Joys of summer!

Summer is coming to an end:-( It's sad but true. My girls are back at school already so whenever the weather is nice and they get home from school we head outside to enjoy ourselves. Ice cream, backyard blow up pool and parks are all on our to do lists.

Harper and get friend Taylor enjoying some Popsicles in the backyard.

All my ladies enjoying the slides at one of our local parks! We will definitely miss the nice warm weather but our girls do love the snow so I think we'll also enjoy the winter.

Ohio (part one)

Our trip to Ohio has been amazing so far. Our girls have been having the best time with Avery and piper, the dogs, going to King's Island, playing in the backyard and so much more. We have so many pictures and have done so many fun things it's hard to post everything. Harper and Avery on the beetle bug ride at Kings Island. They loved it!!!!

Piper was all smiles once her aunt came to town;-)

Rhaegan and her friend Annmery were reunited and it was like no time had passed.

The sports court in kristas backyard is amazing. The girls have so much fun playing in the pool and sliding down the slide.

Planet Snoopy is the best place on earth according to Marlee!

Many more pics to come!!

Zoo Boise

Nothing rings in summer like a trip to the zoo. We were so excited to get there, the weather was going to be beautiful and all three girls were happy and behaving themselves. Then when we were about 10 minutes away from the zoo we noticed that Harper was looking tired and sick. An extremely high fever came on in about 30 minutes and she was completely out of it from that point on....poor thing:-( Since we were already there we decided to stay so that Rhaegan and Marlee could at least have an enjoyable trip. And they did!!!

First things first...they were given a lesson on this lovely bird. Very interesting:-)

Then it was off to the giraffes, lions and zebras.

The tiger statue was pretty popular...the real tiger, Tundra, can be seen below.

As you can see Harper was miserable. Shae, on the other hand was in heaven. Over the last several months Harper will only snuggle with me and only wants me to take care of her. So when she snuggled up on shae's shoulder he melted! Hopefully we'll get to go back when Harper's not sick because she is the real animal lover.

Cascade

This Memorial Day weekend was spent with some amazing friends at an amazing cabin in Cascade, ID. We rode the rhino, went fishing, made s'mores, looked for Bigfoot in the forest, played with two cute babies, and much more!!! 

The kids could not get enough of the Rhino. What a fun toy for kids of all ages;-)

Marlee loved holding baby Parker! She wants a baby brother of her own.

We found this rock on our hike through the woods and the girls had a blast climbing up on it to pose for the camera.

You can't see how steep this hill really is from the picture but trust me when I say it was STEEP!

No hot tub? Don't worry, a bathtub will work just fine. Thanks Castletons and Tingeys for a great weekend!!!!

Picasso

Harper has developed a love for painting. She loves making messes everywhere but when she's painting she's very careful and precise. 

She probably gets it from her uncle nick who is a fantastic artist. It fun to watch her concentrating and making what she feels are true masterpieces.

Easter Time!

I always have these grand expectations when it comes to holiday pictures and since Easter is my favorite holiday my expectations were soaring. Then I realized I'm not a photographer by any stretch so I needed to be happy with what I got. Luckily my girls decided to all look at the camera for at least one picture:-)

I love that I have all girls for the simple fact that Shae gets to be their dad. He loves them all so much and would do anything for them. This picture only captures a small portion of his relationship with them. 

Spring fun

We are loving this warm weather!!! The Utah cousins came up for the week and we have loved their company. I don't think my girls have gotten more than 7 or 8 hours of sleep a night, which doesn't seem too terrible but when they are use to 12 hours a night you can imagine how tired they are by the end of each day. Harper has loved all the "new" activities that she's been able to take part in because now she's old enough:( Fourwheeling, lawn mower riding, side walk chalk drawings, hot tub swimming and many more. 

Rhaegan and Brooklyn enjoying some barbie time outside.

Harper and her new best friend; the four wheeler!!

Flip flops and painted toes!

Orange cream pops.....and of course the hot tub!!! Marlee lives it there! She is perfecting her back float so she's ready to show grandma and keeka her skills!!!

Spring Break Fun

This past week was our spring break and since we weren't planning on going on a fun vacation to some tropical paradise we needed to be creative with our free time. On Thursday we decided to go bowling! Grandma treated us to a day filled with bowling, games, lunch, etc. 

Even with her walking boot Marlee was able to have a great time!

Harper loved watching her sisters while she are he'd goldfish. It was a great time! 

Our cows...

We have three cows in the pasture out back and everyday Harper loves to go see them. The other day she wandered on out all by herself because she couldn't wait for us any longer. I was able to capture the moment from the back deck. That black cow is scared of everyone. He is constantly by his mom's side. However, Harper has some special powers because he immediately came over to her. I love that my kids love animals almost as much as their mom does!!

Marlee's 5!!!

Well the day arrived and it was definitely bittersweet. Marlee has always seemed older than she is because she is constantly trying to do whatever Rhaegan is doing. But today she seemed 4 going on 5 because I would not allow myself to admit anything different. I don't want any of my kids to get older but when it comes to Marlee, I get teary- eyed thinking about her aging. She is such an amazing little munchkin and everything she does or says makes us all smile. 

Her birthday party had to be spectacular this year, according to her, and it had to include horses/unicorns. She LOVES horses and unicorns and even asked for a real horse as her only present. I tried to do my best to give her the party of her dreams while staying within a very strict budget:) Her cake was my favorite part of the whole event. I love making my kids' birthday cakes! She was so excited to see this beautiful unicorn on top.

The next best part was watching her greet her guest, all three of them:) From left to right: Rhaegan, Marlee, Savannah, Emalee. (Missing from the picture: kaylee and memselle).

She received a lot of wonderful gifts!! Unfortunately we weren't able to get her a real horse this year but we told her not to lose hope for one another year;-)

This was as close to a real horse as she got!

I love my little gooser!!

I hate that she's a year older but I love the wonderful little lady she's becoming!!! Happy Birthday, Marlee!!!

Valentines day

Shae has claimed valentine's day as his holiday and each year he does such an amazing job surprising our girls with cute little gifts and treats. This year was no different!!!

I even got my box of chocolates! 

SNOW!!!!

Our girls have been waiting all winter for a good snowfall but it never came. Then last weekend their wishes came true. We received about a foot of snow over two days and you better believe they enjoyed it thoroughly. 

Harper enjoys sitting in the snow but the minute you stick her in a sled she's not a happy camper. We of course made her go anyway because we knew she would love it after a while:)

Marlee is our little snow angel. She will just lay there making snow angels until she's blue all over.

Yummy!!!

Our three little snow bunnies!

And a big smooch from daddy to finish our day of sledding. We are so glad it decided to snow!!