Merry Christmas

Taylor turns 8- Angry Bird Style

Lauren is Six!

Lauren was so excited for her Barbie birthday! We are building an addition to our house so we had to get creative. Creative being it had to be outside since I have no kitchen. When the girls came they designed their own outfit for Barbie.

I love girls… they just giggle about everything! Then she wanted to play Barbie musical chairs.

Lindsey had a hard time keeping up w/ the older girls so we put her in charge of stopping the Barbie music. Then she wanted to do musical chairs by herself. She is such a hoot and was THRILLED when she got the chair. Lauren’s friends are always so good to Lindsey. They let her come and go when they are playing and just let her think she is playing with them.

We then decorated hot pink and black sunglasses with gems. Next, the girls had a snack. Hot Pink cookies with hugs. You can’t see the hot pink sugar- but that was Lauren’s favorite part.

Then the girls dressed up a Barbie and gave her a name. After that they got dressed up as well for the fashion show.

I had a questionnaire I helped the girls fill out. As the girls walked down the “red carpet” Greg described the girls and their Barbie's.

Then they just wanted to dance to Barbie songs with their Barbie’s.

Lauren and I both really wanted to tackle the Barbie cake w/ Barbie head sticking out. However, with no kitchen- zebra cakes w/ hot pink candles was a close second. She loves Zebra cakes so she was actually very excited about those as well.

The girls went home with their sunglasses and a Barbie party favor bag.

Then we were off to get her ears pierced and out to dinner. Very fun Barbie birthday!!

Labor Day

We got to spend Labor Day up in Logan with my parents. It was so nice to be outside in the middle of the day and NOT feel hot! We visited Gpa’s garden’S- yes he has more than one.

It was a nice relaxing trip and fun to go up there and be in their home.

We also got to go to the Brigham City Temple open house, which was neat. I loved being able to take the kids inside and tell them more about it. Minus Taylor not wanting to get into church clothes on a Monday- they were excited.

Full Swing

We are in full school mode now that Lauren has started. Next year, she doesn’t want to wait a week after Taylor before she starts. Taylor is in 2nd grade and has everything down. No problem. He has lots of advice for Lauren. She had a great first day of Kindergarten. She wanted to go on the big playground with Taylor, but instead she gave him a big hug. So cute. She was thrilled when she saw her little friend as soon as she got to the kindergarten playground. Everyone got hugs that morning!

The Latest in our Library Basket

Tomorrow is the big day! For selfish reasons, Lindsey and I are not excited. Not.one.bit. I’m not sure how we will get by without our creative, fun, energetic Lauren. She’s the party planner, the instigator of doing fun things. And she always includes Lindsey. Even when she has friends over. Pretty much Lauren spoils Lindsey and I both. She will do great things in Kindergarten!

In our library basket right now

Tomorrow is the big day for Taylor! 2nd grade. Super excited for him! We’ve had a great summer. But we are also ready for a new routine. A change of pace is good.

Giddy

I get giddy when I see this book on my bed. It’s a book just for Taylor and I. It’s a book where we write about anything and everything to each other. It’s a book where I get to connect with Taylor in a fun, unique way. It’s a book where Taylor gets to practice his writing- but don’t tell him that. It’s a book we both love to sneak on each other’s bed and surprise the other. Sometimes we write every day, or once a week. This summer it’s been more like once a month. But we still do it. And I hope we always still do it.

It’s fun to see his writings and pictures. Whatever is going on with him at the time, reflects in his writing. When he was into reading the “Weird School Series” they would put an asterisk on a word and then tell about that word at the bottom of the page. Taylor did that too in our book. Makes me smile!

Bear Lake with the Gardner's

We love getting all these kids together. It’s always a lot of fun!When I married Greg, I had to learn how to play cards real fast. That’s just what you do. I love that it is being passed down to the little ones too. We loved relaxing, playing on the beach and riding the jet ski.By the end of the day we were all feeling like Lindsey!