Branding Cows

Every year our family gets together to help brand the cows before we bring them up to the forest.  The kids and I aren't much help but we like to come along to hang out and watch.  Some day we may be useful. 

My Dad taking a break to say hi to Macy (can also see Aunt Gail, Tannis, Brandon and Uncle Kent)

Little brother Logan and Scott had the job of getting the calves pushed up to the shoot.  Not easy but somebody has to do it.  :0)

My little brother Brandon marking ears and helping run the shoot. (Also my Dad and Uncle Kent)

The kids looking at the calves.

Macy loved hanging out with the cows.  She basically sat there and giggled and mooed and played.  She has cowgirl in her blood.  I am glad she loved it so much.

Mothers Day

Mother's Day this year was really great.  The older my kids are the easier things are and the more I appreciate them.  The kids were so thoughtful this year it was a lot of fun.  Brigham brought this adorable flower home for me from preschool.  It is made from tissue paper and I love it!  He also stopped me a few days before Mother's Day and made me sit down and rest for a few minutes so he could rub my feet for his gift to me.  I was so tickled that he thought of this on his own and actually got it done.  Ashtyn and Haylee made homemade gifts for me and wrapped them up all cute and Scott brought home chocolate covered strawberries from Florences and a box of chocolates.  Yum Yum.  I felt very loved and I am super grateful to be a mother.

Gymnastics

Haylee is our little monkey from a young age she has always tried to do tricks on the monkey bars or swing set and is always rolling around the living room. In August 2010 we enrolled her in gymnastics. She loves it! They recently held their Olympics and it was fun to see all of the things she has learned.

Her floor routine

The vault

Balance Beam

Our little champ

They all got a medal and thought that was pretty great.  We are proud of you Haylee!

Easter 2011

(this years prize table)

Easter is always a big celebration time with our family.  We have a tradition where we have a big Easter egg hunt with several prizes to win.  The Francis family drove from Vegas to spend the week with us and to have this egg hunt.  It was sooo much fun to have them around.  

(Ashtyn and Branson)

All the kids got to hunt for their eggs outside.  We are lucky enough to be outside every few years.  Usually the weather is no good so we end up hiding eggs inside.

(Haylee)

Macy had a lot of fun finding her eggs.  She caught right on and enjoyed walking around looking for them.

Brigham

Our family getting ready to find out what prizes our eggs held.

Part of the family waiting for the reveal to start.  It usually takes us a few hours to get through it all.

Dying eggs with all the cousins.  Macy got into this too.  She thinks eggs are apples for some reason but other than that coloring the eggs went well.

Brigham getting creative.

The kids helping Macy see what was in her basket.  She really likes Curios George these days and watches Curios George 2 at least once a day.

Too much candy!!!

All the fun aside.  I am grateful for the Savior and his sacrifice for us.  We are truly lucky to know what we know and to be blessed with the gospel.

Haylee Gets Baptized

Saturday was a special day for Haylee.  She choose to get baptized.   We had a total of five from our ward that got baptized so there were a lot of neighbors and friends there.  It was a very nice day. 

 

After the baptism all the family came over to our house for some lunch.  Thanks to everyone who came and supported Haylee on her special day.  :)

{Haylee Turns 8}

Miss Haylee is finally 8.  She can hardly wait to grow up and having to wait ten days after Ashtyn's birthday is like torture for her.  We are excited to see her grow even if it has to be after her sis.  Her birthday fell on a Sunday this year (she so didn't think that was fair) so we compromised and celebrated two days in a row.   On Saturday we took her to the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2. then we took her to the dollar store and out to eat.  It was a fun family day.  :)

 (Brigham is there too, he just refused to be photographed)

 Spinning her new hula hoop.

 A TON of new squinkies.  Yes, they are all over my house. 

 She picked her cake and candles, the 8 was just for keepsakes she said.

 Opening gifts on Sunday with Grandparents.

Cool new jacket complete with her name from Grandma and Grandpa.  Happy Birthday Haylee!!!

A few facts about Haylee:

• She is a girly girl!  Loves, makeup, fingernails, nail polish, dresses and dressing up.
• She goes the extra mile to try to look nice.  You alway know when Haylee is pleased with a particular look she has put together. 
• She loves gymnastics and goes to gym each week. 
• She can be feisty and likes to run the show.  She will tell it like it is which I admire about her because I am soooo the opposite of her.  I wish I had a little of that in me sometimes.
• She does really well in school and loves to read.  Dr. Suess books are her favorite as well as Junie B. Jones
• She loves white chocolate
• Favorite color is pink
• Loves to hang out with friends
• Is very loving with little kids and will take them aside and play with them

Double Digits

I still haven't wrapped my head around the fact that Ashtyn is ten!  I don't know how it happened but I guess I get to face reality.  She requested Orange Julius for breakfast so Scott actually got up early and made a few batches for everyone to enjoy.

 We let her open her gifts before school.  She got Pixos, wimpsy pets, an oragomi book and a new set of Scriptures and a body pillow.

 All of the kids are distracted by Curios George on tv.  Ha ha

We also let the kids eat cupcakes for breakfast (gasp!)

 At school we delivered balloons and a treat and then after school we took her to Wingers.

 I had to throw this shot in of Macy for memories sake.  She hasn't been feeling too well and was soooooo grumpy while we were there.  She ran away and was trying to hide from us to show her disgust.

 Grandma and Grandpa Ricks show up at Wingers to give Ashtyn her gifts.  They gave her a summer outfit, new earrings and a card game. 

 After dinner the plan was to go to Mars Needs Moms at the Theatre but out of all the days they had canceled the show for some stupid BYU game (yes, I used stupid and BYU game in the same sentence)  We had to think fast and the next best option was to let the kids do arcade games.  See how thrilled Macy is to be on this ride?  She was terrified!

We got pretty good at Skiball and all the kids were able to buy a few dorky toys to bring home from all the tickets we earned.  There was a lady there that was earning thousands of tickets playing one game.  I have never seen anything like it.  Lets just say she was able to buy the PS3 with all of her points she earned. Too bad she probably spent $600 to get her $300 game.  LOL.  It was a great day.  Happy Birthday Ashtyn.  We love you.

For Memory Sake, here are a few things about Ashtyn D.

• Her favorite food is Popcorn
• Her favorite candy is pixie sticks
• Favorite Movie is Despicable Me
• Her favorite color is blue
• She is in 4th grade
• She loves crafts & sewing
• Still enjoys hanging with the family
• Would rather chill with the adults than play with kids
• She loves to ride horses with Grandpa in the mountains
• She likes to read
• She likes to pester her siblings! (she is fighting me on this one)
• She has a very cute giggle, she is funny, silly and goofy.