I'm glad they come home clean.

Britton and Shayna have so much fun in their sandbox at my Parents house. They are allowed to do anything they want no matter how messy it is.

I appreciate my Mom so much. She always sends them home clean!

Our trip to Moab.

My Mom, Shane, the kids and I all headed down to Moab for the 24th of July. Dad was at the Condo and Ty was working in Prescott so we decided it would be a perfect time to spend a few days with Grandma.

We got to Moab Thursday evening and just relaxed. After dinner we taught the kids how to play clue. It is their new favorite game. We actually played it a ton over the weekend.

Friday we got up and got ready for the day and went to town to do some shopping. I got a couple new summer dresses and some new shoes. Thank you Mom! Then we went out to lunch. The kids couldn't wait to get back to Grandma Donna's so they could start working on their Dinosaur bone dig that Grandma Sharon bought them.

They were messy, but lot's of fun.
This is Shane's new outfit that he got. Isn't he handsome?

We spent the afternoon outside and the evening playing clue. It was a very relaxing day.

Saturday we had some family members call us up to see if we wanted to meet them at the lake. Of Course! It was like 104 degrees so the lake idea was perfect!

We had a little picnic as well.

After lunch my Cousin Jared gave the kids a lesson in canoeing.

And they enjoyed it very, very much. They desperately want their own canoes now.

Shayna went out with my Cousin Shawn for her first time.

It wasn't long before she became a pro.

Here is Shayna and her cousin Brook. I wonder if Shay realized she was doing all of the work. HAHA!

Brook and Bruin are some of the cutest kids I have ever seen. Britton and Shay get along with them so well. I really wish they could get together more often.

My Mom even went for a ride with Connie. She absolutely loved it.

Grandma Donna and Shane enjoyed sitting in the lake watching all of the crazy kids.

I was actually really surprised at how much the kids loved the lake. It's all they wanted to do. They would have spent the whole time there if I would have let them.

When we left the lake the kids decided they wanted to go climb on rocks. I warned them how hot it would be but they just wouldn't listen. So I decided to let them learn for themselves.

Britton was dying, he couldn't get enough water. So, we left....

after 15 minutes.

It was 104 degrees that day. I can't even imagine how hot it was out on those rocks.
Sunday was Pioneer day. We found ourselves back at the lake. Our new favorite spot. Since we didn't have the canoes this time we stopped at the store and bought a floaty. It turned out to be perfect.




By about 2:00 the lake started to get CROWDED. We decided it would be the perfect evening to go out to dinner. We headed over to Grandma's to get ready for the evening an went to my favorite Mexican restaurant that I can never remember the name of. Then it was back to Grandma's for more clue.

Thank you Grandma for letting us invade once again. We had a wonderful time and I can not wait to get down there again....with Tyler of course.

A few months ago my Grandma made my Parents dog a blanket. When we would babysit Doc, Hilda would never let him on it. She loved it so much. So Grandma made Hilda her very own blanket.

Not a very good picture because Hilda started to take off right as I snapped the picture. But she loves it so thank you very much Grandma. Who knew you would ever be making pet blankets.

Best Dad EVER!

I was going through my pictures so I could blog about our recent trip and found this picture. It was taken a few days before Tyler had to leave. I forgot all about it with all the excitement (not so exciting) of Ty's departure.
What an amazing Dad you are. Shay loves and misses you so much.

Congratulations Ty!

Tyler FINALLY has his 1000 hours (plus some!). It took a lot longer then we were expecting. It was frustrating at times, rewarding at others. Tyler has worked so hard the past few years to get to this point and I am so proud of him. He is still in Prescott, Az but he gets to come home August 4th. I am so excited about that, the kids are too. They miss their Dad so bad, it breaks my heart when Shay has tears in her eyes asking if she can call her Daddy.
Who knows where this will take us. Tyler will be sending his resume out soon. We plan on putting his resume everywhere and where ever he is accepted is where we will go. As long as that is what is best for the family. Honestly, I have no idea what is going to happen, I just know it won't happen fast.
Anyway, CoNgRaTuLaTiOnS TyLeR! We are so proud!!

