4th of July and Jeff's Birthday!

Happy Fourth! We had a super fun day. We have a few little traditions for the Fourth, one of them is sleeping outside in the backyard in tent the night of the 3rd. We didn't do that this year because we had just cleaned up from camping the weekend before for Jeff's birthday but we did keep the tradition of going to our small town's Parade, infact, we were in the Parade! We were with the BCCH float. The kids decorated their bikes and rode behind the truck handing out Otter Pops(which is why Tate had to wear his batting gloves, to keep his hands warm:) BCCH bought 2 thousand Otter Pops and we ran out about a block before the finish line! I guess our Little Town has more festive people than I thought! Tate and Ellie got their faces painted, we watched A LOT of softball the whole week, had a BBQ at Mom's, went to the fireworks, and fired off a few fireworks that Aunt Jamie bought afterwards. One other tradition we have over the Fourth is making homemade ROOTBEER! I love it, it' s so good! I am so thankful for a day to remember our INDEPENDENCE and FREEDOM and the people who have helped and are helping to make it possible. Thank You to those who have served! WE love AMERICA!

Jeff's birthday present was camping the weekend before and this new Basketball Hoop! Tate has been soooo excited to share Dad's birthday present with him. It's so nice to get some cement and get rid of about 100,000 stickerweeds on the side of our house!

A little Guitar Hero can always help get you in the Patriotic mood, right?

Jeff's Birthday! Happy Birthday sweetie! We love you. We like going camping or doing something fun over Jeff's special day (another Tradition). We stayed near Bear Lake, in a TENT for three nights! It was such a great time. We LOVED being away from everything, all the stress that comes and goes everyday was gone (too bad it came back just as quickly). I loved having the time with my little family. It's so awesome to have the time to spend constantly with my kids and sweetheart.

Building sand castles at Bear lake.

Somebody say SMORES EVERYNIGHT?!! Oh, that's heavenly. Notice that Ellie just prefers a Whole Hershey's bar over a S'more? That girl is crazy for chocolate. Tate is a super marshmallow roaster... love that kiddo.

Tate working on Jeff's birthday gift! He made him a stick lastyear too but this year he came home without any bloodshed! We even had Ellie working on a stick with a knife... I couldn't really watch.

I think these kids loved the camping trip too!

T-ball, Father's day, and Rexburrria!

Happy Fathers Day! We love Jeff so much, he is such a great Daddy and Husband. Some of our favorite things about him is his goofy personality, silly habbits (you know what those are babe!), and the genuine way he cares for us. WE LOVE YOU!
Ellie bought him some new belts to wear to work... practical, I know!

... and Tate found this thing at Smith and Edward's and would not let go! He started crying when I told him to put it back cause Dad didn't need another BBQ tool. Tate said, "but daddy won't have to use a fork to turn the meat and burn his fingers!" It was so sweet that I gave in and let him get it for Dad.

REXBURRRIA... aka REXBURG.

We went with Amber and her boys up to Rexburg to see Rachel. These were the only pictures I got but they are pretty cute. We ate a yummy dinner straight off Matt's grill and then went to this cute little ice cream shop to get DELICIOUS ice cream! After sugaring ALL these kiddo's up we went back to Rachel's. It was a little difficult getting them all to cooperate and go to sleep but it eventually happened. The best part of it all was they even ALL slept in the same room! It was such a fun trip.... ThAnks AgAin Rach!

.T-Ball.

What do I say about T-Ball? It is adorable watching these little kids play! I love it! Tate is so funny out there on the field. He doesn't quite get the concept of letting other kids play their positions. Tate was supposed to be covering 3rd base and he ended up running all the way over by first to get a ball the batter hit. He wants every ball, guess it's not all bad. He is so cute and absolutely loves it. He is pretty serious when he is playing but is having lots of fun. Thanks to his coaches for being so cute with him! I love you #5!

Think she wants to be a cheerleader.... oh boy!

Trying to be crafty!

I copied this from a friends blog. I thought it sounded like a lot of fun and decided to try it!

This is how it works:The first three people to type "Annie is trying to be crafty!" in the comments on this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. The catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and give the same offer to the first three commenter's who will also craft it forward.Here are my contingencies:

1. I make no guarantee that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It will be done this year.
4. You have no clue what it's going to be.
5. I reserve the right to make something extremely strange.
6. You must post a picture of what you win when you get it.

Have fun!

.Chloe.

