4th of July

Rhett and Kristen and their family came and spent some time with us over the 4th of July weekend. It was fun to see them and fun for the kids to play together. Our kids follow the same pattern for gender and age as their youngest almost 3. Daylen and Jacob, Brinley and Kate, and they are expecting a boy in October. Here is kate straightening Brinley's hair, what a good sport.

Playing with sparklers and watching our fireworks show!

Jacob with his sparkler.



Enjoying the show!

We have grass!

So when we moved in to our house last August it looked like this...grass completely dead. We tried to revive it as best we could, but there were just too many completely gone spots and the weeds began to take over.


After Brad cut the grass out with a sod cutter, he and I got rid of it (as in it is now dumped in our side and back yard for a later project). We added nice compost, rototilled, raked, leveled, deweeded flower beds...and then it looked like this...

We had some great help from our ward to lay the sod on a hot, July evening.

Brad worked very hard in this whole process, he's been amazing!

Daylen wanted to help.

So Kate wanted to help, too.

Magically we have automatic lawn! Which came by hard labor.

visit from grandma!

My fabulous mother came and spent last week with us while my youngest siser, Kara, was at EFY. I love it when my mom visits, she is the best. She made Kate a quilt and pillowcase for her bed, helped me wash my windows, we went to the park, saw Toy Story 3, Brad and I went on a date :) we had lunch with my aunts and cousin, went to the BYU Bookstore, and we started potty training Kate. Plus it's just fun to just have her here. She brought my niece and nephew with her, Lily and Nathan, so Daylen and Kate had fun playing with their cousins all week as well.

Kate has starting "fixing" our hair now with a fork or spoon or spatula, whatever is closest at the moment.

Nathan and Daylen liked to wear their matching superman pjs despite the hot, summer weather.

This little guy is so fun to have around, I love his smiles!

Family Reunion Time

We had a fun time in Washington a couple of weeks ago and now I have the pictures to prove it. We got to spend time with both of our families, attended the Milton-Freewater ward reunion, my 10 year high school reunion, celebrated our 6 year anniversary, Kate's birthday, blessed Brooks at my parents home, played homerun derby, rode 4-wheelers, shot guns, went hiking, fishing, made a bird house, held a family talent show, enjoyed dutch oven cooking, played games, and enjoyed just being with family!

On Hold...

We just spent a fun week in Washington with both Brad's and my family, unfortunately I left my SD card in my parents computer so I don't have any of my fun pictures to prove it yet. So until I get that back here are a couple of other pictures. Rachel and Austin came with us on our trip and 2 days after we got back they left us and Utah for good to move to Texas! Tyler is starting grad school in the fall at TCU and we are going to miss them so much!!! I had to get a picture of the kids before they left.

On a happier note, Brooks is smiling more and is enjoying his brother and sister it looks like!

wait, whose birthday is it?

My little Miss Kater turned 2 this week! Daylen wanted to celebrate it more than Kate. He has been talking about his birthday since Brad's birthday in March. Poor kid still has to wait until August, however, he didn't mind sharing in Kate's festivities. Here is a quick shot we took before church on Sunday. Man I love these kids!

Kate opening her first present...

a new Sunday dress and squeaky shoes...ever heard of them? I always know where Kate is and she loves them...a little TOO much! (They squeak with every step.)


Daylen insisted that he had a birthday present, too, and he HAD to open it. Smart dad then proceeded to put Daylen's church clothes in Kate's gift bag and let him open them. He was super excited even if it wasn't anything new...just opening a present made him happy!

While Kate was napping, Brad put together her second birthday present...a table and stools from IKEA. We went to put them in her room at the end of her nap, she was thrilled as you can tell from the look on her face.

Despite the face, she really does love the table, as does Daylen. There has been a lot more drawing at our house this last week.

Brownies and ice cream came later, Rachel, Tyler, and Austin joined us for this fun. We are going to have cake when we go home to Washington this next week, both my family and Brad's family will be there, we are so excited to see everyone!

Once again Daylen had to have a candle in his brownie, too. This kid is birthday crazy!

I still can't believe Kate is 2! She is the cutest little stinker ever! She may be destructive and careless and a little too independent, but her personality keeps us entertained. Three phrases we hear a LOT at our house right now out of her lips are, "All myself!" (Do it all by myself) "Look at me!" as she does some trick or sticks her finger up her nose, and "Ah man!" when something doesn't go quite right. She is hilarious, and super sweet when she wants to be and I just can't imagine life without her! We love you Kate!