Zoo, Zoo,Zoo!

Well, it is only fitting and appropriate that end the summer by blogging one of the very first things we did during the summer. Will I ever get on top of this? Oh Well.. So on the last day of school a whole bunch of us went to the zoo. Us, the Seaquists, the Kennards, The Lymans, The Ashbys and Heather's sister-in-law Noelle and her kids Scout and Maxin all went to the zoo. Oh, and Brandalyn had her sisters kids that day too. I think Brynn counted and we had something like 19 kids in all, that's a lot of heads to count:)

Another group photo. this one caught a few more of the babies though. Alayna wasn't very good at sitting in the stroller, but she kept up with everybody pretty good. Looks like she is resting here on Anastyn, whether she wants her to or not!

Every time Heather comes up we kind of smother her and take away all of her time, but we just love her too much to share her. Our kids kinda take over Livvy schedule too sometimes. Love these shots of Kira and Livvy!

What a poser! Oh my goodness, she really can lay on the cheese.

We stayed a little longer than everyone else and spent some time on the playground.

Caught u Brynn! Isn't she beautiful?

What a great day! I thought I had taken more pictures than that. Maybe I should just step it up and get working on the rest of our summer adventures now!

Tulip Festival 2011

What a lovely day! We try to see the tulips at Thanksgiving Point every year, and I wasn't going to let this year be the exception. We would've loved to have Bradalyn along with us too, but she had to work. So we were lucky to have Taeya Rae and Anastyn with us too. I did feel a little bad that we kept the babies strapped to their strollers the majority of the time, but I figured if we let them roamwe wouldn't be able to real them back in! Kono bought her cute hat at the gift shop before we started out. I thought she looked so cute in her polka dots. Looking at flowers with my mom and grandma is really so special to me. They both seem to know the name of every flower, it's temperament, where it grows best. There really ought to be flowers in heaven because I want to be able to walk through flower gardens with these ladies and name each flower.

Our poor little cuties confined to their strollers! They were so good though. Glad that Brynn was there to push a stroller too, because my mom was pushing a much heavier"stroller".

What cute, happy girls! Tae really is just another sister in this family:)

Kira went around and smelled every tulip that she could get close enough to, even though I kept telling her that they don't have any scent, but that didn't stop her. They really look like they should smell with how pretty they are though.

This cute couple had this dog that Alayna was crazy about. I still was reluctant to take her out of the stroller and the lady was so nice she brought the dog right up to Alayna.

Looking over the waterfall

Still hoping that one has a sweet smell...

Picture perfect posing!! I don't remember telling them to sit that way, they just naturally found a pose. I especially like Tae's sweet cheeks.

love my girls! I'm not sure where layna was though...

Sweet moments with Grandma Julie

Until next year, peace!

Double Dose of Alice

So...both girls were in their very own rendition of "Alice in Wonderland"this year. Kira's with her Up with Kid's group and Brynn's with BAC, her ballet company. Kira's group had a very loose interpretation of the story, where many other characters from other cartoons and stories made appearances so all the kids got a speaking part. Brynn's dance company told the story very traditionally.

Here are the girls with all the grands. My mom brought Brynn and Kira both flowers and harmonicas, since they had loved playing them so much in Hawaii. My parents brought Brynn something too because they were going to be in Hawaii again during brynn's performance. They have such a tough life. Grandma Jill brought Kira the cute smiley face balloon:). We were grateful to our awesome grandparents for sticking out the 2 hour performance! I guess that's what happens when every child on stage gets a speaking part! Then they started handing out awards to each child individually on stage. Once Kira got her "Oscar" I yanked her from stage so we could get hugs from everyone and let our grandparents get home before midnight!

Kira came out in the first scene of the play as "Jessie" from "Toy Story". She worked so hard on her lines and was soooo excited about her costume. I thought she made a cute little cowgirl. She also played a flower in Alice's garden, but I couldn't get a descent picture from stage. She loves the stage, loves to sing, dance and act. I think she'll stick with this for a while. Now if I could just get her to practice her piano!!

Here is Brynn after her ballet "Alice in Wonderland". She is beaming as you can see. I can't think of many things she likes to do more than dancing. She dances everywhere she goes. She is always turning on the music and getting everybody in the house dancing. She also has our little cute neighbor girls taking in house ballet lesson in our basement quite regularly! She is an excellent little teacher. Brynn was a "card" in her ballet. Like, as in a deck of cards. During the scene when the cards painting the roses red. It was a very difficult number that had three classes of girls combined in it. She looked so grown up on stage. My only regret is that we don't have a picture of her in her costume, because we missed picture day. It was her first time wearing a real professional tu tu. Oh well, it won't be the last either!Grandma Jill and Grandpa Don came to support Brynn. Grandpa is of course behind the camera, which we really to fix when we want a group picture, but we were so glad to have them there. Grandpa gave Brynn a pretty necklace with pearls and her birthstone on it. I am so proud of you Brynn. I know that you are going to be amazing because you love dance so much and are never going to ever give this up!!

Mother's Day

Look at the sweet little flowers I have in my garden! I planted those special:). I just feel bad because Brynn was still getting ready and I knew if I did not get a picture snapped of these 2 it was not going happen. Seth always says to get a picture when they get home from church, but we all know they don't come home looking quite the same!

It was fun to see these girls in the skirts we made down at Heather's.

These girls are getting sooo old!! Especially Brynn, and she would really not like me pointing that out. Brynn would stay young forever if she was allowed. She is savoring being a kid and I am so glad. There is all the time in the world for growing up, but only one time for being a kid! On the other hand though, she is the other mother to this little family. She takes care of everyone when I am not available. She does things without being asked and I just appreciate her willingness so much! Since I started listing qualities of my cuties, I may as well finish out. Kira, who is 7 and 1/2 is still our little fire cracker. She is always curling into bed with me in the morning or has me read with her before she falls asleep at night. She has so much energy and I just love watching Kira grow. And then there's our Layna. How fun it has been to watch her get a little bigger every day! She loves, loves to do whatever her sisters are doing. The other day they were gone for most of the day playing. Every once in a while they would come in for a popcicle for a bit and then leave her behind. She would cry when they left! She is so happy and so fun to be with, can't imagine life without her.

After church we went to dinner with my parents at their club. This man in the back ground, I found out, played piano at my wedding reception. I didn't remember, but the girls sure enjoyed him. He could play just about any song you requested. The girls danced for a long, long time!

A little shot with Kira's love: our cat Ellie