Update...

A few months ago, I posted the picture below of Court wearing her blessing dress.

Since then, my sister and sister in-law decided to see if their daughter's blessing dresses would still fit their little girls...

Lydia, who is almost 2 years old, wore her blessing dress to church a few weeks ago and was convinced she was a princess. I think she looks gorgeous!!!

Aiva is almost 3 years old and loved wearing her beautiful dress. Beautiful dress and beautiful little girl.

Don't you find this so fascinating? Who would of ever thought?? Love it!!!

July Celebrations!!!

I can't believe July is almost over and I'm finally getting around to posting my July 4th pictures and other July celebration pictures. I've definitely been a slacker or I'm just busy having too much fun with no time in between to blog. Lol!! Well what ever the reason is....here are some fun pictures. Enjoy!!

Here we are at West Haven days and South Ogden days. We hit both parties on the same day. It was kind of an over load for Scott and I but the kids had a blast!!

We met up with Scott's brother Dave and his family at the South Ogden days and were invited to their house afterwards to watch the fireworks. I love this picture!

The following day we went to baby Jude's blessing (can't believe I didn't take a picture of Jude, I'm such a bad Aunt) afterwards we went to a park to eat and hang out. To entertain the kids we had them race each other, of course the big boys also wanted to race and as you can see above, Scott smoked them all!!

We celebrated July 4th with Scott's family. The highlight of the evening for the kids were the fireworks and my highlight was definitely the food!!!

I love July!!! (I'll post my July 24th pictures in a few days)

Wish Upon A Star

The other night, Scott and Jake slept on the trampoline in our back yard. This was Jake's first time doing this and he loved all 2 hours of it, sadly they chose the one night it got pretty chilly. Wimps!! Lol!! The next day Scott told me this story...

While laying on the trampoline looking at the stars, Jake told Scott that a few days ago he made a wish on a star but was sad because it hasn't come true. Scott asked what he had wished for but Jake didn't want to tell him in case it stopped the wish from coming true. Scott told him it was ok to tell his Dad, so Jake sat up and said very seriously ... "I wished it would rain candy".

I won't lie and tell you I haven't been trying to think of ways I can make it rain candy, because I have. I thought of a plane (too expensive), me standing on the roof throwing candy.. possible??? I'll keep you posted if I come up with anything brilliant. Lol! But honestly, I love the moments when I get to see the world the way Jake does because I love his world and I hope he can live in it as long as possible. I mean, who wouldn't want to live in a world where you truly believe that magic is real and all your wishes, fortunes (from fortune cookies) and your dreams will all come true?

This isn't the greatest picture as Jake desperately needs a hair cut and has chocolate on his teeth and Scott looks like he is half dead. Lol!!! But you can see the excitement on Jake's face, they had so much fun!!

Girls Camp

Here are my Girl Camp pictures I promised I would post! Enjoy!! (For those of you who did not go to camp, I apologize for the billion of pictures you now have to look at. lol!).

We had an amazing Girls Camp. We went to the Camp Director's cabin near Heber Valley. The Cabin was gorgeous, the weather was perfect and the girls were soooo fun!!

The theme for Camp was "Be the Hero in your own Fairy Tale".

Here are the girls putting on their awesome skits. The girls were divided into 4 groups, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Princess and the Frog and Shrek. Each group was led by youth camp leaders and throughout the week they would do activities, such as the skits, in their groups.

We went canoeing two times during camp. This by far was everyone's favorite thing we did at camp. Minus the leeches. LOL!!

I couldn't believe how brave the girls were about getting in the water. I wanted to strangle a few of the older ones who dumped my canoe but I survived and eventually thawed out. Lol! Do you see the pictures of my fellow YW leaders (above), dry and beautiful. All I'm going to say is Chickens, Chickens, Chickens!! (except for the two prego ones , they have a good excuse. lol!)

During the week we did all the normal Girl Camp acitivities, such as hike, crafts, trust games, faith walk, camp fire, camp songs, certification, firesides etc... My favorite and I know many of the girls favorite was the Faith Walk, amazing. Oh, can't forget all the delicious food and treats, treats and more treats.

