I was going through pictures to update the blog and found some really fun ones from August. It was only 4 months ago right? Well, here's our August.

I'm always trying to find fun things to do with the boys. We took their tent outside for the first time (it has only been played with inside) and they had snacks and played in it for quite a while. It turned out to be a really good activity.

While the boys were in the tent I decided I had better take some pictures of my flowers. Brandon bought them for me for Mother's Day and I planted them on my birthday! This is the first time I had flowers in this flowerbed (we finally got rain gutters) and I loved them all summer long!!

One Sunday morning Brandon and I heard a strange noise. I made him investigate and he found this little critter in the window well. (It made some scary sounding noises!) Brandon leaned some boards into the window well and by the time we got home from church our friend was gone - thank goodness!!

Jeremy and Celeste gave Brandon a fire pit for Christmas/birthday. We pulled it out this summer and had some really fun s'more roasts.

We also went to the Rigby car show in August. I love looking at old cars so it was really fun for me. The boys also had a good time because they got to ride in the train (pulled by a 4-wheeler).

It is really fun to look back at these pictures especially now that it is freezing cold outside. How I long for green grass and flowers!

4th of July Celebrations

We had a really fun 4th of July week. Brandon took Monday off and we headed up to Driggs for the hot air balloons. We were a little disappointed that after leaving our house at 4:45 am there were only 6 balloons launching from the site, but it was still fun to watch. We headed over to Jackson from Driggs and did a short hike, had a picnic, and let the kids play in the lake. It was a really fun day.

For the 4th of July we went to Rexburg to watch the parade. I sat back by the curb while Brandon supported the kids out in front. I think they had a good time waving, dancing and struggling to get candy!

Lately Aiden won't smile for the camera. I had to include this picture of him in his 4th of July outfit and way cute smile!

On the evening of the 5th we took the kids out to the cul de sac and lit our own fireworks. They would hardly sit still for a picture. As we were walking out of the house Brandon asked the boys "Now who lights the fireworks?" Josh and Aiden immediately responded, "Me!" Not quite what we were going for kids. Don't worry we had the fire safety talk again before starting!

We have had some pretty warm days so we set up the swimming pool. Here's a picture of Brandon, Josh and Aiden enjoying the water on a hot, sunny day.

Spring Update

I've been a little slow in getting a few pictures posted, but here are some now! One of Josh and Aiden's favorite things to do is take a picnic to Brandon at work and eat/walk by the river. When it finally warmed up in May we took a couple of outings and had a really fun lunch together. 

Josh graduated from his first year of preschool at the end of May. He is pretty tall next to the other kids and many parents were surprised that he wouldn't be advancing to kindergarten next year. He had a really fun year and has already started asking when he gets to go to preschool again. His teacher, Miss Paula, had a fun ceremony with hats and diplomas for all of the students.

After Josh's preschool graduation my mom and I loaded the kids up and took off to visit my brother, Jeremy, and his family in Twin Falls. We went and visited the falls and went for a short hike with the kids. Here Aiden is riding easy with his cousin Hunter.

Josh was wearing brand new pants (which means they are one pair with no holes in the knees). I asked/warned him to keep his pants clean and nice since they were brand new. This picture shows just how well that went! Boys will be boys!

Once Josh climbed up on the big rock, the other 3 kids thought that was a pretty good idea. Here are Josh, Eva, Aiden and Hunter (with Jeremy in the background).

We spent the night at Jeremy and Celeste's house and the kids had a fun sleepover. Josh and Aiden slept on the floor in Eva and Hunter's room. It took them quite a while to fall asleep.....I wonder why?! We had a really fun visit with them before they moved to Nebraska. Thanks for the fun time!

Easter

We had a fun Easter this year. Aiden and Josh dyed easter eggs and participated in a large number of easter egg hunts (of which I have no pictures for some reason). They found all of their eggs at our house and then wanted them to be hidden again two more times! Silly boys.

Here are a few shots from coloring easter eggs. We colored far more than we will ever eat as hard boiled eggs and yet they still asked for more!! We had a good time. 

Aiden was pretty proud of this egg with his name written on it! Can you tell?!

One of the Easter egg hunt surprises was the movie Despicable Me. We watched it from Netflix when it first came out and Josh asked about it a lot after. Well, I broke down and bought the movie and it came with some bonus minion goggles. This is a really funny shot of Aiden as our little minion! (He had just eaten red noodle soup for lunch so it is still all over his face!)

This is not from Easter but I thought it was a cute picture anyway. The boys and I were visiting my mom and they all snuggled up to read a book together. Thanks for taking time to read with the kids Grandma!!

The T.Rex Named Sue

Near the end of March we were able to visit the museum to see the Dinosaur exhibit of the T.Rex named Sue. It was really fun! The boys had a really good time looking at everything and didn't want to leave when we were finished.

Here is our family in front of Sue - kinda looks like she's ready to eat us, doesn't it!

