Abbi Turns 9!

I cannot believe Abbi is 9! Seriously, this girl is just getting too old too fast. This year she decided that she wanted to decorate her room since she now has her own. She has very, shall we say, specific and expensive taste. So we told her that if she wanted to do that, she needed to forgo the friend birthday party and put the money we would have spent into her room. She was all for it. We still had her family birthday party, of course.

She got lots of cute stuff for her room and even ended up with some toys that she picked out from Grandma and Grandpa. They always take the kids a couple days before their birthdays and let them pick out their own present and then they take them to dinner.
If you can't tell by the pictures, she decided to go with a black, white and red color scheme for her room. And she HAD to have zebra print incorporated somewhere. We got it all done. I will post pictures, soon I promise.

She decided on a guitar cake this year which was really fun and easy to make. Thank goodness for FamilyFun.com. Happy birthday Abster Lou, we love you!

Rodeo In Manilla

The company that Jeff works for, Morinda Agriculture, was a major sponsor for the Junior Rodeo down in Manilla over the 4th of July weekend. Monday Jeff needed to drive out there so we decided to take the 3 hour drive out there with him. It was a really fun afternoon. Above is the picture of the banner from Morinda Agriculture. I love to see it at the rodeos because they have all worked so hard to come this far.
The girls found this little caterpillar that kept them entertained the whole time we were there. I'm not sure what happened to the poor little thing in the end. Hopefully it found it's family.

The kids also loved watching the rodeo. They thought it was cool that all of the contestants were kids just like them.

Here's me and my sweetie enjoying the rodeo. It was a fun little trip. We didn't get home until about midnight, but that was okay because we had such a great time together. I love being with my little family.

Picking Flowers and 4 Wheeling

This year for the 4th of July, my parents went camping up to Skyline. They invited us up to do a little 4 wheeling and have dinner with them. We pulled into where they were camping and their was fields full of these beautiful purple flowers. Abbi and Hallie spent most of their time picking bouquets of flowers.
Check out Hallie's princess shoes. We told her we were going camping and she ran and got her princess shoes because I guess that's what you wear when you're a princess and go camping. There was no talking her out of it, so we let her wear them.

We all enjoyed a little 4 wheeling and a delicious dinner prepared by my mom and dad. They always go the extra mile to make things fun for everyone. They even watched the kids for about an hour while Jeff and I went on a little ride on the 4 wheeler.

Birthday Party #2 For Our 5 Year Old

We always do a friend birthday party and then a family birthday party. Hallie got to share her birthday with all the father's of the world as her birthday fell on Father's Day this year. We had a party down at my parents house. My mom took care of dinner and I brought the treat. Hallie requested a Princess Barbie cake this year so I did my best at attempting to make one. I think it turned out really cute and it was by far one of the funnest cakes I have ever made.
She got lots of fun presents. Her birthmom, Jordann, took her shopping a couple days before her and let her pick out something. She chose a dress up. Then the next day she went shopping with my parents and got... you guessed it, another dress up. Jeff and I got her a pair of cowboy boots and a picnic table. She also got the movie Princess And The Frog and some coloring books.

She had a really fun birthday and she's already planning out what she wants next year. We love our little Hallie and cannot believe she is 5!

Someone Turned 5

Hallie's birthday this year was so much fun because she was SO excited for it. We had a little swim party in our backyard for her and invited her cousins and friends over for an afternoon of fun. The kids loved the pinata and the big pool the most. We also had a slip and slide but not too many of the kids played on that. Another fun thing we did was put the sprinkler under our trampoline. The kids thought that was great.
I was too worn out to make a cake for her party, so Jeff convinced me to just buy cupcakes. What a great idea that was! It was so easy and the funny thing is, until he said that, I hadn't even considered it. But the kids loved them.

This is my favorite picture of Korver right now. He loved the water and being outside with his sisters and all the kids having fun.

She had such a fun party. Thanks to all of her little friends and cousins who helped her celebrate it.

Girls Trip To St. George

My friend, Cindy, and I decided that we needed a little R&R away from home. We decided to take the two older girls to St. George and enjoy a weekend away. Our first stop once we got down there was to The Sweet Toothe Fairy to see our friend, Cammie. She recently moved down there to open up a cupcake shop. We each enjoyed our favorite cupcakes which were SO delicious.

We did a little shopping and then headed to Chili's to eat dinner. It was super yummy and they even sang Happy Birthday to Cindy. Her birthday was a few days before we left.
Most of our time was spent at the pool at the condo. The girls loved it so much. It wasn't very warm, though, any of the days we were there and actually stormed late afternoon on a couple of the days. But it was still fun.

While we were there we also saw the movie Date Night, which was hillarious and ate at Brick Oven. My favorite night was the night we decided to stay in and rent a movie and order pizza and pig out on ice cream Sunday's. It was a nice little getaway and I wish I could do it more often. Next year I think we will take Hallie. She will be old enough to go I think by then.

Family Trip To Jackson Hole

This year for our family vacation we went to Jackson Hole with my family. My mom dances with The Golden Girls and they had a performance up there so we all went and spent a few days. The weather was freezing, but it was still fun. One of the funnest things we did was go to the Alpine Slides up there. I obviously couldn't go, so I stayed behind to take pictures.

We also went and saw the Bar J Wranglers one of the nights. Jeff and I had seen them several times before, but no one else had. This is one of the only pictures I got that night. My little sister, Kristen is on the left. Cody, my little brother is in the middle.

The Golden Girls danced in the parade. They were really cute. There were quite a few people there and the kids couldn't see. Weston and Cody put the girls up on their shoulders so they could get a better look at Grandma dancing. I love this picture of my boys. Korver loves his daddy!

After the parade the dancers had a performance in the street at the park. At the end of one of their songs, they were supposed to go find some people to dance with. Abbi and Hallie jumped at the chance to dance with Grandma.

After the parade we did a little shopping in Jackson Hole. My dad found this awesome cowboy hat and decided to put it on. He's kind of a dork, but we love him.