The Party I never Got to!

We've had computer issues, so I haven't posted pictures for a few. Here are several from Reagan's totally awesome swim party. Sorry, there are a ton.
Slip Slidin'


Playin' in the Pools


Sorry Hayden, had to post

The kids loved playing on the blow up slide/play thingy we bought







Even Hayden tried it

Watchin...but not wanting to get a drop on him :)


How do you think this video turned out!

Happy Big 5 Reagan! ( I had this grand idea to make the cake and cupcake toppers, but after one topping took me 10 minutes, I decided this was better!)



Finished off the night with Smores

Simply a Letter

My sweet girl,

At 2:05 a.m. on June 27, 2006 I fell in love. Insanely, impossibly, and joyously in love! There you were, in all your newborn glory. Needing a bath, needing a blanket, needing a mother, and possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Crazy amounts of black hair all over, and this perfect round, angelic face. Beautiful eyebrows accented long, thick eyebrows, and rosey little lips. You were all mine. Placed in my arms, I knew the amounts I would go to, to make sure you were safe, loved, and cared for.
What an amazing, challenging, and memorable 5 years sweetheart. You. You with your HUGE personality. Your loving heart, your expressive deep brown eyes, your sweet voice as you sing, and silly demeanor. I'll not talk about the challenges we face as your parents, as we struggle to insure that we teach you right from wrong. The difficulties of classing personalities, the pushing of buttons and what not. Because, honestly, those are far outweighed by the amounts of laughter, love, and joy you have brought into our lives!
Kids gravitate toward you. You are so loved by your cousins and any little friends you meet. Your "bust out a dance move at any moment" has and will always make me smile. You say the sweetest things at just the right time. You love life and may you always!
Ten years from now you will probably thing I am boring. I am mean, I am old, and you'll want a younger, cooler, prettier mom. You'll think I don't have a clue about you, life, love, or the future. But remember this..I've been there. I've spent my life learning these exact same things. I probably won't be cool, I most likely will be mean, and yes, sweetheart, I WILL be old. There will be younger mom, cooler moms, but no mom that will ever, ever love you like I do!! Because I can live through your eyes again. I can dream, I can wish, I can laugh and dance and sing.
Forever in my heart, My dream for you is to always be who you are. Always be as big as you are, and always, always remember how many people LOVE you!!

Forever & Always,
Mom

Flowers

I can't believe I didn't catch our ca-billions of Irises in bloom last week. But I mentioned before about the "flower" area of our front yard so here's a few pics. It's a great thing we didn't dig anything up. My neighbor told me the people that built the house apparently got all the flower "starts" from her great grandmas house :)

Just a Boy

Lovin' being tossed around!

Father's Day 2011

My posts are a little out of order and a little jumbled, but I have so many pictures and so many thoughts running through my head. And yet, limited time as Kade sleeps and Reagan spends some "quiet time" in her room.
We drove to Kimberly Saturday night to celebrate Father's Day with 2 of the best men we know! I'm lucky. Or maybe fortunate? Possibly blessed? All of those would definately encompass life growing up in our house (well, at least according to me). My dad was in education his entire career. This meant being able to spend holidays, weekends, and summers with his kids. That's not a bad thing if you knew my dad. A very, very wise, concerned, loving father. When we were younger, on Sundays, we all got to spend one on one time with dad. Whether it was 5 minutes..or possibly longer if he really wanted to "pyschologize" :O) Always supportive, the quiet encourager, and always a believer. Sees good in everyone, and always has a listening ear (and sometimes that ear goes a long, long way because he's quite the story teller!). All kidding aside Dad, you know we all love you!
That being said, Mike's dad is a loving, supportive father/grandfather as well. He doesn't say much sometimes, but you always know he loves his kids and adores his grandkids. I think for a long time, Mike probably felt like he was the odd man out, being the only child NOT in construction! But, I guarantee Dick is very proud of Mike as what he has done with his professional and personal life.
That also being said, I will note what an awesome father/husband Mike is. Those that know we dated FOREVER, know that I always, always loved Mike for his ability to shine around kids. Pied Piper he has always been. It was one of the things that first attracted me to him (other than his good looks of course...) I always knew he would be an amazing dad. I don't think anyone who knew him thought otherwise. What I/they probably didn't realize is that he is "the" dad you want. Honestly. He loves our kids insanely so. Not only that but his first priority, honestly, is that his kids (and myself) are happy. That we have what we want/need. He's the dad that gets up in the middle of the night when the kids are sick even though he has a "job" and I, well, sort of don't :) He is up with the kids so I can lay in bed an extra 20 minutes in the morning. His first priority when he gets home is not "him time" or "I need to detox" time. It's grabbing the kids and wrestling, walking with them, playing outside with them, and just loving them. My kids ADORE him. Each day he comes home is like he's been gone for a week. They just beam. That, my friends, is what it's all about. So kuddos to all the amazing men in my life. Love them all!
Daddy

