Roy Days Parade

Brinley was in the Roy Days parade again this year for dance. My mom's husband Autie is a truck driver and he was able and willing to drive the girls on the back of his flat bed trailor for the parade. Brinley loved riding on the big truck and loved being able to tell people that it was her grandpa driving.

Kenzley's 1st lost tooth

Kenzley lost her first tooth on July 26th while having a sleep over with her sister at Steve's house. I must admit I am not surprised that it happened at his house but I was sad because of course I wanted her to be home. The toothfairy still was able to visit her at his house and she was so excited. She got $2 and felt bad that Brinley and her cousins, Alexis and Ashlynn didn't get any, and so she started to tear her dollars apart so they could all have some money. I am very proud that she wanted to share, unfortunately I need to teach her the right way to share money.

24th of July and Boondocks

This year we decided to go to the 24th of July pioneer parade in Ogden. The older two girls have been in enough parades to understand what they are about. They however did not like the Ogden parade. They were very annoyed there wasn't any candy and it was really long. I don't think we will go again until they are older or they at least let them through things out. I was able to get some very fake smiles out of them when the parade was over on this horse statue. Later that day we went to boondocks with Mike's family. The girls had so much fun and I just love going and doing things with their grandparents. I have some very neat memories of things I did with my grandma while growing up and I hope that the girls will cherish these memories as they get older. We spent most of the day at boondocks and then we decided on our way home to pick up pizza and eat it in the park. Here are some pictures of our day at boondocks.

 

Brinley driving in the go cart by herself

 

 

Daddy and Kenzley in the cop go cart

 

Grandma and Brinley in the go cart

 

Kenzley on the merry go round

 

Kenzley's Barbie Party

This year Kenzley wanted a Barbie themed party. This party was so much fun and I think all the girls loved it. I found the invitation on etsy and it went perfectly with the theme and colors. I also ordered the party favor bags from a shop on etsy called BeachBabyDesign. I was able to get each girl their own Barbie from Walmart for fairly cheap and then I found a lady on etsy (her shop name is GrizzlyCreek) who made plain dresses for the girls to design. Once the girls arrived they chose their Barbie and sat down at the table to start designing their dresses for the fashion show. Once the girls were done with their dresses they visited the make up station and the fingernail painting station so they could be part of the fashion show with their Barbie. Once they were all beautified they put on dress ups and did a fashion show for us, at the end of the cat walk they held the Barbie frame and had their photo taken with their Barbie. Once the fashion show was over we headed outside for the Barbie purse piñata and the girls were given their party favor bags to put their treasures in from the piñata. This was such a fun party and the girls loved dressing up and designing the Barbie's dresses. Happy 5th birthday Kenzley!

Minky photo shoot and Cowabunga Bay

In June Minky Couture held a baby photo shoot in Layton. They wanted any available babies to come to the park for a big photo shoot with all of them and their minkys. I thought this would be fun since Skye got a minky when she was born and it has been her favorite blanket since. We arrived at the Layton park and headed over to register, once we registered we went and had her individual photo taken and then we waited until they were ready to shoot all the babies. While we were waiting Minky did some drawing for different size blankets and such that we could win. Once the photo shoot was over Minky decided to hold a facebook contest and the picture with the most likes, shares, and comments, would win. We were neck and neck for 1st place for quite a while. The baby who won would get a tween size blanket and be used for advertising. I am proud to say that this little princess won the contest and won herself a free blanket. When we went to pick up her blanker we also received a free print of her picture. I had the older two girls with me who of course had to have a new blanket too and so nana spoiled them with a new blanket as well.

That same day our family headed to Cowabunga Bay in Sandy for a day of water fun. We were able to get a good deal on our tickets and decided it would be fun to go. Mike and his dad braved the big slides and convinced Brinley to go along with them. Kenzley was content staying in the kid area. Skyeley had fun splashing and being held. We all had a good time and it was fun to go and do something out of the norm. The kids really loved going down the slides and didn't want to leave when it was time.

