Mrs. Reiber's Farm

Kira's kindergarten teacher Mrs. Reiber, invited all her students to see her farm once school was over. It's just a little a piece of property in American Fork. It was really cute! Kira told me today that she really misses school and loved Mrs. Reiber. we were lucky to get her. Miss Brynn had her too a few years ago. Just hope she can hold on a few more years so Alayna can have her.

This goats name is "Stew Pid ". Kira got a big kick out of that and was telling everybody what her teacher's goats name was.

Thanks for having us, it was fun fun!

Super Summer Slide

A little backyard fun with the big blow up water slide. A few neighbors and I thought we would split the cost of a slide so the kids could have something fun to do without dragging everyone to the pool. It turned out to be a big hit. It hasn't been incredibly hot yet, so maybe everyone will enjoy it a little longer once it gets in to the 90's.

It came with this cool squirt gun, which was of course a little problem, because it's always more fun to spray someone than get sprayed!

I had to put this picture in. Little Brielle just about flew off every time she went down. It was cute.

The whole crew minus Tommy and Luke. Luke was probably off spraying my bushes with a squirt gun:) Thanks to Brandalyn and Heather for finding the slide. Many more wet days to come I'm sure.

The Tracy Aviary

How long does it take my kids to get bored once summer vacation hits? Apparently not long at all! The Tuesday after memorial day my two oldest were bickering with each other and moping around like there was nothing to do. "Where are we going today mom?" So to get them engaged and to save my own sanity we went down to Liberty Park to see the birds at Tracy Aviary. It was cheap to get in and the birds really were fun to see. We were really glad that Holly could come along and join us.

This was a bird show they were doing when we arrived.

Alayna loved the birds. I didn't know if she would even see them, or react to them, but she went crazy for them. She was waving and clapping everywhere we went. She would fuss if she wasn't close enough to the fence to see.

Just a short walk from the Aviary was a little splash park. The girls immediately took their shoes off and cooled off. Alayna got in to and loved it, even though the water was not warm!

After we dried off we found another park that the girls played at for another half hour. Liberty park is one of my new favorite places. I would really like to go back!

That was then and this is now...

It's hard to believe that it's almost been a year since these wonderful little babes came into our lives. Time gets away from us. I never did post about these pictures and I thought it would be a fun time to look back and see how much they've all changed since they were born.

Look at these big kids now. I love how as infants all babies look quite similar. Now look at how different and fun they are turning out to be. Anastyn always has a smile and gets around really easy these days. Bryce is a smiler too and likes to be on the move, we should see him walk here real soon. McCoy and Alayna prefer to take things easy. They both haven't decided to venture out and crawl yet, but they have other cute tricks like playing copy cat, giving high fives, waving and clapping hands. They"ll get there:) Some ladies picnicking next to us stopped and asked if our babies were really born about the same time. They thought it was so fun that we all had kids the same age. I guess I'm so used to seeing them all together, I don't always think about how special it really is. Hopefully we'll live around each other long enough that these kids will remember each other some day!

I think we were at that park in Alpine for almost 3 hrs. that day. It was so nice outside. Sometimes I wish we could live outside all summer and eliminate all laundry and house work, cooking etc. Oh well, it was a really great day.

Memorial Ride

This weekend's been a long time in the making for some of us. This past September Seth's dad turned 60 and all the siblings got Don a motorcycle rental from the Lindon Harley place. They had planned a biking trip for some time in the spring with all the brothers and their dad. In the mean time, 3 of the 4 of them have purchased bikes of their own, including Don. Seth says even Jill loves it because it makes them feel young again. Who can blame them! The boys left Fri. morning and went down to South eastern Utah and crossed over into Colorado reaching their destination of Mesa Verde, a indian ruin. They road really long and hard every day. When we would talk to Seth at 8:30 or 9:00 each night he was ready for bed. I had to catch this picture of Seth. He did look pretty amazing in his levis and leather chaps. The levis alone were a big step. He hadn't owned a pair since we were married! Glad it was fun for all and there were safe returns:)

Don forwarded this picture to me and titled it, " Monticello Band 'o Brothers". Apparently they don't get bikes parked in front of the temple very often because they found other people snapping photos of their bikes sitting in front of the temple. Someone commented that "they don't get their type down there much." Don is in the bishopric at home, he was just hiding his identity under a little leather.

While daddy was away, we stayed with Grandma Julie and Grandpa Mike all weekend. It was so nice to get away and just have a change of scenery. My mom even found a babysitter on Saturday and she and I went out shopping. "We hit the jackpot" my mom kept saying, meaning it was quite a good shopping day.

Sunday we went to my Aunt Cathy's house to have dinner and then go see some graves. My cousin Pat and his wife brought their cute baby and somebody put her in Alayna's lap. As you can see she's not thrilled to be tending! The baby's the one who should be scared, Alayna could make a meal out of her.

Monday we went to Willow Creek with my parents and nieces and nephews. It wasn't the warmest Memorial Day though. One of the employees there told us the water was 85 degrees. Didn't feel like that to me, brrrr! The baby sure didn't mind though. She loved the water.

Kira gets a little further away from the steps in the baby pool every year. Swimming for her is a series of small accomplishments. Look mom I'm 5 and I just got brave enough to stick my face in the water. Look mom, now I'm six and I realized that when I stand up in the kiddie pool I won't sink! She really does love to be in the pool, she's just my little ball of anxieties!

Seth showed up Monday about 2:00. We were so glad to see him home and started to make our way up to his parents' house.

We had great fun outside with badmitton, batchi and lots of chatting

This giant ball has always been a hit

The famous rocking horse tree. For some reason this certain scrub oak has always had a little bounce in it. All the kids love it.

What a handsome dude

I couldn't stop snapping pictures of Tru. She's just so dang cute. That really was a great weekend. Lots of fun and family:)

All good things come to an end

Brynn's poetry cafe
She recited "Where the Sidewalk Ends"
by Shel Silverstein
Brynn was fantastic!! She memorized her entire poem in one afternoon. She did not get her memory from me. I was a very proud mom. All of the decorations were made by Brynn and her 4th grade friends.

Kira's water day
Alayna was sick so Allison Gee sent me these fun pics.

It wasn't the warmest day, but I never seen Kira turn down a snow cone!

Every 2 years Cedar Ridge does a dance festival. Every grade has it's own special dance with themed costumes. Kira did the tiki tiki room and Brynn did a Pirates of the Caribbean dance. Lots of work for the teachers! Just walking the kids over to Lone Peak is a major under taking. The dances were really fun though. Brynn was even in a sword fight!

Last day... say goodbye to 4th grade and kindergarten. I'm going to have quiet days next year. What will I do with all the time?

We went to this park in Cedar Hills with a bunch of our neighbors after the long 2 hr. last day. It was really pretty up there, and had a view of the whole valley, including the temple.

Getting so big!

Kira found her friend Emiko at the park. They had fun together. So glad it's summer!!!