Our summer thus far...

This summer has been so busy we haven't had a chance to post anything yet :)

So far we've been to Trafalga, Seven Peaks, Family Reunion, a wedding, the library (many times), and we're now in the middle of swimming lessons.  

Trafalga:

Ethan was excited to drive in a Mario Kart style Go-Kart.

 This was Ethan and Brooklyn's first time miniature golfing.  You can tell we've got to work in Ethan's technique.

 Brooklyn thought this ride was scary, but she kept wanting to go on it over and over. (It goes up about 20 ft, and bounces up and down - Like The Rocket at Lagoon, but on a much smaller scale.)

 Bloomington Lake trip (near Bear Lake):

Family Reunion at Bear River Lodge.
We had a really fun time riding horses, four-wheelers and other ATVs, boating, playing on the beach, and visiting with family from across the country.
Ethan learned to play tether-ball.

Kyle's cousin David almost landed his wake-boarding stunt.

 Kyle's turn.

David again, buried in the sand, keeping an eye on the hungry seagulls.  Ethan wanted to get buried too.

 Kristina's Wedding:

 Jen made Ethan's tie...

 and Brooklyn's dress...

 and the wedding cake.

The bride dances with her daddy.  (In case you were wondering, that is not the groom).

 We made frozen yogurt for family home evening.  The kids watched the thing spin for a while.

Brooklyn has been paying more attention to "Baby Apple Juice."  She's been tucking her in bed with her.

Ethan and Brooklyn are in the same swimming class this year, and are having a blast.

Schools Out!!

Ethan graduated from pre-school in mid-May.  We loved his teacher, Miss Holly, and will miss her.  Here are some pictures from his graduation.

We went to Logan the last two weekends for family gatherings.  We got to see Rob bless his new baby girl, Melanie one weekend, then over Memorial Day weekend we got to join Kyle's sister Kristina as she went through the temple for the first time, in preparation for her marriage in a few weeks.

Kyle couldn't sleep early one morning, so he ventured out into the wetlands of Cache Valley and took some pictures. Here's one.

On Memorial Day, we met up with Kyle's uncle, who has some ATV's, and took the kids for a ride.  We got to see lots of Kyle's extended family that we don't get to see too often. It was almost like a mini family reunion.

Later, the kids went for a swim.  Ethan has gotten so much more comfortable around the water since his swimming lessons last summer.  Last year he would gag if his face got the slightest bit of water on it.  This year, he was brave enough to "jump" off the diving board all by himself without having anyone underneath to catch him. 

 

We even found a set of goggles that Ethan was excited to use.  He was able to hold his breath and put his face into the water.  This may not seem like much, but it is a BIG improvement from last year.

About 10 years ago, Jen became interested in cake decorating and took the classes offered by Wilton. She was happy to find that Wilton recently started teaching a new class called "Advanced Gum-Paste flowers" and decided to take it. She just finished it this week and here are some examples of what she learned to make (all of these flowers and leaves are edible!). Hopefully Brooklyn will ask for a girly, flowery birthday cake for her next birthday to put some these skills to use! (Sadly, she still says she wants a Mario cake like Ethan had for his birthday.)

Mother's Day and More

Jen had a wonderful Mother's Day.  Perhaps the best ever!  The day started with the kids jumping into bed with us, wishing a Happy Mother's Day and showing their love.  We had a homemade version of Kneader's french toast. Yummy!  After breakfast, the kids excitedly bestowed their gifts upon Mom.  They know that Mom likes to read, and likes when they draw things, so they decided to make books for her.  You can see a few of Jen's favorite pages below...
Kyle prepared a delicious dinner of grilled salmon and rice pilaf, followed by a delectable chocolate fondue with plenty of treats to dip.

 Here is the cover page of their books.  Ethan came up with the title of his all by himself: "The Book by Ethan."

 The book was filled with the kids favorite things to do with Mom.  Here we are parachuting to Disneyland. (this is what happens when the kid watches the movie Hook earlier in the day - we're just glad we all had parachutes...)

 At the park...

