Kylie's Bike Riding

We knew Kylie wouldn't be too far behind. On July 4th she decided she wanted her training wheels taken off. She did awesome and drove away just fine!

4 Wheeler

Our friends Lauren and Cody came for dinner last Thursday. They were so kind and brought their four wheelers. The kids love to ride around on them. I was hesitant and drove really slow with them on. Lauren however, brave, let the girls actually drive the four wheeler. They loved ever minute of it. I couldn't get a good picture of Tyler. I guess he was driving too fast. I just the thought the picture turned out really well!

random photos of braden

Just some funny pictures of Braden. I couldn't get the last one to turn the right way..sorry. But he loves having his arm up in the air. He is so funny. We took him to the dr last week. He is now 4 months old and weighs 13 lbs 14 oz. He is growing quite well. He kept smiling at the nurse and flirting with her like crazy. Boy did she feel bad when she had to give him his shots. Poor little guy. But he is doing great now!

Girls Hair

I found some little curlers at the dollar store. I think they were at the dollar store because they are "old fashioned." But I bought them and decided to try my girls hair in them. Some before and after pictures. The after picture doesn't do it justice, but it actually turned out very well.

Girls Dance Class

In June, a young woman from our ward was offering a dance class. It was only a two hour class and then a performance for the parents. Nothing major, but the girls sure did love it. They still remember the dance and love to perform it. However, where I was sitting, I wasn't able to get great pictures.

Catch up - aka longest post ever

A couple of months ago, our computer died. We tried everything to fix it. Allen spent lots of hours on line at work with tech support people...but nobody could help us. We decided it was a lost cause until my brother and his family came up this last weekend. Scott easily fixed it - it took a lot of time - but it seemed so simple for him. I am glad to know smart people.

Going back to April, the girls celebrated their 5th birthday. I did dedicate a post to just that - it follows this lengthy catch up one.

McKenna and Kylie also attended Kindergarten registration. How crazy for me to think about. They both did well. They went in and had a little test administered to them. At the end they got a packet of things to do over the summer. For every 15 activities that they do, we can take it in to get a prize. In this packet came crayons, scissors, glue, flash cards, etc. It was a very exciting day.

At the end of April we traveled down to Utah. My sister Amy and her family were visiting from Tennessee. We had a bbq and celebrated my sister-in-laws birthday. We were able to meet Sarah (my niece who was 9 months old at that time).

We stayed the night at the Hilton in Sandy - thanks to Rob who got us the rooms. They had a pool, and while we didn't have a lot of time to enjoy - we sure had enough! McKenna was nervous in the pool and Kylie wasn't which made me really nervous. That proved to be dangerous as she almost drowned - luckily Allen got to her quickly. However, she did take in a lot of water. It took her a few minutes before she wanted to go back in - but she quickly got over the traumatic experience - I don't think I would have.

On the following Tuesday we went to the temple where Amy went through for the first time. It was an awesome experience and we were glad we were there for it.

That Tuesday night is when the week of heck happened. The highlights are:

• My parents car died in Pocatello. The engine was shot.


• I drove down to pick them up and on the way was rear ended by some guy who drove away after he hit me.


• My niece Samantha got really sick and had a seizure on Wednesday. We spent the night at the ER in Idaho Falls


• Friday I had to get the snow tires off. Later that day I had a flat tire. Had it repaired.


• Brother in law Nate looked at our brakes and tires. We discovered one of our tires bulging. Had to get new tires and new brakes for the back. Only cost about $500. :)

While it was a crazy week with all sorts of mishaps, it was a lot of fun to see so much family and enjoy their company.

On May 2nd, Braden was blessed. Our Bishop made a special exception so that my sister Amy could be in attendance for it. We blessed him here at our home and had a nice dinner at my parents house of taco salads!

May 14th Allen and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. It is crazy to think that it has been 10 years. Time just seems to pass too fast. My parents watched our children while we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. We looked around for a new camera as well. There weren't any here in Eastern Idaho. We ended up ordering one on-line.

Our neighbors built a fire pit. We were invited to go over and cook hotdogs and smores. We then set up a projector outside and watched "Night at the Museum." That was a lot of fun and our children all enjoyed themselves. We decided that we really wanted to dig a fire pit of our own. Hopefully sometime this summer we will.

We were able to go to the new elementary school for the open house. We didn't make it in time to partake of the free hamburgers and hotdogs, but we were able to tour the new school. It was amazing. The computer lab looks like the ones I have seen on college campuses. There is an actual library/media center that is probably triple the old elementary school. Of course the big thing is that it has its own cafeteria and kitchen. They won't have to truck in hot lunches each day. The kindergarten rooms are spacious with their own bathrooms and own entrance that leads right to the bus. Plenty of light and windows! We are really excited for the new school to open!

Our HOA put together a day of activities on the 30th. In the morning, any house that wanted to could have a garage sale. We participated in that. Allen and I haven't ever done anything like it before - so it was quite an experience. But we were able to get rid of a lot of things we had been holding onto. I think we are going to do one more in Rigby this summer.

The HOA after the garage sale, also had a few big trucks come by. They picked up piles for to take to the dump and piles for the DI. We were grateful for the dump trip. Later that day they ended with a bbq. Sadly, we didn't attend this event. My brother and family were visiting.

Also on this day, Allen asked McKenna if we should take off her training wheels. She kept saying no. Finally we talked her into raising them. She rode off and a few minutes later came back and said we could take them off. Allen took them off and McKenna literally rode away. We were so proud of her - as she is of herself. What a great day for her. I am sure Kylie isn't that far behind!

Other random happenings but I don't remember exact dates. We had our 6 month check ups at the dentist. The kids all got to choose a prize at the end. There was a thing of "makeup" that Kylie of course chose. I let her and McKenna put on their makeup one night and this is what they came up with!

Then there was Tyler. He learned how to make smoothies at boy scouts. He was so excited to make them for us here at home. What a good little cook!

Now we are in June and while we don't have any certain activities planned, I am sure it will be busy. At least now we have a computer to update more frequently!

They're 5!!

What a huge milestone in our lives. I never thought that we would get to the point where "the twins" would turn 5. While hard to explain, it truly is a huge ordeal for us. It seems like the first three years were all about survival. I didn't realize it while I was going through it, but it was all about survival. They turned 4 and became a little more independent and a little more easy to handle. Now they are 5 and in three months they will be attending Kindergarten. How crazy is that??

They had a great birthday. I decided to do a little friend party for them. We invited just the 5 year old class at church which if all came, would have been 20 kids. However, we had a great turn out with 14! More then plenty. We had both Spiderman and Princess cupcakes - which were a huge hit with both the boys and the girls. We made a few crafts and played a few games. We ate cupcakes and then opened presents.





As you can see it was complete chaos. I tried to keep it organized, but that quickly went out the window. Everyone wanted to be the first to give the girls their presents. You can imagine the bags and trash with a present for each of them! I learned something funny about McKenna as well. She doesn't like people in her "space." She would keep saying "back up" and "move back". She enjoyed the party, but she enjoyed seeing everyone leave as well. Kylie is a little more social so it was a little easier on her.

Later that night Grandma and Grandpa Blake came over for dinner and family presents. All in all, they had an excellent day! A huge milestone for Allen and I as well! Five years with twin girls! We're amazing! :)