*Julie, you were inspired by asking us leaders to bring extra treats, still can't believe how much our girls ate. Crazy!! LOL!!

Here is poor Kiya who was unfortunately stung by stinging nedal. (I think that's what it's called) Broke my heart to see how much pain she was in. A big thank you to Brother Harrop who scraped off all the poison out of the wound.

On one of the nights we did a Women of the scripture walk. Each of us leaders acted out a different women from the scriptures that represented a young women value. The girls had lanterns (which they made) and walked around the cabin stoping at each of us as we told our stories. It turned into a really special night.

More fun and random pictures. If you notice that I have more pictures of some girls than others it's not my fault. My camera became the "camp camera" and most of these shots were taken by our crazy girls. Just a small FYI!!

After the 5 mile hike the girls soaked their feet. Can you say pampered girls camp. I'll admit it was weird to come home and not stink of camp fire but I'll also admit I liked sleeping on soft carpet and I loved the shower.

On one of the nights we had a dance off! We ended up dancing for over an hour (maybe longer), it was a blast!!!

More crazy fun!!

This is one of the rooms that us YW leaders were assigned to. We turned it into the luggage and hang out room and eating lots of treats room.

The last night we had the "Camp Awards". The youth leaders came up with the awards but us YW leaders presented them. We dressed in old prom dresses and did the whole Oscar thing.

The girls with their awards!!

More pictures!!

A quick over view of the camp theme. 1st day: was all about the Hero, not knowing who they are or how truly amazing they are. 2nd day: we were introduced to the Villain (Satan). 3rd day: we talked about the choices in our lives- what path to follow. 4th day: we talked about the battle. 5th day: we celebrated- victory day!

I can't end this post without mentioning the six YW leaders I serve with. They are the most amazing gals whom I look up to and love so much!!

Here are the girls on the last day having lunch and shakes right before we took them home. A fun way to end Girls Camp!

I love you girls!!!

ps. It's so sad but I can totally tell I'm getting older, it took me at least 4 days possibly 5 days to fully recuperate from camp. No sleep, being around beehives, hot sun, eating junk food and laughing non stop for four days seriously about killed me. It was all worth it but it doesn't change the fact that I'm getting old !!! Lol!!

Here is a funny video clip of the girls singing a funny song. They sang this song the entire camp, it was very catchy and got stuck in all our heads. Crazy girls!!!

Fun In Bear Lake !!

We had another great vacation in Bear Lake!! Scott and I were only able to spend the weekend as we needed to get back for Scott's work and my Young Women's Camp! A huge thank you to my Mom and Dad for watching Jake and Court the rest of the week. From what I've heard, they had a great time with lots of swimming, bike riding, watching Toy Story, ice cream and Skipbo!

Here are some pictures of our fun weekend!!

We were surprised and excited to find a water slide at each of the pools. Jake spent most of his time playing on them and Courtney wanting to be like her big brother insisted on going down them as well. I would help her climb the ladder and Scott would catch her.

About the fifth time doing this, I pushed Courtney down and yelled "here she comes", I looked down and instantly panicked as I saw that Scott wasn't below to catch her, he was a few feet away swimming with Jake. I screamed, Scott looks up and we both watch our 2 year old land in the water and sink. (No life jacket). Scott swims over as fast as he can (I'm still on the ladder) he dives and grabs Court from the bottom of the pool. It was only a few seconds but in the moment it felt like forever. Courtney came up coughing and scared but thankfully she was ok. It really shook us up, I still can't get over how fast Courtney sank. Crazy!

It's one of those bad memories that will be embedded in my mind forever. Ugggh!!

We made Courtney go down the slide immediately after as we didn't want her to be scared of the water. After the third time she began to like it again, it wasn't until Heather missed her when she was trying to catch her that she refused to go on the slide again. By then we had two close calls and we figured we better keep her away from the slides. This turned out to be the best idea; Court was happy, we weren't stressed, my parents weren't stressed and everyone was safe.

We celebrated Heather's Birthday and Fathers Day while in Bear Lake!!

Perfect weather and a perfect vacation!

Thanks again Mom & Dad!!!

