Jo's Piano Recital

We finished up Ashley's visit with Jo's Piano concert. She did so good, played perfectly, even after spending the last week at girls camp and not getting to practice. She played Malaguena and Armies of Helamen. Afterwards Ashley and I went down to stay the night at Aunt Terri's because we had to check Ashley in the BYU at 7:30 in the morning! Check in went great except Ashley lost her key in the first 5 minutes!

Yummy Breakfast

The girls slept out on the tramp and then we made a delicious breakfast of whole wheat waffles and eggs and bacon. The girls loved helping and Apple loved snitching the food!

Rodeo Clowns

The girls ended the night on a good note by clowning around for Dad before we left!

The Rodeo

We asked Ashley if she wanted to go to the movies or the rodeo, and she said "What's rodeo?" So we said we are definitely going to the rodeo. It was a little traumatic after a few injuries from horses falling on cowboys and cowboys getting their legs caught in the bulls ropes. So we sent to big girls to get ice cream at the end ;)

Cousin Ashley comes to visit

Ashley came to visit us last weekend from Hawaii! We picked her up at the airport and then went directly to A&W for lunch and then Sassy and Ashley went and got glitter toes done!

Sunshine and the boy next door

Our neighbors came over last week and Sunshine got to ride on their 5 year old's neat toy!

The big girls go to camp

This is Jo's first year at camp and she was so excited. It was a lot more work getting two girls ready than one! The were so nice and ornery getting up at 6:30 to be to the church and have me take pics of them :) I told them they would never make it as pioneers because they each had about 4 bags for the 3 1/2 days. And Jo forgot her bed pad, but luckily she is young and shouldn't suffer too much! It has been very quiet here without them!

Horse Riding Lessons

Grandpa arranged for Jo and Courtney to have horse riding lessons with a man in our church and they have loved them! Dennis wasn't there on Tuesday when we did lessons so Gramps filled in and did a great job teaching the girls how to lead a horse. They already learned how to put the halter on and are looking forward to the lessons ahead. One of the benefits of living out here in the country that the kids love!

Painting fun and more...

When our friends were here we had a lot of fun, but Mike was also really busy with work so he took the 3 older kids to help him paint a house. Every year his work picks a house to paint for someone in need and the kids had a blast and were a big? help. Because Mike was busy Sloane had to be the man on the grill, even though it was raining and he was a good sport! I bought piggy banks for the little kids and they got to paint them on the night we adults went out to see ATeam and eat at Bluebird and go shopping. These were all the pics I took because we were too busy having fun!

Sunshine's fun with her friend!

A few weeks ago our friends from Boise came up to visit and Sunshine had so much fun having her friend here again! Sassy took these pics of them.

Last weekend Mike went to Texas for his friend Jeff's wedding and we were all alone for 5 days! So what does it take to take the place of Dad when he is gone?
1) One late night movie with Sassy and Uncle Mike- we saw Killers and loved it
2) One Bell Choir concert with Jo, and lunch afterward at Rumbi grill
3) Walk to the park with everyone and trip to get ice cream
4) Night games for the older 2 kids
5) all day play dates for the younger kids at our house with friends
6)Running a candy/snow cone/pop store out of our garage Saturday
7) 4 Redbox movies
8) One dinner at Gma and Gpa's and trip to see the horses
9) One afternoon with Nikki looking at her pics from Ireland
10) One trip to the orthodontist with Courtney and then out to Coldstone and the Dollar Store
Moral of this story: Dad is irreplaceable!

Otter Pop Holders

Summer means lots of Otter Pops at our house, and the only drawbacks are the wrappers left on the lawn and the freezing fingers. I don't know about the wrappers on the lawn, but the freezing finger problem has been solved! I made these with Courtney and they were very easy. I cut them out of fleece to 9" by 2", folded them in half and just sewed them down the sides. You can cut them out with pinking shears like I did to make them cuter if you want, and just throw them in the wash if they get messy. If you don't have a sewing machine, you could use fabric glue instead. So easy and fast, and Courtney passed off a Faith in God requirement just by sewing them.

A deluxe dinner by the girls!

Jo got in trouble for being mean to Courtney the other day and so Mike told her that she had to think of something to do to show her that she loved her, and Jo came up with the idea to make dinner together. She let Courtney choose the menu, which was Creamy Potato Soup with Bread Bowls, salad, and No Bake Cheesecake. The both worked together and the dinner was one of the best we have ever had! Here's to consequences that benefit everyone!

Apple is Strong!

The other night we were watching tv and Sunshine was sitting in the baby doll stroller. She called Apple over and said,"Come push me." I told her that she was too heavy for Apple, but Apple just put her back into it and pushed her all around the house! They both loved it!

I Love Lilacs!

I cut these from the lilac bushes that line our pasture for a bbq we were having with our friends, the Hobson's. They always remind me of my Grandpa Darb's house, he had big lilac bushes in his backyard. I just love the way they smell, and it is just such a treat to be able to have fresh lilacs in the house. Plus, I can just stick them in an antique mason jar and they look like a million bucks!

Visiting the Speths'

After the cemetaries we went to visit Amy and Addie and Uncle O'dell and Aunt Jalaine. We love getting to go see them and especially since Amy and Addie are going to be gone to India all summer we wanted to see them one more time before they left. Addie is such a cutie and she and Apple are starting to play together now that they are older. We are going to miss them!

A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend

On sunday we went to visit my great grandparents grave and my aunts grave. We got to see some of our extended family there and the kids actually really enjoyed getting to see the cemetaries and where are family is buried. I took lilacs from my yard for Aunt Janine's grave and Apple almost destroyed them! But the kids distracted her in the nick of time :)