Star Valley

Enza playing on the blanket waiting for the fireworks to start.

Gauge playing at the park

Cruze going up the ladder on the slide. The kids played at the park as well and had so much fun. Poor Enza had to hang with me instead, because there was no sand just little choking sized rocks.

Earlier that day we were outside playing on the dirt bike and exploring grandma and grandpa's yard. Star Valley truly is one of the most beautiful places on earth.


We went to Ethan's old stomping ground and had the boys race around the track. For those of you who don't know Ethan was an amazing track star in junior high and high school. He placed at state and could have got a variety of scholarships but chose to work and save money for his mission instead. I would like to say that he was blessed with me for his efforts. He is still a very impressive runner. I wish I had that problem.



Every year over the 24th we go up to Star Valley Wyoming to be with Ethan's family for pioneer day. They have mountains, fields, and the ultimate Candy Drop. In case you do not know what a candy drop is you are truly missing out. It is when a small airplane flies overhead and drops candy to all the waiting kiddos. They love it and rush to find candy, however my kids were so enamored with the big airplane that was flying low that they didn't get much candy. I kept prompting Ethan to go and grab some candy for them. Either way they loved it and keep talking about it.

All in all we had a very nice trip and the drive wasn't too bad. Bless the portable DVD player.

ENZA'S ONE!!

This is Enza on her birthday after waking up. We were all singing Happy Birthday to her, and she loved it.

This is Enza playing with one of her toys. Isn't she sweet?

This is Enza opening more presents at my parent's house later. As you can tell she was not a happy camper at this point. She was way too over tired. The gifts were adorable. My parents gave her a toy she can ride on or push. Alan, Danielle & girls gave her an adorable little toy phone. Every girl needs a cell phone! Mechelle and kids gave her the cutest shoes I have ever seen. Thanks everyone for the gifts. We really appreciate it.

These are her birthday cake. They are cupcake topiarys. I think they turned out pretty cute. I was amazed at how well they turned out, because I was a little nervous. Thanks to my cute friend Amanda who came over to my parent's house and helped me frost them. She is my baker, froster, creative friend and I love her for it. Hers is the cuter of the two. Thanks again I owe you big time. She is also the one who turned me onto using gel food coloring to get the funky bright colors. If you know anything about me you will know that I love funky and color.

I loved this picture of Enza eating one of the cupcakes. We had a ton of pics and it was hard to choose just one to put on here, but this one made me laugh.

I can not believe how fast the time goes. MY baby is one, and I have very mixed emotions about it. I know that one is not very old, but when you feel like you are done every milestone is happy and sad. I hope I will be able to convey to not just her but all three of my kids how much they mean to Ethan and I. There is not a night that goes by that we don't relate funny things that were said or done by the kids throughout the day while we are laying in bed. We are usually laughing even sometimes when they were naughty. There is so much more of everything when there is kids in the mix; laughing,crying, smiling, yelling and all the other sounds and emotions that come with having kids. Enza you are so special to us and we are so happy that you are a part of our family. We couldn't ask for a better, sweeter, and snugglier daughter. Thanks for coming to our home and being ours. WE LOVE YOU!!

Long Weekend!

Ethan getting it all ready to go.

There was a design flaw, because as Ethan was pulling on the rip cord, the whole dang thing kept tipping over. So apparently we need some kind of weight on the end. Since we didn't have one, Ethan kindly volunteered to lay down and hold it while the rest of us pulled the cord. He kept getting soaked. He even had me try it. It was fun and the kids loved it too. Good job on the gift me!


I am not complaining about it being a long holiday weekend. Ethan did work on Monday so it wasn't the same for us as most of you, however we did have a picnic on Monday night. For Father's Day the boys & I bought Ethan a Bottle Launcher. I thought it would be fun for him and the boys to do together. I was right! We brought it to play with after our picnic. Here are a couple pics, we mostly took video of it. It was a blast.

4th of JULY!!

I absolutely love the 4th, it is one of my very favorite holidays. My family usually does a lot of things based on tradition for this holiday. I love it! Every year we go to Kaysville's parade. It is so much fun, this year was a bit crazy, because there were so many teenagers there that they were crowding out the little ones and taking candy they were picking up. That was a bit frustrating for all of us. Cruze ended up with 4 pieces of candy before his sweet cousin Abigale gave him some of hers. Gauge quit after 3. The water part of the parade is always the funnest, but when you have kids that don't care to be soaked by someone else's hand, then you have to sacrifice and go to Grandma's house. Then we went home for naps and then we had a BBQ at my parent's house and then fireworks. We had so much fun as usual.

My boys love motorcycles more than a lot of things in this world. My dad happens to have one, but Cruze refuses to ride on it. Gauge on the other hand really wanted a ride. The problem is it wouldn't start. Maybe next time.

Gauge & Gabe riding on the tire swing. They were having so much fun. It took me a while to get my camera out for this, so I missed the other kiddos.

The kids getting ready for the water fight, because they were bored of the parade they couldn't see. They were squirting people that were walking past. It was pretty funny.

Daddy & Enza. My sisters and I made tutus for our girls to wear on the 4th. They all turned out so cute.

Enza was crawling around going through everyone's stuff. She didn't get the point of the fireworks and couldn't see them, so instead she went exploring.

This is our little family waiting for the fireworks to start.

Cruze with is sparkler

Gauge with his sparkler. Both of my boys indulge me with my camera. I am always taking pictures of them, and they will patiently stop and smile for the camera. I love you boys, more than you will ever know.

Enza smiling for the camera looking cute as ever.

Cruze's Nemesis'!

We found out 2 summers ago that Cruze was allergic to mosquito bites. I don't know if any of you have anyone you know that is allergic to them (I didn't), but it is brutal. We found out when we were in Star Valley to see Ethan's family and we left the window open all night. There was a hole in the screen and Cruze got about 24 bites overnight. When he woke up the next morning he was covered in bumps that were equal to the size of half of a golf ball. He was having a hard time breathing and I was totally freaked out. Anyway we went into town and got Benadryl oral and gel. Anyways we have been able to keep it in check with a ton of repellant, but the other day he got a bite and it got to be between the size of half of a golf ball and half of a baseball. It was so sad. Here are some pics, they are not awesome, because when I would take pics of it, it didn't look like anything in the pic.