Highlights from Laura's visit

My sister Laura came for a quick last minute visit. It was a fun surprise to have her here for a week. As you can tell from the pictures below we were picture crazy. We see her, Tyson and Lydia only a few times a year so we feel the need to document every fun second we have with them.

Courtney adores her Aunt Laura

The 4 Amigos back together again!! These cute cousins sure love each other.

Lydia had no problem remembering us (it's been 5 months since she's seen us) especially with her cousins. As soon as she walked in the door she pointed to Jake and Coco and smiled. Two seconds later they were off playing together and having fun.

I know I've said it a million times but these two little girls have such a special bond and are truly kindred spirits.

Laura was having fun taking action shots of Jake

I took this picture... Pretty cool eh!!

The little boy next to Coco is Zachery. Laura and Tyson became good friends with a couple in their Oklahoma ward who are from France and studying abroad for a year. My sister Laura can speak french so when she met this sweet girl who could hardly speak any English a bond was instantly made and they became the best of friends. Marie & Antoine (the french couple) their son Zachery and Marie's parents came to Utah to see all the amazing sights.

It was quite the experience being with people who can't speak English. It was fun but at times awkward especially when Laura wasn't in the room to translate. All we could say was "Bonjour" (hello) so we would just smile at each other and then do our own thing. We did learn a lot about France and I've come to realize that sadly I know nothing about other countries. This is something I'm going to work on.

I asked Marie if it's true about French people hating Americans. She replied "not the LDS ones". In total that is what, a few thousand people in all of France? We had a good laugh about this.

My favorite time with Marie was when she said her husband is a "gerk, gerk, gerk". I looked at her strangely and wondered "wow, her husband really must be a gerk," but then I clued in that she said "joke, joke, joke". Meaning her husband is funny. We had tears in our eyes as we laughed at the misunderstanding.

Marie was an answer to many prayers including mine as she became the sister to Laura that I can't be anymore. I know Marie will never read this because she can't read English but if she could I would want to tell her thank you for all she has done for my little sister. Thank you for her service, kindness, understanding and for truly loving Laura. Friends like these are rare and I'm grateful she was there when my sister needed a true friend. Thank you Marie!!

The little girls visiting their Nana the librarian

The little girls visiting their Granddad the Insurance Agent

We spent an entire day in Salt Lake, we started with taking Jake and Logan to see the Joseph Smith movie for their first time. Both boys seemed to enjoy it, Jake had a lot of questions throughout the movie and Scott was patient in answering and explaining everything to him.

Court and Lydia lasted only 15 minutes so Laura and I took them for a walk around Temple Square while we waited for the movie to end.

Playing

Court was in awe of all the girls wearing white 'princess' dresses. She informed me that she's going to wear a princess dresss and mary her Dad in the temple. Too cute!

It was sweet when we took the girls to see the Christus. Courtney at first thought Jesus was sleeping and kept telling us to be quiet. Laura showed Coco Jesus's hands and she now tells everyone that Jesus has owee's and he was sad but now he's happy.

More pictures on Temple Square.

Best Friends Forever!!

Grandad & Nana with their four grand children

This is my favorite picture as it captures our life. I don't know how to explain it in words but when I saw this picture my immediate thought was "yup, that's our life".

After temple square we headed to Liberty Park to play on the playground, play in the water and ride the ferris wheel. It turned into one of those picture perfect days.

The kids loved the water.

I don't usually get scared on rides but having Coco next to me made me extremely nervous and then when we looked down and saw a maintenance man working on the ferris wheel this didn't do much for my confidence. Lol!! But we lived and the kids loved it!

Good times!!

We ended the day eating at the Mayan restaurant and then the boys headed to a Real Salt Lake soccer game. Perfect ending to a perfect day.

The two girls hanging around!!

Last but not least here are pictures of our visit to the Tree House

Courtney standing on Utah and Lydia standing on Oklahoma

Laura posted this picture on her blog, I thought it was so cute so I had to post it on mine. (The desk the girls are sitting under is the exact replica of the Presidents desk in the White House).

There were no good bye tears this time around as we will be seeing Laura and Lydia in July. But that hasn't stopped us from counting down the days until then!!!

Laura said I needed to post a picture of Marie on my blog. So here it is..Marie and her sweet Mom!!