Future Tennis Pro

Future Tennis Pro... 

We just need to get him potty trained first!

Sweet Ella

Sweet Baby Ella is 3 1/2 months old now.  Time flies when you're looking into her beautiful eyes.  We love her so much!

Happy 8th Birthday Mia

My Beautiful Baby is 8!

Mia turned 8 years old a few days ago.  I can't believe how grown up she's getting.  

She couldn't wait to open her presents.  It was the first thing she did after breakfast.

Mia got a bunch of American Girl stuff, a tennis racket, and Zhu Zhu pets.  (not sure why Cole looks so deep in thought)

Here's Mia's birthday cake.  Not fancy, but she didn't care.  She gets the cool one at her birthday party in a week and a half.  We had to delay it because almost all her friends are out of town.

I wonder what she wished for....hmmmmm

Today she got her ears pierced.  It's an event she's been excited about for years.  Her best friend Katelyn came along for moral support.

Happy Birthday Mia!

Bridal Veil Falls

After all our family fun we headed home.  We decided to make a stop at Bridal Veil Falls.  It had been years since Grandma had seen it, so she decided to join us. 

We forget how FREEZING it can be in the early morning hours in Utah.  We had to quickly take these photos because the kids were dying.  And unfortunately Daddy wasn't there.  He was already at home.

Then we grabbed our jackets and went down to the base to explore it.

Mia wanted to feel how cold the water was.

She loved collecting pebbles there.

July 24th

We had so much fun visiting family in June, that we decided to go back up for another trip.  The kids were excited to see the cousins they missed the month before.  

Cole and Maxx

I took some random pictures of Drew's parents property.  They turned out awesome.  Here's one of them.  

It's our yearly tradition to hang out in Drew's hometown for the 24th of July.  The kids love the fun small town activities, including this parade that goes down the street, turns around, and drives by again for an encore.  We get to see both sides of the floats.

Collecting the candy is the best part.

Cole was lucky enough to catch a coloring book this year.

Luke ate the candy as fast as he collected it.

Summer Vacation

At the end of June we decided to drive up to Utah for a little summer vacation.  Drew went camping with his brother and Dad.    They had plans to go backpacking to Swasey Hole again (see last years trip in July 2009 post), but the canyon is closed for the entire year.  So they went to Rock Creek instead.  Drew caught 8 fish there. 

The kids and I went to my sister's house.  We did a lot of shopping and eating out.  It was lots of fun.  One of the nights we made smores in their backyard.  

It was our first chance to meet little Whitney.  She's a doll.  

One of our favorite things about visiting Utah are the cool evenings.  Cool enough to require a blanket.  

Luke and Eli had a love/hate relationship.  Eli loved locking Luke outside, and Luke hated it.  

The whole "fire" thing gave me serious anxiety.  This fun family activity lasted a total of about 15 minutes, before my nerves got the best of me and I had to make the little ones go inside.  But it was long enough to get some cute photos.  

After a few days at Jill's, we went to Drew's parent's house.  The kids loved riding "Peanut Butter" the pony.  I'm not so sure Peanut Butter enjoyed giving rides.  (Can you believe the amazing view from their house?)

Ella got to hang out in the house with Grandma. 

We had a family camping trip to Moon Lake.  I'm a firm believer in the idea that everything has a time and a place.  I'm not so sure camping is good at this place and time in my life. It was a whole lot of "Don't get too close to the fire!!!", and not a lot of relaxing.  But it was good bonding fun.   I guess. 

Here's our cabin - that looks like it came right out of a Friday the 13th movie.  

Fishing at Moon Lake wasn't as successful as at Rock Creek.  We didn't catch a thing...

And Mia is the only one who takes it seriously.  

My favorite part of the fishing trip was when Cole casted the top half of his fishing pole into the Lake.  Here's Drew trying to keep his cool while he fished it out.  It made me laugh. 

 

And the highlight of the trip for the kids were the critters that would come up on our porch to eat potato chips.  They don't have very bushy tails, so I'm not convinced that they aren't just rats. 

It was a lot of fun... a little more challenging with a two month old baby, but still a lot of fun. 

I had good intentions to take some awesome pictures of Mia in her baptism dress, out in the country.  But alas, we only had about 15 minutes during the sunniest part of the day.  So I'm going to have to attempt again at a later date.  But I did get a couple of cute shots.  I'll post more later. 

After all the country fun, we finished the trip back in the city, at my sister Jill's house.  Jill turned 30 on June 24th and we spent her birthday at Lagoon.  The kids LOVE Lagoon.  They look forward to it all year.  (Thanks Jill for taking your camera and getting these great shots for me.)

It was fun seeing the Dad's enjoy themselves (although by mid-afternoon Drew had had enough, and I made him stay until almost closing - Thanks for being a good sport honey.)

Until next year...