Sushi Cake

My girlfriends threw me a really fun surprise party for my birthday a couple months ago and one of my friends just sent me this picture. My friend Tiffany made a beautiful sushi cake and it was yummy, too! I have some really amazing friends with some incredible talents. I'm blessed to call them my friends.

Fire Station

We went to our local fire department one day for a community event they were having and Cole loved seeing the guy dressed as Smokey the Bear and another one dressed as a dalmatian. He kept wanting to go back and give them hugs.

This is Cole loving on the dalmation.

The firefighters were getting the mom's to put out the fires. It was pretty cool actually. They were just guiding me on how to properly put out a fire. When I was done, I turned and walked away and they called me back because it started back up, it was pretty funny, so I had to put it out twice. :) Hopefully I'm never in a situation like that, although we do have a fire extinguisher under our kitchen sink.

Here's all the kids playing on an old fashioned fire truck. They loved this. I wish I had one in my backyard!

Taylor Swift

Cole's nursery teacher emailed me a little story of him from Sunday. She said that she was putting on some music for the kids in their class and he kept saying, "I don't like that song" and when she asked him what music he liked to listen to, he replied, "I just like Taylor Swift."

Apple Cider

We went to our friend's house, who also happens to be our Bishop, and made apple cider with the kids. Our kids love going to Bishop's house because of all the room to run and fun stuff to do. They love the cows, of course. This was in between picking apples, Cole kept making his way to the cows (they were right next to the apple orchard) and loved just watching them eat.

This was just after we had a BBQ. The kids love trying to catch little fish or frogs usually, but there weren't many since it was chilly. One year, Brayden fell into the pond (just up to his knees) but the kids have still not let him live it down. Every time he gets near the pond, they warn him not to fall in! Even Cole warns him, but Cole wasn't even born at the time that it happened! :)

We finally finished! We made a total of 15 gallons of apple cider!

Brayden cranking the cider press to chop up the apples. Our friends daughter Darla, holding up Cole so he can throw his apple in the press. Everyone except Cole was able to take a turn cranking the press.

Brayden with some of the apples. We filled it to the rim and even had several more bushels after that. We just took turns climbing trees and shaking down lots of apples! We sure do love apple cider!!

Back to School

On a boat ride at the zoo.

All the little monkeys in a tree.

Brayden with Dan and Tiffany's daughter Averi. (The date is wrong, my camera has a mind of its own.)

Kevin and the kids. He didn't know I was taking a picture and the football has just left his hand. Luckily, he's super strong and it went way over my head and Brayden was on the return with that pass.

This is after I said, "Cole".

This is when I told him I was going to shut off the water and he needed to hold the hose for me. I ran in the house and grabbed my camera because I knew this is what he would do. When I am watering flowers, he always puts his head right where the flowers are so I'll get him wet. I wish these two pics of him would have been reversed!!

This is Kai's first day of pre-K. Cole keeps telling people "I'm going to Kindergarten in a few more years!"

Arghhhh!

Brayden and Saydria on their 1st day. It was a little chilly this morning. Saydria changed sweaters after this picture, she put on her pink one that is almost identical to this black one.

Saydria at the Little Miss Firefighter pageant. No prize, but she had a great time chit-chatting with the girls (as she likes to call it) and couldn't wait to change into her play clothes so she could ride some rides at the fair. :)

Loved having her hair all curly. My friend Pam is a stylist and offered to do Saydria's hair before the pageant.

Girlie girl.

On a LONG waterslide at Dan and Tiff's house for Kaili's birthday party. The kids held on to the rope and Dan ran with the other end of the rope in his hands and pulled the kids. It was a hit!

The kids just finished their 2nd week of school. Brayden is now in 4th and Saydria in 2nd. Kai is attending pre-K everyday, half day and he is loving it. (And for those of you wondering, Kevin is in his final 8 weeks of nursing school, this rotation being critical care.) We've been making playdoh for his class and he had a great time mixing colors to make different colors. Cole and I have a few hours a day all to ourselves and sometimes we go to the park with friends and play, go to a local science museum, visit the library (weekly storytime starts in a week) or just play with friends. Other days we do a little yard work, read some books, make bread, go for walks in our neighborhood or feed fish at the pond near our home. He really likes to watch Diego that he got from the library, so I'll put it in for him when I want to run on the treadmill or get some quick cleaning done. :)

A river and a pond

The date on the picture is wrong. Something is going on with my camera. :) This was a couple weeks ago at a river.

