Summer Update

After camping this past weekend we stopped at a restaurant in Heber called Dairy Keen. It has a train theme and the kids just loved it. They even had a train table inside for the kids to play at and Luke thinking he is the master and commander decided he got to control all the trains and dived them up to the other children.

We went camping this past weekend up in Hannah, Ut. It was fun except we didn't anticipate how cold it was going to be. The kids were fine but James and I were really cold. We kept hearing what we thought were moose yelps and Luke was quite curios about it. He got a little scared and when I asked him why he said.
" The big moose is going to come try to eat me and I'll have to punch his teeth out"
then with big eyes he contiued to say
" The moose will eat the big sticks mom"

nWe went to Liberty Park up in SLC. It is such an awesome park with so much to do. They have a little lake you can take paddle boats on, an Averary, a little carnival, a swimming pool, tennis courts, huge park, pioneer museum, ect, ect. In this pic the kids are playing in the Salt Lake :) Its like a little water play area that is a scaled down version of all the water, lakes and rivers in Ut. Very fun and very cute.

Little Miss Potato head. Bella thought this was a pacifier or something and was walking around with it in her mouth all afternoon. It was pretty funny

i

Happy Birthday Luke!!
Luke turned 3 on July 26. He got this ride on train for his birthday and as you can probably tell by his face was quite pleased with it. He rode it all day long and we had to charge the battery twice.

It was a lot of fun having so much family around. Lots of cousins and grandparents came, our good friends the Dixons came too with there adorable little girl.

After everyone finished eating Bella made the rounds collecting and eating the leftovers. She was a sticky, adorable mess by the end of the evening.

I am not as talented as some people I know, but I wanted to make Luke a train cake so I just used and engine of Thomas we already had and made the cars out of cupcakes

It was really hard for Luke to let other people take turns riding on his trian, he pretty much dominated it most of the evening.

Luke and Bella have such a bitter sweet relationship, I think that just comes with them being so close in age. The absolutely love each other one minute, sharing, and playing and tickling each other. Than the next minute they are each others worse enemy screaming and pushing. Bella tends to follow Luke around and want to play with him, and Luke has figured out that he is bigger than him so he tends to take her toys away, she does have her defenses though. If she starts freaking out, he will generally give her toys back to her.

Oh course we have been hanging out at lots of parks. This one is in Pleasant Grove and it is one of the more unique parks we have been too. I was pretty big and had a castle theme. Most of the equiptment was made of wood.

Steel Days in American Fork. My brother Steven and his family as well as my mom and dad came down and hung out with us. The kids loved the rides but James and my favorite part was the classic car promenade down main street.

Luke thought he was really driving this car, it was cute.

BEFORE
Luke's big boy hair cut. It was such a dramatic change because not only did it get shorter but we finally cut off all his baby blonde. I hated to see it go but the long hair was just to hot for the summer. At least I will always have pictures.

AFTER, sorry not the best pic

We went back for a visit in San Clemente the week before the forth of July. It was nice to go to the beach and visit our old friend and hang out with family. Bella was so silly, she would just lay in the sand, sometimes face down, just laying there. I think she liked it cause it was warm. Luke got to reunite with his best buddy Samson, they picked up right where they left off.

James and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on June 1. We got to get away for the weekend. We stayed at a cabin by Sundance and went mountain biking. It was a little scary at first (this was my only my second time) but once I got used to it we had a lot of fun. We also hiked up to a waterfall the next day. Anyways I can't believe we have been married so long, time sure does fly.

James looking all handsome on the lift.

One of James biggest accomplishments this summer was that he got a projector screen. He asked me if I wanted to get one and I said we needed to think about it, a couple days later he admitted to me that he had already ordered, so here it is. The kids think its pretty cool. The first couple they watched shows on it Bella would look behind the screen and say ware are u. I have to admit its pretty.

What is it with kids and mud puddles. You turn your back for a second and they are sitting in one splashing around. This is up at my sister Heather's house in Heber.

We have spent a lot of time at the pool this summer. This is at the Serra pool in Orem, but we have passes to the rec center in American Fork. Its only two blocks north or us and they have little slides like this, a big water slide, a lazy river, and little toddler play area. The kids really like it. Bella calls it the Baff tub.

Bella is our little artist she loves coloring. We have to make sure we keep all markers and other writing utensils out of reach or she will make her artwork on whatever is closest to, including walls, tables and books.

Yes we finally have a backyard and we love it. They spend hours out there which gives me hours to get things done.