Princess Festival 2013

I am so far behind on blogging, but I really would like to get all our memories documented, so I am going to try and post a few a day until I get caught up. This year we had the wonderful opportunity to go to the princess festival down at thanksgiving point. I won tickets in a facebook contest and was able to take the girls down and spend the day with them. When we arrived we were greeted, given a name badge, a crown, and some princess dust was added to our hair. The girls were also given books to start their adventure. We needed to find each princess in the book and have them sign or stamp the book so we could get a special prize at the end. The girls had so much fun and were able to see their favorite princesses and even some new ones. They got to go on adventures from the different princess stories and help solve mysteries or find clues that would help along the way. It was so much fun and they really enjoyed being princesses for the day. At the end when we were done they got a snow cone for all their hard work. It was a great day and I really enjoyed spending time with them and watching the magic come to life. This is what having kids is all about.

Dance and Tumbling 2013

Another dance year has come and gone and Kenzley is probably the most excited about it. Ever since Kenzley started dancing at Studio 48, it has been a fight to get her to go to class. I feel like a lot of this is because her first year in dance was awful. Her teachers weren't helpful and they just put her on a star in the back of the class and let her do whatever she wanted. This year her teachers were ten times better and she loved them, but she didn't like dance. Brinley is advancing in dance and tumbling so well. I am so proud of her progress. She will be advancing in both class in the next season and she seems to love doing both. Brinley has accomplished her back bend walk over and is one of two girls in her tumbling class who can do this. The girls had their dance recital on May 18 and did fantastic. Much to our surprise, on the slideshow before the recital started was one of Kenzley's single dance pictures. Kenzley was beaming after she saw herself on the "movie." May 22 was Brinley's tumbling review and she did awesome. She did her back bend walk over 3 times unassisted and we cheered her on. They both got trophies at the end of the recital and Brinley got one at the end of her tumbling review. This next year Kenzley has decided she wants to do tumbling, but I haven't been too impressed with the program and Studio 48 so we are going to try somewhere new and see if she likes it.

Brinley's Trout Farm Field Trip

On May 6 Brinley had another kindergarten field trip to the trout farm. This field trip she told us about last minute and Mike wasn't able to take off work to come. My boss was nice enough to cover for me at work while I left for a couple of hours and her dad Steve was able to come too. Brinley didn't know I was coming and so she was completely surprised when she saw me there. Last year when we went for her preschool field trip Brinley wasn't as afraid of the fish as she was this year. Each teacher's class took turns at the pond and the dads were lucky enough to stay behind and help each class get the fish off the hooks. After we were done fishing we were able to go eat lunch which was hot dogs, chips, cookies, and milk.

Our first Hogle Zoo trip of the year

We had our first hogle zoo trip this year on May 04. My best friend Kjersty had come down from Vernal and asked me if I wanted to go to the zoo. I of course said yes and I knew the girls would be excited to see "Aunt Kjersty." We had a blast and the day was perfect. It wasn't too hot and it wasn't too crowded. The zoo has changed so much in the last few years and it is amazing all the fun things to see and do now. The animals were much more active and we were able to see the elephant show. I didn't know, but at the zoo the 3 elephants they have are actually 3 generations. We got to see them interact with their trainers, get a bath, dust themselves with dirt again, and learn a little of their history. We also were told that they are going to try and get the mom elephant pregnant again so that the baby elephant has a sibling. My girls loved the show and couldn't stop talking about it. We took a ride on the carousel and each girl got to ride on their own animal. We stayed most of the day and headed home after Mike called and told us he was home from work. We hope to take a few more trips to the zoo this year and hopefully daddy can come.