 And here's Mom and Brooklyn.  This is the best penmanship Brooklyn has ever shown. It's been hard to teach her since she is left-handed.

Kyle, Ethan and Brooklyn went camping a week ago, and Mom stayed home with a cold. It was weird to have the house so quiet, but she had a lovely time reading.  

Kyle found a quiet little campground by a little river.  After getting the tent set up and campfire roaring, we had a yummy dinner of hamburgers and Sun Chips.

Then we got all set up for s'mores.  Unfortunately, Kyle left the graham crackers home, so we just roasted marshmallows and had squares of chocolate. The kids were very good at keeping their marshmallows out of the fire.  Brooklyn was so good, her marshmallow hardly even got warm.

After dessert, we  got out the guitars and sang "You've got a Friend in Me" around the campfire. 

We started getting ready for bed, but when we looked around for a toilet, there was none to be seen. Ethan didn't have any problems with this, but Brooklyn was not excited about doing her business out in the open, and Kyle was at a loss about how to help. We finally ended up driving up the road to a campground with a toilet, and after some fear about falling in (who doesn't worry about falling into a campground toilet), everyone got their business done.
The next morning we got up and Kyle started to prepare breakfast to a chorus of "I'm cold" and "I want to go home."  Once the kids had food in their tummys and the sun came out, everyone started having a fun time playing in the stream and exploring the campground. During our exploring, we found that our campground's toilet was over the river and up the hill.  If only we'd known about it the night before...

After packing up camp, we headed up the road and found a fun trail to hike on.  Ethan was a good hiker, and he wanted to keep going, despite the many rocks he tripped over.  Brooklyn wanted  to go home and play on the computer.  

On our hike, we found this bridge on the trail.  The kids were very careful crawling over it.

Ethan and Brooklyn wanted to take a picture along the trail with the two of them hugging.  Here's how it turned out.

Ethan cried when it was time to come home.  He wanted to stay there for "100,000 days."

April

Jen took a quilting class over the last month. Here's the finished product.

 

Kyle took the kids on a hike up in the foothills a few weeks ago.  We had quite a few "adventures."  First, we saw this bug on the ground.

We also saw animal tracks on the ground.  We decided they came from a cow!  The kids also found lots of shotgun shells, which they were a little wary of at first, but got more comfortable with quickly. 
The next stop on our adventure was this set of big rocks that the kids had a lot of fun climbing on. 

The last stop on our journey was this big earth mover. 

Apple Juice

Brooklyn has never been very creative when it comes to naming her stuffed animals. She'll often come up with names like "Pink Puppy" or "Bunny." Lately, she's become attached to a little baby doll that she pretends is her baby. Tonight, Kyle asked what the baby's name is, expecting a response similar to "baby," or "I don't know." Instead, she surprised us by naming her baby "Apple Juice." So cute!

Last weekend was a very busy Easter weekend for our family. On Saturday, we went to the Deseret Peak Easter Egg Hunt, where the kids were corralled into a fenced-off field and set loose picking up as many eggs as they could. We tried to coach Ethan to pick up the eggs that had the stickers on them so he could win a bike or another large prize. He was so focused on trying to find one of these eggs, that he neglected to pick up very many other eggs. In the future, our coaching will be, "Pick up whatever you want, and have fun."
Brooklyn, on the other hand, had fun picking up whatever she wanted, and she had a lot of fun. She even got one of the eggs with a special sticker on it. When we picked up her prize, it ended up being a basket with more candy. Oh well.
After Deseret Peak, we went up to Brigham City for Kyle's Grandma Smith's Easter party. It was fun to see a lot of family that we don't get to see very often.
Just before the next Easter Egg hunt, Brooklyn got her thumb shut in a door, and was pretty upset. After finding a few eggs, however, she cheered up.

Ethan and Brooklyn loved going on the "4-wheeler."
On Easter Sunday, we re-packaged some of the kids candy and held yet another Easter Egg hunt. Ethan called it a Yoshi-egg hunt, since weren't able to do one at his Mario-themed birthday party due to weather.

We got this castle-tent as an Easter gift for the kids, and they've loved it.