Audrey's Birthday!

Our baby is TWO!!! Aaahhhh! We can hardly believe it. Seriously.

I took a lot of pictures today, and I could barely narrow down which ones I wanted to post. I'm not sure Audrey really has any idea what it means when we keep telling her it's her birthday. But she did have fun opening her presents and eating her birthday cupcakes. Her favorite presents were, I think, the musical card from Grandma Flash, her little pink chair, and her very own water bottle. People who have been around Audrey lately will understand why she'd be so excited about her own water bottle. :)

Here are a few things about Audrey:

- She talks so much! We can't always tell what she says, but she's pretty good at communicating, and her vocabulary seems to grow every day.

- She loves shoes and will try on any and every shoe around.

- She always wants to have socks on. If she wakes up in the morning without sock and we try to get her to walk into the kitchen/dining room she will stop dead and yell "socks!"

- If I get her out of bed she usually says, "Hi Mom! Where Dad?" And if Joel gets her she says Hi to him and asks where I am. :)

- She's a climber! It's starting to drive us crazy, actually. She often totes around a small chair or box to use to step on and reach things or to climb up on things.

- She likes to play in water. In the kitchen sink, bathroom sink, wherever.

- She give excellent hugs and kisses.

- She always wants to sing "I Am a Child of God" and "Twinkle Stars" before she goes to bed or takes a nap.

- I don't think she has a favorite food. She eats most things quite well. Though she might favor slices of cheese, strawberries, and grapes.

Happy Birthday to our wonderful Audrey!

Parade

At the end of June Green River had Flaming Gorge Days. We really only took part in the parade, which was yesterday. It was a nice and sunny day, but it was a little windier than we would have liked. We found a nice spot on the parade route, and our kids had a great time collecting candy. Once Audrey got the hang of it, she was all over it. Joel helped her at first, but he basically just became her candy bag holder. Our older kids were really great with her, too. Helping her and making sure she got some candy, too. It was a fun parade.

Lovell

The day after Father's Day, the kids and I headed up to Lovell! Mary and her kids are up there while Logan is doing a class in Chicago for three weeks, so we decided to go spend some time with them and the rest of the fam up there. I got so few pictures, it's amazing I have any to post at all. James had just had a birthday before they came up, so we had a little birthday party for him. I snapped a picture of all the kids "helping" him open his presents. :)

We didn't do much in Lovell besides hang around, play games, etc. The kids spent a lot of time at the park, which is nice. One of the best parts was bedtime stories. Before the kids would go to bed, Grandma or Grandpa would tell a story about their parents or grandparents. I'm so glad I was able to record the stories they told while my kids were there.

Then, we all came back to Green River! Well, Mary and her kids came with us, anyway. The cousins were still having a lot of fun playing together, and I hadn't had enough sister time. The day after we got here we went to a Medieval Fair in town. The kids had fun doing archery and jousting.

The kids spent a lot of time playing outside, playing Wii, and generally making a lot of noise. :) Adrienne was also able to come up for a few days, so we got to hang out with her. We even got to go to a movie together, which was fun.

I had to take this picture of the kids eating caramel popcorn. We set that bowl on the table and told them they could eat it all, and it was like we'd called in the vultures. Aren't we teaching them such healthy habits?

Audrey seemed to have a favorite cousin. She followed him around giving him hugs and kisses. He was a good sport about it, but I think Isaac wondered why this little girl wouldn't leave him alone!

We're so thankful for the time we get to spend with family. And I'm thankful for the effort Mary and Adrienne took to come spend time at our home.

Garden

This is the first summer that Joel and I have done a garden since we got married. We have some built in raised beds/planters along our fence, so we decided to take advantage of those. We worked at pulling out the weeds and sifting out the larger rocks from the soil. Finally, right at the end of May, we planted. The first picture is of some tiny peas popping up. They were the first plant to come up, and we just thought they were beautiful. The second picture is of the peas a bit later, and a bit bigger. The peas are much bigger now, and doing very well. We also have carrots, radishes, lettuce, spinach, green beans, summer squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes. All doing well. We have some strawberries, but they seem to have suffered a bit from a June snow storm we got a couple of weeks ago. I hope they will be okay in the long run, though. It's been an exciting and rewarding experience, already. We've even eaten some radishes! The last picture is Joel with the first radish we pulled. It was a bit small (we were a bit impatient to try one), but very tasty! 

Fire!

At the end of May we lit up the fire pit and toasted some marshmallows. Obviously we made s'mores, as well. We all had fun toasting those babies up, and the s'mores were enjoyed by all. Audrey thoroughly enjoyed her s'more! The pictures don't do justice as to just how messy she was at the end of the night. It was a great way to enjoy the nice, summery weather.

Kindergarten Graduation

Adam "graduated" from kindergarten on the last day of school. They had a fun little ceremony in the gym, and all of the kids got to say what they want to be when they grow up. Adam said he wants to be a soccer player. No surprise, there! :) We're proud of our smart, hard working boy.