eat: steak 

He is really good at playing hide and seek. 

He always says: boloney, and I love you. 

He is happy when I be good. 

He is SUPER because he fixes cars. 

I love him because he's nice to us. 

Here are Axel's answers:

My dad is 6   years old.

He has brown   hair and blue   eyes. 

His job is painting. 

For fun he likes to watch a show. 

His favorite color: brown 

His favorite place: primary 

His favorite song: Lamycony 

His favorite car: He loves to drive his truck

His favorite fruit: he loves to eat

He likes to paint   with me

His favorite food is he loves to eat 12345 food

He always says that he loves me. 

I love him because he shares his snacks. 

Eli found Axels' shoes and walked around the house all afternoon. He likes to grab his shoes and bring them to me to put them on him. He likes to be outside, but even if he's stuck inside with his shoes on, he's pretty content. // I thought Axel was out on the front porch one evening while I was fixing dinner...turns out he was in my bathroom in my makeup. Haha!  

Alya fell asleep doing school again. The little fit she threw about having to do school must have worn her right out! // Eli took full advantage of her being asleep and loved her the best way he knows how...by giving her kisses and pulling her hair!  

The same day Lyla wanted her training wheels off, Alya of course, also wanted her training wheels off. I thought for sure this would be interesting since she's a little more hesitant on her bike. We took her training wheels off and she did...okay, but she wasn't as good at it as she wanted to be, so she chose to play with friends instead of practice on her bike. When her friends left and she could see how good Lyla was doing on her bike, she was a little jealous, so she practiced and practiced and now she's also a little pro! It's so fun to watch them cruise around on their bikes! I think they do better without the training wheels!  

My next prompt for this week was mixed media. So the two mediums I combined were wood burning (obviously) and colored pencils. I love this piece so much! 

The next prompt was plant life. I found this little saying on google and got a pretty good chuckle out of it! 

And, here's a cute little video of my view while I am working on projects on my front porch!

{6.3.19 - 6.9.19}

Little man has learned how to blow kisses!!!! 

Summer is the best! My kids love playing with the neighbor girls. Axel still says Reese is his girlfriend. 

He's just too cute for his own good.  

Lyla came to me on Saturday morning and asked me to take her training wheels off. I thought for sure it would be disaster. But she did pretty good to start out and she practiced all day while everyone else was playing and before long she was a little pro!  

You guys that have to look at all my pieces on Instagram and Facebook probably don't want to see them on my blog too...but I just can't help it. I'm loving this new outlet I've found and I'm kind of proud of some of the things I've accomplished already and I want to keep seeing how I have improved and how I can still improve - because there is always room for improvement! This weeks prompts were Literature (above) and Animal. My literature piece is hanging in my boys' room! 

I gave my animal piece to my mom. She has always loved horses and has expressed an interest in decorating her living room in a rustic/western theme and I thought maybe this beauty would help her get started.  

I was practicing with some different ways of adding color to a piece for next week and Axel just loved this little piece of wood I was practicing on. He thought it was beautiful and wanted me to take a picture of it. Of course, I was more than happy to capture his little hands holding his art!

{5.27.19 -6.2.19}

These are the only two pictures I took this week. I wonder if Matthew has some others on his phone that I could steal from him. I started a new challenge for the month of June with my wood burning stuff. I will be creating/posting something new every other day for the month of June and I'm kind of excited! The first prompt was magical so I burned this little piece to hang in my girls' room. I want to teach them how important kindness really is and maybe this little sign can help remind them.  

My sister sent me this picture of little Turner. He is getting so big, but he is still so tiny!!