Benjamin my little helper

Benjamin's new favorite toy is our vacuum. Every time I pull it out he comes running over to give me a hand. It's so cute, but it does get a little annoying when I'm in a hurry. Last night was one of those nights. I just wanted to get the kitchen done so I could go and pick up some milk we had run out. He just wanted to "help". I know I shouldn't get to annoyed, the kids are only little like this once. I'm really enjoying this stage Benjamin is in right now. He's such a good toddler, and he is getting so cute. Another thing that we discovered is that Benjamin enjoys being the center of attention. When we have the whole family gathered in the family room he enjoys performing for us. He runs around in circles until he gets dizzy, and then walks around crooked. Last night we had a family night lesson on pioneers. He knew how he could make us all laugh. He stole Kate's pioneer bonnet and stuck it on his head. It was too big for him so it covered his eyes. He then started to walk around with it on, bumping into the couches. He was being pretty silly, and loved being the center of attention.

Girls Get Away at Bear Lake

Last weekend I was able to get away for a couple of days with My Mother, and Sister in-laws. It was so much fun! We played games, watched chick flicks, painted toenails, and relaxed at the beach. What a fun weekend. It reminded me of my carefree days of college. We definitely need to do this again girls!
This photo was taken in memory of my first win at nerts. Dan's Mom is the ultimate at nerts, and I was lucky enough to be her partner. It was way more fun to be on the winning side!

The girls started to get a little crazy with the photo's. I have some more silly shots which I'm not going to post.

I was so glad Michelle was able to come up for the weekend. We need to savor the time we have with her since she's moving back to North Carolina in a couple of weeks.

Anoel is taking the above photo so she's not in the picture. It was was fun to layout on the beach and totally relax.

Good time's girls! Can't wait to do it again.

Kate's Doll Night

Last week Kate had a fun doll craft night. Last year for her birthday she got an American girl doll. Ever since she's been dying to make these little crafts that are in a booklet that came with her doll. They were really cute, but I just haven't ever gotten the supplies together to do it. I finally decided it was time to just make them all in one night. We turned it into a mom and daughter craft night while Dan and Kirk had a camping experience in the backyard. Kate's favorite things to do are crafts. She is so creative, and loves to make things. I think she gets that from me. I have to admit I had just as much fun as Kate did. I love dolls, when I was a kid I was really into the American girl books, so of course I was excited when Kate got her doll. We made matching heart necklaces for the doll and for Kate. I found this sheet of heart sticky rhinestones for .50 cents at the craft store. I stuck them to a piece of fun foam. Then I spray painted some paper clips white, and inserted it in to the fun foam. We used blue ribbon to tie it around their necks. So cute!

Another craft was matching hair clips for the girl and doll. I hot glued small pom poms onto hair clips. The Kate got to choose which colors to use.

We also made small foam cookies for the dolls! Benjamin has chewed them up, but it was fun while it lasted!

The doll is all ready to go camping, we made pretend fire's for the doll to roast Marshmallows over. You use cinnimon sticks as the logs, and yellow tissue paper for the fire.

Finally, a doll can't go camping without a sleeping bag and pillow. I made these out of some leftover material that I had on hand. Kate was so excited about it.

Lagoon

The last few days I've been taking it easy trying to get over some tonsillitis. Don't worry, I'm feeling much better now. I was lying low on Sunday and decided to watch my favorite movie Pride and Prejudice. Kate watched some of it with me, and thought it was hilarious. She was telling Kirk today at lunch all about how funny Mrs. Bennet is. She was trying to quote some of the hilarious lines to him. Mrs. Bennet is so animated in the BBC version of the novel that Kate thought she was a puppet. The next thing I know Kirk is begging, and pleading to watch the movie. I just turned it on, and the two of them were so excited. Kirk has a big grinn plastered acrossed his face. I'm not sure if I should be proud of myself (after all how many four year olds are watching a six our BBC mini series), or if this is a sign that I'm seriously way to obsessed about this movie, and book. I think when your four year old boy is begging to watch a Jane Austin film it's a sign that I've maybe taken things a bit to far with my love a 17th century era films. They are watching it right now, I'm curious to see how long he will hang with it. I know Kate loves it, but that's because she likes to watch the actor's dance.

Well that was just an odd side note. I wanted to remember this for when Kirk becomes a teenager. But we really have had a fun month so far. Last week we bounced back to Lagoon. the kids had a ball. They loved the rides. We didn't bother buying Benjamin a pass this time since he hated the rides last time we took him. The only one he tolerated was the cute little boat ride. We bought some tickets for a few dollars, and let him go on that one ride. He had a lot of fun toddeling around while Dan took the two older kids on the rides. Dan and I were able to go back in the evening for a little date night. It was fun to go just the two of us, I felt like I was in high school again. Lagoon really would be my ideal torture. I told Dan you couldn't pay me to do some of the crazy rides there. I can do roller coasters as long as I keep my eyes closed and they don't go upside down. Any ride that goes upside down, or up and down, or spins reallyt fast is a no no for me, which of couse constitutes most of the ride selection at Lagoon. We decided to do rattle snake rapids, the log ride, jet star, the sky ride, white roller coaster, haunted house, and the spider. I was actually really proud of myself. I didn't get sick! Dan did the rocket, wicked, and colossus by himself. Here are some pictures of our fun day at lagoon!

