Kayla has no training wheels!

My sweet girl is getting so big.  She has been waiting and waiting to learn how to ride her bike without training wheels, and we finally were able to surprise her with a new bike so she could learn!  She was soooo excited!  We took her to the elementary school that's just a few blocks away and brought dinner with us.  She didn't know what we were doing.  She thought we were just there to eat and play.  Then we told her that we had a surprise and made her cover her eyes.  We made the other kids do the same so that they wouldn't give the surprise away when they saw the bike.  When she opened her eyes, she didn't know what to do!  I swear she would've cried if she knew crying tears of joy was an ok thing to do.  Her reaction pulled at my heartstrings... it was so sweet!  She was more than ready to learn and had no trouble at all.  She caught on so fast and had sooo much fun!  There was a small accident when Jenna got in the way and Kayla couldn't stop fast enough.  Jenna got ran over and Kayla felt so bad, but we assured her that we knew it was just an accident, and although it really scared Jenna, she was fine.  It didn't take too long for everyone to get over that minor little bump in the learning process.  Soon Kayla was back at it again.  She thanked us for days afterward, and I'm pretty sure it will be her favorite thing to do this summer.

Owen could've cared less about a bike.  He was happy just to roll around the training wheels!

Father's Day 2014

Father's Day was interesting this year.  Mitch needed a new grill desperately and he had his eye on one at home depot, so we planned on going to get it when he got home from work (He has a very short day on Sundays).  Knowing he had a new grill and wanting to use it, we thought we'd do some burgers for dinner.  I didn't have any buns so I went to the market to get some and got sidetracked to the gardening dept.  While were there, Jenna dropped this stone thing on Kayla's toe and smashed it so bad that it swelled up and bruised immediately along with blood pooling in her flip flop.  The garden lady was so nice and stopped to help us.  She brought us to a sink so we could clean it up and called a manager to fill out a claim report and they paid for our Tylenol so that I didn't have to wait to go home and give it to her for the pain.  Kayla was screaming because it hurt so bad and there was so much blood, so the lady gave her a lollipop and a balloon to sidetrack her.  I had to get sidetracked by the garden dept. didn't I?  I should've just stuck to getting hamburger buns and been on my way.  It's still swollen and bruised 5 days later, but it doesn't seem to bother her and her toenail is looking so much better that we're not quite sure anymore that she's gonna lose it.  At first we thought for sure that she would.  Thank God that it's not as bad as it seemed to be to begin with!
After all of the shenanigans, we met Mitch at home and then went to get his grill and just enjoyed the day playing.  Kayla was a champ for the rest of the day.  I was really impressed.  Mitch filled up a little pool for the kids and we had some wine-coolers while he set up his new grill.  Besides our little hiccup, it ended up being a good day.

Enjoying his new grill!

Everyone is enjoying their yummy burgers!

Notice Mitch's old beat up grill in the background... such a sad grill.

 

1st Half of June 2014

So far June has been a wonderful month!  I'm loving summer so far!

While we were at Mom's house, Jaxton discovered a pogo stick.  He had so much fun trying to master that thing!  It was funny to watch.

 

 

 

 Mom put Kayla's hair in braids and Kayla loved them!  I had to click a pic.  They were so cute with her outfit!

 

 

 

 Owen's a curious little thing.  Like I said in a prior post, he loves his lawnmower.  While he was mowing the cement, he realized the gas cap came off.  I watched him for the longest time try to figure out what the heck it was and how to put it back on.  He never did figure it out.  That didn't stop him from mowing the cement, though.

 

 

 

 Mom got Jaxton, Jenna, and Kayla butterfly catchers and they absolutely love them!  Jenna is so dang cute with hers.

 Owen is officially a big boy instead of a baby, I guess.  We were at Smith's and this is the first time that the associate gave him a balloon with the rest of the kids.  He used to get passed over because he was too little.  Owen loved his yellow balloon.  They were inseparable for days. 

 

 

 

Owen had his first time-out.  He wasn't happy about it at all!

 

 

 

 We went strawberry picking for the very first time.  In the past we have always gone blackberry picking, but we never can seem to get to the strawberries, so we were really excited to do it this year.

 

 

 

Logan has a summerfest every year where local artists sell their stuff.  I have never heard of it prior to now, but apparently it's something to do every year.  I took the kids to it and it was awesome.  They of course wanted to touch everything so I was constantly telling them not to.  I was happy that we happened to have taken a wrong turn while we were walking and ran into these princesses!  I'm sure the kids felt really included since there ended up being something in it for them.

May 2014

Maybe someday I will catch up on my posts and I won't have to do a general overview of each month... maybe.
So this is all about May...

