Parade with Grandma

 The weekend before the 4th of July they have a festival in Elk Ridge. Since watching the parade last year my Mom knew she wanted to drive their golf cart with the Grandkids in it this year. She decorated the cart, bought some candy to throw, and loaded the kids in together to be in the parade.

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The parade "theme" was military so this golf cart was made into a tank. Love it

Only Elk Ridge would have llamas in the parade...

 The next morning we went to the city's pancake breakfast and the carnival. It had games, booths, jump houses and other fun stuff to do. Lyla really wanted her face painted and chose this design out. She talked about it all day and loved it. 

Here they are driving by. It was so cute to see them all waving and excited to be in the parade.

Swimming

This Saturday we went swimming at the Lehi pool. Its one of my favorite pools in Utah. Its far away, but worth the drive. 

These swings are really for smaller babies, but they sure looked cute in them.

 Lyla loving the slide. She is such a water child, and always has been. She jumps off the side with no fear, loves to be in any water, and even when she is shivering and has purple lips she wants to just "keep swimming"

Mac's favorite part was this little fountain off to the side of the pool. He played over here forever and just laughed and laughed when it would spray up in his face

Canyon BBQ

We went with Mary Nelson and the kids up to the canyon to roast some hot dogs and mallows. Its our favorite part of camping anyway (eating) so we decided to spend the evening together and enjoy the cool mountain air. 

 Hey, can I have some of that?!

Throwing rocks into the river

 Josh getting the BIG rocks to make a huge splash in the river. We did this for probably an hour after dinner. The kids loved it. 

Everyday Life

 Just a few pictures of everyday things going on at the house. I usually just post events or things we do but I had a few pictures of things the kids are doing too. 

Mac LOVES to push Lyla's baby stroller, most times its empty but I thought it was cute that he put his car in it the other day. It made it a little more "manly" I guess, haha

Playdoh. You know your baby is growing up when you play for over a half hour with playdoh and he doesn't eat any of it. We usually do playdoh when Mac is sleeping for that reason, but we tried it out today and he didn't even take one bite, I was happy, but also a little sad he's getting so big.

 Love this little concentration face

 We dance a lot in our kitchen/dining area. Its a perfect open space for dancing. I've posted several pictures of this very thing before, but today I was loving Lyla's choice of dress-ups. Rapunzel dress, fairy wings, and a headband from when she was a baby. 

We love having a yard. Its our first place since being married that we've had a yard all to ourselves. Its perfect for days like today, when a little boy just wants to do some digging. He knows right where the shovels are in the garage, and can reach them, so he just wanders around the garage, gets a shovel, and goes right for the dirt. 

He decided to wave to me as I was taking his picture. He always puts his hand straight up like this when he waves. It melts my heart

Father's Day

The Friday before Father's Day we went up to my parents house and spent the night. Saturday morning I surprised Josh with a game of golf at the local course with my Dad and Wally. 

After golf we had a yummy dinner and played a bean bag toss game that we gave Dad. The bean bag toss was surprisingly fun and competitive, it was a great game to play as a group. 

Here's Dad with all the kids (and holding the bean bag game)

A silly one for good measure

Sunday wasn't too exciting, mostly just church and naps. Then we just hung around and had dinner together. I framed Josh's graduation diploma (finally) and gave that to him in the morning. It wasn't a super awesome present or anything but he was surprised and the frame turned out really nice. (no picture though, have to go to his office to see it, ha)

Reading The Friend magazine together after church

 Enjoying popsicles on the back deck after dinner. It was a hot day. 

 We are so lucky to have such a wonderful Father in our home, we love him so much. He takes such good care of us and we couldn't ask for a better Dad or Husband. The way both of the kids look at him and get excited when he comes home is only the beginning of how much they love and adore their Dad. One of the main reasons I married Josh is because of how much he loved kids and he is still proving to me today what a wonderful Dad he is and always will be. Love you Joshie, thank you for always being a rock in our house for me and the kids. Happy Fathers Day

1 Year Anniversary

My parents have officially lived in Utah for one year, so they (my Mom) wanted to celebrate. She invited all the family members that we have in Utah over, which is at least 40. Not everyone could come (Cliff and Jennifer's family got sick) but just about everyone else was there and we had a lot of fun, sun, and food. 

I once again used my awesome silhouette machine and made this sign 

A few of the kids

 Hula Hoopin'

We have loved having my parents closer and have enjoyed their awesome house and property this past year. We are excited for all the more memories to come!

Zoo

We are trying to get in the spring activities before it gets too hot. One of those was going to the zoo. Josh got off work just a little early so we could go enjoy the 75 degree weather and check out the animals.

 We took a little pit stop and had to ride the carousel, which both kids loved just as much as seeing the animals, haha

 The last stop was going to see the gorilla. He stopped and looked straight at Lyla and just stared at her for a minute or so. It was a little scary but Lyla didn't seem to mind much, she just looked right back at him until he walked away.

Alyse is Moving

Mary, Alyse and I have now been friends for about 6 years! We went to school together and were in the Elementary Education program and became good friends. We moved away for law school and when we got back to Utah I was excited to hang out with these sweet girls again. Since getting back from WA we live far away from each other, and all 3 of us have had a baby this past year so we haven't hung out as much as we would like but still do see each other. 

To get to the point, Alyse is now leaving on her own adventure to OR (hopefully returning one day!) where her husband Bob got a job. Bob finished pharmaceutical school this past year and then just recently got a job.  So we got together one last time and had a little going away party and enjoyed a BBQ at our house. I made a little door mat with a big B on it for Barber and a sign that said Good Luck in Oregon. We will miss Alyse, Bob, and her sweet baby Olivia but hope that she will come back to her roots sooner than later!

Thanksgiving Point

 With the great spring weather we are having, we took advantage of it and went to the farm at Thanksgiving Point. Mac was in pure heaven and giggled so much at every animal that he got close to.

We get a free pony ride with our season pass and I'm not sure I have ever seen Mac happier, which is saying a lot because he is usually pretty dang happy. He squealed and laughed and smiled the whole entire time. It was the cutest thing I ever did see, or hear.