Thanks Mom and Dad for taking us a few weeks ago. We were able to bounce back and have a wonderful day! The kids are already excited to go in August when lifetime will be doing a family day there!

Fourth of July Fun

I know this blog is so late. But better late than never. I just wanted to write about what we did this year for the fourth of July. I started the day out by running the Layton City fun run. It was just a 5k, and I really hadn't ran much since my half so I wasn't expecting a fabulous time. I was actually surprised when I rounded the corner and saw that I was going to finish just under 28 min. I think is was something like 27:55. That's actually a really good time for me. I'm kinda a slow runner. I ran it with Michelle, Robbie, and Haley Marriott (Micheal's fiance). Dan's Mom and Dad came out to watch us finish. They got some photo's but I look awful in them so there's no way I'll be posting them here. Afterwards Dan's parents bought us all breakfast at the park. Then I went home to shower, and get the rest of the gang ready to go see the parade.

We always go to the Layton City Parade. It's a fun tradition. My Grandma Woolsey only lives a few blocks from the parade route, so we always park at her house and walk over to it. The parade was great. Dan's parents found a nice shady spot, and we brought chairs to sit on this year. The kids enjoyed it. Then after the parade was done we headed to the carnaval in Layton park. We emptied our change jar and let the kids each pick out a small toy. Kirk bought a toy gun. We paid with four dollars in change. The poor booth clerk didn't even bother counting it out. Kate got a Chinese fan, and also a Chinese style lip stick holder. I know she's way to young to be needing a lipstick case, believe me it was all her idea. Benjamin got a little bubble toy that makes noise when you shake it. After that we booked it home to quickly make a salad, and head up to Dan's parents for a swim party. We BBQ chicken, and did potluck foods. It was fun to go swimming. Afterwards we headed home to relax. Dan, the kids, and I were all exhausted. We ended up watching the sound of music. After the movie was done we had planned on watching the fire works, but Benjamin and Kirk both had crashed. So Dan just took Kate up to his parents house. You can see some of the fire works from their deck. I love the fourth of July. Going to the parade, and the carnival was always a tradition when I was a kid. I can only remember missing it once, and that was because I was working at Chick-fil-a. I remember blowing all my money at the park carnival, and sitting under my Grandma Woolsey's big walnut tree in her back yard sipping soda pop. It's fun to be able to continue those tradition's with my own children.

My big sis visit's

This past week has been very busy, but very fun too. My sister Kristen came to visit from Colorado Springs. We kept busy with swimming, hot dog roasts, going to Lagoon, going to movies, and having a girls night out. Wednesday night my sister and I were able to escape from the kids for the night, and do some shopping, and a movie. It was so much fun to go shopping without children. Now I can actually remember why I use to enjoy it so much. Usually the extent of my shopping is breezing by the clothing aisle at Target with Benjamin in the cart. It was nice to be able to try on clothes without having the kids crawling underneath the dressing room doors. Then we picked up some peanut M&M's and headed to see Eclipse. I loved it. I'm a total Twilight fan, but I actually liked the movie better than the book. Sorry no pictures, I forgot my camera at home that night.

The next day we had a hot dog roast with the entire family. My parents, my sister Kristen and her kids, and also my sister in-law Shauntel and her children came. Even my Uncle Clyde, Aunt Cathy, and also my cousin Kathrine and her four kids were able to come. They were visiting from Texas, and North Carolina. The kids had fun, they especially loved the smores. It was so much fun to use our new fire pit. I think we'll be having many more hot dog roasts this summer. My Dad with the two Benjamin's. (My sister's baby is the one on the right. She named him Benjamin too)! My niece Caroline roasting some marshmallow's for smore's. Yummy!

Friday we all went to lagoon. Sorry no pictures. The kids had an great time. Every time we drive past the park they ask "when are we going to Lagoon"? They loved the rides, and really enjoyed lagoona beach too. Benjamin was perfect he fell asleep in the stroller for a couple of hours. We plan to bounce back next week so I'll try to get some photo's when we go again.

Saturday was another day full of fun. We went out to my Grandma Black's home in Ogden. She is nintey eight and still living in her home there. She has an amazing back yard. My Uncle Clyde comes in from Texas every year and plants all of the flowers in the picture for her to enjoy. She loves sitting on her swing and looking at her beautiful yard in bloom. It was my Uncle's Birthday so we got together for dinner, and cake and ice cream. I can remember eating on these steps as a kid. It's amazing how life comes full circle.

We also pulled out the classic slip-n slide. The kids loved it! I think my Mom has some photos of me and my cousins sliding down this hill when I was a kid.

We also launched water balloons, used our marshmallow guns my Uncle made, and lit fire crackers. It was a really fun evening. That was my sister's last night visiting. They drove home the next day. I miss Kristen already. She is my best friend. I've looked forward to her coming out for months, and the week just flew by so quickly. I love it when she visits but it's hard to see her leave, because I've just gotten a small taste of all of the fun I'm missing out on since we don't live close to each other. I wish we could have afternoon play dates, and girls nights out more often, but I suppose it makes for the time we can spend together all the more special.
Thanks Sis for a fun week!