4th of July Weekend

The 4th of July is always a good time. This year the 4th of July fell on a Saturday, which meant that the weekend was full of fun activities. We started off with a baseball game on Thursday night. This was Paige's first baseball game, so I made sure I got a picture to commemorate the occasion. 

We decided to go check out some of the Freedom Festival activities. We hadn't ever been to the Colonial Fest before, so we decided to give it a try. However, this year as part of the festivities they had the Candy Bomber from World War II come and drop some candy into a nearby field. So the number of people there to see the famous pilot drop all those candy bars tied to little parachutes was beyond out of control. We knew that the event was happening, but we weren't necessarily there to see it. It was just that we ended up getting to the park right before he was going to fly over. So we decided to join the crowd and to see the candy drop. Here we are waiting, not so patiently, for something to happen.

Here's as picture of the plane they used for the candy drop. It flew by a few times before dropping the candy. The hardest part was that because of the enormous crowd, when he actually dropped the candy we could barely see the tiny parachutes floating above the trees. So for the kids who couldn't really see anything, the event was rather anticlimactic. After the candy was dropped, the crowds thinned out and we were able to enjoy our outing better.

After being in the hot sun for so long, everyone was feeling a little hungry and dehydrated. So we stopped for a little snack break. Ross found a booth that was selling watermelon for a great price so we all enjoyed some juicy watermelon slices. Corbin especially loved eating the watermelon. He had it all over him when he was done!

For the Colonial Fest, they have the park all set up like a small town from colonial times. People are all dressed up like people from colonial times. And you can go to the shops so see how they made things like candles, buckets, yarn, brooms, bread, pots, and other things used during colonial times. There are also people there dressed up like colonial military who do demonstrations with old guns and cannons. I wasn't sure how the kids would do with something like that, but they seemed to enjoy it. Leah especially seemed to really like watching the people do their different crafts. I would like to go back again when we can spend more time in the colonial village.

Fireworks are my favorite part of the 4th of July. So later that night, I took Leah back to the baseball field so that we could watch the fireworks go off after the game. We got there before the game was over and found a spot outside the field that we could sit and wait for them to start. So we played with my phone and took some pictures while we were waiting.

On Saturday (the 4th) we got up early to go over to our ward's pancake breakfast. Because Ross had to help serve breakfast this year, we didn't make it over to the parade. Here's a fun picture of Paige on her first 4th of July. Love that smile!

The rest of our day was really busy and apparently I didn't get any pictures. Next we went to my parents' house for Makynlee's birthday party. And then back down to Ross's mom for dinner and fireworks. The 4th of July is one of Leah's favorite days. She loves all the fun things we cram into one busy day. I hope this year didn't disappoint her! (Although I'm sure that wasn't likely.)

Paige's Baby Blessing

June 28th was Paige's special day. She was blessed in sacrament meeting by her dad. And I know that Ross gets nervous about these kinds of things, but he did a wonderful job with the blessing. 

The day before, we held a family dinner to celebrate. Not everyone could make it to the blessing and not everyone could make it to the dinner. But people came to one or the other (or both) and hopefully enjoyed celebrating the birth of this beautiful baby girl with us.  

This is the dress that she wore for her blessing. This is a special dress because it was the dress that wore when I was sealed to my parents in the Salt Lake Temple when I was just 3 months old. So this dress holds special meaning for me, and hopefully Paige will think it was pretty special too.

Getting a group picture after sacrament meeting was pretty chaotic, so this is about the best we could get. It might be a little hard to see everyone, but we were very grateful for all those who made the effort to be there with us. We had some of the Leslies, some of the Tuckers, some Miller family and even some of our Turner "family." It turned out that Lesley and her little family were coming out for their summer visit and were able to come to the blessing along with Lesley's parents. It was so fun to have them there.

Here is the group of priesthood brethren who were able to stand in the circle with Ross. We are so blessed to have such honorable men in our family.

The rest of our church meeting was pretty crazy. After pictures, Leah had to go into Primary and give a talk. It was fun to have some of her family members be able to go in and hear her. Then during the third hour, I taught the lesson in Relief Society. It wasn't my usual week to teach, but I was able to make some trades to be able to teach that week while family was there. It was very neat to be able to teach and share my testimony of the gospel with my mom, sister, mother-in-law, grandma, Lesley and Vera (who are like an extra sister and mom to me) there with me. 

After church, I got some pictures of Paige in her blessing outfit along with the blanket my mom crocheted for her. Isn't she a cutie!

