Ethan's birthday

I am still kind of in shock that I have an 8 year old! Ethan's birthday was on July 21st. He does a summer program with the school for the deaf each year so he had school that morning. It was a field trip. He had a ton of fun and brought twinkies for everyone. When Grandma and Grandpa got to our house all Ethan wanted to do was open his presents. So we let him. Then we did cake. I made an ice cream cake. I put oreo cookies on the bottom then a layer of ice cream then a layer of fudge and reeses peanut butter cups then a layer of ice cream then some caramel and then cool whip. It was pretty good if I do say so myself :)

I know this is blurry but its the best I've got.

Ethan said he wanted a spiderman cake so I got a little toy to put on top. He was so excited about all his new toys that he didn't even eat one bite of his cake.

On August 6 Ethan was baptized. IT was such a special day. We were the only ones in the ward getting baptized so we got to do the whole program ourselves. It was nice. We had SO much family come and support us. I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for such an amazing family. Mark's mom gave a talk. It was perfect and so sweet. Thank You. Ethan was so cute as he got baptized. I am so happy to be his mom.

Here is our silly little family after the baptism. Its the best we could do. I am sure if I had all girls it would perfectly posed but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Some cute things Ethan said on his baptism day.

He walked into the stake center and told them he was there to get baptized. He was then escorted to get his clothes. When he saw them he asked if it was ok if they got wet.

When Brother Johnson was giving the closing remarks he asked Ethan if he knew what he had promised that day. Ethan said, "yes, to always do what Jesus wants me to, be good and not bad"

Emily gave me a new hair cut on Thursday. I accidentally told her to cut it super short. So here it is. I have officially washed it and styled it on my own and here are the pictures.

I am trying to get Ethan not to give me bunny ears. He is such a tease.

July so far

WE really have been doing things in July. I some how forgot about everything until I was putting on the pictures onto my computer this morning. So here they are. Mark took Ethan and Jake fishing with his dad. I took the two little boys to Chuck E. Cheeses. As Ryan would say it is more funner than anything. Andrew loved driving all the cars.

Ryan was so happy when the real live Chuck E. Cheese came out. Andrew was excited to wave from a distance.

My cousin Ben and his wife Kelsey had their 3rd baby. They blessed her on fast Sunday in July. It was so fun to see everyone.

Here's our family with my dad's parents. They are amazing. They had 8 kids, 6 of them boys. Ethan found a spider and brought it with in inches of my grandma's face. She didn't even flinch when she saw it. She only asked if he knew what kind it was. Mark got some really cute pictures of my Grandpa carrying Andrew around. They are on his phone so those will have to wait until later.

This is Andrew and one of my cousins kids. Andrew thought it would be a good idea to share the car. She obviously didn't.

We thought this was funny to have Andrew pushing Ryan around.

Here are my cousins.

Melissa, Me, Kaylee, Candice, and Bethany

I am right in between Bethany and Melissa in age. I have so many great memories with these girls. It was so fun to be with them.

WE made it to the fireworks too. I think this is only the second time we have done fireworks with our kids. We went to Thanksgiving Point. It was great. We left at 9:30 parked and sat down by 9:45 and the fireworks were from 10-10:30 and we were home by 11:15. Our boys loved it and I would definitely do it again.

June Recap

Kellie and her two kids came and stayed with us June 14-17. They were headed up to Wenatchee WA. We had so much fun with them. Ryan and Star were inseparable. One night they tried to sleep in Ryan's bed together. It didn't last long.

We went to go visit our grandparents in Spanish Fork and Mapleton. I never remember to get my camera out but at the second house I did! So here are some pictures from Grandma and Grandpa Hales' house.

Ryan and Star

I don't know why but I just thought this view was so cute.




Here's my grandma with the great grand kids. My grandpa had to take my cousin to his piano lesson so he was in and out while we were there.

My kids love their dog Bogie. They wanted a picture with him.

My Grandma and me in our DI outfits!

Kellie and Grandma

Jake's last attempt to touch the Llama. He doesn't really like kids.

Ethan started summer scouts. He loves it. He went to Day camp and couldn't stop talking about how amazing it was. The first day of scouts Jake and Ryan were crying to me because they weren't twins with Ethan. They said, "it isn't fair, Ethan gets to do everything first!"

