Pioneer Days...

Our stake has a big celebration for Pioneer Days and it is always lots of fun.

There are lots of jump houses, climbers and fun carnival booths for kids.

Kendyl in the climber.

Ryder was really good and stayed in the stroller, maybe next year he'll be playing the games.

Brityn fishing for a prize.

Kendyl getting her face painted.

Ryder with a helium balloon.

Here are the girls golfing. Steve said they both got it in the hole.

This dolphin slide was their favorite thing. Brityn loved going down all by herself!

They even roped a steer!

And while Steve was a wonderful dad taking the kids around to all the fun activities, I was playing some fiddle music for the crowd.

Lots of fun!

Another lost tooth...

Kendyl lost her fifth tooth this week. She has had every single one of them pulled out by the dentist. She seems very impatient when it comes to losing teeth, once it is loose, she asks every day, when can I get my tooth pulled. What a crazy girl!?! I've never met anyone who actually couldn't wait for the dentist to pull out her teeth. Good thing we have a dentist in the family. :)

Funny faces...

We take so many photos of the kids trying to get them all to look at the camera, stand still and smile to produce the one picture that actually goes on the blog. I was laughing at these photos where someone had a funny face and thought...these really need to go on the blog so they can be remembered. So here they are...

Tutu and Papa Jack visit...

The kids always love when Tutu and Papa Jack come to visit. They bring treats and fun things to do and play games and give them lots of attention. Ryder thinks that everytime the phone rings it is "Tutu" and everytime we get on the computer he thinks we are skyping "Tutu". I think it is his favorite word.

Swimming lessons...

This is what we've been doing all month long--swimming lessons every other day!

Ryder is in the parent/tot class with Steve and while he gets easily distracted by planes, birds and other kids, he loves being in the water.


Our local rec center has swimming lessons available in the evening, so we meet Steve there after work so he can cool off too. :)

Going down the small slide.

Playing in the water and kicking his legs.

Brityn did the parent/tot class last summer and we weren't sure how she would do all by herself in the preschool class, but after the first week, she has done just fine.


She loves being in the water and hates to get out when class time is over.


She practices putting her head in the water, kicking, blowing bubbles, scooping her arms and floating.


Kendyl started level 2 and quickly moved to level 3 where she is perfecting her swimming skills and learning the frog kick and dolphin kick.


She is a fish in the water and loves to jump in and go down the big slide.


She also learned to dive down in the deep end to retrieve the pool toys. I'm so glad our kids have the opportunity to learn how to swim.

Fireworks Fun!

Grandpa Jerry came to visit us for the 4th of July and brought with him some awesome fireworks!


The kids love having someone else here to give them extra attention. We had a fun time barbequing and also attending my Patriotic concert, which was a wonderful tribute to our armed forces.


Here we are getting ready for the show.

Sparklers were the big hit last year so we had three times as many this year!

The girls couldn't wait until it was completely dark, so they started with the pops and sparklers.

Steve, trying to make the twirly-whirly firework go.

Ryder was a great sport all night and didn't seem to mind the light show, but he was definitely tired by the end.

Thanks Grandpa Jerry for a great fireworks show!

First steps...

Ryder is finally walking! He has been working on it all month and is now walking most of the time. He looks like Frankenstein with his arms straight out for balance, but he is so proud of himself! :)

Along with the walking has come standing all by himself, but he doesn't just stand up on the floor like he should...he likes to stand on chairs and tables and the toy bin and speakers and the couch and basically anything he can climb up on and then stand.

Needless to say, there is a constant eye on this kid so he doesn't hurt himself. I just hope he doesn't start jumping next!

Long Beach Aquarium...

On our last day in southern California, we took the kids to the aquarium in Long Beach. Steve has a salt water fish tank at his office and the kids love to watch and feed the fish, so they were very excited to check out the aquarium.

Ryder was way more interested in the fish at the aquarium than the zoo. He was pointing at everything and yelling out words, nothing understandable, but you could tell he was excited!

This is about as close to touching a fish as the girls got, only fake fish for them!

The aquarium had lots of hands-on exhibits, and while the girls were curious enough to look, they did not want to put their hands in the water.

Steve, on the other hand, didn't have a problem sticking his hand in to touch the manta rays and sharks!

Kendyl and Brityn with a seal (busy catching some rays). :)

The kids liked watching these cool birds that dove into the water.

Kendyl found her favorite fish, dubbed the rainbow fish, and has been telling Steve he needs to get one for his tank. We saw lots of very pretty and interesting fish, if only our tank looked so colorful!