Princesses

These pictures are kind of random but cute.  This first picture neither of them are even looking at the camera.  The thing to point out in this picture is Emily's skirt.  She LOVES this skirt and wears it very frequently.  Darrell HATES this skirt and won't let her wear it out in public...me on the other hand I think it's just a fun skirt and I remember how much I loved skirts at certain ages so I let her:)

Weekend in Snowflake

We spent another glorious weekend in Snowflake at the beginning of August.  Darrell couldn't come because he was working, but the kids and I went and it was beautiful.  The temperature of course in our neck of the woods were over 100 and miserable, but in Snowflake it was gorgeous.  There was actual rain and coolness in the air come morning and evening.  I can't wait for the wonderful Snowflake summers when we finally relocate in a few years.

On Grandpa and Grandma Brimhall's property there is a "pond" that fills up when there is rain.  It's definitely more a mud hole at this point but the kids love it.  Derek's favorite thing is to find tadpoles.  This one he found was huge and it looks like it is smiling for the camera...weird!!

Say Cheese!

I absolutely LOVE this picture with the blue sky and clouds and Emily just enjoying life in the mud.  She slopped around in that mud for quite awhile before I took this picture and she was filthy.

Oh the life...

You can see in this picture that Derek is wet up to his waist.  He would wade out to the middle of the water looking for tad

Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!

One of my other favorite things about Snowflake is the green green grass in the parks during the summer. We spend a few hours at a park one afternoon.  I relaxed in the shade while the kids played.  Derek found a huge grasshopper, and he along with some of the other kids ran around to catch it then would hold it for awhile before letting it go again to chase it.

I'm pooped!

It's time for a nap.

There were two other activities I enjoyed during this particular trip.  The kids and I went and got ice cream on a rainy afternoon and we enjoyed a wonderful cool afternoon walking on an overcast day and spending time next to the waterfall that is at the entrance to the road leading to the temple.  The kids saw three different rainbows in the sky and it was just fun.

I'm a princess

Phoenix Children's Museum

A couple months back, my sister Stephanie and I went to the Phoenix Children's Museum for a fun filled morning.  I wish this museum had been around when I was a kid, because it is so fun and the kids really enjoy it.  The picture on the left is Sarah standing in the huge exhibit when you first get in the museum.  It is a huge climbing tower made out of all recycled materials.  It is hard for an adult to get around but it is possible.  Sarah is still too scared to go up by herself, but she sure likes me to come with her.

 

Peek-a-Boo!

The above right picture is of Sarah riding on a push bike.  There is a "car wash" the kids can ride all sorts of push bikes and tricycles through.  The pictures with the girls playing peek-a-boo are from a room with lots of items to make forts.

Payton is so cute in this picture:)  

The picture below with all the kids is in the craft room.  They have different crafts to do and they also have a castle the kids can paint.  You can kind of see it in the upper right corner of the picture. The craft for this day was rattle snakes.  They all made unique ones, and of course there were stickers involved which made it even more fun.

In the picture below Emily is in the room meant to be like a store.  There is also a room next to it with a pretend restaurant/kitchen with pizza making things.  This is the kids favorite 2 rooms.  There is tons of plastic food and cardboard boxes to fill up little carts with and then a few check out conveyor belts with cash registers.  There is even a stock room.

Then of course they have a room just for 2 year old kids and younger.  I like this room because it is quiet.  The only problem is I had to split my time between this room and the store/kitchen room to keep an eye on the older kids.  I really need to get GPS put on the kids when I am at this museum, this way I can go where I want and know when they leave the area I told them to stay.  Sarah loved this little room and had a relaxing time in this big green plush chair.

It was a fun day but by the end Stephanie and I were tired.  The kids of course could have stayed forever but tough cookies:)

Glamour Shots

These are some pictures Katie took on our camera after doing Emily's hair...she is beautiful. I love her eyes.

             

Photo Shoot 2011

Every year I try and update the kids pictures on our wall and on the blog. So we did a photo shoot while in Snowflake over 4th of July. I also just took a few of the kids playing. These are a selection of my favorites that didn't make the wall but are still cute.

        

Bird Egg

Derek found this pretty blue egg with speckles outside on the ground. It had a hole in it all ready. So I removed the yolk very carefully and then he was left with a hollow shell. Of course he wanted me to try and find out what kind of bird, but do you know what happens when you type blue speckled bird egg into google images...too many hits:)

So, we are still not sure what kind of bird layed the egg but oh well.

Emily's 4th Birthday

In case you can't tell, Emily wanted a princess cake, and since I'm too cheap to buy a pre-made one, I came up with my own decorations which I thought turned out cute. I just printed up princess pictures, covered with contact paper and taped toothpicks on the back. Emily absolutely loved it!! Of course the cake did not turn out good. I've made plenty of cakes from scratch in the past that turned out good, but I don't know what went wrong with this one, but it was terrible. Oh well...at least the decorations were cute, and that is all that Emily noticed.

The cake was too crumbly and you can tell by Sarah's face. I wish I had a picture of her plate...what a mess!!

The princess theme carried through to the presents. She received a Rapunzel barbie doll, princess bubble bath, and some Disney princess barbie doll dresses. She loved them all. I love her please smile, it makes me happy:)

The Rapunzel doll has "magic" hair that changes color when ice water is applied...that was a hit.