P.S. You are missed TERRIBLY!!

Keeping up

I'm supposed to be keeping up on the blog. Since Tyler is away I told him we would update the blog often to let him know what we have been up to. It's meant to make him feel like he knows what is going on in the kids life so he doesn't feel like he is missing out on too much.
I haven't been doing a very good job. Problem is, we just aren't doing much. My Dad is out of town too so so we have had dinner every night with my Mom. The kids have had lot's of swimming time in her hot tub. I have been cleaning the house, doing the laundry, yard work and getting Britton to his soccer practices. My friends came by to visit me for a little bit on Thursday. It's always nice to see them.
Shayna has been crying for her Dad, she misses him. I miss him too. Shayna's chain came off of her bike. It's the first time I have ever fixed a bike chain. I was a greasy mess, but I did it. I'm remembering to get the mail and take out the garbage.
Tyler does so much around the house, in the yard and with the kids. When it's all me, I realize just how much he is needed.
We miss you Ty and love you very much!!

Seriously?

Yeterday we got a call from Tyler's boss saying that they had to fire an instructor in Prescott Arizona. They want Ty to come replace him. But they want him by tomorrow (Thursday). So Tuesday night he got all packed and today (Wednesday) he is moving to Prescott. We don't know how long he will be there. I have no idea when I will get to see my husband again. This better be worth it!

I miss you already Ty. The kids and I love you very much and we appreciate all of your hard work.

XOXO

Proof.

I just got my Mom's pictures from the 4th of July weekend. I am NEVER in pictures because I am always the one behind the camera. It's nice to have my Mom around because she is always behind the camera too, so when she is there she gets pictures of me with my kids.
I HATE pictures of myself. I can ALWAYS find something wrong with them but I want my kids to look back and know I participated in their lives, so here I am....looking pretty scary. I just have to remember the words my Dad has always told me. "It's not a beauty contest".




Wahoo! I made it to the top!

I wasn't in the parade but Lynn took the kids and I for a ride in this little machine. It was SO.MUCH.FUN. Who knew?

No seat belts made me a little nervous. Notice my attempt at holding Britton in...haha!

And I added this picture just because I love it.


P.S. Notice Tyler's countdown on the upper right side of the blog. YIPPEE!! He is getting so close!

4th of July weekend recap

Tyler had to work over the fourth of July weekend. He flew the Helicopter to Kansas and didn't get back until late Sunday night. The kids and I thought it would be fun to head down to the condo with my parents. On the way down we stopped at the big red barn in Santiquin and got ourselves some ice cream cones. We got to the condo Thursday evening and my Dad had dinner all ready for us, so we ate and then sat around and visited and played outside for a little while.
Friday morning we woke up early and had a very adventurous day.
Playing outside.


Fishing at Puffer Lake. I have never seen the water this high before. It was crazy, we were practically fishing from the road.
Both of the kids caught two fish each.

I love the next two pictures with the kids lounging waiting for the fish to bite.

Shay's first catch

Shay's second catch.

This is the lake spilling over the road. On the way up the mountain I was telling the kids how dangerous the water is right now because it is so swift and cold. They didn't really act to worried about it so I made them walk through the water that was coming over the road at Puffer Lake. It wasn't swift but swift enough that they could see how hard it would be to walk through if it was a little swifter, and it was FREEZING COLD. Their feet were bright red for a little while after that. I think they got the message I was trying to send.

My Dad taught the kids how to clean a fish. If this post wasn't so long already I would post the videos. They are the funniest videos ever. Britton wouldn't even try to clean them. He thought it was way to gross. Shayna did it but didn't like it. I just very proud of her for trying.

When we were done fishing we were all starving and ready for lunch so we headed over to the new lodge to eat. The food was so good. Thanks Dad for treating us to a fantastic meal. I seriously don't think I have ever eaten that much. I had a hamburger and fries and then I got the strawberry shortcake and it was HUGE. I ate it all. All by myself.