And of course Leah had to get in on all the picture taking action. This girl loves her little sister so much! And who can blame her? We are so glad to have this beautiful bundle of joy as part of our little family. We love you Paige June Leslie!!!

June 2015

I've said it before and I'll say it again, June is probably my favorite month. The weather is warm, the days are long, and school is out. It is just a relaxing, fun month. 

We started out the month celebrating 7 years of marriage. We couldn't decide just what to do to celebrate. So we took the kids to my parents' house and asked for suggestions of something to do (that would allow Paige to tag along also). They suggested seeing the movie The Cokeville Miracle. We couldn't think of anything else, so we decided to give it a try. We were both surprised at how much we actually liked the movie. It was very intense at times, but had a great message and really got us both thinking. So we were glad we had decided to see it. Afterwards we went out for dinner at The Olive Garden. I always love going out to eat. And the best part was that Paige slept all through dinner, so I was able to just enjoy eating my dinner and talking to Ross without interruptions (a very rare occurrence!)

Here's some of the other highlights from the month of June:

Of course we loved watching this little face grow and get more and more cute each day (if that's possible). 

Corbin loves to climb to the front of the van to play with all the buttons and knobs and to pretend that he is driving.

We enjoyed an outing to the park with some neighborhood friends. Corbin likes the swing as long as it doesn't go too high or fast and he likes it best if I am holding on to his hand so he doesn't feel like he'll fall off. Leah must have been running around with her friends because I don't have any pictures of her from that day. Here's Paige enjoying a nice warm afternoon in the stroller.

Here's Ross and the kids being silly one night.

This kid only passes out like this when he is really tired.

We went to the splash pad to play one day after Corbin's tumbling class. We weren't planning on it, so we didn't have swim suits with us, but that didn't stop Leah from getting in the water to cool off and have some fun. 

On one of Ross's days off, we decided to take a little hike up to Bridal Veil Falls. When we first got there, it started to rain. And it didn't look like it was going to quit anytime soon. So we drove back down the canyon and found somewhere to eat. By this time, the rain was pouring down and we had to dodge huge puddles as we ran through the rain into the restaurant. But while we were eating, the rain subsided and we decided to try going up the canyon again. This time the weather was fine and we enjoyed some time up in the mountains. Leah especially enjoyed exploring around at the bottom of the falls. She wasn't afraid to take her shoes off and climb all over the rocks and logs.

Here's a couple selfie shots looking up at the falls. It did rain a bit more while we were there, but the kids didn't complain. This was a fun little family outing. 

Here's a couple fun little snap shots. The one of Paige was taken early in the morning. I hate being up early, but smiles like this make it bearable. 

My boy and his hat! What a goofy kid! I love him!

For the first and last time, Corbin and Leah were able to go to the MOA art class together, both as participants. The exhibit they were focusing on was all about origami. Leah loved art class and will be very sad that that she is now too old to participate. Corbin is still a little too young to appreciate it, but still did pretty well. They gave the kids fans to play with for a little while. Here they are having fun with them.

The kids found a Christmas popcorn tin and decided that it made a great drum one day. They had a great time banging on it at loud as they could. I enjoyed watching them have so much fun. But after a while, it was just too noisy and I made them put the wooden spoons back away.

Here's some proof that I am a "mean mom" sometimes. Leah did something that got her in a lot of trouble. I really don't remember what she did, but it was bad enough that I felt it warranted a punishment. So after talking about what she did wrong, I let her choose what she thought would be a good punishment. She thought about it for a little and decided that she would be willing to mop the floors. This wasn't exactly what I had in mind. And I was a little hesitant to go along with it knowing that a project like that would require a lot of supervision and could end up being more work for me. But in the end, I agreed because our floors really needed it anyway. She wasn't too happy that I made her do it to my standards instead of just setting her loose with the mop. And in the end she ended up appreciating that a job like that is hard work. But overall, she did a pretty good job and hopefully a lesson was learned.

It is not very often that Leah takes a nap. But when she does, she usually passes out like this. (And no this wasn't taken right after she finished mopping.)

One night after mutual, Ross brought home some leftover fudge ice cream bars. They were a little melty, but the kids still loved them!

Every once in a while the kids will sit quietly together. On this particular day, Corbin snuggled up to Leah and fell asleep. I thought it was too cute not to get a picture of it.

And here's the cutie cudding on my lap at the time.

More pictures of our cute baby!

Leah wanted a picture of this pink hair clip in her hair. 

And at the end of June our precious little girl turned 3 months old. She is a cuddly little girl who has a cute smile. We love her lots!