Laura: 5 years old
Girl. Loves her new lipgloss and trying to be the mommy...

I am not a good party planner, especially when our location plans weren't what we thought they would be for L's birthday. So we improvised. We invited 3 of L's friends: Victoria, Lily and Warren, to come to the Children Museum and then have fudgecicles afterward in the backyard. Awesome. They painted in the art garden, dressed up at the castle, played school and banged on drums. And I didn't have to plan any of it or clean up any of the mess. I didn't even have to bake a cake! Brent made a yummy lemon cake with, of course, pink frosting for Laura's actual birthday on Sunday.

I know it's cliche' but when did she get to be so big?

Ryan: 10 months
Boy. Likes cars and balls. And making lots of noise.

Ryan finally got his first two teeth while we were in Idaho a few weeks ago. It's seemed like he's been teething for the last six months straight but he finally has something to show for all that drooling and chewing.

Ryan's crawling around and squealing and of course sticking everything in his mouth:) He's also pulling up on anything that will hold still and occasionally, when he's not paying attention he'll let go for a few seconds. You can tell in the above pic that he's had a black eye for the last week. The chair won that round.
This last picture captures where he's at right now: trying desperately, on tippy-toes, to see everthing and be into everything. He wants so bad to keep up with his sisters!

He's in the delicious, not a toddler yet, but not a little baby anymore stage. Just chubby rolls, messy meals, infectious chuckles, and still lots of naps.

You know you're in Idaho when...



The hay bailer in the front yard keeps the kids entertained for a half an hour.

They still throw candy at the fourth of July parade, the temperatures were only around 87, and the Ray's carwash boys can dance better than the cheerleaders...

Staying and playing in the pool, the sandbox, on the swingset, and with the cousins is better than going anywhere else.

I came down to Idaho to take care of my three wonderful neices while my sister has her baby. Except that she's still pregnant. Bah on hospitals that are too full to let women come be induced. So here we are. But what a great way to wait for a little miracle.

June showers bring July flowers?

Our week has been pretty rainy, and we've been doing a lot of indoor type of stuff: painting, playing with play dough, coupon shopping. We pulled into the store on Friday and Laura calls out from the back of the van, "Mom! Walmart Again?!" She's not used to going there once a week, we used to go when she was in preschool:)

The weather was nice and sunny on Friday so we headed to the hills for another family hike. Except this time my sweet hubby suggested I bring my mountain bike so I could get a chance on the trail. I really enjoyed it, although I'll be the first to admit that I am very much a beginner and this trail isn't a beginners! I don't have a lot of confidence, but that'll come. The wild snapdragons were all over the hillsides and the huge bumblebees were too! The girls had handfuls and Ryan didn't make a peep the whole time: he loves to just swing his feet and look around. I met up with them on the way back and we stopped at the stream. Laura tried to throw a rock into the creek to splash Brent and accidentally hit Eden in the back of the head. Yea. After we got her calmed down, fifteen minutes later, we enjoyed the rest of our adventure.

Eden is phasing out her naps, we moved her bed into Ryan's room, bedtime is going better, and Ryan is starting to crawl more often. But only when he's not in a hurry, scooting on his tummy is still faster on our wood floors. Still no teeth! The last few days we've been playing the girl's new favorite game: Hi-Ho Cherry-O. What fun...

Also, we finally got a piano! I have been diligently saving all my violin money and extra pennies for the last six or seven months and after finding a great deal on KSL, of course, we are now the proud owners of a Yamaha Clavinova. I love being able to play again. (I'm definitely going to take all my music with me now, Mom) And having a piano for teaching violin lessons will be great. Also the girls have been on it pretty much constantly and Laura asked for lessons. After the first day she was already playing Mary had a Little Lamb, after the second she moved onto Hot Cross Buns, and on the third we learned the notes of the right hand on the staff. I was so excited until I realized it was because I'm used to my violin students taking 4 or 5 months to get to that point. Piano is definitely an easier instrument to start out on! My other favorite features are the volume control, the recording feature so I can accompany myself on the violin, and the headphones. Otherwise the girls would already be driving me nuts. They love the demo songs.

And finally, Brent got another A on his most recent class. Yes, he's smart. S-M-R-T! We're all enjoying his month long break from school, I think he's on his third book already. In fact he's reading the DaVinci Code next to me right now:) Hope you had a great week too!

One my favorite past times in the evening after the kids are finally in bed and Brent is studying is to blog-hop. I love going and getting creative ideas, looking at what my friends are doing, and basically relaxing. Here are a few of my favorites, so if you have a few minutes stop by, they're always fun, oh and tell me some of yours too, I can always have more 'imaginary' places to go:o)

http://krazycouponlady.blogspot.com/
with my sister's help I'm getting into couponing, this blog updates two or three times a day

http://lets-explore.net/blog/
Great ideas for having fun with preschool and elementary age kids.

http://www.frugalfamilyfunblog.com/
Frugal family fun, enough said...

http://favfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com/
I've gotten several delicous recipes off this blog, they're not too hard. Although the recipe that is up right now doesn't look that appetizing, look further down...

http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/
I basically want to make everything on this blog, a new favorite...

*Warning: I posted about a month's worth of pictures in one sitting, be prepared to look at a lot of us:)*

Summer is officially here: the strawbies are on! I'm quite proud of my little bushes, we're picking a half a bucket every day. yum! I need more strawberry recipes...

And my roses are blooming too! The girls and I have been planting banana peels around the bases to feed the bushes.















We put fence slats in our fence. Not as great as having a tall privacy fence, but it already has made a huge difference.


Two happy little girlies about to have dinner outside.

Saturday June 6th

Yesterday we went down to Salt Lake and went to the first of many baptisms of cousins and friends. Makayla's baptism was wonderful, but she did have get to repeat the whole thing three times because her big toe kept floating up. The ironic thing is that her mom, and both of her grandmas both were baptised three times each also!

Scott also gave her a beautiful confirmation blessing and we enjoyed visiting with all the family afterwards at the Whetsels.


After we got home we relaxed in the backyard and pulled out the marshmallows and fired up the charcoal grill. We even invited some neighbors over and had an impromptu little party. I love our neighborhood, it's like a little oasis and we have so many friends here.

When no one was looking Ryan found Eden's strawberry bucket. When Brent looked over he was shoving as many as he could into his little mouth! One happy baby, and hopefully no allergic reactions!