Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day. It was our last day in Utah and we were very tired after the reunion. We surprised David with a photobook and a new water bottle. He loved the photobook....see his eyes are a little wet? :) I love him.

Pretty girl

We had a great dinner that night. My siblings came over and we ate, played and laughed. Elise was great to play with the kids. She is my 18 year-old niece that just graduated and is going to BYU in the Fall. She's incredible.

She painted all the girls' fingernails and toenails. For 12 years she was the only granddaughter so she's happy to have these little girl cousins around finally!


The next morning we packed up and headed home. It was our 8th anniversary and Cyrena's 1/2 birthday. We celebrated by eating out for lunch during our drive (usually we pack food for meals). Cyrena loves chopsticks so we went to Panda Express in Boulder City. Fancy I know. While I was driving I was getting a little tired so I told David we were going to tell each other 8 things we loved about each other...alternating turns. Oh my GOODNESS I almost had an accident (and not the car kind) because we were laughing so hard. I think we went way past 8. It was awesome. I love my husband, we are the perfect fit.

Utah trip part 3

David arrived much to our relief and happiness! We spent a day at a family reunion for his Dad's family. We went to Jordanelle reservoir and had a great time catching up.

Cyrena got to drive the boat and did a great job

Natalie loved the boat ride even though she was very serious the entire time

Cyrena wreaked havoc with a squirt gun but occasionally she used it to wash Uncle Richard's hands

Natalie fed dried strawberries to this adorable dog

Playing in the water with Grandma Deb

David and his dad are ALWAYS laughing together. I had to capture it. They are rarely caught not smiling or laughing.

Natalie with Grandpa Randy

After the lake we went to see David's grandparents in Salt Lake. We headed back to my parents around 9:30 p.m. We were exhausted but it was a really fun day!

Utah trip part 2

We went on a neighborhood walk with grandpa

Racing down the hill

Natalie had to try also

We don't see too many pinecones in Arizona so we collected a few on our walk

We spent part of a day at Wheeler Farm and it was a blast! Cyrena went on a pony ride. She hesitated at first but I just stuck her on and she loved it!

Natalie loved sitting on it too and threw a huge 20 month-old fit when I took her off.

We fed the cows some grass even though you're really not supposed to. But the cows encouraged us! Natalie was just ripping up handfuls of grass and throwing it through the fence.

Playing on the tractors

Going for a tractor ride!

We packed a picnic lunch and afterward Jacob pushed Cyrena in the stroller because she had blisters on her feet. :)

Utah trip part 1

We spent a little time in Utah last week. It was a quick trip with a lot to fit in....it's taken me a few days to recover!

Cyrena's face after making a few baskets or 'hoops' as she says on grandpa's basketball court. She worked so hard on this the entire time we were there. She impressed us.

Watching the fire

Singing with Grandma

Walking in the 'sacred grove' as I call it. Isn't my parent's yard gorgeous??

Just chocolate for Natalie

Letting Uncle Dave smell a flower

Mowing the lawn with grandpa...he even let her drive a bit! She can't wait to be sixteen...

Practicing baseball with grandpa...this girl's good!

cracker sharin' cousins...Natalie and Dylan

Squirt bottle water fight with cousins

Part of the gang at the park

Keeping busy

I've kept my promise about having a lazy summer. However the girls do need some structured activities. Here are a few they seem to enjoy.

Cyrena's been working on adding. So we pulled out some manipulatives and did some number sentences. She loves working with the little whiteboard.

Natalie played with this for a LONG time. Until it broke actually. She would take out the playdoh then fit each of them back into the holes. It was great work for her little muscles and it definitely took some hand-eye coordination.

Here Natalie is matching up block shapes. This took a little longer to catch on but she got it. She likes to do one-on-one things like this with me since she sees me doing a lot with Cyrena. Don't you love how babies just naturally sit in the butterfly stretch?

They love to lay and read books together. Cyrena's becoming such a great reader!

Natalie's practicing her big scribble movements. Good thing I have big paper. That's their 'writing station' I have set up. All the utensils (markers, gel pens, crayons, markers, scissors, and stickers) are in that tray and then paper, envelopes and word cards are in the blue basket. This has really encouraged Cyrena to write!

I grabbed some Mickey Mouse paint samples from the hardware store and Natalie loves to match them up. I found this idea here. David and Cyrena are watching a movie on the couch behind her.

I wanted to see if she could do it with pictures so we got out our memory game and let her match some of the cards. She did great!

David's been making milkshakes for the girls and boy are they enjoying them! No shirts allowed though.

On Sunday I cut some bangs for Natalie. I was tired of watching her eat her hair since it was hanging in her face. She looks so pretty in blue. David said she should be the cover girl for a summery magazine. Ahh, dads.