I found this idea from Family Fun magazine and we tried it at home. Brayden's went the best.

This was at our friends place. The kids caught a catfish in their pond after setting out several empty milk jugs (as bobbers) with some bait tied to them. We were in the paddleboat and one of the jugs started moving back and forth and the kids were so excited! We paddled over to the jug but it was moving around so much we couldn't get right by it so Brayden jumped in, pulled the line up, and lifted the catfish into the boat for us. It was fun.

Another pic of some of the kids in the paddleboat. Brayden is looking at the camera, Kai has the vest on, and Saydria is trying to get in...she was the only girl there with about 15 boys, but she held her own pretty well.

Saydria even went off the twisty slide into their pond. This is right after she went down the slide.

More baseball!

This is Brayden with Coach Baughman after they won the Shrine Tournament.

Kai enjoying himself during one of the tournament games. A friend of mine was actually taking pics of Kai at this time, but I snuck a picture also. :)

Another picture of Kai helping Cole out with a helmet. Kai kept saying that he and Cole were going to go play some football!!

July Fun!

My brother Randall, his wife Lisa, and their kids Toni and Kira came for a visit! They wanted to go to the zoo and also to the science museum COSI. We had a water balloon fight, roasted s'mores, went for walks, attended some baseball games and had a nice time on their short visit with us.

This is Brayden up to bat at his all-star game! They ended up winning this one. :)

This is Kai with his homemade SCUBA gear. He has even had me use a belt and loop it around a gatorade bottle and attach it to his back so that he can use it as his SCUBA tank. It's cute!!

Cole crashed on the kitchen floor while I was making dinner. He loves listening to Taylor Swift, so I put it on for him and he'll sing to some of the songs, it's pretty cute. Each morning, he says, "Can you put in Taylor Swift love story baby just say yes?!"

This is Brayden's regular season team after their championship game! They won the Shrine Tournament and it was a huge deal because a team from our league hasn't won it in 70 years! It was a great season, they only lost 1 game the whole season, so they got another trophy for that! He just finished up his all-star games last week and he's just getting ready to start Fall ball.

Girls trip to the Keys

This is me diving in Key Largo. The water was perfect, the visibility was amazing and the marine life was incredible. Loved it. This was on my second dive, after being seasick on the boat on the reef.

This was a huge sting ray. I also saw a lobster the size of my two year old, a rock fish (they look like the coral), a moray eel and lots of other beautiful fish.

Key Lime Pie from the Key Lime Pie Factory in Key West. It was gooooood!!

This is my friend Rachel and her 4th little daughter Gabriella. Kevin planned this trip with her husband Levi. We had a great time and spent 6 days enjoying the sun. This was taken in Key West after a sudden downpour, it was funny. We got soaked. At least we got in all our sight seeing and it happened as we were headed to Key Largo.

Moments in Nashville

Saydria dancing with Daddy to Taylor Swift's "Love Story" in front of the Grand Ole Opry.

Cole roasting marshmallows for s'mores.

Brayden shoveling pie in his face at the Nashville Zoo. He won the pie eating contest. On the news that evening, we saw him eating some pie and then we saw his interview. It was pretty cool, he thought he was a Nashville Star. :) Literally. When we were sitting poolside later that day, he said "Saydria, get me a drink and some crackers. Celebrity here."

Kai and Cole racing.

I told Cole to get dressed for me and he came out looking like this. Nice.

Nashville

Kids at the lake at Nashville Shores. They loved the lake area. We even took a boat ride that I thought they would like. They got pretty bored though, thankfully it was only 20 minutes.

Kai munching on a granola bar in the sun. I love his spikey lashes. :)

Our family in front of the Grand Ole Opry. They were playing Taylor Swift's "Love Story" song and Kai was looking for where the music was coming from. He thought for sure she was hiding in the flowers. :) Cole was yelling "That's Taylor Swift!" at a girl with blonde, wavy hair coming out of the back of the building, she thought that was pretty funny.

Playing a round of mini golf at Nashville Shores.

Kai in a kayak at Nashville Shores. That's me and Cole in the yellow kayak behind him. It was so fun! We loved the kayaks.

So we spent 5 days in Nashville and did some pretty fun things. The kids loved just swimming in the pool. I'll post more pics later. Brayden was even on the Channel 5 News in Nashville at 4, 5 and 6 o'clock! Dying to know why? Stay tuned...