Our First!

In January I took the 3 oldest to Dr. Simister's office, the local orthodontist in town. After x-rays and exams it was determined that Madelyn would need braces first followed by Emily and then maybe Hunter. If we could get our money tree in the backyard to grow we could do all three at the same time but until that happens we're doing one at a time. 

This was the best close-up picture I could find of Madelyn pre- orthodontics. In April after we received our tax refund we paid for everything outright and let our 1st ortho experience begin. 

An expander was attached to her upper back teeth with the intent of expanding her pallet. Every night for 22 day's we gave it a little turn making it spread a little more. At 22 day's her pallet was where it was suppose to be and we played the waiting game for 6 weeks while her pallet hardened a little bit in it's new form. 

And then the much awaiting day came. We got braces. This girl was so EXCITED! I sure hope that excitement keeps. Its amazing to see the difference in her teeth already. With the upcoming 4th of July she chose her 1st bands to be red and blue. We were told that she would probably be very sore and need some Tylenol. This girl did great. Never complained once, never asked for any meds. Has been eating just fine with nothing get "stuck" in the braces. We aren't much of a "candy" family so staying away from the sticky sugars haven't been a problem. Love this girl of mine!

Cox Cousin's Visit

We just had a fun, 3 day visit with some of the Cox girls.

These 2 cuties participated in Dixie College's Volleyball Camp this summer. 

It was Mon-Wed 9 am-3 pm.

They were some long day's for these 10 year old's.

On day 1 while the big girls were at their camp these 2 did a craft. They traced their hand and with drawing lines a certain way it makes there hand pop out a bit in a cool 3-D way. Both girls are going to submit this cool drawing to their own county fairs this year. 

They also spent some time outside rollerblading. Love that there holding hands.

After the art project was done I took them all to the splash pad to play in the water.

I love how the water looks in this one right before it hits Rachel!

  Day 2 after the big girls got home from camp we hit the city pool. We played for 3 hours!

Madelyn & Ruth

Emily & Rachel

Kylie

Brayden

On day 3 we planned a full day in St. George while the girls were at camp. We invited Jamie and Brionney to tag along with us. We hit the summer morning movie at the movie theater with popcorn and drinks. Following the movie I took everyone to the Children's Museum.

Jamie liked milking the cow. 

These 2 pretended to work at the post office. 

Kylie and Brionney drove the farmer's truck. 

In another room...Jamie was the pilot while the girls were passengers on the airplane. 

They were going on vacation. 

Brayden dressed up as a knight. 

While Kylie was a princess. 

These 2 built snowmen/women in the Frozen themed room. 

When we were through with the museum we went next door to the splash pad and had a pic-nic lunch. 

I sat under the shade of a big tree and played with my camera settings. I took it off "auto" and mixed things up a bit.  

I know my sister Sheri will love this picture of her son, NOT! I like the story it tells. Is this not something typical we see from most little boys. I love the wrinkles on his fingers from all the water play. 

Beautiful Brionney, with jelly on her cheek.

By the time everyone was worn out at the splash pad it was time to pick up the bigger girls. 

On our way home we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa's to pick some apricots.

I love fresh apricots. 

A few hours later Harmony and Dustin showed up to pick up their girls up. 

It was a great 3 day's while it lasted. 

Hoping to do it again next year.

Lake Powell

A week after school got out our family took our 1st family vacation for the summer. With two other families we camped out for 3days/2nights at Lone Rock in Lake Powell.

Having never been there before we didn't know what to expect... but oh the fun and memories made in those few short day's. 

We camped out right on the sand with the water lapping right in front of us. 

These girls tried playing volleyball. Would love to buy an actual net for the sand for our next trip. 

We basically lived in our swimsuits for the 3 day's. 

We went through an entire bottle of sunscreen.

This isn't like our usually camping.There are no tree's to offer shade. What shade we had we brought with us. 

These two were twins. Same age, and had the same swim suit without knowing it until this trip. 

I hope Secoya and Madelyn remain friends for a very long time. 

The dad's made our very own slip n' slide with some heavy duty plastic.

Cody brought an old water pump that kept the plastic wet for the kids. 

The dad's tossing the kids down to help them catch momentum.

 Madelyn taking a turn out on the paddle board.

Hunter

Emily practicing her swimming.

Hunter was great at helping Kylie take a ride in the kayak. He would pull her up and down the coast.

One a night we built a fire just for fun!

We definitely did not need the warmth. It was plenty warm during our stay.

The aftermath of s'more makings.

We had 3 7/8 year old little girls running around. They got along so well!

Despite the warm weather we experienced we had some crazy storms. Our first night was Kory's birthday and I had a cobbler in the dutch oven baking when  a wind storm blew in. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. I was so glad we weren't tent camping but had brought Kory's enclosed trailer to stay in. The wind storm was so bad that campers in tents next to us packed up and left. We enjoyed our cobbler that night in the trailer instead of outside around a fire. 

