Another Year Has Passed

My little baby boy is turning two today! It's amazing to me, and sad, how fast the time has gone and how much he has grown.

Here's my little man at three weeks old...

At one year old...

And here he is today...

He is the best kid! I really can't get enough of him. He is so easy going, happy, and loving. He loves cars, baseball, playing outside, doing whatever his big sisters are doing and he loves the song Take Me Out To The Ballgame! That song is our current lullaby for him at night time. He loves to eat popsicles, hot dogs, cucumbers with ranch, and strawberries. He is talking so much and can pretty much say anything now if he tries. He gives really big hugs and is super cuddly. His nursery teacher always tell us how cute he is and that he runs up to them and gives them big hugs all the time. He is all boy and loves sports, getting dirty, and causing trouble.

We love you Bennett and hope you have a wonderful birthday. We can't imagine life without you!

Lazy Days

I have so many pictures from this summer I thought that I better get them posted before I forget about them! Here's what has been going on...

We have a really pretty rose bush that the kids love to smell. I think this picture of Chloe is so cute!

The kids have been enjoying Mabel. She's starting to ease up on the nipping and she loves to play with them. Benny loves to lay on the ground and let Mabel wrestle with him.
Benny is our boy with many outfits! He is exploring all of his options. I'm not sure this is the best look for him! Our neighbor got a kick out of this ensemble.

We have been trying to hit the beach at least once a week. The kids can't get enough of the water and sand. They are so content just playing for hours. I love it too because they are happy and I don't have to hear them whining or bickering!

Chloe decided she wanted her training wheels off. I was nervous, but Bryan helped her and she had it figured out in about two minutes! She is a pro and has gone on lots of bike rides around the neighborhood already.

Bryan has been bonding with the dog too. I think he likes her more than he admits!

Niah lost her 3rd tooth! She tied it to some dental floss, tied the other end to the door and shut the door! It came right out and went down the A/C vent. It was traumatic for a moment, but after pulling out a few popcorn kernels and some other unidentifiable objects I was able to find it. Whew. I was almost in big trouble for choosing the door right by the vent!

So, there's what we've been up to. We are looking forward to celebrating Bennett's second birthday this week. It's hard to believe he is already two. My heart hurts thinking about how fast he is growing up. PLEASE STOP Benny!!

Independence Day

Our 4th of July was really fun this year! We kicked off the weekend by going to a rodeo at the county fair. The kids had a blast and got all dolled up in their cowboy gear. The kids LOVED the rodeo. Chloe was especially fascinated, especially with the girls doing the barrel racing. We might have a future cowgirl on our hands!

Niah and Chloe rode a couple of rides. Bennett was too short to ride, he didn't seem to mind though. He was just happy watching the girls.

Bryan had the 4th off! We took the kids mini golfing and Bryan and I braved the batting cages!

That night we had some friends over from the ward to do fireworks with us. If you ask the kids what they liked more, snowcones or fireworks, I think it would be a toss up!

I think this holiday will be one that we will remember. I just finished a book called Unbroken. It is a story set in World War II and it really made me realize how much people have suffered for our country and freedoms. I was especially grateful for those who have fought for and defended the country we live in! We are so blessed to be Americans!

(Does anyone know how to solve the space problem that my blog is giving me? I don't know why my pictures end up being so spread apart.)

Summer and Trouble

Our summer is already moving quickly! Niah finished softball last night and had a great time playing. She learned a lot and made lots of new friends. She told me today that she already misses her team and coaches and can't wait to play again next year!

Niah finished Kindergarten with flying colors! Her teacher couldn't stop telling me how much she enjoyed Niah in her class and how much she was going to miss her. Niah was loved by her whole class. Every time I went in to help I giggled at how much her classmates loved her. It's not surprising though. Niah has such a sweet personality and is kind to everyone.





It's hard for me to believe that I will have a 1st grader. I remember being in 1st grade so well. It seems like it wasn't that long ago so I am in shock that I have a daughter that old!

We have also been dealing with some trouble makers lately! Mabel is in her terrible two phase right now and is testing us. While out in the backyard, Bryan discovered that she had chewed almost completely through the air conditioning cord. We had to call a fix-it man in our ward to come and take care of that for us so our A/C would work. Every backyard toy of the kids' has been chewed on at least a little bit. They don't seem to be too attached to anything so it hasn't been that catastrophic, yet! We had Mabel spayed on Monday so now we have to keep her mellow and dry so her scar can heal. That's a trick, especially with kids and rain! We love Mabel anyway. She really is a good dog. She is weighing in at 34.6 lbs. and is six months old now.
Her hair is slowly growing back in from her episode last month!

We have another child that's going through a terrible two phase too! He has been a perfect child from the day he was born, but now his mischievious side is coming out. He has learned to hit, say 'no', spit on his sisters and mother, and if he doesn't like his food he throws it all over the place.

That stuff on the floor is a PB&J sandwich torn into little pieces and chucked all over! I don't think he got any in his mouth.