Happy Birthday Mommy and Daddy

April tends to be a busy month for our family, especially because Mike and my birthdays are six days apart. This year we kept our birthday pretty low key. The weekend of my birthday we went to Mcgrath's and ate dinner, yes, I had to wear the ugly fish hat, but they forgot to give my picture so I don't have proof. The night of my birthday Mike came home from work and made me my favorite dinner. Mike and the girls always do a good job of making me feel important on my birthday and this year wasn't any different. They sang and we ate cake and just spent the rest of the night together as a family. My mother in law was also kind enough to make me a better than anything oreo cake that tasted wonderful. The following weekend was Mike's birthday and I had set out to make it great for him as well. I contacted my friend Heidi who makes wonderful cakes, I sent her a picture of something I had in mind, and she was able to make it happen. Mike loved his cake and was so happy with the outcome, not to mention it tasted delightful. Mike's mom made his birthday dinner and I think he had a wonderful day as well.

 

Brinley's Treehouse Kindergarten Field Trip

On April 3rd Brinley's kindergarten class went on a field trip. It was on a Wednesday which is my day off and so I was able to take Kenzley and go while my mom watch Skye. Mike's work also allows their employees to go on field trip without having to take paid time off and so he was able to go with us as well. When we first arrived we were sent into the auditorium so that we could be divided into groups and parents could be assigned to 3-4 children. Mike and I weren't assigned any kids and so that left us to watch over our two and soak up our time with them. We were placed into a larger group and participated in 3 different activities. Our first activity we went upstairs and made a magic wand. The kids got to choose their color of stick and then they were all given some sort of clay. They were told to color on it and then move the color all throughout the clay by playing with it. Once it had color all through it the parents helped them mold the clay into whatever shape they wanted. Brinley wanted a star and Kenzley wanted a heart, we then placed our wands on the counter and headed back to the auditorium. Once we were there, we were told the kids would be acting out a story of the Goose with a Golden Egg. Each child was carefully chosen for their role in the play. Brinley got to be one of the sisters and she did a great job acting her part. Our last activity was to go listen to different versions of some of our favorite stories, like Cinderella, Princess and the Frog, and Little Red Riding Hood. After we were done with all the activities we were able to have free play. This was the best part of the whole field trip and our girls had a blast, playing with Mike while I snapped some fun pictures.

Easter 2013

This year for Easter we celebrated it for 3 weekends in a row. We started out the weekend of the 23rd dying easter eggs. I had pinned lots of fun ideas on pinterest, but unfortunately didn't execute any of them.

 

 

 Brinley's finished eggs

Kenzley's finished eggs

The following weekend we went to 4 easter egg hunts. We started in Roy at the airforce museum, then we went to Sandridge park, after that we headed to Sam's Club for their Easter scavenager hunt, and then we went to Morgan for their Easter egg hunt.

 At the Air Force Museum

 Malia and Aiden (Tracee's kids) and Kenzley

 Sandridge Park

 Morgan Easter egg hunt

My little diva Brinley

At our first stop we were able to meet up with my friend Tracee and her two little kids. When we went to Sandridge park we met up with Valerie and Steve (my ex-husband and his wife) and from there we continued to the Sam's Club scavenger hunt that Brinley needed to do for school and then we all drove up to Morgan. Each kid got a basket full of candy but Kenzley got one of the bigger baskets with everything princess. She was kind enough to share half of her basket with Brinley. When we were done it was time to head to my best friend's little girls birthday. Kjersty's baby Nikole was turning one and she was having a Dr. Seuss party for her in Salt Lake.

We attempted the Seuss photo op and this is the best we got! The next day was sunday and Steve was nice enough to let Brinley stay Saturday night. The next morning we woke up and hunted around the house for the eggs the bunny hid and then they opened their baskets. I'm sad to admit I didn't get pictures of any of it. Brinley and Kenzley both got a new doll, Brinley got Ariel, and Kenzley got Rapunzel. They also both got a new dress and lots of candy. Skyeley got a new dress and a scented Minnie Mouse stuffed animal. Later on we hid Mike's Easter eggs around the yard and he had to go out and find them. It was a nice day and I'm glad we all got to celebrate it for a little while together. This past weekend on the 6th Weber State had their annual Easter egg dive in the pool. This year there weren't as many people and my kids got tons of eggs which resulted in lots of treats.

They each got a swimming noodle, a chocolate bunny, 3 packages of peeps to share, 12 containers of bubbles, and a gift certificate for free swimming lessons at Weber State, that didn't include the free goodie bag that is included. We had a lot of fun Easter egg hunting and the girls are pros at it now.



