Rylee's 5th Birthday!

On the 11th of August, Rylee turned 5! I cannot believe how quickly time has gone since she was born. She had a lot of fun celebrating with family and is so excited to be 5!

For her birthday date, she wanted to go to the Rec Center for swimming. Because of the hours, we went the night before and because cousins ended up getting here early, we bent our rule (that the date is for only the birthday child and Mom and Dad) and let Rylee invite Grace to come with her. 

They had a lot of fun swimming! Someone pooped in the kid pool about halfway through, so we spent the rest of the time in the (colder) lap pool, but they still had a blast!

After swimming, we stopped at Bee's for ice cream cones.

During Rylee's date, the rest of the kids were at Grandma Lindi's house. Ashtyn and Elizabeth spent most of the time at the treehouse, Thomas and Parker caught bugs, and the little boys ate raisins.

After the kids were all in bed, I set up Rylee's decorations. 

She wanted a Spider Gwen birthday!

When we measured her the next morning, we saw that she is taller than Parker was when Parker was 6. So far, Rylee is our tallest child.

For her treat, she wanted Angel Food Cake. I always have a lot of fun making this cake.

We also kept our tradition of making donuts, though I'm starting to think that buying donuts might be the way to go on birthdays (it's a lot of work to make the donuts and do all the other birthday stuff).

In the afternoon, we went to the splash park with cousins. The kids had a blast!

Then it was time for family to come over for cake and ice cream!

Rylee loved seeing everyone and opening her gifts. Her Grandma Leah gave her an art kit, which she was so excited for.

Her aunt Melissa gave her a little doll she's been wanting and a Mirabel dress. 

Her Auntie Hannah gave her a Spider Gwen doll, which she couldn't have been more excited about.

We always do the date in place of a big present, but I still like to wrap something for them, so we get them books.

This year, we gave Rylee The Creepy Crayon and The Creepy Carrots (some of her favorite books right now) and she was so excited. We also give them a photo book of art they've made the year previous. This was the first year Rylee was old enough for one and she was super excited for that!

So happy!

She had such a fabulous birthday! She loved having cousins here for it and seeing everyone, and kept saying, "Best day ever!" over and over again. We love our Rylee Sue!

Our Family Memories in July!

 We have been having such a fun summer this year! The kids are at really fun ages, and we have been able to see family a lot, which always makes life better. We started off the month with a trip to West Jordan for my family's fourth of July party and then Ben and I spent the next week shipping his 500 books that he did a Kickstarter for last year. Between and after all of that, we've had a blast doing all the summer things!

The kids had some spending money for Wal Mart. Ashtyn got yarn to crochet with, Parker got a bag of lollipops, and Rylee got a hoola hoop. Somehow, to me, it so perfectly showed their personalities 😂

It has been so fun having Jessica and Donovan back in Vernal! The boys are just getting to the age where they can interact, though so far it's mostly Oliver copying Kolson and getting too close to Kolson, and Kolson being in his own little world 😂 this was cute though, when Oliver was "reading" to Kolson on the stairs.

We also were able to go to the creek by Ben's parents' house a few times in July. Usually we go in June, but this year, there was so much water, we had to wait a little later. We always have fun wading out there.

And Ashtyn catching bugs whereever we go!

Ben and Ashtyn searched for fossils in the rocks while we were at the creek and Ben especially liked this one.

And lake days with cousins! The water in the lakes by Vernal are really high right now and it's been really nice!

Summer days wear out Rylee!

Ashtyn put Oliver in his car seat and I found him with her shoes on too 😂

We also went to a few of the library's summer activities (we missed some while traveling). They always have fun activities each week in the summer and give out prizes to the kids for reading. 

Ben and I got a babysitter for the kids and drove out to Salt Lake for an indie game dev club meetup. He had the game he's been working on and was able to let others play it. It was a fun little business trip!

Summer means bugs in our house.

Ashtyn learning Esperanto 😂

Parker had gotten birthday money and finally decided she wanted to spend it on a mini American Girl Doll. 

Ashtyn's giraffe tutorial 💗

Ashtyn was also playing around with editing videos on my phone.

Oliver copying Dad 💗

When you have sisters, you get to play "mermaid" 😂

Ashtyn started going to an event in Vernal where kids can set up a table and sell crafts. She made magnets and keychains out of Perler Beads. 

Oliver the dinosaur. 

I love watching Ben rough house with our kids 💗

July was also full of zucchini bread and cake as we tried to help Lindi and Danny eat up all their zucchini 😀

Ashtyn slid this under my door while I was showering one day 😂

Ashtyn has been learning to bake. This was her zucchini cake that she did entirely without me, even pulling it out of the oven (she was nervous, but did great). 

Ashtyn also got to do a week-long theater class. She loved it and we got to come see her little performance at the end. 

Oliver is a little monkey!

Ben and I have been doing more workouts while the kids are awake to fit them in and they love doing them with us. Rylee will say things like, "I am getting the body I always wanted!" or "I am getting such strong muscles!"

July was a great month for our family, full of family and fun memories together 💗