Brad's first time ever...

on a horse!

It was pretty entertaining seeing him mount his first horse ever. Sorry I laughed Brad, but you did look pretty funny! Some friends in the ward go up Payson canyon a couple of times a year for a week of camping, riding horses, and relaxing. It is beautiful up there! They invited us to come up one night for dinner and a ride, so we went last night and had so much fun! Thank you Burninghams!

Daylen got to ride with me and he did really well for his first time on a horse. Brett's horse in front of us stopped to poop at one point and you wouldn't believe how long a 2 1/2 year old can have a conversation about a horse pooping. Of course, it was just the same conversation over and over. The only part Daylen didn't really like was going downhill, it was a little painful for him I think.


Meet Buck, Cisco, and Josie from left to right. The Burninghams assured us Buck got his name from the fact that he is a buckskin horse and not for other reasons. They were such good horses, so fun to ride. They were perfect for Brad's first experience on a horse. The mountains and area was absolutely beautiful, and the weather was perfect. We had so much fun!




After our ride we roasted hotdogs over the fire and had a yummy dinner. Kate had a little too much fun crawling around in the dirt, filling her cup up with wood chips and dirt and whatever else she could find. She was soooo dirty by the time we had to head home, but she didn't care she had a great time!

Daylen "roasted" the same marshmellow all night. It never got close enough for the fire to actually cook it, but that's alright by me. He had more fun carrying the roasting stick around with a marshmellow on the end, than actually eating the marshmellow.

Daylen still roasting his marshmellow with Kaitlyn, our trusty babysitter.

Even Kate wanted to try roasting.

This picture doesn't quite do justice to how dirty Kate really was. She has a crazy mad look on her face in this picture, but she was really just talking really loud and playing and the camera happened to capture an odd face. Thanks again guys we had so much fun!!

I love to see the Temple...

For Family Home Evening this last Monday we had a little lesson on Temples, then went to go see the Provo Temple.We have never just taken Daylen and Kate to go see it and walk around,

so we thought this would be a good time to do it.

Daylen was so excited when we told him we were going to go see the Temple, he shouted a "YEAH! We are going to the Temple!"

Then the whole way there he kept saying, "We are going to the Temple" with a huge

smile on his and he'd look out the window at the passing scenery. It was a great family night!

mmm.....

Yummy....

I love homemade strawberry freezer jam!

Now is strawberry season,

so if you too want to enjoy this heavenly taste

ACT NOW!

I made this jam from a mixture of store bought

and home grown strawberries.

It is SUPER EASY.

We planted strawberries 2 years ago and

we had a nice big crop this year it was great!

Perfect Park Day

We had a perfect day at the park this afternoon with our friends Janell, Rylan, and Asher. The weather was beautiful, we amazingly had the park all to ourselves, and the kids played so well together. I'm so glad I finally thought to bring my camera. We usually walk every morning and stop at the park while we're out to let the kids play. We missed our walk this morning, so we went this afternoon for some fun and fun it was.

Kate has a fascination with noses right now, so poor Asher played guinea pig to her exploration.

Good thing he's such a happy baby, he ALWAYS has a smile on his face.

Daylen and Rylan having fun with the park all to themselves.

Enjoying a "picnic" of sticks. It's fun to see their imagination and pretend play blossom.

Kate likes to climb on the playground like the big boys.

If it's not the swings it's up and down the slide.

I love being a stay at home mom!

Happy Birthday Kate!

My baby is 1 year old! I don't know how it happened so fast, but ready or not here she is. Last Sunday was the big day, of course it was pretty much like any other Sunday. We went to church, took a nap, ate dinner...but then came the cake. We had Rachel and Tyler over and our neighbors across the street. They have 3 kids who think Daylen is just the funniest little boy and he enjoys playing with them even though they are quite a bit older than him. We enjoyed their company and glad they could help us eat the cake. Kate wasn't so sure what was going on, she didn't like the ice cream, too cold, but she sure loved her cake.

Ice cream...not so much. Seriously?

Let's try the cake...

Yeah, I think this is good.

Oh ya! I like this stuff!

Kate's new birthday toy.

We enjoyed a nice family walk after the partying.

It has been so fun seeing Kate's personality come out more over the past few months. She is such a funny little girl. There are so many things I love about her.

I love:

• her big, teethy smile
• her laugh
• her hugs
• her facial expressions
• seeing her excitement every day when daddy gets home from work
• watching her play and laugh with Daylen
• seeing her figure new things out
• how flexible she is
• her love of thrills, swings, slides
• how she jabbers like everyone knows exactly what she's talking about
• how she'll eat anything I put in front of her, except watermelon and ice cream (weird, I know)
• how independent she is (I may take that back next year)
• how she'll entertain herself after her nap by turning on her mobile music
• watching her dance to music
• her nicknames Kater or Kater Potater, especially when Daylen calls her Kater. We sometimes wonder if he knows her real name.
• how she gets excited if I even mention going to find her blanket
• how she makes me feel so loved!

We love you Kate, happy 1st birthday!

Miss Independent

That's what I call Kate these days. She is an independent little girl. She loves to get into everything, is quite good and climbing up and down the stairs (just can't quite get started going down by herself yet), and I have given up feeding her anything with a spoon, except oatmeal in the morning. She feeds herself everything else, even tries to use a spoon, and likes to chill and put her feet up while she does so. I can't believe she is already going to be a year old on Sunday!? What? Where did that year go? She has such a fun personality and takes after her brother with her big toothy smile. She already likes to tease Daylen, and she knows it too. I love watching her try new things and figuring out how it all works, she is a very smart little girl. But whose kid isn't right?

Naptime anyone?

From reading everyone else's blogs who have toddlers it seems like we are all in that same stage of life. To nap or not to nap? Daylen has been going through stages where sometimes it works out for him to nap every day in his bed, and sometimes it just doesn't.Sometimes when he naps he still goes to bed at a decent hour, and sometimes he does not. It's those sometimes does not days that I wonder if his nap earlier was worth it. Then tomorrow comes and he's acting crankyor tired and I think, "yes the nap is worth it!" Until that night. I miss the days of7:00 bedtime. Now if he's in bed by 8:00 I think that's good. Lately it's been 8:30, sometimes9:00 and I just feel like I have no time at night for myself on those nights.I just have to have some kid free time to rejuvinate myself.

So if we can make it through the day without a nap, great. Unfortunately, some days when we try he ends up falling asleep in odd places too late in the afternoon. Such a funstage. Wouldn't you all agree? :)So tonight I think Brad and I will just go on a date and let the babysitterput him to bed. He does really well for her.