Later in the evening we went for a ride. We ended up at three creeks and the water there was insane as well. It was spilling over the road there too. The next two pictures are us driving over the road.

This is lower Three creeks. The water is spilling over the road and ending up in the river below.

We saw a lot of deer at upper Three Creeks.

We then headed on up the mountain where the Boy Scouts camp is. The Boy Scouts built this cabin.

We stopped to let the kids play around. It was such beautiful weather.

Seeing who had the best technique to cross the river.

Shayna posing. I love how she always wants me to take pictures of her.

Dad proving he can be just as cute! (I think this is the best picture I took all weekend)

On our way back down to Three Creeks we saw this Mama and her baby. So cute!!

And we watched this Beaver swim around for a bit.

This is just a picture to show how much water is actually at Three Creeks. If you have never been there you wouldn't know. Just trust me, it is very full.

Day 2

We went for a hike. My Parents wanted to show us where the river begins. It was so cool. The kids couldn't believe what they were seeing.

Doc went on the hike with us. He was more then thrilled when we made it to the snow. He layed down in it to cool off.

Yes, it was a very long hike. This was about half way.

We stopped for a picnic so we could have energy to make it the rest of the way.

My Mom was helping Britton across this snow drift and my Dad had Shayna and the dog. This snow drift was actually pretty steep and quite slippery. We were worried about getting the kids across because if they slipped they would have kept going. It was nothing but gravel and big rocks at the end. It probably would have hurt.

We are almost there. Just a couple more steps....

Wahoo. We made it. It was pretty cool seeing the water come out of the side of the Mountain. The kids thought it was so weird to stand above it.

I just took a couple of pictures on the way back down.

We went back to the condo and rested up a bit and then headed back out in the evening for some more fishing. My Dad wanted to teach the kids how to fly fish. We went back over to Three Creeks because the night before we saw a TON of fish jumping. The kids were actually pretty good at fly fishing. Shayna picked up the rhythm with no problem.

Day 3

My Dad and I woke up bright and early and headed down to Milford to spend the day. Thanks Dad I had a ton of fun. And the best part of it all is that I out did you!! Thank you Mom for keeping the kids.

When Dad and I got back to the condo we had two kids begging us to take them fishing again. This is their most favorite thing to do.

This time we are cast fishing at Three Creeks.

This picture cracks me up. You can see the determination on his face. After I took this picture I started recording him. It is HILARIOUS! He got the fish right up to him and then the fish got away. It was pretty funny.

But he caught another one so it was all ok.

Shayna learned how to bait her own hook.

Day 4 4th of july

My cousin asked if Britton and Shayna wanted to be in the Minersville parade. They were so excited and Britton just knew he was going to be famous when it was all over.

On the way down the Mountain I made my Mom stop so I could get a picture of this.

The river is so full that it is clear up to the road. It's absolutly insane how much water there is.

Then as we were driving past the Minersville resevoir we saw this...

The water can't come through the dam and down the river fast enough so the water is spilling over the edge and down the rocks. It makes for a very pretty waterfall.

Here we are in Minersville all loaded up and ready for the parade to start.

Yeah for the parade. By the time they reached us they were all out of candy. They must have been throwing out buckets full. The parade was only like three minutes long.

Dennis and Charlene were in the parade too. They had Cadence with them.

This is Kinsey. My cousins daughter.

As soon as the parade was over we headed home. The kids hadn't seen Tyler since Wednesday and they were just dying to get home to their Dad. I was kind of missing him too.

When we got home he surprised us with fireworks. So we watched the RSL game and then headed out for fireworks. We had to do them a little early so it was still light outside. Tyler and I had to get up way to early the next morning for work.

We had a wonderful weekend. The weather was amazing and I love relaxing in the mountains. Thank you Mom and Dad for taking care of us all weekend.

Do you want to know what the most amazing thing about this weekend was. I came home to a clean house! Tyler is seriously the BEST! He had the bathrooms cleaned and the floors vaccuumed. Thank you Tyler. You don't know how much I appreciate you.