My favorite boy

Cole and I recently did a little photo shoot around the farm. He had some good ideas of his own that we were able to incorporate! You can see the rest HERE. I tried to get Cole into head start this year but we were too late so we're stuck on a waiting list. In the meantime we are working on his letters, numbers, shapes, colors, etc. at home and going to start martial arts next week! He's excited to take what he calls "ninja-turtle" lessons. I think he'll really enjoy it and it will give him an opportunity to make some little friends his age.

Rylee's 1st day of School

Rylee started the first grade a few weeks ago. I can't believe how big she is (I know, all mom's say that). But she looks so grown up. She loves her teacher and so far she tells me that she has made six new friends (I guess she's keeping count). She loves being able to have lunch at school and sit with her friends and all the extra recesses she gets since she's there for so long now. She has also started dance as well. She is taking jazz, ballet, and tap (thanks to a grandma who owns the dance studio in town). So far she loves it all and is excited to have her grandma as one of her teachers. Recital will certainly be busy for her this year with three performances!

Fun in Montana

While we were visiting my parents in Montana, my dad gave the kids a tour of his work lab and they loved it. My dad's a dental technician and they thought all the teeth were so cool. My dad and one of his employees helped the kids make in-prints of their hands in some of the modeling clay along with the fun eye-glasses and rubber-glove balloons. They even got some teeth souvenirs that you can see Cole sporting below.

We also visited my Aunt Shannon who gave me a few zucchinis to take home. One of them didn't make it when I let Gracie hold it in the car. This is what was left of it.

Cody and Kate got married

Just a few weeks before my brother got married, Justin's brother got married! Our lives have been full and busy this summer! It's been fun getting to know our new sister-in-law and we welcome her to the family.

My brother got married!

My little brother, Adam, got married to Kaycee a few weeks ago and so me and the kids packed up and drove up to Montana. My mom flew down to drive with us and I am so grateful for her help. Rylee got to be the flower girl and Cole was the ring bearer. They were so cute all dressed up, but of course, couldn't have been more bored with the ceremony. So because of their good behavior, we went for ice-cream in-between the wedding and the reception. At the reception they had a good time eating all the yummy food and dancing. And since the DJ was taking requests, Rylee requested the chicken dance. Even Gracie got into that one!

HOLY COW!!!

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I've blogged. Seriously! I've never gone this long between posts before! I have so much to share with all of you but so little time to do so. I'm going to dedicate 1 whole hour later this week (hopefully tomorrow) to catching up on my latest and greatest news. But I have been keeping up on all of your blogs, even if I haven't left comments. Love to hear how all my family and Arizona friends are doing. Until tomorrow! ??

Don't worry, we're still here

I don't have any pictures to post just yet, but we did make it to California and are slowly getting our lives back in order. I love the weather and being on a farm. The kids are loving being able to spend so much time out doors and all their fun new chores, such as, gardening, picking vegetables from the garden, feeding the chickens, riding the golfcart to go find blackberry pushes for a special treat, and all the other fun things that come along with being on a farm like riding on tractors playing in dirt all day long!

There will be pictures soon, as soon as I can find my camera hookups. Till then!

Some last minute fun!

My parents were here visiting this last weekend and we had so much fun! We went swimming, shopping, eating, game playing, show watching, rough housing, and overall had a great time. My parents even took all three of our kids to a movie so Justin and I could have some much needed alone time. It was great. We finally got to go check out Dave and Busters for a bit and had a good time. Here are a few of the pics that I took. Most of the pictures are on my mom's camera so I'll have to wait for those ones.

Swimming

We have some of the very best people in our ward at church and one of those couples is brother and sister Allen. They are so sweet to open thier home to so many of us to use their swimming pool and backyard. So, while my parents were here, we took advantage of that and had a morning full of fun wetness! Rylee loved the diving board! Gracie thought it looked like a lot of fun, but once she got on it, looked down and saw how far down her daddy was before he would catch her, she quickly changed her mind and made due with jumping in from the side instead. Cole loved wearing his little arm floaties and the freedom of being able to swim around the whole pool with them on. Rylee also started to climb up the slide, but quickly decided against that when she got near the top and saw how far down the ground was. It was super fun and I can't wait till we go again!

Good Thing We Like Pretty Things !!!!!