4th Festivities

Happy 4th of July!!!

Kyle decided this is his favorite holiday. There are fun things to do, it's sunny and there's yummy food. I agree! We had a long weekend at my parent's house. Kyle had to go to Moses Lake for work so while he went there, my Mom and I went to Tri-Cities on Friday to visit Melanie and the kids, Grandma Great {Arlene}, Grandpa & Grandma Wright and Jeni and her kids. I finally got a pedicure- a certificate from Christmas- and went to Hobby Lobby for my first time. Jeni helped me find some cute decorations and I wished we had a store like that over here. It's amazing... and overwhelming! ha! Then the guys met us in town and we had dinner with them. Then they went to see Transformers 3. Over the weekend we did lots of swimming (forgot to put sunscreen on the kids- not good), riding four-wheelers, motorcycle riding, eating, slip n' sliding, picking cherries and riding tractors.

The grandkids in their patriotic shirts that my Mom bought them.

Lindsey loved swimming.

Eating the yummy lunch- BBQ hotdogs and cheeseburgers.

The ROUGH and MEAN basketball game in the pool. They came out with a few scratches. All the kids eventually got out of the pool too- it was dangerous to be in there during that game.

Facepainting and decorating their bikes for our little rodeo down Boulder Lane. My cousin, Aimee, who is an amazing little artist did the face painting.

They are ready for the parade

L-R: Logan, Paige, Kate, Dallas Carter, Preston, Asher and Aubree

And they're off! They had a few spectators along the way and even threw out some candy to them.

Pinata time!

The crowd gathering for the firework show. Several neighbors also came down to join us. My Dad had Kyle's uncle get us some good fireworks (the good illegal kind).

My friend and neighbor, Darbi, and I. Her and her husband and three kids (Logan, Dallas and Asher) came over for the day. I talk about going home a lot and we have been wanting them to come visit so now they have experienced it. She wants to move over there now. Haha! They all loved it and kept saying how much fun it was there. We took them on a drive to show them around and they even got to see hay getting baled and pick cherries. I'm glad they came. My Dad's two brothers also came over for the 4th. It was a full house.

Ramblin'

Our summer weather so far has been pretty lame. Kate has been begging to get the pool out so out of desperation yesterday, it was definitely not warm enough for swimming, I got the pool out. A million neighbor kids swarmed our yard and we looked like a daycare. Then the ice cream van rolled into our neighborhood and she was overwhelmed by all the kids (it was her first day and she hit the jackpot in our neighborhood). A family in our neighborhood is leaving for over a month to visit family in AZ, CA and Sweden so all the kids got ice cream as a celebration sort of. There are 35 kids or more in our neighborhood out of 35 houses. That's crazy! When we hold BBQ's and S'mores roasts in the playground area there's a few of us parent's that end up feeding all these extra kids because their parent's don't come and join in or bring any food. It's bring your own food. And the kid's don't really ask, they just help themselves. It's rather annoying. Good thing it's cheap hotdogs, but still...it's not a free dinner!

On Sunday, Kyle told Preston it was time to get ready for Church. Preston said, "no, I not go to Church today." Oh okay buddy! We thought they didn't say that until teenage years! Kyle gave a talk in Church on Freedom. He did a great job and shared how he earned the Great American Award in 5th Grade. He had to memorize the Preambe, the Gettysburg Address, all the Presidents and Vice Presidents and all the States and their capitals. Pretty impressive. Kyle has been busy at work lately trying to meet deadlines and getting audited. He has never had to deal with auditing or strict deadlines to this extent before so it's been stressful. He's excited for our mini vacation to Boulder Resort this weekend. :)

I went shopping the other day for the dreaded swimsuit. I ended up finding something and got a great deal with all my coupons. I just hope I like it still when I use it this weekend. My friend watched my kids while I went because how do you shop for swimsuits WITH kids?! I tried shopping for bras once and that was crazy. I only had Kate at the time and she was a toddler. I don't know why I didn't have her strapped in a stroller...live and learn. But she was going underneath the dressing rooms and I couldn't go get her, if you know what I mean, so it was stressful. It was nice to have 2 1/2 hrs of shopping on my own. Then, the next day I watched my friend's kids while she went running errands. It was a great swap. We'll definitely be doing that again.

Preston's Preschool

Preston's preschool teacher, Miss Ellen, is moving to California so she had a going away party on the last day of school. We are sad she is leaving. She was great. Preston always smiled whenever we asked him about "miss Ellen". They watched a slide show that the SLP put together for Miss Ellen. She has been at the school for 3 or more years. Then the kids ate cupcakes and took pictures with her.

This is his class with the teacher aides, Miss Debbie in red and Miss Milissa in pink holding a kid. Preston gets to go to preschool in the summer for a few weeks, but he will have different teachers and it's at a different school. Hopefully, it all goes well!

Hair Attack

Lindsey woke up from her afternoon nap so I went upstairs to get her out of her crib and this is what she looked like...

I couldn't stop laughing! Her hair was hilarious! I don't know what she as doing to get it to look like this, but it was funny!

Lindsey loves Preston and Kate. She especially loves to bug/attack Preston and grab at him. She giggles when she plays with him. It's really cute because Preston lets her grab at him and pull on his ear or hair. Here she is getting him and he's laughing.

She thinks she's pretty funny!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Kyle!

We are grateful for everything you do for us! For playing with us, working hard for us, helping us, loving us and laughing with us. We love you!

Kate made him 2 cards (I guess one wasn't good enough), Preston made him something at preschool and I gave him a card. We got a new BBQ grill last month so we counted that as an early gift. I made sticky chicken, rice and broccoli for dinner. Since we have afternoon Church (and have for 1 1/2 yrs! SOOO ready to switch!) I made the sticky chicken in the morning. Kyle set the time bake on the oven before we left for Church, but no one put the food in the oven! Kyle thought I would, but I thought he did since he was setting the timer. But it was fine since we still had to come home and make the rice. Then we had brownies and ice cream with hot fudge sauce and raspberries.

(all 3 kids looking- miracle!)

And shout out to my awesome Dad! He is THE best dad! So lucky to have him for my Dad. He is such a good example to me. Love him!

Kate the Ballerina

Kate has been taking ballet this school year and at the end of the year they hold a recital. She looked adorable in her sequined tutu for the recital. She was excited she got to wear eyeshadow, blush and lip gloss. I also put some mascara on her eyelashes, but that wasn't such a good idea because she would rub her eyes so by recital time she had it under her eyes. All these pictures (except the one's with me and my Mom in them) are taken at the rehearsal which was the same day as the recital. You couldn't take pictures during the recital, only video, so I was glad to have gotten these.

Kate with my Mom who drove 5 hrs to come watch her recital (which was only like 3 minutes long!). Kate was so happy she came and it meant a lot to Kate. She's still talking about how her grandma and aunt Marci came to watch her. :) Why don't I have a picture of you with her, Marci?! Send me one.

Kate and Alyssa were having so much fun getting all dressed up. They are good friends.

I thought this picture was cute of them from behind. Their teacher, Miss Andrea, is in the background in the cream dress helping them fluff their tutus.

The lady leading them across the stage is the owner of the dance studio. I loved how cute these girls looked! They have been learning and practicing all year so it was fun to see how much technique they have learned.

Good job Kate! You did a great job and we are glad you have so much fun in ballet.