I bought this little inflatable pool. The boys love running and jumping in it more than just playing in it. They have had lots of fun so far.



Emily and Matthew and Max came and stayed with us the last week of June. They are moving into their apartment today. We made these little crab sandwiches. They are from the Family Fun Magazine.

Jake was really wanting me to make them. He asked me if he ate lunch at school when he was in first grade I said yes. He then told me he was super excited and wanted me to put one of these in his lunch every day. Sorry Jake you will not be having croissant sandwiches packed in your lunch daily.




This was our first of eternal pack nights. I think I will be going to these for the next 10 years.
They welcomed Ethan into cub scouts at pack night. He got branded with CUBS.

Ethan Loves Cub Scouts!

Spencer got a motorcycle making him officially the coolest uncle ever! The boys loved wearing his helmet around the house.

Recent Projects

Mark planted our garden on our deck. It lost is spot when we got our swing set. So far so good. I am excited for all my tomatoes. Here's the other half of the garden and my lovely peach tree. I love growing food!

A girl that I visit teach had a baby and it was a girl. I usually make burp cloths but a month ago she had shown us all the burp cloths she had been making. So I made these bibs. It was so fun to make something girly for a change.

One of my old roomies is getting married next month. I am so excited for her. She had a shower last week so I made this apron. It only took me two days. I was pretty excited.

Yup -- its reversible.

Reality Check

Ethan and Jake both got home from school yesterday and their little eyes swelled with tears. They were devastated that they didn't win the road to success bike and scooter at their school. I think they only give out two in the entire school and every week you read 5 times you get your name in the drawing once. So what are the odds of winning. I am not really sure. We had a good 10 min. cry about it. And Jake was even more upset because he said a prayer that he would win. He told me EVERYONE in his school has a scooter but him. :( Maybe next year.

Dream Vacation!

Just an FYI there are TONS of pictures

Doesn't that look picturesque? It is! I didn't even know this was my dream vacay until I got there. Mark's best friend from forever, Mike Taylor's grandma owns this ranch. It is amazing. Its in the perfect location. Best of all. There is no internet, cell phones or television. Having Mark connected to the internet 24/7 it was so nice to get away and really be away.
Saturday Morning Mark and Mike mowed the lawn. Mike had to go into town (Mt. Carmel, not really much of a town either) to get some gas. We walked down to the creek while we waited.




Andrew had a hard time getting to the creek. He loved stopping for everything interesting.

I captured Spencer in this awkward pose so I had to post it. So funny.

I brought a bug catcher kit down. The kids had so much fun putting all sorts of bugs in it. The first night we found lots of little frogs by the house.

Jake has such a funny sense of fashion. I love the hat over the hood.

Ryan posing for me.

This is how Andrew did most of his hiking.

Had to get a family pic. with that view. LOVE IT!

While Mike and Mark mowed the boys played this game.

We went on a short hike up the slot canyons. They were really neat. Jake would complain the entire time we were walking and then when he would see something he wanted to climb up he had all sorts of energy.

Ethan at the slot canyons

Andrew loved walking around up here. He was so funny to watch.

Another family picture. Mark was such a good sport too. Guess fresh air is good for everyone :)

Ethan and Ryan decided to hike back by themselves. This is typical behavior for Ethan. He doesn't like waiting and will just take off. Yes its frustrating for me. This time Ryan went with him. I think he thought we were right behind them. Mark caught up to me and took Andrew and then I hurried and caught up to Ethan and Ryan. Ryan had gotten a little scared since we weren't around. I stayed behind and watched. Ethan is such a sweet older brother. I love this picture.

Sunday night we made s'mores over the fire inside. It was so cold and windy outside. Spencer took this picture and said it reminded him of the pitchfork picture.

Mark made the most amazing s'more. I call it the "double mallow" we had the king size hershey bars which I typically don't like since the chocolate doesn't melt to my liking. (Yes, I am pretty particular about my s'mores) Well Mark did graham-mallow-chocolate-mallow-graham. Can you say best s'more ever. I don't think I'll ever go back to the single mallow.

Ryan enjoying his s'more

Sunday night Mark let Ethan play a game on his phone. I think Ethan was feeling some with drawls from video games. (not that I think he even plays that much)

This is the funniest picture to me. I think I love everything about it especially the crazy boy making that ridiculous face.