By watching the other kids, Owen has caught on to the fact that Daddy is FUN!  He realizes that Daddy puts them on his shoulders, and gives piggy back rides, and swings them by their arms, and wrestles with them, and does airplane... all things amazing to a fearless little kid.  I'm actually kinda surprised that Owen jumps on the bandwagon at his tiny little age of 17 months.  He and Kayla are my most fearless ones.

 

 

Jaxton and Kayla either love each other or hate each other these days.  They are either fighting or giggling.  I love when I see them giggling, especially when I'm doing something like making dinner and don't really have the time or energy to break up a fight. 

On this particular day, I was making dinner while they were outside and I heard them giggling.  I went to see what they were doing and they were spinning each other around until they got going so fast they would fall over... and then they would stop to dance with each other.  It was so cute.  They melt my heart sometimes.

 

They are also old enough to play certain board and card games together.  Their latest love is dominoes.  Usually the little kids just get into it and mess up their game, so I have to keep them away.  This time though, everyone was super interested and getting along with each other.  I love seeing them all playing together happily.

 

 

Most of the time, Owen is pretty curious about what everyone else is doing, but every once in a while there is that moment when he's doing something to keep himself occupied and Jenna realizes that what Owen is doing is more interesting than what the big kids are doing... in this case it is being nosy about something outside.  I have no idea what, because there were no people to look at. 



 

 

Jenna is as feisty as ever and getting sooo big!  She tries to keep up with the big kids on a constant basis and usually handles herself pretty well considering how tiny she is compared to them. 

 

 

 She still hates sleeping and we usually always end up disciplining her for getting out of bed to play instead of sleeping... or at the very least just lay there and be quiet.  No no, this girl is like a tornado.  Every once in a while it will get suddenly quiet and we go to check on her and we will find something like this...

She loves Kayla's bike these days and is really really good at it.  She can ride it all the way around the block and still want to keep going.  

Her outfit choices are something to behold and she never fails at cracking me up!

 

 

 

Jaxton is really into taking pictures these days and he's pretty good at it.  I just have to remind him that when he holds it, he has to be careful not to cover the flash or lens with one of his fingers.

 

He took all of these pictures.  I like that he's into creating special moments with the camera.

 

This was cinco de mayo... not a holiday we usually celebrate in our house. It's usually just another ordinary day, but this particular day, Mitch came home early from work and we thought it would be fun to have a margarita together.

I love my sweet boy and was rocking with him.  Jaxton thought it an opportune moment for a picture.  I'm so glad because I love this picture.

 

 

Just me and the girls.  I hope Jaxton keeps up his love of taking pictures.

Jaxton is also really into building these days.  I think he and Mitch are going to work on a couple of projects together this summer, which will be so good for them.  By the looks of it, I'm pretty sure I'll have to make an extra effort to keep Owen out of it.

 

Owen has discovered his shadow this month and loves looking at it.

As usual he LOVES to eat!  No childhood pictures would be complete without the spaghetti face picture.

He also loves this window by our door that I hate.  It is cute to watch him wave goodbye to Daddy as he drives away to work, though.

 

 

He also loves this lawnmower.  He's not strong enough to push it on the grass and can only push it on the cement, so I just watch him all the time going around in circles mowing the cement.

 

 

May is also the month that summertime officially begins!  The weather is so much nicer on a more consistent basis, so there is time spent outside...

 

 

 

 There are walks to Pink's (our local shaved ice shack)...

 

 

 

 There is ball. Owen has discovered how much fun that is... 

And now that there is no school, there are more frequent trips to Grandma's house!!!

 

 

Jenna was loving our little outing with Grandma to Gardner Village.  She got a really yummy cookie and got to walk over a bridge and sit on rock walls. I still love the simplicity of the things she loves.

My Aunt Sally came for a visit with Mom, so we went to spend the weekend in Salt Lake.  Here is Sally hanging out with Owen while Mom is shopping with the kids in one of the shops at Gardner Village.

Kayla's getting pretty brave on these bars.  It won't be long before I see her doing some flips, I have a feeling.

 

 

 Here is Owen getting some bonding time in with his Uncle Mark

Jenna is certainly my bravest one when it comes to park slides.  Jaxton and Kayla never attempted the tall slides at her age.

 

 

 

Sally lives in CA and is so nice to think of the kids when she goes to Disneyland.  She brought the kids back some Disney straws.  They love straws these days and Kayla is super into princesses, so it couldn't have been more perfect.  What I absolutely love about this picture is that Kayla is in her Great Grandma Kath's nightshirt.  It so reminds me of when I was little and my Grandma Kath.  She would've loved to see Kayla in it.  Seeing Kayla in this was so heartwarming to me.

Mom got a popcorn popper and broke it out when the kids and I were there.  They thought it was amazing!

 

 

 

 Mark is super awesome when it comes to music.  This is his new amazing instrument and I love it.  It makes me wish I knew how to play an instrument.  He was very gracious and let me and the kids play with it.

 

 

And that, my friends, is May