Pioneer Days

I'm not in a big mood to write this week, so we will keep it short :)

This week we....

Went swimming:

Took Selfies:

Watched Pioneer Day Fireworks:

Got rained out of going swimming:

Played at the mall:

And monkeyed around in a tree:

THE END

Snowbird!

On Sunday we started our long trip up north to spend the week at Snowbird with Brandon's family.  Everything went well until we stopped for gas in Beaver, and then our radiator hose burst and we were stranded!  Luckily with the help of Grandpa Gary we were able to find someone to help us.  So I took the kids to Wendy's for a loooong lunch and then we played out in the little grassy area for a bit before going to the car again.  We had some snacks while the person helped Brandon fix our car and then we were able to get on the road again!  I am sure the kids appreciated that super long break.

Finally we were able to make it up to Provo and Grandma and Grandpa Hansen's house for the night.  The kids were able to play outside and we had a yummy dinner!

Monday we made it up to Snowbird and the mountain air just felt amazing compared to our normal 100+ degrees we deal with everyday at home.  Grandma Shari and Grandpa Gary gave Kylie some late birthday presents which she just loved - and so did Hayden.  What kid doesn't love new toys?

The best toy for Hayden, though, was the mirrors on the closet doors.  He just loved looking at himself and giving himself kisses.

Kylie of course loved the same thing that she did last year: playing on the hot tub.  Hayden joined her a few times and just loved it too.

That evening we went out and did some activities.  Kylie and Hayden played with Grandma Shari and Grandpa Gary while Brandon and I went off and played.  Kylie had fun on the bounce house playing on the slides.

Brandon and I like the Alpine Coaster the best, and we wanted to take Kylie on it.  She went with Brandon first and had a blast!  Then I took her and she was so cute and said "Whee!" the whole time.

Tuesday Grandma Shari and I took the kiddos to the park to play in the morning.  It was already quite hot, but that didn't stop them from having fun!

Then we stopped for some ice cream before heading back to the condo.  The rest of the day was nice and relaxed.  We took some walks, we played with our toys, and went swimming later that evening.

Wednesday was also a relaxing day.  More fun walks in the the nice weather outside, played bingo with all the extended family, and lots of Grandma time!

Thursday was our last day with Brandon's family.  Kylie just loves these family vacations because she can be silly and play with everyone.  She basically ignores Brandon and me.  Hayden still loves his mommy, but he also is very sociable and likes playing with people.  That morning we did some bubbles with Grandma Shari and helped them pack up.  We were sad to see them go, but the afternoon was boring enough that Kylie took a nap!  And Hayden took a nap!  At the same time!  Which means I get to take a nap!  Yay!

Thursday evening my family came up and we did some family photos.  It was hard trying to get Kylie to cooperate, but she made friends with the photographers assistant so I think we got some good smiles out of her.

Then we had a yummy dinner and visited for a while before they had to leave.  Grandma Tess gave Kylie a birthday present and Kylie had fun putting stickers everywhere, trying on her lipgloss, and playing with her new doll.  We weren't able to do the activity, which was making a little duct tape purse, until we were home on Saturday.  But Kylie did have tons of fun putting all the little gems on.

Friday morning we packed up and left Snowbird and the nice, cool mountain air.  We drove around Salt Lake for an hour trying to talk to one of Brandon's clients to no avail, and then after a short visit and lunch with Grandma Shari we were on the road again!  Our trip was smoother this time and we took a few breaks for the kids, eventually making it home around 8 that night.

Vacations are fun, and so is visiting family, but it is so nice to be home!  Our poor kitty missed us, and we missed our beds!  Saturday was spent cleaning and doing laundry and all that boring stuff, but we did all go swimming that evening and had a little fun!

Uncle James stopped by late that night to stay the night, so the kids were excited to see him Sunday morning and to annoy him and play with all his stuff.  So typical!

Thanks to everyone for making this an awesome week, and we loved visiting with all of you!!

Enjoying Summer

This week has been a very nice week, especially for playing outside!  We got lots of stormy weather and clouds, so we were able to take lots of walks once again. Kylie even took her baby doll out for a walk too!

Hayden has been doing a lot of standing this week.  Actually, that's not very new.  He likes to climb and stand on everything!

