Happy Birthday Abbey!

My little girl is 8! I can't believe it!!! Happy Birthday Abbey! We started of the crazy day with her opening presents from us. She wanted books and to get her ears pierced. She also got a Taylor Swift cd and some magnetix. Our family has almost every song on the cd memorized by now! :) As Abbey was opening her presents Landen sat with his pretend camera and directed her to say, "Cheese!" and to look at him! It was so cute! Bryce took a picture of him taking a picture of Abbey.

This is the year for a friend party and with the 100 degree days a water party worked out perfectly! Abbey has some fantastic friends and I couldn't believe that with 12 girls there weren't any "cat fights'" rude remarks or power struggles. They were all very polite and so much fun to have over! Abbey chose snow cones and chocolate chip cookies for her birthday treats and they were a hit!

Once we had the party cleaned up we headed off to the mall to get Abbey's ears pierced. Her cousin, Hannah, came along for fun and good moral support. Abbey seemed nervous but wouldn't admit to it. She quickly picked out the earrings she liked and was ready to get the show moving. She didn't even flinch when they did it! She has been contemplating having them peirced for a few years and has seen too many girls screaming and crying in the mall to have her commit until now. She looks really cute with them pierced and has LOVED taking care of them and looking in the mirror at them.

Abbey is very sweet, helpful, shy, talkative (I know that sounds weird to be talkative and shy... but she is both), independent and an artist. She is an excellent big sister to her brothers andwe can hardly wait for her to be able to babysit for us!!! :)

Some of Abbey's favorites:

*Reading

*Doing art projects

*Chocolate!

*Money - she is a good saver!

*Playing the piano... but not practicing!

*Singing

*Gymnastics

*Swimming

Some of Abbey's dislikes:

*Cleaning her room

*Not being in charge

*Chinese food

Happy Birthday Abbey!!! We hope you had a great day and we love you so much!!!

Signs of Summer...

I just love summer! Here are some reasons why:


FHE waterfight! Is it fair that Bryce has a hose???


Cheering Braxton on in t-ball.



Braxton did awesome on his team this year. He can throw the ball really well. Watch out!

Bryce was practically the unofficial assistant coach. It was nuts trying to get all of those kids to pay attention and to understand exactly what to do. They had enthusiastic coaches (Thanks Havilah & Victor Johnson!) which made it so fun.







*LATE NIGHTS IN THE BACKYARD WATCHING THE KIDS DO TRICKS ON THE TRAMPOLINE

*BBQS ON THE DECK

*THUNDERSTORMS

*OTTERPOPS!

It has been a fantastic summer so far. We have had a million things going on and it is flying by WAY too fast.

I chopped it off!

Trying to keep up with 4 kids has been a bit of a challenge for me. One frustrating aspect was my hair. It has enough curl that I have to blow it dry, round brush & flat iron it for style... but not enough curl to let it blow dry into gorgeous curls anymore. I had to spend at least a half an hour each day just on my hair and it couldn't be interrupted if I wanted it to turn out well. Even after all of that effort I didn't like it on most days. Well I had had enough! I finally got the guts to chop it off. Ok... I will be honest. It took me 2 seperate hair appointments within 2 weeks to get the guts... but that is beside the point. Here is a picture of me with my new do!



This new hairstyle has been a lifesaver! I don't spend more than 10 minutes total on my hair now and I like the bit of sass it has. I am also a much more relaxed mom cause I am more willing to go to the pool and such on the spur of the moment and I don't have to be depressed that all of my hard work on my hair just went to waste. (Stupid I know but it bothered me.) I do miss my long hair and maybe one of these years I will grow it back but for now I am loving this liberating feeling.

Happy Birthday Landen!

Landen is finally 3! He has been anticipating his birthday for a VERY long time and has consistently asked for trains and super hero guys (along with and entire outside swing set, a snow cone shack, and all the other things we pass on a whim.) I did have to laugh when he wanted a snow cone shack... I wondered if he even had any idea what it was.

Anyway, we celebrated his birthday a few days early and combined it with Strawberry Days for a big BBQ get-together. We had a great time eating, opening presents and having a MASSIVE water fight! Not to many went home dry but hopefully everyone went home happy!

Landen almost missed his entire party. The night before he slept out on the trampoline with Bryce, Abbey and Braxton. They stayed up really late and were up really early with the sunrise. Landen fell asleep on the short drive home from the Strawberry Days parade and slept through the lunch portion of his party. We woke him up to open presents--which took him a minute to decide he really wanted to open them. He quickly got into the birthday spirit... only to fall over in his chair and get all teary. A few presents cured that incident and the party continued on. I was only able to get a few pictures cause my battery died on my camera-- it had been a long and crazy week!!!

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Happy Birthday Landen! We love you so much!

Some of Landen's favorite things:

*Superhero guys

*Playing ALL BY HIMSELF! (no siblings)

*Playing with his neighbor friends

*Beating the other kids in a race-- he so badly wants to keep up with everyone else!

*Fruit of all kinds

*Reading books with his mom

*Riding dirt bikes with his dad

*Watching Dinosaur Train on tv

*Chocolate chips for going potty in the toilet

Some of Landen's dislikes:

*Rootbeer floats

*Having to actually sit down to eat something

*Chores--specifically making his bed and getting dressed

*Snarls in his hair