Girl Clothes

It has been pretty fun to have Julia.  She is such a good baby and it really is different having a girl.  The clothes have been so fun!  I put her in a pair of jeans for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  She hasn't fit into them until now. 

 

So cute!  And these little shoes that my mother in law made me!  Oh my cute!  Little Mary Janes with a pink flower! 

 

She also made these cute little sandals, yellow and gray.  Aren't her feet cute! 

 

Bear Lake

We had so much fun at Bear Lake with my sister in law Melissa and her kids.  It was so good to go and do something with the kids.  We both have had a busy summer.  Me with a new baby and her having BRAIN SURGERY!  So crazy, thankfully she is ok.  In fact, she is amazing! 

Bear Lake is so safe, the water is shallow so the kids can have a great time. 

 

Of course the boys brought their metal detectors!  :)

 

Digging up treasure!  Garbage more like.  Blake actually cut his finger on an aluminum can that he found.  :(  But the thrill kept him coming back for more. 

The baby was really good, she just hung out.  :) 

 

It was a super fun day, so glad we went together.  :)

Blessed

We blessed baby Julia today.  She was so cute in her little outfit! 

 

She was blessed to have a clear mind and understanding of the commandments.  Also, Brian blessed her to be a happy kid.  Doesn't she look happy here: 

I sure love this baby girl. 

 

We had lots of family and yummy food, which made it even better.  It was a wonderful day. 

Discover

She is starting to figure out her hands :) 

Don't You Want to Have Lunch at Our House?

Blake was playing with his food: 

 

See what he spelled?  Yep, poop. 

 

At least he is happy about it. 

The Jungle

We spent some time last weekend taming the jungle of a backyard that we have.  It was long overdue.  It's been hard to carve out the time with work and the kids. 

Before:

We had our lazy boys help.  And they whined and complained the whole time.  :)  But it was hot and a lot of work.  Plus the wasps were out. 

Look at this!  It took 4 loads to get rid of it.

After:

 

It isn't really after because we aren't done.  We still need to do some more weeding and get a couple loads of wood chips.  Still, what a difference.  I can't believe how much bigger our yard looks. 

Raspberries

We are so lucky to have an amazing raspberry patch in our backyard.  They take very little effort, just water and some occasional weeding.  My kind of gardening.  They are aggressive growers and seem to do really well. 

 

Look how many we got!  Wow, yum.  The only hard part about raspberries is that you need to go out almost every day when they are on.  Once they redden, they don't last long. 

 

We planted an early bearing peach tree a few years ago, and we got a ton this year!  So yummy.  I wish these were not cling peaches, it would make peeling easier.  But they are delicious.  So, I took the fruit from our own yard and made raspberry-peach jam. 

 

Oh my yum.  So good!  I also did a batch of strawberry, which was ok.  But not as good as the raspberry-peach.  Wow, new favorite.  And here is my pretty freezer jam!  It makes a pretty amazing peanut butter sandwich.

Pioneer Day

Here in Utah, we celebrate pioneer day.  I love this because of the fireworks.  Bonus!  So we had the cousins over, lit off a few of our own, then watched the big fireworks go off.

Fountains are my favorite, especially the quiet ones.  Julia is the same way, she cried pretty good when a loud kaboom startled her.

Here Brian is teaching Kyle to light some smaller ones off. 

 

 

Cousins are built in friends.  :)  I always do glow sticks for the kids which are a big hit.  It seems to satisfy the younger kids' need to touch.  That way they don't get burned. 

 

We did watch the Independence Day fireworks.  I had Julia in my arms and she fell asleep right as they started.  So she really didn't see any.  But this time, she was awake to see them start.  Brian held her, and she stared.  She seemed to like it.  

 

We have a pretty good view of the big ones right across the street.  It was perfect.  And lucky us, we didn't have to drive home!  :) 

Trouble trouble trouble

Dallin loves Taylor Swift.  I hear him chanting, "Oh, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble" all the time.  Well, this morning he got in trouble trouble trouble.

Every single kid that has ever been in my backyard has done the exact same thing with my air conditioner.  Kids that I have babysat, neighbor kids, cousins, they all drop small nick nacks into it.  Maybe it is because it is right by the door, or because there are pebbles right next to it, but it is irresistible.  Of course Dallin is no exception.  Usually it doesn't cause too much of a problem, but this time he managed to get a big stick into it. 

 

 

The fan blade would not spin anymore.  It made a terrible noise, and was quickly overheating.  This is a disaster around our house because Brian LOVES the air conditioner.  He is a welder, so he really loves to come home to a cool house.  I turned the air off, and tried to reach in with my fingers.  The stick was just far enough down that I couldn't get it.  I was afraid of poking it because it could slide down even deeper and I would never be able to reach it.  Dallin felt bad. (He has been into coloring on himself too.  Busy 4 year old boy!)



 

After telling him he was not in trouble anymore, I gave him a big hug.  He felt better then.  Of course he was quite curious about how we were going to fix it.  I was too.  But then, I made this ingenious contraption.  Tape in between two pencils. 

 

 

Voila!  The tape grasped the stick and out it came.  Air conditioner running perfectly again.  Thank goodness.  :)  My hot hubbie can come home to a cool house.  Now, if only it was clean....

Because I'm Happy