Milk and Cookies Baby Shower

A friend of mine asked me to throw her a baby shower when baby number 3 arrived earlier this month. Since I don't know any of her other friends I was on my own for this one. I decided to do a Milk and Cookies theme to keep in simple and pretty. I think that it turned out beautifully, and everyone had a good time, and most importantly baby Jolee and her family were spoiled.

Calaway Park and Summer Fun

We have had some fun in the Sun this summer. A family trip to Calaway Park had all of the kids laughing. Ryley is a little adrenaline Junky, and loved every ride that she could go on. Skyler thinks some of the rides are too little for him, and is getting impatient for the chance to go on the bigger rides, and Ethan was just happy to follow along and do whatever Skyler was doing. We have also spent some time in the backyard with the pool and waterslide out - the kids LOVE this, and spend all afternoon in it, and then head right back out after dinner.

Swimming Lessons

We spend a lot of time around water. There is the cabin at Ashley Lake, my Dad has a Jet Ski, and then there is all of the time spent in pools. Jordan and I have decided that swimming is an important life skill, and the kids are going to take lessons twice a year until they make it all the way through. We just finished our round of Summer lessons, and the kids both loved it. Skyler was a solid head shorter than anyone else in his class, so jumping into chest deep water for everyone else left him on his tip toes, but he passed and is very proud of himself.
Ethan was stubborn throughout his lessons, and refused to do half of what he was asked to do (even though he does it all the time on his own) He did not pass, but loved going everyday, and is already talking about the next time. They do say the third time's a charm right?
I love that they enjoy the water so much, and I am proud of both of them for the work they did this summer in their lessons. Ryley is still too young to do lessons on her own, and there were no parented classes that timed up with the boys lessons, so she was pretty ticked that she wasn't allowed in the water, so I did brave taking in all of the kids on our last day of lessons so that she could finally get in the water. She loved it!

Family Birthday BBQ

Today was Skyler's 6th birthday and we always try to have a little family party for them, the problem is there is never really anything small about a family gathering for us. We are blessed to live very close to all of out immediate family, so this little BBQ was 23 people strong. We are also very blessed that we like them all, and that they all help out to make something like this possible, and fun. I know that Skyler had fun - an impromptu water fight aided by Uncle James led to some very happy, yet very wet children. Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with us, we love you all tons!

Boys Camping Trip

Last Year Jordan took Skyler and Ethan on a camping trip - just the boys. It was only for 1 night, but the boys loved it. This year Jordan suggested they go again, I was supportive, but chose not to remind Jordan how frustrated he was coming home last year. Friday Night was the night, and we had 2 super excited little boys, and one daddy with an arsenal of ideas for fun with them. They boys were each a year older, and this year went better than the last. I hope that they continue to spend time together like this, and I envision it getting easier and more fun each year.

In Case You Were Wondering

I am married to the most thoughtful man on earth! I Love how he is always planing dates and activities that we can do together, and how he picks up on things that I would like, He is super observant. Unfortunately for him, I am a little slow. Last night while I was out having a fabulous conversation with Karey, he changed out one of our pictures at home.

Yup, that used to be a larger picture of the Savior, but now I have a witch.
It only took me until 12:30 today to see it, but I am soo super excited, and super appreciative of how thoughtful, and creative he is!

Randoms

We are fortunate to have some really great American friends, so we get to celebrate the 4th of July every year with them. The kids are all getting older, so this year there was a bunch of fun for them. Nick had a classic science experiment making bubbles from Dy ice. We had 3 legged races - Does it count as a win if you become untied and are simply the first 2 people across? At one point in the evening Ryley decided that clothes were overrated, and I laughed pretty hard at her trying to strip.
Just before we left all of the kids were given a sparkler, which my kids thought was the greatest thing ever.
I just had to include a picture of our Diva, and this picture just says so much. Ryley loves to swim, and on this particular day we were going later, like a lot later, but she simple refused to wear anything else all day long. Secondly can you see all of the bling? She wears these dress up shoes, sparkly purse and all of its accessories all the time, and it always makes me laugh a little. I certainly do not dress like that.

Today we enjoyed our first bowl of Strawberry's from the gardern. I LOVE having a garden, but I find it hard to have the kids leave the strawberry's on the bush long enough to have anything substantial.

And then to make sure that today was super fun, this little man woke up puking, although he slept for about 3 hours this morning, and now seems to be right back to himself, we will have to see what the rest of today brings.