Summer Picnics

I am so grateful for our new house, but I am even more grateful for our new neighborhood. Not to take away from our old neighborhood where we had/still have wonderful friends. It served it's purpose at the time. However this new neighborhood is definitely serving it's purpose at this time in our lives. Kyli has come out of her shell a bit and has been able to find some amazing friends. Tate and Haylie have also found some great new friends. There is this super cute family that has a boy Tate's age and two little girls who play with Haylie. They have become the best of friends and they are such cute little kids. Haylie and Leah are the same age. Then there is Maddie who just turned 3 who they let play with them every day. And then when they are at our house they even let cute little Addison play with them. Addison seems to be growing up faster than we can blink while she plays with the older girls. The other day they decided to have a picnic and of course Addison wanted to join in. These 4 cute little girls where smiling and giggling and having the best time. It is moments like those that help keep you sane during the not so cute moments.

Flaming Gorge 2011

Here are just a select few pictures of our annual trip to the Gorge. It was so much fun to have almost everyone there all week. We had so much fun and were always on the go. We love having our kids play with their cousins, and I really enjoyed spending a little time with Jodi (my sister) before they left to move to Connecticut.

Neighborhood Party

We have carried on the tradition from our old neighborhood of organizing a block party with the neighbors. We used to have so much fun doing them that we decided this summer even though we moved the tradition must continue. So Kalun and another new neighbor organized a whole neighborhood party. (We used to do just a street party at the old house, but we live in a newer development that is still mostly empty lots with only about 1/4 of it full so we invited the whole neighborhood). We had an amazing turnout and had so much fun. We continued the tradition of inviting the local fire department. We did that a couple times in Lehi, but it was an even bigger hit here. The neighbors all seemed to have a really good time.

Parading

We have loved going to parades this summer. We started at the Saratoga Springs parade, moved on PG, and then to Lehi. The kids have really come to love parades only because they can get lots of candy and free stuff. We also learned that Haylie is our secret weapon. The people in the parade can never resist her cute smile and little wave, so we ended with quite a collection of loot this year.

Working Hard

Haylie has really started to love to vacuum just like me!! Hey that's not a bad habit. So everytime I vacuum I have to get out a little vacuum for her to "help" me. Well, just recently Addison was feeling left out so we had to make sure she had her vacuum. The only problem is that it has made me have to give up my obsessive compulsive disorder of having my carpet lines messed up.

Haylie's Dance Recital

Haylie took a little dance class over the course of the school year. An old neighbor had a studio in her basement. She was so good with these young girls. Haylie was the youngest and by far the smallest. She was so adorable.

Tate's Kindergarten Graduation

Tate loved kindergarten. He was able to make a lot of new friends. I was one of the room moms and I helped once a week in his class. It was so fun to be so involved in his class because I knew all the kids and all his friends. I had so much fun watching him interact and seeing how he acts at school. He loves being at school but he hates homework! He just wants to come home and play with all his friends.

Bike Riding

I have loved riding my bike this spring/summer. We started riding Tate to school and then picking him up. I always throw the girls in the bike trailor and Tate would ride his bike. Tate is a maniac bike rider. He is always trying new tricks, he likes to go off jumps and pop wheelies, all sorts of stuff. His bike is hammered. But he spends a ton of time on it. This day we had gone to get Tate and then we rode an extra couple miles around the area. Poor Haylie, it's just so exhausting sitting in the trailor being pulled around that she fell asleep on her sister. This was so funny. Addison was rubbing her back and playing with her hair. They are such cute sisters. I hope this closeness never goes away and they will always remain best friends.

Kyli's Temple Walk

The young women in our new ward are amazing! I really feel that a big reason we felt we were supposed to move was so we could find this ward for Kyli. They have really reached out to her. They decided to do a temple walk. They started at our church and walked all the way to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. It is about 9 1/2 miles. The whole young womens did it with their leaders. The leaders said that not one of them complained or wined the entire time. They did the walk on Tate's b-day, so we went to the park across from the temple and did the rest of Tate's party there so we could cheer the girls on as they arrived. They all came up the hill with huge smiles. I am so proud of Kyli for doing this.

Tate's 6th Birthday

Tate is 6! I really can't believe how fast the kids grow. Tate is such a good kid. Unfortunately we made him the same promise we made Haylie, that he could have a big party with old and new friends. Problem is that he is very much a social butterfly like his dad. He has so many friends it's crazy. He is a very social guy who makes friends easily, but he also is loyal and once you are friends with Tate you are always friends. So he literally wanted to invite the whole world. We finally had to get tough and narrow it down a bit. He still had a blast. The move has been hardest on Tate so it was good to have some old friends come to his party. Then we had a crazy night and ended up doing a picnic at a park with Mcdonald happy meals (his birthday dinner choice), and then family and more friends met us there and we had cake and ice cream. It was an insane day but we had so much fun.