Last of the Summer Fun!

We are trying to get as much fun in as we can before summer comes to an end and before the baby arrives. Linc and Hazel are constantly outside playing games, riding bikes, doing experiments and playing with the water.

Here is Lincoln taking full advantage of Hazel's love for riding bikes ;-)

we went to Red Butte Garden one day and the kids LOVED it! We fed the fish, looked at the beautiful plants and mini waterfalls, and of course spent a lot of time in the children's garden playing in the sand pit, running through the water fountains and rattlesnake maze and walking around - I forgot how beautiful that place is.

the kids were out back one day and Lincoln came inside to ask if they could turn on the hose - little did I know they meant to soak themselves from head to toe. This particular day was not very warm but they made the best of it anyway!

and we had to take the kids to the circus again this year. They loved it so much last year and were so excited to go again. This year Grandma Coni went with us and we had so much fun with her. Hazel's favorite part was the elephants and Lincoln's was the motorcycles riding in the cage shaped like a ball. When it came time to pick their prizes Hazel picked the elephant snow cone that she LOVED and ate almost all of it and Lincoln picked a cool motorcycle that he loves to play with. Tommy and I thought the show was better last year, but for the deal we got on the seats this year we aren't complaining - we had a blast!

We are not ready for summer to come to an end - hopefully the nice weather will hang on for a little longer :)

We celebrated 11 years!

The weekend of September 18th Tommy and I were lucky enough to get away to Park City for the weekend to celebrate our 11th Anniversary =) It was so nice to get away from the kids (thanks mom!) and just have some time with the two of us. With Tommy working 6 days a week we have very limited alone time. And a big thanks to my Brother-in-law for letting us stay in his family cabin. Both mornings I woke before Tommy and went and had my breakfast out on the back deck that overlooks Main Street and down the valley.

We had a great weekend eating out, going for scenic drives, walking Main Street and we went and saw a play called The Trailer Park Musical. Not the best play I have ever been to, but it had some funny parts and was entertaining.

We ended the weekend by going to La Caille for Sunday brunch to use a gift certificate that was given to us almost a year ago. We sat out on their beautiful patio and had very yummy food - too bad I can't afford it more often :) Tommy and I had a wonderful weekend and can't believe how fast life is flying by. We have so many wonderful memories together and are excited to build many more!

Hazel's new room

I painted and fixed up Hazels room a few months ago (like in July or August) and she has loved it. I will be posting pictures of the baby's new room soon (because it is almost done - yeah!) and I decided I better post pics of Hazels new room first. You might not be able to tell from the pictures, but it is a huge improvement.

We originally painted the room this dingy taupe color 8 years ago when we bought our house. I have repainted every room in the house at least once since, except for her room. I guess since it has always been the youngest kids room it has always been hard not to disrupt naps, etc. Well, since I let Lincoln pick the color of his room I let Hazel pick the color of hers too - of course she chose pink :) I painted a few samples on the wall and decided to go with the lightest color pink I could find, and boy and I glad I did. If it had turned out any more pink, I probably would have been repainting the whole thing again.

Here is the before picture with my paint samples on the wall:

her old dresser and bookcase with lots of clutter:

And here is her new pink room and new blue shabby chic dresser. The room is so much brighter and since these pics were taken I have changed her crib into a toddler bed (about time since she is almost 3!) - so now it is her big girl room. Hanging above her bed is Hazels favorite part of the room - BUTTERFLIES! (okay, really they are fairies, but Hazel insists they are butterflies)

I know it is nothing amazing nor is it the cutest room I have ever seen, but after 8 years it felt so good to paint it a brighter color, declutter the room and give the closet a good cleaning so all of her toys could fit in there.

And if you think her pink looks a little bright in these pics, just wait and see the color that I painted the little nursery - WOW is all I can say. Hopefully I will have pics to post at the end of the week....

Ponce a Time...

Here is a little story that Hazel tells us once in a while and it is so cute coming from her that I wanted to write it down before I forgot it one day...


"Ponce a Time, Ponce a Time there was a cow in the road and he got smashed like a pancake"

It's ALMOST time...

