Random August Thoughts

 Gabby came and spent the night one night to play with the kids and let me tell you she was a HUGE help! I can't wait till Emry is old enough to help hold the baby so I can get some things done. It was so fun having her here!

 We have a pass to Thanksgiving point and so we have been going often. So fun to ride the ponies! Wesley was scared the first time but ever since then, he loves it and goes on it every time!

 Norah like to tag along too!

 Wesley playing dress up in their store. Cowboy!

 Random story: We had a friend over and the girls were doing a tea party while eating popcorn. I told them not to put their popcorn in their water. Well I walked away into the living room and I hear Emry's friend say, "Let's put the popcorn in the water." in a whisper. Emry says, "No, my mom said not to." Then her friend says, "If she sees us, we'll tell her it was Wesley who did it." And then Emry says, "No, we have to tell the truth. We don't lie and we don't keep any secrets from my mom."

I was sitting in the other room and my heart about burst out of my chest. I was so proud of my little girl for being honest and listening to the things we are trying so hard to teach her! So that night we praised her at dinner and told her she could pick the treat for the night. She picked ice cream so off we went to celebrate our little girl! We love her so much!

 We take lots of trips to our park. We love walking there and swinging on the swings! This is Norah's first time swinging!

 We went on a couple of hikes this summer with our friends. So much fun to be in nature and enjoy the cooler air up in the mountains. These two just love each other so much, it's the best!

 We made it to the (very small) waterfall! The kids loved playing in the rocks and water

 Norah liked the hike too!

 Afternoon snack looking all grown up! This is after my first attempt at cutting girl's hair. She looked pretty cute!

 We have loved that we get to see our Grandma and Grandpas so often. They come visit us a lot which makes us so happy! Here is Emry showing Grandpa how to go across the rope bridge at the aquarium.

For Posterity's Sake

We love visiting Grandma Fay!

Norah 5 Months

Norah learned all kinds of things this month. She can roll from tummy to back and occasionally has done it from her back to her tummy. She can sit up with the help of the boppy and on her own for about 10 seconds before toppling over. She loves her toys and chewing on everything in sight! Still learning how to eat real food. Decided she doesn't actually like sleeping all night long (we're working on that). She realizes now when we walk away and gets mad if she can't see someone around her. (Beginning of stranger danger?) We love this girl so much!!

First time in her swimming suit. She loved going swimming in Gma Donna's pool!

 First time eating solid food. She was not impressed, but tolerated it fine.

 Sitting up with her boppy!

Summer California Trip

I was thinking about how when we had just Emry I used to go home to California like 4-5 times a year. It was an easy flight--short and cheap, and so we did it often. But recently we've only been going for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. I decided we needed to make the effort to go more often so off we went to California. My mom helped me drive down there with the three kids. We drove straight through and the kids did awesome on the drive! We had so much fun but we missed our daddy while we were gone.

 Morning snuggles on the couch

 We spent the whole day swimming at Grandma Donna's. Emry took a 2 week swimming class and so she did really awesome swimming.

Love reading books with Grandma before bed

 We spent Saturday at the Orange County Fair. I loved going to the fair growing up so it's always so fun for me to take my kids back.

 They had a "reading program" thing at the fair where if the kids wrote a book report on 3 books, they got free ride tickets. So we had Emry draw pictures of the books she had read so we could ride fun rides!

 She got brave and wanted to ride all the rides she could!

 My dad was great and held Norah almost the whole time.

 Eating ice cream to cool off. It was so hot!

 The best cinnamon roll in the world! It's tradition to get one every time!

 Welsey bonked his head hard so I fashioned an ice pack out of Norah's head band. Pretty genius!

 Beach day! Emry loved the sand--being buried, digging, etc. But she was totally scared of the waves and water. Wesley loved jumping over the waves. All in all, the beach was a success.

 Emry with her mermaid tail!

What a cutie!

 Let's say the kids were so spoiled the whole time we were there. One morning Cameron wasn't thrilled with the cereal choices so Grandpa decided to take the kids to get donuts. Two each! haha! These kids!

 

More swimming! Norah really liked swimming because the pool water was really warm.

 This is the cutest baby ever!

  One day we drove to Malibu to see Scott and his hotel, Calimigos Ranch. It was so beautiful and fun to see where Scott works. 

Sitting poolside!

 There's this old carousel on the property that was so perfect! It had so much character I just loved it! (The kids did too!)

 These two love each other!

 They have the most beautiful wedding sites on the property. This one in particular was so pretty. It is the location where they shot the wedding scene in Parenthood, the tv show.

 The ranch has a little private place that you can walk down to the beach. It was so beautiful.

 Eating dinner, Emry says she wants pickles. She has always said she doesn't like pickles but since being at my mom's she now says she likes them. It's hilarious because she only says that because she wants to be like Cadence who actually does like pickles. She was telling she like pickles as she ate one and practically choked it down. Hilarious! She just loves her cousins!

 On our way home we stopped at Kris and Bjorn's to have a little break. Here is Norah and Rosie (born only 3 days apart!).

Happy 6th Birthday Olivia

I can't believe it's been 6 years! 

I feel like I have so much to say about her birthday but really all I can say is how much I love and miss that sweet girl. We love you Olivia Lane!

Flaming Gorge

Our friends invited us to their cabin in Flaming Gorge. It was such a fun time just hanging out, playing games, chatting, etc.

We started by visiting Ryan's Grandma's house. It was Wesley and Norah's first time there. Ryan's Grandma is still in rehab in Ogden so she wasn't there, but the kids loved the tire swing. Then we had dinner at Don Pedros where we had the largest burritos EVER!

We spent the night playing games and chatting. The kids all slept in the same room with bunk beds and were so happy! In the morning we had a yummy breakfast and then headed to a little hike around the reservoir. We stopped and let the kids wade in the water and ate lunch. On the way back, we stopped for some ice cream. Wesley fell asleep the second we got in the car so him and I took a nap in the car while everyone else went in and ate. When we got back to the cabin the kids played baseball outside and house inside and the adults played games. We ate dinner, the kids watched a movie on the projector, and we played more games. It was a blast!

 Movie night on the projector: Wesley wanted to be on Emry's lap. haha!!

 Sunday we woke up, had breakfast, cleaned up, packed up, and headed to church in Vernal. We had such a fun time hanging out and just being together. The kids had a blast being together!