4th of July Weekend

We had a great holiday weekend. The highlight was definitely seeing family at Austin's blessing on Sunday. But here are some pictures documenting our exploits from the 4th. Hanging out at the parade. Caitlyn was really excited about her candy and William was refusing to have his picture taken. He said we could take a picture of his back if we wanted to.

Before we headed to Utah and the main event, Brandon wanted to see Shoshone Falls. There was a lot of water going over the falls.

The kids were really excited about the rainbow in the water. In case any of you are wondering, Shoshone Falls is not on the way to Utah from Idaho Falls.

Yeah, three kids with different faces. The "oh so happy to be here", "the cheese", and the "what are they doing".

William finally found his happy face when he started rolling down the hill. He did it over and over again.

Britton thought it was pretty funny to watch her siblings and listen to her Daddy as he tried to get a smile.

Pretty Caitlyn navigating the hill, and her hair turned out really well.

Caitlyn thought she would try rolling also.

I love to use the carrier with Britton because she gets a little heavy on the arms, but there is this little downside. She sees everything you eat and wants to share. She attacked my ice cream bar.

"What are you looking at?" She really enjoyed the ice cream, while I had to remove chocolate from William's ice cream bar. We had a great holiday weekend, Brandon was a little upset about not catching any fireworks, and the baby blessing was great. The kids were very excited to see their cousins and play.

My Flag, My Flag

On Sunday for home evening we talked about the 4th of July, the birth of our country and our flag. I don't know exactly how much the kids absorbed but William was mostly attentive. Afterwards we drove out to Freedom Field. They display 1776 flags along with the Title of Liberty flag that was designed by a local man. The kids really enjoyed this part of family home evening. Here is the field, part of it anyway.

Look at that smile for Mommy!

William and Caitlyn thought it was great to walk, in their case run, through the flags.

Reluctantly coming back, until they saw the camera, then they got excited.

They liked the yellow ribbons on the poles.

Britton liked the flags too.

Walking through more flags.

I love this picture because her eyes look so pretty. I am totally claiming the blue eyes, I have to take what I can get.

She was eating Brandon's arm, I'm not sure about the psycho eyes.

The giant flags in the center of the field.

Looking at the giant flags.

I love this country so much and I am so grateful to those who defend our freedom and especially to those who gave their lives defending something that so many of us take for granted. God bless America.

T-Ball

I apologize ahead of time for all of the pictures. Most of these should have gone up a couple of weeks ago but our computer was having issues. We signed William up for T-ball through the Y and he was so excited. He was even more excited when he found out he was on the red team, that is his absolute favorite color. The first week they were supposed to play they were rained out. We're not talking just a little drizzle, it was a freezing cold down pour. Of course I managed to make it to the school where we were supposed to have the game with my three kids before I found out it was canceled, Caitlyn ran around and then looked at me very miserably and told me she was soaked. So we had high hopes for the next week. Here is William in his red shirt. He was a little sad he couldn't wear his running shorts but it was a little too cold.

William's team. We don't know anyone on his team, so he is having fun getting to know them. I made him put his sweatshirt on because it was raining off and on.

Here is their first practice before the first game.

I think they are getting ready for a little race, I'm not sure because at this point I was chasing Caitlyn at the playground and Brandon was good enough to take his dinner break for the game so he took this picture.

William is dancing in this picture. I never realized how important dancing is during a baseball game but William has done it at every single one.

This is how Britton spent her time during practice and most of the game. She wasn't incredibly impressed.

Caitlyn struggled with the fact that William was out playing and she couldn't go with him. But she had fun on the bench behind the fence.

William at bat, waiting for the ball.

He is very serious about keeping his eye on the ball, until he gets distracted by the coach telling him which way to run after he hits the ball.

This is the next week. Notice the shorts, it was so much warmer at this game.

This hit went foul.

But this was a good one. Then he just has to remember which way to run. William really is enjoying T-ball. We do need to practice some more with him, and he needs to remember not to through balls out on the field while his team in at bat. Caitlyn just thinks that it is great that there are treats afterwards. I will admit that after the first actual game I bought special T-ball treats just for Caitlyn. My reasoning behind this came from the fact that she freaked out when William got some and I had to haul her into the van like that. Should she get a reward for a tantrum, no, but loading up three kids by myself, taking them home, and putting them to bed goes much smoother if they are happy. So we have three more weeks. William is a little sad that he misses "Wipeout" but that is the only downside.

Six Months Old and Trying not to Lose the Binky

Britton had her sixth month check last week. She passed with flying colors. She is still the lightest of the three kids. She is 27 inches, 16 lbs 10 ounces. She is in the 75th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight. It is funny to see the records for the other kids' checkups. Britton and Caitlyn are the same height at six months but Caitlyn weighed a pound more. William was 2 inches taller than Britton is and 2 pounds heavier. So she is healthy just not as chunky. She is very happy, looks a lot like William minus the double chin, and she thinks that her siblings are hilarious. She loves to watch them and giggle. She kind of sits by herself, as long as there isn't anything hard within falling distance. She is starting to really roll to things, until she forgets that she can roll off of her stomach and starts to freak out. She is also starting to take an interest in paper, how it crumples and putting it in her mouth.

I came to a realization when we were in Salt Lake during Brandon's furlough week. William and I were retracing our steps trying to find Britton's binky after she spit it out by one of the fountains on temple square and I decided we needed a binky clip. I don't know why we never got one with William, Caitlyn didn't need one because she went completely thumb by four months, but I decided it was time. So I made one. I can't take full credit, I found some blogs that talked about making one. If you decide to try it, you need about 10 inches of ribbon, snaps, and a suspender clip. No sewing involved and it was done in about five minutes. Now there is less chance of the binky falling on the ground. And it gives Britton something else to play with.

Furlough Week

You have to bear with me, there are a lot of pictures with this post. Brandon had his furlough last week, yeah for unpaid vacation! Because it was time Brandon had to take off we decided he could pick our activities. So I hope you enjoy the tale of our unpaid vacation.

Last summer Brandon was really disappointed that the drive in theaters never opened. He had wanted to take the kids and it was the perfect summer because we had late church so we could have gone on a Saturday and Brandon wouldn't have had to take any time off. So on the top of his list for his week off was the drive in, he was ecstatic that the drive in opened this season. Here we are waiting for the show to begin.

The kids were so excited. I love Caitlyn's face, the excitement. She was so glad we were there, we saw Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. Caitlyn had been asking to go see it, when Brandon's Mom was here we went to the museum for the Titanic exhibit and she was very disappointed when we got there because it wasn't the movie.

Brandon wanted to take the kids on a picnic up at Palisades so here we are at the rest stop before Swan Valley. Don't the kids look so excited?

We had to get a picture when we stopped at the Dam Store. William was a little confused by the name since we couldn't see Palisade Dam from there.

We had our picnic on a dock and the kids thought it was great watching the pelicans float behind us.

Here are the rain clouds rolling in. It sprinkled on us a bit, so we ran for the van. Caitlyn told me that she didn't like rain on her head.

When we were driving back over the dam I saw what I thought was a branch sticking up, then it looked at me. So I got a picture of this eagle(I think).

This is after we stopped for square ice cream, sorry no picture, and we were waiting during construction. Brandon was taking pictures while William, Caitlyn and I played I spy.

Brandon and the kids played outside while I slaved away in the kitchen. Okay, I took some time out for pictures, it was really nice outside.

Caitlyn and William in the sprinkler again. I love William's face. We broke down and got Caitlyn a new swim suit, she was excited, and now she stays covered.

Britton is just so happy. She is all giggles and grins, usually.

When Brandon's mom was up William convinced her to get some puzzles. Two were 100 pieces, William speed, but this one was around 500. William was excited to put the last piece in. It took us awhile to finish but we did.



Thursday we headed down to Utah. Brandon had his 10 year high school reunion on Friday and he thought if we went down a day early we could visit with friends. We ended up staying with Crystal and Zach, Caitlyn thought it was fun that Grandma Luke was there, so we got to see their new little man.

Austin and Britton.

Austin is one week and Britton is six months. Britton looks a lot like William and looks massive next to Austin but I'm sure it won't be long before he has the chubby rolls.

Friday night we went to Brandon's class reunion, again no pictures sorry, and the kids stayed with some of Brandon's old friends. Thank you Robin. It was an adventure, Britton wouldn't calm down and eat for Robin but loved Blake. Either she is used to being around other guys or she is more attached to me than she is to Brandon. On Saturday Brandon wanted to go down to Salt Lake again, spend some more time on Temple Square, and he thought it would be quite the adventure to take the train from Layton and not have to drive.

William doesn't look very excited but he thought it was so cool to ride a train.

Caitlyn was so excited and Britton slept through the whole thing. Partway through Caitlyn wanted to change seats and we ended up by some windows at the front of the train. She thought it was great that she could see into people's backyards as we went along. She would tell me every time she saw a trampoline.

Another passenger on the train was nice enough to take a picture of the entire fam.

William's favorite part of Temple Square was the North Visitor center. In his own words, "When you go around and around and then there is Jesus." We did have to explain to the kids that they couldn't touch the Christus because at the Idaho Falls Temple Visitors center you are allowed to touch the replica that they have.

The kids liked the reflection pool because they could walk all around it. They like to show their balancing skills.
William's balancing skills.

It is amazing to me that she looks happy in this picture because she had just fallen off one of the ledges around the fountain, but I love that you can see the temple spires behind her.

I love that my kids recognize the temple and know what it is. Of course William did describe the Angel Moroni as the guy looking through his telescope, but I don't think I even noticed the guy on top when I was four.

A little frolicking and playing near the temple.

It was a great adventure. Brandon really liked the train and the fact that the ticket transferred to the Trax system so there was minimum walking. We had a great time visiting with friends and family, and we enjoyed our little vacation without using vacation time. I was glad that we had Stake conference on Sunday so church was a little later cause we got to bed late after driving home Saturday. Thank Crystal and Zach for putting up with us and letting us crash at your house. I think we owe you another breakfast.

Recent Pictures

I found some great pictures on our computer that I thought I should share. I know that you are going to love them.

This was a couple of Sundays ago. I was actually napping in between these two, sometimes my girls just won't lay down without me so I have to nap with them, but they put off so much heat that I woke up sticky and had to move. Once I moved they scooted closer together and I just thought it was so cute. Brandon's mom came to visit recently and we went to Reed's dairy. They keep a few animals behind the offices and William loved the pony. Caitlyn liked the ducks but of course we didn't get a picture of that.

Happy Britton with a great mohawk. The two older kids had a ton of cradle cap so I have tried really hard to keep an eye on Britton's scalp. I found some the other day so I soaked her head in baby oil to soften it up before the bath and it really defined her mohawk.

The side view. You can see how shiny the oil made her hair, but it really made it stand up. We are currently recovering from Brandon's furlough week, stay tuned for pictures coming soon.