Grandpa Dick

Papa

T-ball 2011

While T-ball ended up being a little less stressful than I originally thought, I don't think I will miss it and definately glad it's over. I, for one, don't know how you all can have multiple kids and have each child in more than one activity. I need simplicity in my life. I need to not spend my life running around in the car, dragging my baby everywhere. Two days a week was definately great. One reason I chose not to do practice (other than it's t-ball and who cares), was that between jobs, home life, and that, it was just enough to be busy but not overwhelmed.
But it's over. End of the year pizza party was loved by all, and I had happy girls, happy parents, and happy coaches!

Preschool Grad

Reagan's preschool has been awesome. They always did really fun things and she loved associating with all the kids. The first picture is funny, because, when the gowns came in they tried them on and took their pictures. Reagan came home and said "I am not wearing that big, red, dress to graduation! It doesn't even fit me. It's huge". LEave it up to her to notice something like that...and so we spent the next few weeks talking about how awesome the gown was! She insisted she didn't need to wear it, but after arriving and seeing all the other kids in theirs, she thought it was pretty cool.


We just LOVE Miss Annette...she is a retired teacher from Sugar City and she drives in to teach these kids every day. She loves Reagan too :)

Gray worked for us at Christmas and his wife Kari is a teacher at the elementary school here. Reagan just LOVES them and they were kind enough to come to the celebration...and dessert at Kiwi Loco :)

A few weeks in Photos

It's insane how fast time is flying by! Here we are June and when I look at our calendar I am overwhelmed with how much is going on and how fast time will go. Before you know it, we will be in August and preparing Reagan for school!
We've had a busy few weeks around town. Reagan started t-ball twice a week (no pics!! I haven't had the time to take the camera and shoot away while trying to yell encouragement at my team, make sure they aren't dancing around or sitting down or trying to hurt themselves while waiting to go to bat!). It's been fun, exhausting, challenging, crazy, and entertaining. We have a pretty decent team considering and all the parents have been awesome! I have 14 girls! Eek!!!! We have a few dominant personality ones, a few that don't mutter a sound, and then our sassy, eye-rolling sweetheart! If anything, it's probably her that drives me the most nuts, because you can't critique or help her without feeling like everyone is staring at your going "Ah, so that's the coaches kid". :O) I'll make sure to get pictures soon! The games go through June, then it's on to swim lessons, some camping, a trip to the beach, and there we are August!
We were able to be in SLC for a few days for a wedding. Reagan had a fabulous time playing with her cousins. We miss them! I also was able to travel to Kimberly and go to my nieces graduation, then followed with Reagan's preschool graduation the next day.
It's starting to get slightly warmer around here (by that I mean at least getting into the 60's!). I can't imagine how cold swimming would be right now. Definately not sunbathing weather for me. Things have finally bloomed at our house and we have a full flower garden in the front yard. Been nice to see what everyone kept telling us was so pretty. We definately have a lot of to-do projects since the house sat empty for a year but just seeing what transpires has been a big thing right now so we can know what to do in the future. My dad was up this week and helped up plant a garden. I can't wait!! Always wanted to have more than just a few plants here and there so this is our time to shine...and let's hope it grows!
Lovin' them some Aunt Heidi


Just look at his face vs. her face! She LOVES water/swimming/bathing...he HATES getting wet ;)





Playtime






Garden time


Flyin' the kite
Kade is very persistent when it comes to many things and one of those is trying to do almost everything by himself. This day, he was trying to get the kite to fly. Nobody was going to help him, and NOBODY was going to take the handle away! Not to mention he LOVES LOVES LOVES Buzz and Woody. We had quite the tantrum when this kite disappeared.



Dakota and Amber on Grad Day

Lemonface

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