One day he even took the walking toy and walked across the room with it!  That was a first!  I don't think he meant to walk with it, he just wanted to play with it and it kept rolling away.

AND!  Something I forgot to mention last week, Hayden has two teeth coming in!!  Both of his bottom teeth are making a break for it and it has made for a pretty fussy baby.  Especially at night.  But getting up every hour isn't anything new for us...

Kylie has been pretty fun this week.  She randomly sings 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat', and loves to talk and wants to know what everything is called.  She also practices her summersaults regularly.

We are still going swimming all the time.  That has to be Kylie's favorite activity ever.  She loves to swim and especially loves it if there are other kids to play with!

On Saturday Uncle James stopped  by for a few hours!  Kylie was all over him, of course, but thankfully Uncle James wasn't fazed by it.  He even tried really hard to get Kylie to behave so I could get a picture of them for the blog, but Kylie wasn't having any of that.  Every time I started to take a picture she would run away.

Kylie really loved him though.  She would just crawl all over him and snuggle and annoy him to no end!

Now we are packing up and getting ready to enjoy a nice week up north with family!!

Kylie Turns Three!

What an exciting week this has been!!  First, on Monday, Hayden turned seven months!  Time has sure flown by and I am just loving how active and full of energy he is.

On Tuesday we had some of my most favorite food to give to a baby: spaghetti!  For some reason both of my kids have really liked spaghetti as babies.  It is so funny to watch them smear the sauce all over their face as they try to eat the noodles.

Wednesday we had a nice little wind storm blow through and it was nice and cool enough for a walk!  Kylie wanted to take her umbrella in case it rained, but only ended up being blown down the street with it until it finally blew inside out.  Yeah, it was crazy windy, but we had to take advantage of the cooler weather to go outside and do something besides swim!

Thursday was a big day for Hayden because he learned how to crawl up the stairs!  He actually started Wednesday, but I didn't manage to get a video of him until Thursday.  He is so proud and excited to be able to do something new!

Friday was Independence Day, but we didn't really celebrate it, thanks to Kylie.  She absolutely would not come out of the house to see fireworks, and if we did manage to get her out she would just cry and stand by the door.  She really doesn't like the loud fireworks - which are the ones we did first - so we kinda ruined our night by doing that.  She wouldn't even hold a sparkler, which she liked doing last year!  So we only did a few fireworks and at least Hayden seemed to enjoy them.

Something funny Kylie did to the cat that day was to put a box and blanket over him and said "Night night Kitty".  It's so funny to see the things she does with her imagination and actually understand what she says (sometimes).

Saturday was Kylie's big day!  She turned three years old!! She didn't really understand what day it was, though.  She definitely understood the word 'cake' and she says the word 'birthday' but I don't think she knows what it means.  She did let me do her hair for once today!  It turned out pretty cute!

We had the tent and tunnel set up for the morning to help distract the kids while I made the cupcakes.  Hayden absolutely loved it!!  He's been in the tent before, but this was the first time he had ever been in the tunnel.

We did a little family party for Kylie in the afternoon, mostly so she could eat the cupcakes she kept asking for :)

She did not want to blow out her candles at all, which I thought was weird since every time I light a candle she is so excited to blow it out immediately.  So Brandon had to blow them out for her.  Twice.

Then we opened her presents!  She enjoyed all her new toys and is very possessive towards them in regards to Hayden.  While Hayden wants to play with her toys, what he really wanted was a mouthful of the wrapping paper...

As usual, while the presents were fun, the balloons were the best toy of the day.

We also got a few cards from Great-Grandparents Naylor and Great-Aunt Connie!  Kylie loves opening mail especially for her!

Then we all enjoyed some cake.  Kylie really liked her 'leaning tower of chocolate' cake.  Lots of frosting, just what she likes!

Then for dinner we took Kylie out to Cafe Rio, the only place where she actually eats her whole meal.  Then we had a nice walk in the summer storm (no rain and little wind, just lots of thunder!) before our early bed time.  Because, to be honest, Kylie was really awful all evening.  I think the late night the night before caught up with her, and it's so hard to make a day special for a child who throws a tantrum over everything....  Oh well.  Kylie is three now and she still has a lot of growing to do!!