4th of July

This year for the 4th of July we attended our annual breakfast with our ward. This year there was a really good turn out and the kids had so much fun playing with their friends. We had a fun time visiting with friends and then headed over to the Buhl parade with our friends, the Bleazards. 

We showed Sam how to put her hand over her heart and we forgot to tell her when she could move it off. I looked over probably ten minutes later and she still had her hand there!  

Aubrey, Drew, Hadley and Mason

The people behind the kids were so nice to them. They would jump up and grab candy while our kids were distracted or grabbing other candy and then give it to the kids. 

Sam stayed in her stroller the whole time! She was great! I looked over and saw her resting her hand on Vaughn's leg and it was just so sweet! She sure does love her daddy!! 

The kids were so excited to see Tow Mater!

What a cute idea! 

Madelyne, Alayna with her sweet baby, Tayla

After the parade we had lunch with the Bleazard's at Dairy Queen. Once lunch was over we headed home for some much needed naps. (Ok, so mainly for Sam and myself). Once we were all awake again we headed outside. The weather was so nice. The kids rode their bikes and Vaughn and cleaned and organized the garage. 

This girl could live in the dirt, if we'd let her! 

 

   I think it is hilarious when the kids all wrestle together! They have so much fun and they just start laughing and giggling! It's the moments like this that I will miss when they get older!

Popsicle time! 

It was before dinner, oh well!

They were having so much fun!

I may never get a picture of all three of them looking at me and smiling...

oh well!

The sugar started kicking in and Sam started doing push ups!

Then Yoga!

The kids waving to one of our old neighbors. 

Sam was oblivious and perfectly content in her dirt!

It was such a perfect night! We could not have asked for a better night to be outside! I was wishing I could just freeze time. Everyone was happy and having fun and the sunset was stunning. It was a night I want to remember forever!

The kids were so excited to do sparklers!

I've just realized that I didn't get a picture of Mason. :( Next year for sure! We stayed outside and set off our sad selection of fireworks that the kids absolutely loved! We also had a neighbor setting off his amazing fireworks that sent Max crazy!! They were the big ones in the sky and as they would pop, Max would jump and bark at them! I think he loved them just as much as the kids did! 

The kids also realized that if they sat on the green box in our yard that they could see perfectly down the street in front of us. The street must have been having a street party or something, because they had so many fireworks and we noticed a lot of neighbors down there. They started setting them off at like 6 pm and kept going until after 11! 

We had such a great and fun 4th of July and we are so grateful that we live in such a great country and have so many freedoms and privileges! 

Dierkes Lake

Last weekend my mom came up for a cousin's wedding. Vaughn had a family reunion in Bountiful with his Hixson cousins, so it turned out to be a girls only weekend! We always love when my mom comes up and we wish she would do it more often!! (Wink wink!) She brought up my niece, Breana, so we decided to take the girls to Dierkes Lake. The weather was perfect for it and I think they both had a blast! 

Sam wasn't too sure about the water. She would walk up to the edge and dip her toe.

Then she'd turn around and walk back. I can't even count how many times she did this! Finally, my mom had to pick her up and carry her out into the water.

It took her a while to get used to the water, but once she was, oh man! 

We tried giving her her water bottle, but it was no use. She was set on sucking water off of her life jacket. Yuck.

She loved the sand! 

She played so hard while we were there! She was definitely ready for bed that night.

She loved having Breana here to read her stories. Every chance she got she would find a book and take it her. They sat in this chair a lot!!

Saturday was my cousin's wedding, so my mom was gone for a while with that. Sam and I were asked to help at the wedding breakfast and that was fun! I was worried about Sam causing trouble or making a scene, but she was pretty well behaved! 

Later that night we went to the reception and then stopped for ice cream on our way back home. 

She made a huge mess, but loved every minute of it! 

Wednesday's Project

Yesterday, I got a wild hair to do a project. Thanks to my friend, Alayna, I was able to complete my projects today.

I have wanted to make this for so long and it is finally finished!! 

We are going to paint our bathroom and when we're done and get a shelf put up, this will be go in there. This is my favorite thing to say to Vaughn!!

Then I saw something like this on Pinterest and wanted to have the kids make them. 

Just a canvas and vinyl

Sam enjoyed it more than I thought she would! She was probably the cleanest of them all! 

My camera battery died (of course) and I had to use my phone. So the color is a lot darker. Mason was not worried at all about making a mess! He dove right in and enjoyed every minute of it!! 

Sam signing "all done" she did a great job and had so much fun!

I let the kids do their own thing on this project and I think it worked out well! I was surprised at myself that I had more patience than usual and wasn't worried about letting go of control. I have some issues with that! They all did great and they didn't ruin my house, so it was a huge success all around! 

The new artwork in the kids' bathroom. This wall has been bare far too long and it looks so much better to have something up there! Hopefully, every time they go in the bathroom they will remember making them and enjoy something that they made themselves! 

Last Tball Game!

Monday night was Drew's last tball game! We were all so glad it was finally over. This was Vaughn's second year coaching and I think he is just as ready as some of the kids to move on to coach pitch next year! There were 13 kids on Vaughn's team and we enjoyed getting to know some kids and families that we'd never met before! 

Drew was a chatty cathy! He loved talking to whom ever was on the base with him! 

I think he made friends on every team we played! 

This poor boy was tagged right in the face! Drew didn't know that the boy was going to try and slide in! 

Even though the ball was on a tee, Drew hit it hard and sent it flying far. I think all the batting practice at the twice weekly practices paid off! The kids all did great! 

This was hilarious! The baseman grabbed the ball and instead of tagging Drew, tagged his own teammate!! 

Ted and Drew! 

Ted was such a huge help to Vaughn! We are lucky to have good friends that volunteered their time to help Vaughn. 

And he's SAFE!!

(They don't do outs in tball, but they still try to tag each other to learn the concept of baseball) 

Usually, I can't enjoy the games, because I am chasing Mason. This game, however, he stayed by me and played where I could see him. 

Drew loved batting. 

He was quite good at it, too. 

Their final cheer off...or whatever you would call it! 

Drew with his ribbons! They got a participation award and their team was awarded one of the only sportsmanship awards!!! Way to go Braves!!!