Ben's Frog

One day when I was at work, Krystle and Kandi took my kids to the South Ogden fair. Ben won a game, and as a prize got a frog. Ben took that frog with him everywhere. It would sit by him on the floor (in his bowl of course) when he would watch tv, and it would be on the table with him when he was eating. He liked to blow in the bowl, tap the side, and shake it to make him swim. With all of this love, I was amazed that he lasted as long as he did....
3 whole days! Amazing, I know. Back to pet worms!

This one's for you , mom!

Step #1 - fuel (well I guess this is really step #2 cause Brady chained the birdhouse to his truck and pulled it out of the ground.... didn't get a picture of that!)

Step #2 - Light it
Step#3 - watch it burn and be gone forever! :)

Step #4 - go get spinach out of the garden while it burns in the background! (the kids thought this was awesome!)

We seem to be good at destroying things at our house, so we decided to destroy something you wanted gone anyways! So, there you have it! No more birdhouse out front!

Party on the 4th!

For the past few years Kandi and Nick have had a party at their house on the 4th of July. This year just me and the kids went. It was a blast! Here is Ben playing in the sprinklers!

Isabel loves soaping up and going down the giant slip and slide!

Here is Nick going on the slip and slide. He and his friend were pretty tricky :)

And Ben loves all things water, so he also enjoyed the slip and slide!

Grandma Tracie had her huge water slide there. This is right before Ben went down.


Isabel preferred a different type of slide this year. She like sliding into the toddler pool! It was a great time! Thanks for inviting us Nick and Kandi!

Happy Birthday Brady!

Isabel was very excited for her dad's birthday this year. Brady told me that he wanted 'something to blow up' (fireworks) for his birthday, so that is what we got him. Well, the kids weren't ok with dad not having any presents to open up, so they got him a few other things. Before the presents though, Isabel gave Brady the card that she made him. She made a watermelon (although not in a true shape of a watermelon) and cut it up into tiny pieces. She told Brady it was a puzzle for him, and he had to put it together before he could open his presents. Brady said it was the hardest puzzle he has ever done :)

Isabel was so excited for Brady to open the present she picked out for him, she helped him open it and then modeled it for him!

Then she had him try them on......

And then it was Ben's turn :)

Then Isabel modeled Brady's new shirt. I didn't get a picture of her modeling his new basketball shorts.... they are red to match the headband and wristbands :)

Isabel asked Brady if he was going to golf for his birthday. Brady said no, cause it was too expensive, he would just go play basketball instead.... so when we saw this at the store, the kids thought it was perfect! Daddy could golf with them in the backyard!!
Later that night we did do fireworks. Yes, these are illegal ones. The boys had fun for sure!
Loading the bottle rocket launchers....
All the boys (and Isabel) getting in on the action! Those things were loud. No wonder they were free with purchase!

I didn't get any good pictures of the big fireworks. It was quite a show though! Lots of fun!

This is one of Isabel's friends. Shylo. She and her family came to watch too. All in all a fun day! Happy birthday Brady! We love you tons :)

Oh what do you do in the summertime?

This is what I do when I am bored..... I power wash the kids :) What do you do????

Block Party!

We had our annual block party on Saturday, July 2nd this year. There were tons of people and lots of good food! Chris made his potatoes, Jon did sweet and sour meatballs and we did pork carnitas, and a triple berry cobbler. There was a lot of food, but that was good because I think everyone in the cul-de-sac came this time, and they all had friends too. I was very glad to account for all of our bikes/trikes/etc before the fireworks started. Ben and Sarah started off in the back of Jon's van. That only lasted a few seconds. Let me just say that I am so glad these too are friends. They say the cutest things to each other...... Then the firework show started. It was really good this year because not too many fireworks are illegal anymore. Ben's favorites were the parachutes. Isabel like the chickens that had fireworks shoot out their bums. I love Adams face in this one! Pure excitement. He started jumping in place shortly after I took the picture.

The other group that didn't have to stand to watch the fireworks :) From left to right: Jon, Grant holding Sam, KelliAnn, and Jen holding Nara. Nara kept saying 'cool'! Very cute.
I think this picture is adorable. It was a very big firework and this was Sarah's reaction.
Nara watching intently. She was a very tired girl, but loved the fireworks.
I got Sam right as a big firework exploded. Just to be safe, he closed his eyes. He enjoyed the show so much that he even fell asleep at the end!
One more shot of the kids watching. Ari covered her ears almost the whole time.

We had one casualty from the sparklers this year. Ben is a tough kid, so I'm glad it was him I guess. He, for some strange reason, took off his shoes to do sparklers..... One fell on the ground and he didn't see it and stepped on it twice. :( It melted the skin. This picture is the day after. I was glad that it was red and had blisters cause that means it doesn't need a skin graft.... Sunday was the worst day, but since then he has been swimming, running, jumping, tumbling, riding his bike with it. I'm just praying it doesn't get infected, cause he does get skin infections really easy.... As soon as the blisters pop we will see how tough he is!

There was one more casualty. A firework exploded into the crowd and burned a little girl's mouth, hair and clothes. As soon as it happened, Isabel and Ari ran into the house crying cause they thought their hair was going to catch on fire. Isabel is ok, but Ari is still terrified. :( All in all it was a fun party, too bad it had to end with burns....

Watermelon and Slip and Slides!

Hooray for Summer! We have had the cousins over a few times for bike days, and swim days. We have a few kiddie pools, sprinkler heads and a slip and slide that the kids love. More than anything I think they just love playing together! So, following are tons of pictures of all the cousins enjoying summer :)

Sarah LOVED her watermelon! She ate a ton of it!

Sam wanted some too! He kind-of liked it :)
Isabel Loved hers too! Perfect treat for a hot , sunny day.
Starting in the front left we have Zoey, Ari, Isabel, Maylee, Nara, Sarah, Adam, and Benjamin.
Another shot of the cousins. Can you believe they were all sitting in the same location :) The past 2 pictures are the only ones I have of Nara and Zoey. They hung out with me, Kandi and Tamina more than playing in the water. I think they were a little intimidated by the bigger kids splashing on them!
Slip and slide time! Ben still runs down the slip and slide and slides into the little pool at the end.
This picture 'cracks' me up :) Footballs, boogie boards, what else could you need?! (Isabel, Adam and Ben)

Sarah wasn't sure about the slip and slide, so she played in the pools.
The kids just keep getting bigger in this picture! By that I mean that we have a picture of them every year doing this same thing. Drinking the water for the slip and slide! (Adam, Noah)
Noah decided to slide down sideways! He made some awesome splashes doing it!
Another cute picture of Sarah in the pool!
I picked out this slip and slide because it has 2 slides next to each other so you can race. I didn't get it for the race factor, I got it so they wouldn't have to wait for a turn as long, hence less whining :) It worked pretty well! (Noah, Ben, and Ari)Noah pushing on the slide so that water will squirt Adam!
The kids all seemed to have a blast playing! I'm glad we have cousins to hang out with! Adam informed me that I have the best bike days ever at my house! (They rode for 10minutes before they decided to play in the water!) With the warm weather finally here, we will have to have more days like these!