NCAA 2013

Since Mike works at Ken Garff he sometimes will get tickets to a special event that sometimes he wouldn't have. Ken Garff has almost every line of car out there and Mike happens to sell parts for 3 of the car lines. Buick, which is part of a GM company sponsors the NCAA and so Buick sent Ken Garff some tickets to the tournament. Mike has been able to attend this tournament one other time and that was after the doctor I was working for offered for us to buy his tickets. Mike was able to go to his first tournament with his dad, this time he took his brother Brian. The managers at Ken Garff all know what a basketball junkie Mike is and they wanted to offer him the tickets, but we were on vacation when the opportunity came up. One of Mike's coworkers spoke up for the tickets and when Mike got back he told Mike that his wife no longer wanted to go and offered one of the tickets to Mike, not any ticket but 12th row tickets. Mike of course said yes and made arrangements to have that Saturday off work. Well about 4 days before the tournament his coworker decided he didn't want to go and so Mike ended up with both tickets. He knew he wouldn't have a hard time finding someone to go with him, but he had a hard time deciding who he wanted to take. He made the decision to take his brother and from what it sounded like, they had a wonderful time. I took the girls to see the Croods that day and then went out to lunch with some of my friends to Olive Garden. That night we came home and dyed Easter eggs since we wouldn't have Brinley the following weekend. Here are some pictures from the tournament.

St. Patrick's Day 2013

This year was our first year really celebrating this holiday. We haven't ever done anything for it, but since the girls have been in school it seemed like it has been made a bigger deal than I thought. We started off our celebration by doing a Gold Dig at the Roy Complex or as the girl's called it, a Leprechaun Dive. There were a lot of kids there and they were divided into age group by wrist band color. Kenzley's group got to go first. Even though there were prizes on the bottom of the pool there were also prizes that floated on top of the pool and Kenzley insisted on keeping her floaties on. She was able to get a big inflatable ball, a bouncy ball, and a water gun. Lucky the leprechaun was there and he handed out chocolate gold coins. You would have thought it was real gold with the way the girls were acting. Brinley's group got to go next and she got a little more. She decided she wanted to take off her floaties and she got a necklace, some gold aka quarters, a couple of balls, and a squirt gun. This was really and fun and they enjoyed doing the dive. We were able to swim for free after the dive was over and we also got free passes to come back another time and go swimming.

The next day was the actual holiday. We were fortunate this year to have a leprechaun visit us. Brinley wasn't with us this year but rumor has it the leprechaun went to her dad's house. That silly leprechaun used our potty and didn't flush, he then left a trail of reeses and rolos all the way to a special prize he left just for Kenzley. He must have worn her shoes because they were by the treats her left for her. Kenzley said her shoes now smell like leprechaun feet and she won't wear them. OOPS! He even stopped in our play room and played barbies. The girls had lots of fun with this holiday this year and I think we will continue to let the leprechaun in if he comes.

 

 

Dr Cam Rocks!

I am a little embarrassed to admit this, but Kenzley had another 3 cavities at her last check up. I don't know if you remember from my post last year but she had 7 cavities last year that she had to have work done on at PCMC. Poor kid just doesn't have good teeth and it doesn't seem to matter how good we brush, the sugar bugs love to live in her teeth. The day after we got home from Vegas, Kenzley had an appointment to see Dr. Cam and he was going to fix her teeth. I was nervous, as any mom would be, especially because last time she was put out completely, and this time we decided to try it in the office. In Dr. Cam's words she was the best patient he has ever had. She just laid there and watched the movie and let Dr. Cam do his thing without any fighting or moving. AMAZING! Now normally I would hand it to her, but I do have to say that our dentist is pretty amazing. Even with all of the work Kenzley has had done on her teeth, she still looks forward to going to the dentist. Dr. Cam is so gentle and very kind. He makes the kids feel at ease and they know he wouldn't ever intentionally hurt them. It helps that Kenzley thinks Dr. Cam is handsome and tells him every time she sees him. I feel very lucky to have such an awesome dentist who isn't just a great dentist but a great friend to my girls. Thanks Dr. Cam for all you and your office staff do!

