July 4th

July 4th is one of those holidays that is celebrated over many days around our house. We first began on June 30th where we went with our neighbors, the Guddats, up to Driggs Idaho and ate at O'Roarks. It's a great little place that we really like and they truly have the best onion rings!  After we got done eating, we went to Huntsman Springs where they had a little "fair" like thing going on, along with fireworks later that night. It was HOT! But it was fun to visit and play with friends.

 

 

Allen setting up our sports umbrella. Love this thing. Need more next summer.

 



Sweet Kylie

 



 

Sweet McKenna

 

 

I have to say that I loved this fireworks show. It was actually amazing and had some of the coolest ones I've seen yet. Definitely going to go again.

 

 

July 4th of course we went to the parade. This year we set up our chairs the night before and honestly it made me pause and wonder why we do this because it is just a little parade. Nothing major - but the kids love the candy and there isn't a lot of shade which is why I guess people start setting up the night before.

 

After the parade, we went to the Guddats for dinner. Had our favorite shish-ka-bobs and rice and it was EXCELLENT! My neighbor is so good and even had a bunch of stations set up for the kids to play little "minute it to win it" like games and then there were prizes at the end.

 



 

Braden at one of the stations

 



 

McKenna and two of the neighbors at one of the stations

 



 

Kylie, with her prize for finishing the stations

 



 

McKenna with her cool sunglasses she had won earlier in the day

 



 

Bocci ball for the adults and Tyler

 



 

Desserts!

 



 

Awesome fruit pizza. Totally yummy!

 

 

Then came time for the fireworks at home! Every year it seems to be a bigger deal. More people - bigger fireworks. We probably had 10 families that were gathered. Lots of spraklers, bottle rockets, fountains. And then those bigger explosions which are fun. With so many people and teenagers, it was amazing nobody was hurt - but everyone enjoyed themselves!

 



Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Weekend started out a little rough for us. On Friday, the 25th, Braden, McKenna and Kylie were outside playing with the neighbors and running around. Our neighbors had a fire going and Braden fell into the fire pit. The poor little kid cried all night - which I don't blame him. Burns are awful. It was hot enough that his shoe melted a little, and the top of his food was really burned. We did the best we could, took him to community care, and babied him. The girls especially were attentive to his needs and whenever he asked for something, they were happy to oblige.

Thankfully, it didn't slow him down too much and by Sunday even though it looked awful and painful, he felt great. By Monday he seemed normal and so we went with our neighbors to cress creek on a hike. I was a little nervous about this hike because the young women had gone a week prior and we've been told that the snakes are really bad this year - more than usual. Not just any snake, but rattlers. Thankfully, we didn't see any snakes and we had a great time.

Tyler exploring the water

Braden at a look out point

The Jones' and Guddat's

 

Just our family at another lookout point

 

Braden touching the water

McKenna had to have one also touching the water

Kylie exploring

After the hike and some "cool down" time, we had the Guddat's over for shish-ka-bobs and games.  We also made rockets out of magazines and all of the little people (and some big people) enjoyed launching them off.

So much fun that we had to start linining up to take turns!

We had a great time though and decided we should try to hike cress creek a couple times a week. It's a short hike, but definitely gets the blood pumping! On a side note, Braden is doing much better with his foot. Pretty nasty scar, and he remembers well that fire can burn you - so hopefully we won't have that issue again.

Pacers

Another year of school has come to an end. Again we are so proud of McKenna and Kylie. They worked so hard this year and gave up a couple of recesses every week to run miles. For all of their hard work, they earned a sweatshirt/hoodie as their prize this year. Actually, Kylie was the only one in her class that even ran the full marathon distance. It was fun to go to their awards ceremony and receive these. Great job girls!

Mother's Day Tea

Right after mother's day, my mom and I got to attend Mother's Day tea at the school for McKenna's class. There was a fun little program and they all got to share a poem that they memorized and they served us a fun little array of refreshments and also gave us both a book and a necklace that they made.

This is a little cupcake inside this 'basket' with a sunflower made out of chocolate.

The centerpiece

All of them made a flower with their picture in it and a magnet on the back that was on all of those centerpieces.

Her class singing songs and reciting poems.

A cookie, cake pop and lemonade that the children all served.

Refreshment table, McKenna took this picture!

And finally, a close up shot of this cupcake inside this 'basket'

Seriously, McKenna had an amazing teacher this year - we liked all of our children's teachers, but McKenna's teacher just went all out in everything she did. I know we are really going to miss her because she really helped McKenna blossom so much this year!

It's Great To Be Eight! (Baptism)

The girls were baptized as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 28th, 2012.    It was an amazing day and so exciting. Our ward happened to be in charge of the stake portion and because of that, we had a lot of family participation. My sister Katie played the music for both the stake and the ward portion, her husband Nate gave the opening prayer, McKenna, Kylie, Braden and Tyler along with a couple of other kids all sang 'I am a Child of God' as a special musical number, and my brother Scott shared his testimony after they were baptized. 

The girls were nervous but were grateful that both of them were able to be in the font as the other one was 'dunked.' McKenna basically through herself under the water, I guess she was so excited! 

Allen got to baptize and confirm them members and we felt blessed to have so many family members that were able to attend. 

I hope they always remember this day and the spirit that they felt. I hope they always strive to have the spirit with them. We are so proud of them and their decision.

Family Party

We just partied all weekend long! On Sunday, the day after the big party, we had a small little family party. My parents were able to come over and had cake and presents. 

As a continuation of the luau them, we had a fun little beach themed cake.

Yep, we were excited for the party!

Braden loved the flip flop luggage tag on top of the cake. He took it and was having a hard time figuring out why they didn't fit so well.

The girls were spoiled. Gift cards, money, new scriptures...all fun and exciting stuff!

It is amazing to think that these cute girls have been on this earth for 8 years now. I remember when we found out we were having twins, and life hasn't slowed down since. They are very strong and beautiful girls and we feel so blessed to have them in our family!

Girls Birthday Party

We told McKenna and Kylie that when they turned 8 they could have a friend party. I don't know what we were thinking! Both of them are in separate classes this year and both have completely different friends. I tried to limit the number of kids, but that is hard to do. So we decided just to have it at our house instead of going anywhere. When all was said and done, I think it turned out well and they had a lot of fun.

We decided to go neutral and do a Luau themed party - minus the roasting pig. We had lots of games to play and then they had time to go outside and play for awhile too. We were ready though once the two hours were up!

Balloons for the balloon stomp game

random picture of the kitchen table with some balloons.

The birthday cupcakes with little flip flops, sunglasses or beach umbrella picks. Very fun.

The honored guests - McKenna and Kylie

Actually playing the balloon stomp game

The punch walk. You know, land on the number and get some tiki punch.

Playing Limbo. One little girl was obviously in gymnastics and could bend all the way back without touching the grass. She was amazing.

The pinata that looks huge here, but really it was just about 24 inches long.

Two of the party game helpers. Tyler and Ethan (cousin)

Singing Happy Birthday

It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun and hopefully those that came had fun. We also enjoyed having my brother and his family here for the event. It was just super fun to have cousins be able to come.