Josh got to hold a dinosaur bone fossil while at the museum. It was REALLY heavy but he thought it was awesome that he got to touch it.

I had to take a picture of Sue from the top floor. I thought it was so incredible that they had nearly all of the bones that made up this dinosaur. It was HUGE!

On our way out Aiden found the children's discovery center. It was closed but the horse was outside and he just had to sit on it. Pretty cute if you ask me!

We had a really fun time at the museum. It is fun as the kids grow up to see what interests them and the different things they begin to enjoy. We play a lot of dinosaur games around the house now and most of them involve Sue! Thanks Darlene for the tickets!!

Aiden is 2!

Our baby is now 2 years old! He is growing into such a little man - I can't believe it. Aiden wanted a Chuggington birthday (which, for those of you who don't know, is like the new Thomas). Brandon and I set to work on his cake and it turned out awesome! For weeks after his party Aiden would take my hand, walk me to the kitchen, and show me his cake front saying "Aiden birthday". He loved it!!

Here is a picture of the cake with the birthday boy! I love the dimple in his left cheek - may it never disappear!!

 And here is a picture of the back of the cake.

This cake used so many different fondant colors. I had to line them all up for a picture because I was mixing colors like there was no tomorrow - my wrists and forearms were very sore for the following few days.

Aiden got a super cute robot apron from Jess and Dan for his birthday - he was so excited to have an apron like Dad, Mom and Josh. I can't believe how fast he is growing up!!

We are so lucky to have Aiden as part of our family. He is our cute little snuggle bug as well as our little monster - all bottled up in that sweet little face!! Aiden loves to make others laugh and will work very hard to produce the results. It makes for a fun environment in our home! We love you Aiden!

Josh is 4!

Josh is now 4 years old!! It doesn't seem all that long ago that I found myself in Utah calling Brandon to tell him our baby was on the way and to get there quickly!

For his 4th birthday Josh wanted a pirate birthday party -- so a pirate birthday party is what he had!! He was so excited about his pirate treasure chest cake.

He invited friends/cousins over to play pirate games before opening presents and having cake and ice cream. They played a few games and did a treasure hunt....it was a lot of fun.

The kids each got their own pirate bandanna and surprisingly Aiden kept his on the for the entire party!! He was adorable!

Here is a close up of the treasure chest cake. We were really excited with how well it turned out. Both Brandon and I decided that two cakes a year is enough for us, especially since they have to be made 2 weeks apart!! All things considered, it was a fun cake to make.

It has taken a long time for Josh to eat food when we go out to eat - but here he is digging in to BBQ ribs from Famous Dave's - evidently this was a good birthday dinner choice!

We are so lucky to have Josh as part of our family. He is growing and learning so fast and is such a light in our lives. With a vivid imagination we never have many dull moments with Josh around! We love you buddy!!

Our One and Only Snow Day

It seems as though we only had one snow day this year that the boys were able to go outside and play. It's a good thing we took advantage of the 2" of snow! Brandon took Josh and Aiden out and played around the entire yard with them. They loved it!! 

He pulled them on the sled...

He helped them fully utilize their dump trucks....

And Aiden got to enjoy putting on his snow clothes for the first/last time! Last year he was too little to play outside and this year he had the entire get-up and only used it once!

I didn't mind not having slick roads or snow around this winter but the boys sure would have loved a heavy snowfall to play in!

(I posted this last night near midnight then woke up this morning to find it had snowed....perfect time to post about our one and only snow day. I think I cursed myself!!)

Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas.....for some reason it has taken me a long time to post about it. Maybe it had something to do with Josh being sick before Christmas, me getting sick the day after Christmas, and Aiden catching the sickness for New Years. (Thankfully Brandon stayed well!)

All sickness aside, Christmas day was fabulous. Josh came into our room around 8:15 exclaiming "Look what Santa brought me!" How's that for an early Christmas morning? It was awesome. The kids looked over their stockings and opened presents before heading to my parents house for lunch and church with my parents and sister. Most of the rest of my siblings drove up and we all opened presents together Christmas afternoon. It was so fun to be together!!

I failed to take many pictures but did capture a few from Christmas morning.




We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday! Happy New Year!!

Brandon's International Travels

In May Brandon took a position with Melaleuca in the International Accounting Department. He was expected to take around two trips per year.......then proceeded to be gone for 3 one and half to two week trips within a 4 month time frame!! Since then I confess I have been terrible at taking pictures. I suppose it doesn't help when the camera is in another country for a lot of the time.

It's hard to have Brandon gone but we get to Skype with him nearly every day of his business trip (he doesn't have much time for recreational activities). We love it when he comes home to us - the boys really cling to him for at least a week after he comes home! Brandon is such a hard worker and takes care of our family so well! We love you daddy!

Here are a couple of pictures from his recent trips to England, Australia and Taiwan.

England:

Australia:

Taiwan: