Happenings

BRAYDON

Braydon started 4th grade this year. He is growing up so fast, but I am so proud of the young man he is becoming. I feel badly that I haven't "bragged "more about him on my blog, but I am constantly telling him how much I love him and how proud I am of him. Braydon is the PERFECT 1st child! He is sooo responsible and so smart! he excells in school and is such a book worm. He reads a new chapter book every couple of days. BIG ones! Braydon is very neat and organized. He is so amazing! I see such great leadership abilities in Braydon. This year in school he has his first male teacher and is really liking that. Plus, his teacher teaches guitar, which is one of Braydon's loves. He has been a tutor every year to other kids and I love that he has that opportunity. I just love my boy so much! And I think he is so cute. :) I love to kiss the tip his nose, because it is so cute. And his hazel (brownish/ green) eyes are exclusive to him in our family and are so captivating!! He is so sweet and always tells me he loves me. I love the way he calls me "mama". Southern roots. :)

Braydon recieved his bear award in scouts the other night. He loves scouts. Watch out Weblos!
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SOMMER
Sommer is now in 3rd grade and has many friends. She also does great in school, although she prefers the creative side of school the most, like art and writing stories and plays. She likes playing the piano and dancing. She is so talented and I love to watch her grow. She has the best heart! If Sommer ever does anything wrong, I always know, because she will come to me and tell me. She has a very strong conscience. Such a good girl.

First week of school

Dance started back this week and I think this will be a really fun year as she has moved up to the next level. I'm really excited for Sommer!

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CHASE
Chase is in preschool one more year. Since he just turned 5, I took the advice of MANY friends who said to wait and put him in Kindergarten next year so he is not the youngest in his class. I am teaching preschool (1 week out of every 7) with other neighborhood moms in a joy school we created. I think it will be a lot of fun. And less expensive. Plus, he is taking a Young Child Kindermusik Class this year with Miss Cammy. We are excited for him to learn how to play the glockenspiel and read notes, etc. He is always singing and loves music. I sure love this ball of energy!

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LIVVY
Livvy and I are just hanging out so far. Kindermusik starts this week for us too. I am teaching the two youngest classes this semester, so Livvy will be there for my classes. She loves it and we are looking forward to lots of fun and friends. As of late, she just loves playing in the yard with the toys and flowers. She is talking more and more everyday and even saying sentences like, "Be nice, Chase!", "Want Orange Juice peease", and My favorite is when she sings, "Rock a baby." I need to record it. So cute.

Life is super busy as my children lead me around each day. I am super grateful for this!

Kitchen Remodel (well, sortof)

One of the things I have wanted to do ever since buying our house is to paint the cabinets. I just am not a huge honey-oak fan. It took a while to convince my hubby because he believes it is a mortal sin to paint over hard wood. But, since other home projects were "postponed", I told wade that I had to have something to sink my teeth into.. I needed a project. He finally gave me his blessing so I spent some time this summer updating my kitchen.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

(the actual color is cream. It looks whiter in the pics)

Wade added crown mold to the cabinets.

I also sanded the edges the cabinets after the paint cured to give them an antiqued look. We got new hardware. (The old ones were so ugly!)

Then I painted and Wade hung this beadboard.

I'm so glad Wade is so handy!

There is still more we'd like to do eventually. New floors, appliances, countertops, fixtures, etc, but I am so happy with the result thus far! One thing at a time and it'll get done. I also am planning to brick over the red wall. I love red bricks! So, hopefully this fall it'll happen! The paint was a great starting point b/c it really opened up and brightened the whole room. I walk into it every day and am glad that we did it! And you know what else?

Wade loves it!

A Wild Wyoming Weekend

We decided spur of the moment to go visit our dear friends, Neika and Casey, in July and go camping. How sweet that they jumped at the idea so last minute too! We just realized that the summer was passing too quickly. And we really owed them a visit. Casey and Wade grew up together and then when Sommer was a baby and Braydon was 2, we moved in next door to them. Neika and I instantly hit it off and she was the GREATEST neighbor! We would take turns watching each other's kids and playing at the park. We had the best time just hanging out! Then they moved to Wyoming and even though they visit often, we miss seeing them a lot! So, this trip was so good because we really needed to get all the kids together!

(Casey, Neika, and their girls)

We went camping at Granite Falls. I never knew how beautiful Wyoming was! There were wildflowers everywhere and the kids loved them. (So did I!)

Just sitting by the fire roasting hotdogs and marshmallows was so fun. It was also fun to put the kids to bed and stay up talking with Casey and Neika.

The kids all had a blast on the 4 wheelers. Livvy and Megan even wanted to get in on the fun. Aren't they so cute? They are 6 weeks apart in age and they just stayed together the whole time. It was so fun to see them finally get to play and follow each other around.

This (below) is Mckinley and Sommer.

Braydon and Haley

This picture is so funny because braydon was looking for a place to hold on and I yelled out, "Braydon, Just put your arms around Haley's waist." I got their reaction at the perfect time. Braydon is totally in the "girls are gross" stage. Silly boy!

Braydon. Sweet boy.

Chase and Ashley were so cute the whole time. They just hugged and cuddled and played together so well. Thankfully Chase is still in the "girls are cool" stage. So sweet!

Wade brought me some flowers and Livvy promptly took them. Sometimes she thinks she is Daddy's only girl. That's ok!

Beautiful flowers!

My sweet girls:

I hope these girls can grow up and be as good of friends as Neika and me.

We hiked to this waterfall. So beautiful!

Wade and the kids:

We made a fun little day trip to Jackson Hole, which I had never been to. Fun little town!

Then on the last night, we went swimming at this hot springs pool. Which was definitely needed after a couple of days of dusty, dirty camping.

We are so glad that we made this trip! We had so much fun and Casey and Neika were great hosts! Here are a just a few things (out of many) that I want to thank them for:

1) For bringing fresh ketchup- yes, I am weird about ketchup. I have to have it fresh.

2) For sharing your camping trailer with us!

3) For giving me that extra quilt so I didn't freeze in the tent (like I did the first night!)

4) For eating my burnt dutch oven dinner (apparently, I haven't mastered cooking on a campfire and was quite saddened by this!)

5) For bringing lots of water!!!

6)For having kids all close in age to our kids. We planned that well, huh?

7) For great talks and catching up!

8) For making us laugh and smile a lot!

9) For being spontaneous with us! What a great trip!

10)And most importantly for being such great friends. Let's do it again next year! :)

Summertime Moments II

Would you believe that one of my favorite moments this summer was picking cherries with my children at their grandparents house, which used to be an orchard? Well, it actually was. There were millions to choose from and I think they may be the most beautiful fruit! The kids loved it so much that I offered to send them to the fruit farms to earn us some summer cash. I think they would have! :) Even though this was back in June, I have cherri-ished these pictures of my kids and the week we spent picking, eating, pitting, and bottling cherries.

I love when I see bottled fruits and veggies in someone's cabinet. It just feel so homey. So, I am pretty proud of my little candied jewels that now sit in my pantry. And they make the best pie and cherry limeades. I think this will be a yearly tradition. Any one who wants to join me next year in late June, let me know. There are more than enough cherries to go around!