Father/Sons Backpacking Trip

Drew has wanted to take the boys on a backpacking trip for a long time. He finally got his chance this past weekend. They hiked to White Pine Lake which is about a 4 and 1/2 mile hike. The boys did a great job packing all of their gear, and not complaining once. The scenery is beautiful and everyone can't wait to go again.

I got my ears pierced!!!

Rylie has been wanting to get her ears pierced off and on for a really long time. I just felt she was too young to really comprehend what it was like to get them pierced. Drew and I had decided that she could get her ears pierced whenever she wanted, but it had to be her decision. We thought around 6 or 8 she would be at a good age to get them done. But the last few months she has been obsessed with the idea. Every where we would go she would notice who had their ears pierced and what earrings they were wearing. We took her to Wal-mart a few weeks ago and let her look at the earrings and she had it all picked out for the day she got her ears pierced, which when you asked her she always said she was getting her ears pierced tomorrow. I finally decided that I was probably going to cave into the notion of her getting them done. She was getting ready to have her 3 year old shots and I thought that I could compare the pain of the shots to the pain of ear piercing. So on Friday we went to the Doctor for her check up and we talked all week about how she would get 3 shots in her legs and if she was brave then she could get her ears pierced too. Well she went through the Dr. appointment with flying colors, she did cry a little once the 2nd shot was happening and told us to stop because that hurt but she did awesome for the most part. After calming her down I told her that getting her ears pierced would be painful just like the shots she just had. I asked her, "do you still want to get her ears pierced now?" and her response was "YEAH, duh" So we took her to the mall and we got them done. The way she answered me I can not do justice in writing but it was seriously like duh mom, how can you think otherwise. When we went to the mall she picked out the same earrings that she had picked out at Wal-mart and she got them done. She cried right when the earrings pierced her ears but it lasted no longer than a minute and then she was going through all the earrings showing me what she wanted.

She looks a little sad in these pictures but it is all for show. She couldn't stop talking about what she just did.

Now a few days later she is all show, she wants everyone to know that she has her ears pierced. What a crack up. Now if i could just get her to understand that she has to wait 6 weeks before she can change her earrings. She wakes up every morning and asks me to change her earrings, so we will see if she finally gets it.

Silly Pictures

Drew has been desperately wanting to change some pictures of us together because he hates them, so he had the kids take random pictures of us one night. They turned out okay but it was obviously one of my grubbier days since I am in a hat. One of these days I will be able to post some nice, PROFESSIONAL, pictures of us. Then of course the kids thought it was their turn, some of them atleast.

Nate's Special Day

Saturday we had the awesome opportunity to witness Nate's baptism. He is such a good kid and was so excited for this day, so excited in fact that he was TROUBLE with a capital T. We are glad that we could celebrate this day with him and feel his sweet spirit. This was a mass production kind of baptism but they split it up into 2 different time frames so it wasn't so crowded. We had the 9am time and that was probably a good thing so that Nathan wouldn't have to wait any longer. Derrek had the opportunity to talk on Baptism and did an awesome job. When he was baptized he was the only one so he got to choose who gave the talks, what songs were sang and so forth. When we asked him to give this talk for Nates, he gladly accepted. When the chapel began to fill more and more he soon realized that it was not just our family but the family and friends of 7 other kids there. He got soo nervous but he did a wonderful job. The funny thing is, Drew's name was on the program to do the talk so it was quite the surprise when Derrek went up to do it. After the baptism we went ot a park for a brunch and had a good time there visiting with everyone. We really appreciate all of you that took time out of your Saturday to travel and come support Nate in his day. He was so excited to have all of you there and we loved seeing everyone that came. Congratulations Nathan, we love you. I apologize for the lack of picture taking, I am not good at remembering this and then come to regret it big time.

Riding the new bike

Rylie loves her bike and she has ridden a friends bike before and somewhat had the hang of peddling but man she is flying now. I thought it would take some time, but she got right on and never looked back. She is hesitant but not because she can't do it, but because she is aware that you can fall and she does not want to do that. I am glad we live in a cul de sac so she can roam free with out a ton of worries that cars will come.

The Hogle Zoo

Rylie couldn't wait to go to the zoo and see the Monkeys and the Elephants. We were worried we might not make it up there on her birthday because she had been sick but we made it. Here I tried to get a cute picture of all three of the kids but there was always one of them that would not cooperate.

I was trying to get a picture of just Rylie, but Nate always has to jump right in and strike a pose.

My cool dudes, well Derrek anyways. I am not sure I like this older kid thing.

Rylie wanted to ride an Elephant and she got her wish, thanks to Grandma Corry. The zoo has a new carousal ride that the kids all got to try out.

My two cuties. It is rare that I get Drew in a picture but he was willing this time, so I have to cherish every moment I can get him in view.

Rylie's Birthday

All Rylie could talk about when it came to her birthday is that she wanted a "big Girl" bike and wanted to go to the zoo. I am not sure how happy she would have been if she did not get that "big girl" bike. But she did and she was so excited she had to test drive it around the house. I think by far that was her favorite gift.

This year I was going to make a fun cake for her, but with her getting sick I simply forgot. We were at Sam's and she found the "cake" she must have. So of course she got it, and what do you know, it is Dora. I know the "Dora" phase will end soon, so I am just letting her love it and enjoying everything Dora.

3 YEAR OLD PRINCESS, GOING ON 16

Day #1, Rylie came into our lives and we couldn't have felt more blessed.

We made it through year number 1, and can't believe how fast that went.

Year #2 was even better, she is such a sweet girl, though she loves to get into lotion and my makeup.

And here we are getting the opportunity to celebrate year #3 and she is such a blast. As you can see, she still loves to get in my makeup. Her love is for lip gloss and you are her new best friend if you have some to share. It is crazy to think of life with out Rylie. Happy birthday Rylie--We love you so much.

SWINE FLU?????

Is it the swine flu? We don't know. We took Rylie into the Dr. on Sunday in fear that it just might be the swine flu. She had a cough that quickly accelerated into a horrible cough and she spiked a really high fever. They ended up not checking her because the tests are not really accurate (or so they say) and they sent us home with steroids and Tamaflu. It is now Thursday and she is still hacking up a lung, but I think she is feeling much better. I just had to post this picture because it was so cute, she went mute for awhile when they put this mask on her, I guess she thought she couldn't talk.