bonfire in the canyon

One night after we put the kids in bed and a neighbor watched them, Greg, Cassidy, Chris, and I went up in the canyon for a fire. We went to a place that wasnt a camp ground or park. It was fun to be in the forest. Greg bought an axe and was so excited about it. Most of the time we were there he was chopping away. My camera flash works really well in the dark! Greg and Cassidy Merrill live 2 doors down from us. The day we met last summer we figured out that his dad grew up in the Columbia Basin Ward (my home ward) and I know some of his family that still lives there. His dad and my dad were/are friends. His uncle baptised Chris' dad and was my sunday school teacher when I was 14. His cousin is my parents bishop now. His Grandma Elaine is so sweet and one of my good "elderly" friends. And Greg's our neighbor now. Funny huh?

Its always fun to get away from the kids (no offense Addysin and Caiden).

need freezer jam recipe

Please help me asap. I bought 8 things of strawberries for $8 total at Macy's! What a steal. They are usually like $2.50 each. You have to buy the whole box though to get the deal (meaning you cant buy one for $1, or three for $3). Well, now I have a bunch of strawberries and I need a delicious freezer jam recipe ASAP so I can make it Saturday or Sunday. I like recipes that are lower sugar, or at least dont taste too sugary. Call me, or post it in the comments. Thanks!

Halloween in June

Addysin HATED putting on her Minnie costume last Halloween. I was suprised because it is her favorite show, but then again she wasn't even two yet. I had to wrestle her to get it on. No, I'm not joking. She was screaming, and I couldn't get her big head through the little neck hole. Well, I put in in storage for sure since I couldn't think of any reason to torture her again with it... even though I would have liked to so we could get our money out of it. Well one day (June 5), Chris and her were looking at pictures on the computer and she sees herself on Halloween. OOOOh boy, she starts crying for Minnie and looking for the costume in her closet. I went down to the basement to retrieve it (super happily because nothing is cuter than a little girl all dressed up because she demanded it). She put on the whole getup, even the shoes that were burried in the "outgrown pile" in her closet. She remembered those shoes had to be worn with the costume, and no others. Her feet barely fit, but she through a fit when I tried to take them off. We were on our way out to dinner at the time and I didn't care if she wore it, but Chris couldn't believe I was going to let her go in to Pizza Factory like that. He said I had to carry her in. Let me tell you, people loved it. I'm sure it made someones day, other than mine.

A day at the park

Our branch (yes, we are in a branch. It used to be small when our development was brand new, but now is definitly big enought to be a ward) elders quaroms had a softball game June 6th so I walked to the park with the kids in the stroller. It might have been 2 miles at most, side walks the whole way. When I arrived, the guys were shocked I had walked there. I felt like a marathon runner for a second... untill I realized it was was like a mile and a half. Growing up, my sisters and I would walk down Elm Rd. out in the country- for fun- to Uncle Phil and Aunt Megs to see our cousins on sunday afternoons. It was 4 miles. Addysin's favorite thing about summer is anything outside. She LOVES parks and the pool.
Addysin flying. Caiden holding on for dear life.


I wasn't joking.

He was honestly shaking at times. He never cried though so I just let him get used to it. It was hilarious.

One of many Sunday drives

Chris and I are loving Utah right now. It is soooo incredibly beautiful. Our new favorite thing to do is drive around sight seeing and finding new things in the City we live in. There are so many cool houses and beautiful mountains. One sunday we drove out to Utah Lake. It was only 10 minutes from our house, but completely in the country. We took Orem Center St. westward to this area where there will be a huge housing developement someday, but so far there are just a bunch of nice roads, fancy street lamps, stone walls, and open land. For all you out-of-staters. Utah Lake is huge, shallow, and pretty disgusting to swim in . The deepest point is 34 feet. It is said to have a part that you can walk all the way across on. Is that true? I dont know. But I do know that when we went boating on it, the depth reader was usually around 5-10 feet! Crazy. It covers 150 square miles and is 23 miles long. It goes to the Great Salt Lake by the Jordan River.

We live in such a beautiful world

Sister Melanie

Melanie and her family drove up from Arizona at the end of May. It was so fun to see her and her kids. We dont see them very often. Both of our kids were sick during their vacation here so we didn't do a whole lot, and Addysin was a grouchy pants, but I still loved it. We went to the canyon with them one afternoon for dinner, they came swimming one day at our pool, and we went to her in-laws for dinner once. Caiden and Ammelia are 5 weeks apart. Caiden's older, but of course Ammelia is crawling and getting around and Caiden's not. Our kids like to take it slow and easy.

Swimming

The best floatie ever made for infants. I got it at Target last year for $15. It is as safe as one could be. It wont tip over because its so wide, its made well, and it has a sun shade that we use everytime... except this time. Addysin's not the only one that loves pulling Caiden around in the kid pull. Any random child will do it. This floatie makes everyone happy!

lee Picnic

Towards the end of May Chris' parents were here. They have been coming here a lot the past few months (four times) because Chuck is going to start a new job in St. George, UT this fall so they are moving in July! Its so crazy that our parents will not be in the same city anymore. No more vacations where we see both families in one trip. So while they were here we went to Provo Canyon for a picnic. Utah is sooooo BEAUTIFUL. We are always gone May-August so we have never got to see how green it gets here. We go to the canyon any chance we get, its only 10-20 minutes away, depending on the park we go to.
Me, Alise, Kira. Alise is one of my best friends from high school. Our families are intertwined so we stay in touch. Kira is her sister, and my sister-in-law (Chris' brother's wife). Their dad is the "handy-man" at my parents. He's either fixing or remodeling their house almost every month.

Our picnic.

David, Melanie, Chuck, Chris.

precious precious sleep

All of you mothers who have bad sleepers know how LITERALLY EXHAUSTING motherhood is... or maybe I'm the only one that wakes up 4-6 times in my seven hours of sleep to tend to my crazy children while my deaf husband sleeps through it all. I dreaded mornings and seriously counted down the hours until bedtime. My life was revolving around sleep, which I never got. I reached the very very end of my rope and figured Caiden out. There is no making sense of Addysin though. So I have to say.......HOORAY! Caiden has slept through the night (meaning 12 hours) two days in a row. We're going on three right now.... oh please work! I feel like this really cant be happening to me. Addysin, who turned 2 1/2 yesterday- Happy 1/2 Birthday!- still wakes up at least once, sometimes two or three times! She is so terrible at night. Its our fault though, we didn't discipline her like we have Caiden. I have been kinda working on Caiden since three months old and now he's almost 10 months. Not too bad though. By the third or fourth child I will have it all figured out.