This pregnancy has flown by! Here is a pic of me at 31 weeks and I am almost ready for her to arrive. All of her clothes are washed and put away, her bedroom is painted and my mom is starting on her bedding this weekend. Lincoln and Hazel are so excited for her to arrive they can barely stand it :) They ask all the time to look at my big belly and they always laugh at my belly button (which you can guess is now an outie). Lincoln loves to feel my belly when she moves, he gets the biggest smile on his face. It is so much fun to experience a pregnancy when my kids are a little older and understand more of what is going on. I am so glad they are excited for her arrival - let's just hope it stays that way!

Such a great weekend!!

Tommy went out of town from Thursday - Monday to our annual Gorge trip in Washington State to see DMB, and because I am 7 mo. prego I decided I would take a year off. Instead I decided to take my kids down to St. George and spend some time with my in-laws. I am so excited I did because it was one of the best vacations I have taken all year and I had so much fun with the kids. I think they had a great time too, and I will apologize for all of the many pics in advance, but they were so happy in all of them that it was hard to pick which ones to post.

First I will start out with pics from the Ranch for those of you who have never seen it. I LOVE this place. Tommy and I were married here almost 11 years ago and it is the best place to go for relaxation. My kids keep asking why we can't just live there and they were both so sad to leave. The main house is on the left and the guest house is on the back side of the garage. There is a stream that runs between the houses that Lincoln spent most of his time building dams, floating boats, catching frogs and just splashing around in. Hazel's favorite thing to do was ride her bike all around (and she played in the water a little bit.) Luckily some of their cousins were staying in the guest house, so they played with them and kept entertained so all I had to do was relax in a chair in the shade and supervise.

here is the view to some of the fields from the house. There is a big treehouse and some swings in the big trees down there and on the other side of the trees is the Virgin River. In some of the other fields around the house are some horses and angus cows. The kids were lucky enough to feed the horses carrots and see a baby calf that was only a week old. Gorgeous isn't it??

Here is a view of the houses from the swings.

Our first night in St. George my BIL was nice enough to meet up with us and take us to the lake. The kids had so much fun playing with cousins on in the water and on the beach. Then later another BIL showed up with his boat and took us for a short ride. We were lucky to see the beautiful sunset while on the boat.

The next day my BIL Darryl was nice enough to hang out with us again and took us to the new rec center for the kids to swim and go down the big slide and lazy river. Wish ours was as nice up here!

The kids and I took a trip to Zion National Park, just the three of us and had so much fun! Lincoln held some antlers and animal pelts and felt pretty cool. The kids also thought the shuttle buses were quite the hilight of the trip - Hazel cried when we had to get off :)

we hiked up to Weeping Rock (where water just weeps out of the rocks and you pretty much get rained on - very short hike and the kids thought it was so cool!)

we took a break in between hikes to eat lunch and have a little ice cream. Can you tell I don't buy my kids ice cream very often? Ha ha!

we also hiked to the lower Emerald Pools. I knew my kids would love this because they are so fascinated with waterfalls and have only ever seen them driving in the car. Lincoln wanted to hike further up, but after the paved road ends it gets more bouldery and steeper cliff sides - didn't dare do this by myself. And I also didn't know if they would make it back down if we went much further. It was so pretty up there and the weather was just perfect.

Thanks to my kids and my great in-laws for making my weekend so wonderful. We missed Tommy but we were totally entertained while he was gone. I wonder if I had more fun than him??

Kindergarten started today!

Lincoln has been so excited for Kindergarten to start! We had plans to walk to school with our neighbors since they have a girl his age in the same grade (but different class), but Lincoln was too excited to wait for them so we left a little early so he could play on the little playground before school started. Tommy met us there so he could check out where all the "cool kids" go. When the bell rang Lincoln went in and put his coat and backpack in his locker (he thinks this is awesome!).

Hazel wanted to get in on some of the pictures this morning too - she was feeling a little left out!

Here he is at school waiting to be able to play on the playground before school. Such a big boy!

I can't believe I have a kid in Kindergarten. I am excited for him, Tommy is actually the one that got teary eyed and choked up when we walked away from the school. When I picked him up he has such a good day he can't wait to go back tomorrow! Way to go buddy!