September

September was a crazy busy month for us. Chad had a hunting trip planned with his friends down in Southern Utah by Bryce Canyon. Usually when he goes hunting it's me and the girls at home carrying on like normal but this time I decided we were going to take a little vacation of our own. My cousin was having a baby shower and it's been years since I have seen her so me and the girls and my brother Alex took a trip to Washington. Before we left we spent the day together taking the girls to the park and having a picnic.

We both left on Thursday. Chad left very early in the morning and I got the girls to school and finished packing our things and when they got out of school we headed out. Since it's about a 10 hour drive we decided to split the drive over 2 days. My Aunt Nadene lives in Montana which is about the halfway point and so we stayed the night at her house then she was able to come with us to Washington. It was so good to see Kandace and celebrate another little girl joining our family! Here's some pictures from the shower.

While we were there we also dressed the girls in matching outfits and took some pictures of the girls together. Here's a few of my favorites:

Kassidy is such a funny girl...when I took this last picture of her she looked at me and said, "Why can't you just take pictures of your own kids?" Look at her face!!!!

After the shower we hung out at their house and had a BBQ, the girls played on the slip and slide and Issac and Alex did some blanket spinning with the girls.

Kaddisy - Ya, she's TOTALLY posing!

Ya, there's a little girl in that blanket! :)

Nadene, Kandace & I watching all the madness.

Just wanted to make sure you didn't miss this in the background! LOL!

The next day before we headed out we went to Manito Gardens. If you ever go to Spokane you have to make a stop here! It's absolutely beautiful! It's several blocks of different gardens and the pictures just do not do it justice! My favorite was the Japanese garden. Kassidy rode to the park with us, aren't they cute with their little pink glasses!

Stopping to smell the roses in the rose garden...

The whole gang!

Sunday night we made our way back to Montana and Monday we headed for home . The girls did so good in the car for such a long trip! They had a couple of bad moments but once was stopped and stretched our legs for a minute they were ok. On the way home from Montana they were pretty tired of being in the car. Alex was keeping them entertained and managed to catch some silly faces on camera. I told the girls when we were leaving Montana and Brooklyn said "We're leaving Montanaaaaaaaaa....." This is the result of that :)

All wore out...

Chad had a really good time hunting. They fulfilled the hunt early so they spent a lot of time hanging out, 4-wheeling and exploring the canyons down there. They saw tons of deer..

and lots of pretty sights.

Chad & Dazey

The whole group... check out that rack!

My grandma rented a condo up at Bear Lake for our family and my Uncles family the following weekend. It was a little cold for swimming at the lake but we did go for a little while.

There was a playground there and they got my dad to get on the merry-go-round with them.

This is the funniest picture! Kenzie was walking back from the lake with her towel wrapped around her, she happened to put it just right so the hand was right on her bum!

We spent the last weekend of September picking apples. We gave away thousands of them and still I canned apples, apple pie filling, applesauce, apple butter & apple jelly. There still is PLENTY for the deer to eat all winter long. Who knew 2 trees could make so many apples!

And last....CERTAINLY not least... Kenzie had a "cowboy day" at school. I dressed them both up that day and they loved it!

August

With August came.... A trip to Idaho. We spent the night at Chad's sisters house. We used to to that a lot until we had kids. It was fun for our girls to play with some family that they don't get to see much. We all had a good time!

A little mishap for Brooklyn at the park. She tripped on the pavement at the park and landed face first!

A trip to Hogle Zoo... (which I can't get the pictures to load from. I'll try to post those later.)

...And the start of school for both the girls. We decided to put Brooklyn in preschool 2 days a week so she would not be lonely and bored without her big sister around in the morning. It also brought a change to my work schedule which had been hard to get used to but it's nice to be able to get them ready for school and be there to pick them up myself. I'm still trying to get used to it!

My brother Alex also celebrated his 21st birthday.

July

So I have totally slacked at blogging all summer long and now here it is November... almost December! I keep making promises to myself that I will find the time but somehow I never do. Now it's at the point where I have so much that I want to post it's a little overwhelming! I'm hoping to get it all done before next week, with the holidays coming I want it out of the way so I can post the fun stuff we are doing during the holidays! I figure the easiest way will be for me to do a month at a time. Here comes July always the busiest...The words will be few and pictures plentiful!

