Happy 4th o' July

The boys and I had a fun 4th this year! Monte had to work and the girls were both at separate Grandma's houses so we were on our own. Our good friends The Clifford's invited us to walk in the parade with them. So we decked out Colten's bike and Andrew's scooter and were on our way!

We also went to the Prosser fireworks display at night. We brought a big blanket to share and watched from the lawn behind church. It was totally amazing. They always seem to do a great job here. It lasted a wee bit too long for the boys though as they were both asleep 15 minutes into the 30 minute display. Thank goodness I was able to wake them up when it was over - I know I couldn't have packed them both to the car!

Pendleton Water Park

On Tuesday, June 30 we headed ou to the Pendleton Water Park. We had a great time! A bunch of our friends from church went on the same day, so we got to hang out with all our friends at a fun place. My sis-in-law and nephew came with us too - Here's Jakey (aka dumptruck - this is what he told me his name was when I asked him to say his name! - LOL): I didn't take too many pictures while we were there (I know, bad, bad Mom) but I did happen to get this one of Nat jumping off the high dive! I was so proud of her for taking a chance on it! She loved it!
She is the one right in the middle of the pic about to hit the water - holding her nose!

Teacher/Grad gifts

Mary and I got together to make teacher gifts and graduation cards. We did it on two different days because they took sooo long! Here is the whole lot of them:

We made 6 sets of 5 cards - same card in 5 different colors for the teachers.













Then put them in these cute paper holders (they are folded 12 x 12 double sided paper)















We also made 2 graduation cards for a couple of young men in our ward.














When you open them up there is a pocket for a gift card.

Kaylee's Birthday

Kaylee is 12! Can't believe that my oldest girl is 12. She has grown up so much in the past year. She now gets to go to Young Womens! She is loving it so far and I'm sure she always will.
Here she is at the party we had for her with the extended family.

And here is the fire that we had to roast marshmallows on for her Campout party with her 2 best friends - Hanna and Brinnley. I'm so thankful that Kaylee has such good friends like these 2 sweet girls. They have had so much fun together over the past year. I love seeing them together and it's also a bonus that their parents are awesome and fun to hang out with as well!

This picture was taken while Brinnley (in the red) was teaching them a fun campfire song.

Time to do laundry . . . OR wacky day at school . . . you decide!

Jazz Dance Recital

This spring the girls starting taking Jazz Dance from Prosser Dance Academy. The teacher, Amanda Bishop, is sooo much fun! The girls have had a blast and can't wait to start up classes again this fall. Natalie even chose it over soccer this year! They had their first recital on Saturday, May 23. Kaylee danced in 3 numbers and Natalie in 2.

Here are my sweet girls all dolled up. They look sooo grown up!

Natalie has a super short A-line haircut and the teacher wanted them all to have slicked back low ponytails. The result on Natalie is tons of gel and hairspray and alook that is much like these gals - http://onlythe80s.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/robertpalmer.jpg

Here are Kaylee and her 2 best friends - Hanna Peters & Brinnley Ashton. silly girls!

This last one is of all the girls who are attending jazz classes. They range in age from 3 to 13.

Butterfly Release Day

At Colten's school, the kinders have been "raising" butterflies in their classrooms. After the butterflies have emerged they have a release party. It was yesterday. The kids all made their own headbands to look like a butterfly. As we were waiting to go outside to the park I heard Mrs. Childers (Colten's teacher ) say to one of the kids . . " Don't pull on your proboscus!" I thought to myself " Self . . what the heck is a proboscus?" Then I looked at the kid who was pulling his proboscus and figured out that it's the curled up brown thing on the front of their headbands. Colten explained it all to me later that it's how the butterfly's smell and other such features. It was then that I realized that my kinder is smarter than me. He has vast knowledge of a butterfly's life span, how to spike his own hair and knows how to re-attach the chain on his bike. I, on the other hand, can drive the lawmower. That must put me at least 5 points ahead . . right? Yeah, I'm not convinced either.

Here's my cutie:

I snuck into this picture with him!

We also had a lovely cake. It was HUGE. With lots of thick yummy frosting. This is an extreme close-up of the cake. (hehehe Laura's camera was on zoom!)

Me after cutting the cake into 80+ little pieces and serving them on the kids' plates with only a fork and my fingers for utensils. (At least we had a knife to cut it though!)

Oh and I let my friend Kari help with the cake too. Just kidding - she's the one who called me!




Mmmmmm that frosting was YUMMY!!!!

** Special thanks to Laura Ripplinger for the pictures. Apparently I only remember my camera when tragedy strikes - like when your friends son takes a header over the top of his handlebars. Check out the Clifford's blog to see Ethan's big fun day yesterday!