Oh, I wish I had a picture of you at your birthday party as Hannah Montana. You are the best Hannah I have ever seen! The party was a blast. Ellie and Tate are still rockin' out with their super sweet guitars! Happy Birthday Clo.

Ry- Guy

We love you so much Ry.... and your sweet RED car!

Birthday BOY!

Happy Birthday Tatterbug! We had a great time celebrating birthdays this past week. Tate's is on the 1st, my nephew Ry-Guy's is on the 2nd, and My niece Chloe was born on the 3rd! We got lots of yummy Cake and Ice Cream! Tate got everything his little heart wanted- especially his Nintendo DS. The party was fun. I attempted to make his birthday cake, it's a snake. I love you so much little buddy.

Disneyland Vacation

Okay.... Here's the scoop on our Family Disneyland adventure! We got to our Hotel on Wed. We stayed at a super cute hotel called the Candycane Inn. It was really convenient, had a continental breakfast, swimming pool, and a free shuttle bus that was super easy to catch there and back. I recommend it to anyone going! The only thing the kids wanted to do when we got there was go swimming! It was a favorite daily activity.

We spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in the park. It was really nice because it wasn't super crowded ever. We did have to wait in a few lines but nothing like I imagine it when it's busy. It was a little chilly in the shade and the wind blew quite a bit. Fireworks were cancelled on Friday and Saturday because of the wind.

Ellie was upset because she didn't see the princesses wandering in the park so we went and stood in line for an hour to walk through and meet three princesses. The princesses change out every once in a while so you don't know for sure who you are going to get. We totally lucked out and got Cinderella, Belle, and Jasmine! It was so worth the wait to see Ellie's reaction and hear the excitement in her voice the rest of the week!

This was a big hit with Tate. Jedi Training. The people looked really real! It was so much fun! Tate practices the moves everyday with his new light saber... like we needed another one in our house!

What a magical place..... this is how I found these two sleeping the first night. They snuggled all night!

Of course...... we found an airplane in California Adventure! Tate and Jeff were thrilled. Tate found one of his favorite souvenirs- A little B52 airplane that he carried around everywhere.

Ellie was scared of almost EVERY ride. I don't blame her. They even make finding Nemo ride scary! This little area in the California adventure side was all bugs life stuff. There is a 3D movie that freaked both kids out- I LOVED IT, and there was this little Caterpillar ride that Ellie and I rode on three or four times! She was diggin' it.

My cute little man chillin' for a photo op.

Ellie's souvenir was a build-a-bear lamb. She dressed her in a Snow White outfit. It was so cute! Her name is Lambie.

Lunch with the princesses! I hesitated paying the money to go do this, especially after standing in line for an hour to meet some of these princess already but it made Ellie's whole trip. I think she loved Cinderella the most before Disneyland but I am thinking Snow White and Aurora are now here fav's.

Love, Love, Loved this Cinderella! She was so kind and sweet! Ellie loved her.

Mater. Tate and Ellie loved the "Cars" stuff there. They didn't have a whole lot of things but the parade was really cool!

T-I-G-G-E-R!

Okay, this was pretty much the only ride I REALLY wanted to go on because I remember it from when I was a little girl (Small World). Ellie looks thrilled, right? She did not want to go but ended up loving it! Tate was a really good sport. He went on two rides that I thought he never would do- Grizzly River Rafting (he almost puked after), and he did pirates but didn't love it. I am happy he at least tried it. They kept teasing Jeff that he was going to have to go do the Tower of Terror! Holy smokes.... I think that ride would be pushing my limits!

We went to Newport Beach the last full day we were there. It was cloudy and chilly but the sand was really warm and fun to play in. The water was freezing and crazy people were still swimming in it!!!

Ha,ha,ha,ha.... Ellie was strolling along the beach and this big wave came washing up on the shore! Ellie was running and screaming as fast as her little legs would move. It was so hilarious and I just happened to be trying to take a picture of her!

The kids are really relieved to know that there weren't any sharks that wanted to eat them up.
I could totally be a beach bum! I loved it there!

..... and then we had to come home! We really didn't want to come back to the real world. Tate loved the airplane rides! On the way into Long Beach the airplane did some funky sudden drop. It felt like we were falling out of the sky. I freaked out of course and he LOVED it! When the plane landed there was this HORRIBLY loud noise. It sounded like the whole top of the airplane was going to rip off! I was again freaking out but as soon as it was silent Tate YELLED, "That was awesome!!!!" Everyone around us started laughing their heads off. What a cutie!