Once the rain finally stopped at the end of June we didn't have a single uneventful weekend. The 4th of July weekend Chad got stuck working but it was my moms birthday so we went to lunch with my family and to the car show later that day. We always have fun with family no matter what we are doing.

I wanted a picture of the girls in their festive shirts but they were being silly. Look at their faces! Especially Kenzie's...what is that look?

During that next week we made a trip up to Soda Springs to the geyser. I was so much fun! The water is just right and the kids had so much fun running through it when it was erupting and in the little spring that runs off of it when it wasn't!

This was a hot summer day...after chocolate ice cream!

We went to Tony Grove for the day while my Dad and Brothers were camping there. The girls love to be outdoors exploring!

We had our annual reunion with Chad's parents and siblings and their families on the weekend of July 24th. We always have so much fun together! This year Grandma and Grandpa decided on a pirate theme and even went to the beach and buried a treasure before all the kids came. Here's the kids and all their loot.

By the end of July we also started to see the fruits (and vegetables) of our labor from the garden. The girls loved helping pick peas and beans. I was lucky if I had enough peas to serve with a meal when they helped. They loved eating them straight out of the pods!

We made another camping/fishing trip up Logan Canyon.

Can you believe Kenzie sitting there holding a fish! She was pretty proud that her Dad helped her catch it!

1 month down, 3 more to go...

The Kindness Of Strangers

This sweet faced 4 year old little girl named Taylie Abbott from here in Richmond is currently undergoing treatment at Primary Children's Medical Center for Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Before we moved to our new house a couple years ago we were in the same ward as The Abbott's and McKenzie played in the nursery at church with Taylie. Everywhere we go there are posters and events allowing us to help her and her family in what will be the most important fight of their lives. Here is your chance to help....

For every link that you share $2 will be donated, by a generous stranger, to this little girls family. You can share the link on your blog, Facebook and Twitter. If you have all 3, please post it on all 3! Her family will receive $2 for each link you share. When you have posted your links click here and leave a comment letting her know where you shared the links. Make sure to read her post titled "A Morning run and a Little Girl" It's an amazing post by an amazing woman and there are more details as to how this is all happening and also there could be something in it for you!

To link to Taylie's site click here.

You can also join her facebook group by clicking here.

We LoVe SuMmEr!

We have done so many fun things this summer, I don't even know where to begin. It would seriously take me all day to play "catch up" Here's a little of what we've been doing.....

We've been to Lagoon twice with Uncle Clint. This was the first time for both girls and they loved every minute of it...even though we got rained on both times we were there!

We also went to Soda Springs to see the geyser, and then on to Hooper Springs for a picnic. Thanks to Aunt Judy for inviting us! We loved it and can't wait to make the trip again!

We went to Tony Grove (one of my favorite places on Earth!) and had dinner with my family while they camped...

Kimberly, Troy, Alex, Nyssa & Clint chillin' by the fire...

Uncle Clint, McKenzie, Brinlee, Brooklyn and Marli chillin' by the fire...

Sheryl, Kent, Jacquie & Chad

We've been swimming at Twin Lakes...

Well... That's all for now folks! I have so much more to post but it will have to come another time. Please stay tuned and check out my older posts, I blogged a slide show from McKenzie's birthday too!

Happy 5th Birthday McKenzie!

We celebrated McKenzie's 5th birthday this year much like we always do. We had a BBQ and pool party. Thank goodness summer made it in time for the party. I rained so much this year right up until a couple days before! As always we had a lot of fun and were so glad we could have our family here to celebrate the day with us! McKenzie loved it and like always, she got spoiled!

Happy Anniversary!

Just wanted to wish my husband of 9 - yes I really mean 9 - years a Happy Anniversary!

I woke up this morning and I thought man I've been married 9 years today and I have a 5 year old little princess who starts Kindergarten next month and my baby girl is 2! Where does all the time go? I really can't believe how quickly time is passing! Then I get on here and realize I have not blogged in a month. I have plenty to blog it's just that once summer finally came after all the rain we have been trying to make time for all the stuff we usually do in the summer but with a month less to do it in. Keep watch, I promise I'll get something posted soon!