Vegas 2013

This year we took our annual Las Vegas trip for the college basketball tournament. Mike and his parents always go to the games and the girls and I stay behind and find other things to do. The past couple of years we have done the same things each time and so this year I was on a mission to do something new with the girls. I was very excited that I had found some new things to do which included, the zoo, a mermaid show, a dolphin show, and a children's museum. We of course did our yearly visit to the strip as well, because some things never change. So our first day we started out at the zoo. This wasn't as great as I thought it would be. While the website makes the zoo sound awesome this zoo was ghetto. It sits in a dingy neighborhood and the only way you would know the zoo was there is by the painted cement wall out to the front of the zoo. We were able to see some ostriches, one monkey with a man in his cage, a couple of tressas, lots of pigeons, one lion, one cougar, a cockatoo, and some wallabys, and an otter. That is all the zoo had to offer and I paid as much to get into that zoo and we do for our local zoo.

The next day our outing included going to the mermaid show and the dolphin show. The mermaid show was free and we got watch the stingray feeding prior to the show. Brinley was impressed by the mermaid, however, Kenzley was not. Kenzley thought she would be a real mermaid and was very disappointed when she saw her outfit. The dolphin show was at the mirage and was worth every penny. They did lots of fun tricks and the girls got to pet them. It was kind of a rainy overcast day that day and so not very many people were there, which was nice.

The next day we went to the strip and spent some time in the m&m store and in coke world. The girls were dying to watch the 3D m&m movie. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that day and so all I got was phone pics.

Our last day I had planned on taking the girls to the children's museum and coincidently that day was the re-grand opening. We drove to the museum which is located in the ghetto of Vegas. It had hundreds of homeless people swarming it and needless to say, since I was alone with the girls, I didn't dare get out of the car. So we ended up with option B which was a trampoline park. I know this is something we could have done at home, but they still had fun and enjoyed their time.

Mike and I were able to have a date night one of the nights we were there. My inlaws watched the kids and Mike and I went shopping. Then we went and ate at Bucca Di Beppo, which is awesome and I recommend it to anyone. Then we went to Sam's Town and gambled away $100 and on our way back to the condo we stopped and got a slice of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory for dessert.

 

Valentine's 2013

This year for Valentine's Day we didn't do much because we were leaving for Vegas a couple weeks later and we were going to celebrate it there. I did still manage to make Mike a homemade gift from the girls. I had been looking at pinterest quite a bit for some inspiration and that is where I found my idea.

Mike has a frame at his work that we gave to him with pictures in it from a couple of father's days ago. I try and update the picture of the girls at least once a year. I feel that at least that way he has some cute and fun pictures of the girls on his desk. While I was searching pinterest, I also came across some ideas for homemade Valentine's that we could make for the girls to hand out.

The Sundaes are what the girls gave their teachers

The shovels are what Brinley and Kenzley gave their classmates

The suckers are what Skyeley handed out to her little friends

 

I owe my mom a lot of thanks, because I found these ideas and was only able to help her for one day get what we could put together. She then finished the rest and delivered them to the girls so they could hand them out. We had our normal steak and lobster dinner at my inlaws with Mike's cousin Tyler and his family. It is always so nice to see them and catch up, even if it is only on special occasions. Mike and Kenzley were also able to go to Chick Fil A's daddy/daughter date night. Kenzley is a big daddy's girl and enjoyed this night out with her dad. That morning she made sure I straightened her hair and that she wore a dress so that she looked cute for their date. I picked her up from my mom after work and we met Mike at Chick Fil A. She got to get her picture taken with the princess cow and her dad, eat at her favorite restaurant, and she got a rose with cow on it from her dad. They also had limo rides available, but Mike had a basketball game that night and so they didn't have time to go for a ride. She was so smiley all night and was excited to tell everyone she saw that she went on a date with her dad.