The next afternoon we didn't get a wind storm but a little hail storm. It started off raining and then turned into hail the size of a dime. Again, I was pretty thankful for the trailer we had brought. The sun was out the entire time during these crazy storms. As the storm moved on we came outside shook the rain/hail out of our lawn chairs and enjoyed the sun once again.

Later that night another quick rain storm came and went. Gave me a beautiful picture that night at dusk.

Kory and I took at turn out on the paddle board too. It was fun! 

The Goodfellows brought their boat so everyone got a turn on a boat ride. The guys got up one morning a little early and tried their hand at fishing. We boated up the river several miles and went on a hike. It was such a great, cheap weekend get away. I'm so glad we went. We all had a great time. It was sunny, it was hot but then these little monsoon's came in dropping the temps a bit and we went on enjoying the great outdoors. It took us about 2 hours to get to Lone Rock. I had no idea how close we lived to Lake Powell. We will definitely be going back again.  

My Baby is 3!

My baby turned 3!

How did this happen?

She is growing up to quickly for my liking.

Kylie was so excited for her birthday. She and big brother, Hunter, worked on holding 3 fingers up to show her age. She was thrilled to be told over and over she was getting presents and new toys to open. I don't think she really understood what it all meant until she had all these presents in front of her and I was only allowing her open them. 

Sofia magnet dolls. 

Every 3 year old needs a new baby doll.

Her favorite gift was a new tube of princess toothpaste given to her by Madelyn.

The birthday girl and her loot.

Emily went through some of her own toy's and passed them down to Kylie using a gift bag. 

My baby girl loves My Little Ponies, Dora and playdoh.

Her favorite color is pink.

She loves "panpakes" for breakfast.

Her favorite lunch in Mac n'Cheese.

For dinner she loves rice.

She loves "nanas" (bananas). She'd eat them all day long if I let her. 

They are the perfect snack or treat for her.

Kylie loves being outside. Riding her bike with her older siblings is her favorite. She also loves playing with squirt guns with everyone and going to the cities swimming pool. She's becoming quite the little fish. She also loves going to the park to "swing."

She enjoys looking at books and having them read to her. She loves the Dora books we check out from the library. She also enjoys it when her big sisters pull out their nail polish and gives both her toes and fingernails a make over. Kylie loves nursery. It probably helps that she's got the best nursery leaders ever! So glad that this little one is part of our family!

Happy Birthday, Princess!

Schultz Visit

School got out for us on a Thursday. That Saturday our best friends for forever arrived for a mini- 4 day vacation. The only thing that would have made it better is if the 2 men would have been around. Kory came and went with work and Kevin stayed home in Arizona due to his work. Next time...

We of course had to go to the splash pad. Love the interaction between the 12 year old and the 4 year old.

Brayden loves the water shooting up his shirt.

Emily and Jenna, still great friends even though they don't live across the street from one another anymore.

Little Gunnar, with a smile of his face.

After the splash pad went to Swig to help cool us off. It was everyone's first time, except Hunter. The kids loved the snow cones.

April and I spent what I'd like to say hours and hours (but I'm sure it wasn't quite that long) filling up water balloons. It seemed like in just a few minutes all that hard work was gone. We tried dragging it out a little bit with a few games.....

Here's Josh.... 

Water balloon volleyball, 

duck, duck splash 

and then ended in a good old fashion, water balloon fight.

Our visit just happened to fall over Memorial Weekend. So we planned a bbq and invited Melissa and Dan Stewart over. Dad had to work but Missy and the kids came.

Some of the boys, of course electronics were played.

Two of the girls playing cards.

Then they decided they wanted another water balloon fight. The big boys took the time to fill up some balloons and then 14 kids took to throwing balloons at each other.  Fun, fun, fun. It was great for us "moms" to sit around the table reminiscing about the good old day's when our husbands were in school and we were some young, stay at home mommies with our preschooler's. 

Another day we went to the Children's Museum. My kids loved the farm room. They could play vet, farmer milking his cow, reaping from the garden or collecting the chicken's eggs.

Emily and Kylie's favorite was the grocery store.

The boys enjoyed working on the car.

These 3 dressed up and put on a few plays for us to watch.

Who doesn't love bubble's?

Energy!

Little girls loved the Frozen themed room.

Lucky for us there was another splash pad next to the museum. Had a picnic lunch and some more sun time

The day's went by too fast. I miss my April. We've been friends for 10 years now. We've been in the same ward, lived across the street and have been separated by many miles but our friendship remains intact. I love getting together and getting caught up with each other's lives. 

Friends forever!