As "just" a mom, I have a front row seat to my children's growth and learning, daily little miracles, and the funny things that happen in a marriage. I feel so very blessed to be "just" a mom.
The Fourth of July is one of the kids' favorite holidays each year. Most years, we go out to West Jordan and attend my grandparent's party, but this year some things changed and we decided to celebrate in Vernal with Ben's family.
Our red, white, and blue outfits!
We started the day off with the parade downtown. The girls have always wanted to go to it, but we never could (with being out of town), so they were super excited. It made it even more fun that we could meet cousins there.
The kids loved everything about it, especially the candy being thrown.
We went home and had red, white, and blue pancakes for lunch.
The kids loved it!
Then we went to Ben's parents' house for a water party with cousins.
Little Augustine!
After the water party, we did a little barbecue. Then we headed home and put Oliver to bed (he was exhausted). Then I took the girls over to Vernal Park to watch fireworks. Getting there and parking wasn't too bad, but trying to get out afterwards was a nightmare. We made it and got home late. The girls loved the day, despite the change in our traditions!
And he is adamant that he is a "big boy". He loves hanging out with his sisters, playing tractors and cousins, and playing pickleball or disc golf with Dad. Today I am recording some things about Oliver at this age so we always remember 💗
What is your favorite thing to do?
Buy tractors!
What are you best at?
Digging dirt out of the field.
What is your favorite color?
Tractor colors
What do you love to eat?
Cheese sticks.
Who is your best friend?
Jonathan
What do you love to learn about?
Tractors
What is your favorite book?
Tractor books
What is the best movie or show to watch?
Tractors (on YouTube)
What is your favorite animal?
A deer
What do you love to play with?
Tractors and my garbage truck
What do you want to be when you grow up?
A Dad
What was your favorite thing that you did while you were two?
Rylee turned 6 and had a wonderful birthday celebrating!
Rylee wanted to do a Grinch birthday and watch the cartoon Grinch, so Grinch in August we did 😂
We started the celebrations with the 12 days of Rylee. She loved it, especially day 1 when she got to make a cake herself!
The night before her birthday, I decorated after she was in bed so she'd wake up to this.
After church, I made her donuts and they turned out perfect!
Her Grinch decoration!
Then she decided last minute that she wanted an ice cream, so I put together one with ice cream sandwiches. I loved the cake toppers I got from Pinterest and thought the heart sprinkles added just the right touch!
My mom and I found this dress while thrift shopping and knew instantly we had to get it for Rylee. I saved it for her party and she loved wearing it!
The decorations were simple, but I think they turned out really cute!
Happy birthday Rylee!
Ashtyn recorded it for me 😂
Blowing out her candles!
On Monday, we took her on her birthday date (we always give the kids some books so they have something to open from us, but our bigger gift to them is a one-on-one date each year).
Rylee really wanted Frosty's, so the first stop was Wendy's.
She was originally hoping to get orangsicle flavor, but they had triple berry instead. She says it's her new favorite flavor (I took a bite and I thought it tasted like cereal).
She changed her mind quite a few times about what she wanted to do for her date, but she ended up picking a four wheeler ride out to the creek.
She loves being out in the creek and while she didn't manage to catch any minnows this time, she did get a snail that she brought back home.
It was a wonderful time celebrating Rylee! I am so glad she is my daughter and I can't believe how grown up she is getting!
We had a wonderful July, visiting family and having family visit us! We love the warm weather and all the water fun we get to have and wish that summer would never end!
Ben's cousin came up in July to visit Vernal. It was so fun to see her and the kids had a blast together!
These two cuties!
We were working on painting our table, so the kids had to eat dinner on the floor haha
Fun water party at Grandma Leah's house!
These two were getting up to shenanigans together 😂
Ashtyn caught a big minnow (a "biggow", she called it) in her trap at the creek.
We did a weekish long trip out to see Grandma Dee and Grandpa Luke and do some fun summer activities! It was a blast.
These twins 💗💗
Ashtyn and Parker each made a batch of brownies for the treat and then decorated them.
The kids love the slowmo haha
Parker 😂
I love how Oliver will line up his trucks this way.
The first time Oliver let Grandpa take him on the motorcycle!
(It's loud, so Oliver can have a hard time with it)
Ashtyn's chalk drawings
Oliver gets to pick two books at bedtime and he always picks two that go together in some way.
Oliver loves trailers and tractors.
"Baby Augustine"
Oliver saw a cement mixer across the street, so after watching it for awhile, he came upstairs and made his own "toy" one.
Family pickleball!
Ben entered three different pickleball tournaments in July and got first at two of them!
Ashtyn got to do her Broadway Beginnings class, something she loves. It's a week long camp that's two hours a day and they do a performance for family at the end. She looks forward to it all year.
And Parker and Rylee got to do the Broadway Babies class, similar to the one Ashtyn did but one day for three hours. This was their performance after. They both loved it and want to do theater class this year now.
At the end of July, we ended up getting sick with Covid. Luckily it wasn't as bad for us this time around. Oliver started with throwing up and then got a fever for a few days.
While he was sick, he wanted to sit on my lap and watch garbage trucks all day 😂
Parker and Rylee also spent a day throwing up and Rylee had a fever the next day. Ashtyn and I had very minimal symptoms luckily. Poor Ben was worse. He never threw up, but he spent several days not feeling great. We were all glad when we got over it!
