Kyla turns 4!!

Kyla asked for a butterfly birthday this year... actually she was going back and forth between butterfly and fairy. Butterfly won because I could figure out how to make a butterfly cake... :)!! Ky and John helped make the cake, Johnny did frosting quality control (sticking his finger in the frosting every couple minutes) and Kyla was the artistic consultant. And Leo played the part of the good baby and slept through the whole thing!


Ky and I were happy with how it turned out!!



Butterfly friends!



Blowing out the candles.



The little brothers hung out with dad, Paul and Mari (thanks guys!) during the party.



It is hard to believe that four years has gone by since that LONG day in the hospital when Ky was born. In some ways it seems like forever, we have had a FULL four years! We are super lucky to have Kyla in our family and are so grateful for the beautiful sweet girl she is.

John and the stairs = nap...

LABOR day

So our Labor day was really a day of labor... We have been putting off painting the house all summer, Steve kept saying he was going to hire our 16 year old neighbor to do it, Steve really didn't want to do it. We finally just did it, it looks so much better with the house all one color... :)

Steve, the man the mystery...

I haven't been keeping up with Steve's stuff...
His annual trip with his dad and brother (and whoever else they can talk into going) was to Lake Powell. It was in May... I'm a little slow! They had a great time. It is so beautiful, I would live in Page! Too bad Wal Mart is the only employer in the town...

Cliff jumping, I think it was a little game of one up until they ended up at the tallest point of this cliff...


Beave and Brian


Beave on the wake board.







Beave's dad.

Running just as fast as we can...

Which by the way is not too fast... After a 5 year sabbatical from running I decided to take it up again. I no longer feel the need to take my kids, a triple jogger does exist but really am I going to push 80 pounds of kid around my neighborhood?! Nope! I tried to run a little when I first moved to Flag and was just pushing one kiddie but even then I didn't really get into it. I finally decided to get a babysitter and run on my own, I'm just not a stroller runner. Today was my first day; Leo fed, movie on, babysitter here and off I went. I'd like to say it was wonderful but when I looked at my watch 4 minutes into it and thought, REALLY?!, I remembered again how much work it takes before running is "fun." I finished 15 minutes later with a 19 minute first run under my belt, it will get better right? I have to stick with it long enough to be able to just take off for a 1/2 hour and not be sucking wind the whole way. Not too lofty of a goal?! I may even do a road race again someday, my 10 year old race t-shirts are getting rather holy!!
Even though it was not an easy run, I still enjoyed my 19 minutes of alone time and I can imagine how great it will be when I can think about something besides putting one foot in front of the other....

Kyla counting

Steve had a hand full of treats tonight and asked Kyla to count them, she counted 1, 2,3. Steve added a few more and asked again, Ky looked at them a minute and said, "Oh, that's a lot!!"

Please Bless...

Kyla's prayer at dinner tonight included a request to "please bless us not to listen to the bad manners."

Being 2...

I love the wisdom of a 2 year old...

At dinner the other night Steve asked Johnny to eat his dinner to which Johnny replied, "No, no, its too tasty!!"

Bed time is always a bit hectic, one night while in Utah I told Ky and John they were melting down and it was time to go to bed. Johnny came back with "I'm not melting down mom, I'm growing up!"

On the way home from church last week Kyla was telling us about her sunbeam lesson on eternal families. She told us she would be our daughter forever, Johnny joined in with "me too!" Steve tried the rest of the drive home to convince John he isn't a daughter, he is a son. Steve finally gave up when Johnny disputed his best argument, that John is a son because he is a boy, with, "I'm not a son, I'm a boy daughter."

When Johnny is finished at the dinner table he tells us he is all done because his "hands are full."

Johnny was reading scriptures last night and apparently the Lamanites were having a hard time in the shower... And he swore "and he swore" in his wrath "in his bath"

This stuff makes laugh out loud, we love a little comic relief around here!

Kyla's first day of PRESCHOOL!!

I know it is only preschool and only two days a week but it was still a little hard for me to drop Ky off at school. She loved it though and only cried once... when I told her it was time to go home...

Tired

John is a little worn out for our trip, this is where I found him after searching the house and checking with the neighbor. I had to do a double take to figure out the lump at the top of the stairs was my sleeping boy.

Kyla's Photos

Kyla got a hold of the camera and went to town, she took 50 or so, here are just a few...

Leo Blessed

We blessed Leo while we were in Utah so we could have family there. We are 3 for 3 now, all our kids have been blessed at grandma's houses in Utah...
It was a nice day, thanks to all the family who came!

AUGUST

For the past three years we have spent most of the month of August in Utah. School is seriously going to cramp our style... We enjoyed our last August in Utah with lots of fun with cousins and friends. I was not as good with the camera this year, only 160 pics of half the things we did...

Leo's first interactive smile, the day Steve left for Scotland.


Dinosaur park with Seamons cousins is a tradition, Johnny loved all the dino's, except the ones inside that looked and sounded a little too real!!


Kyla has a dress she calls her dinosaur park dress, she was distressed when we didn't pack it this year, "What will I wear to the dinosaur park?!" Luckily Grandma bought these matching dresses for Ky and her cousin, Erica, it is the new "dinosaur park dress."


The orange bench bunch. It was so nice to spend time with cousins! This year our Idaho cousins came to grandma's too so we got to spend some time with them, yeah!


Johnny and Kyla love to "chalk." They got really into it this day at grandma's!!





Kyla had been asking to go to the temple and I planned on going to temple square but grandma went to a neighbor's sealing at the Ogden temple so we just tagged along with her. Ky was remembering the Snowflake temple and asked if there would be two fountains and a bridge, like the Snowflake temple, I said no, just one... mom was wrong, there were lots of fountains and a bridge!! The first thing Ky told grandma when she came out was that "Mom was wrong."


We went to visit my Grandma Oliver. She was asleep when we got there and took a minute to wake up, but as soon as she opened her eyes she got a huge smile! She was happy to meet Leo and happy that Kyla would give her lots of "loves."


Lizzy's beautiful Isabelle! She is such a sweet delicate girlie girl, we love her. She and Johnny are a month apart but so different, Johnny is all boy!


Lizzy's neighbor has 5 cats and they spend half their time at Lizzy's house, more if she feeds them. :) Kyla LOVED the kitty's! Poor girl, her mom won't get a pet.



Cute cousins!


Silly girl!


My Grandma Grover with the boys.