The other day I came downstairs after fixing my hair and this is what I saw. Benny had on one of the girls tutus and a headband. What can you expect when he has two older sisters who love to dress up?!! This will be great for the yearbook when he graduates highschool. :)

Even though Bennett has had his moments recently, he is still the happiest kid. He just goes with the flow. He loves to give hugs and kisses. He is OBSESSED with baseball. He loves watching Niah's games and watching it on TV with Daddy. He is really into his hat right now and usually has it on his head. Benny is talking up a storm these days and can even sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." He loves that song so much I'm thinking about putting it up on his wall with vinyl as part of his baseball room. We love our little man. I can't believe he will be two in a few weeks.

I love summer time. I love watching the kids try to catch lightning bugs. I love that we can stay up and play outside without having to worry about getting the kids in bed. I especially love that my kids have been sleeping until 8:30 or 9:00 every morning! Sometimes I sleep in with them or sometimes I get up early and exercise or get a few things done around the house. I had a goal of going to the beach at least once a week during the summer, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. We have had so much rain. I usually like the rain in summer, but it's kind of getting old now!

I am really loving my kids and just trying to enjoy them. They are in the best phases of life right now, in my opinion. I admit somedays they drive me crazy (I won't go into detail about the meltdown I had this morning), but I know that I will miss this when they get older and they don't think I'm cool anymore. I love being a mom and feel so blessed to have that privilege!

A Camping We Will Go

Bryan has been on vacation this past week and it has been so great! We decided to take a little camping trip (actually, with three kids it's never little!) since we had a couple of free days. After packing everything up and getting to the camp I decided that a Surburban is in my future for sure! Our little van was packed so tight. As Bryan was getting the kayak tied down he said, "It's our own Griswold family vacation!" It's a good thing we decided not to take the dog. I don't think we could have stuffed her in!

The kids were in heaven. They had so much fun. Bennett pushed this thing around everywhere and loved being outdoors.

While we were packing to go Chloe tried putting her 'fancy' clothes in her bag. I explained to her that you can't wear fancy clothes when camping because they will get dirty and ruined. It was a hard concept for her to grasp! She loves to be dressed up and looking pretty. Once we got there she got the hang of it and didn't mind being dirty- as long as her shoes were clean and dry. As soon as we got home she went up and put on her skirt and a 'fancy' shirt!

Here's our camp. It was very green and pretty, but not very secluded. I guess we are used to camping in Utah where you have lots of space and mountains to hide away in! Being 50 yards away from your neighbor is not really Bryan's favorite way to camp.

The kids loved cooking our food in the fire. We made tinfoil dinners, s'mores, and the kids new favorite fire treat- banana boats!

Their was a lake close by so we decided that we needed to go take an evening swim to clean up and get all that sticky humidity off. After a night and morning of rain the heat was very welcomed!

Benny is saying cheese for the camera while testing out Daddy's boat. We rented a canoe and Bryan took his kayak out on the lake. It was a beautiful sunny day. Niah was a champion paddler and really helped me in the canoe. I was highly impressed!

Bryan built us some great fires. I think he could have done without the wood that caused so much smoke though!

I had forgotten how much fun camping is. It's a lot of work with kids, but worth the effort. We had some great family time and it was nice to escape from life for a couple of days and just enjoy being our little family. It's always a good reminder to keep life simple and to enjoy the small moments with your kids. Sometimes I forget that.

I hope we can make this a family tradition because I think the kids now have a love for camping!

Pick Me!

My dad called today and said he has an extra Ipad that he might give away. He said that he was thinking about having everyone (I'm assuming my siblings and me) write an essay about why they deserve/want the Ipad. He may have been partly joking, but I decided to go ahead and enter the contest! So, here you go Dad. Here's my entry... :)

Top ten reasons Natalie needs and Ipad:

#10: Maybe I could get in touch with the world and update my 6 year old ipod with music of my own and not all of your songs that were on your computer six years ago!

#9: I love taking pictures, so how great would it be to be able to take the picture and then edit it all in one place? I think that would be really great.

#8: I am always in need of the latest weather report- we will be going to the park and the beach a lot. It would be great to be able to check the weather before we go, especially when we stop on the way home from errands. I also like to get the latest news and see what's going on in the world. I could read the news while the kids play on the playground and after I push them on the swings, of course!

#7: You are always asking me to set up Skype but our computer is too slow. If we had an Ipad we could chat all the time. You'd probably get sick of us from chatting so much!

#6: When I am out running errands there is always something I forgot to look up before I left. For example; directions or addresses to where I'm going, phone numbers, movie times, antique shops, store ads etc. How fabulous would it be to be able to do it from the car?!

#5: Browsing the internet or writing a blog post while the kids are playing in the pool outside would be awesome! There's so much to look at- decorating blogs, craigslist, friends' blogs. You get the idea.

#4: The Ipad will come in handy for composing all those #1 hits I've written. Haha. Reading books is a favorite thing to do so I could do it anywhere and watching movies would be fun to do in the airport or laying in bed at night.

#3: As a homemaker I am always looking for new recipes. I could look them up at home before I cook or in the store while I'm shopping. That would save a lot of trips back to the grocery store for that one thing I always forget!

#2: Scrabble is my favorite game. Bryan and I could have competitions or you can have a tournament with family and friends!

#1:....

Drum roll........





Think of how happy your grandchildren would be when they can play games, read books, watch movies and be perfectly occupied on the airplane or on road trips! The hours of entertainment would be fabulous for the mother too!

So, please consider your oldest daughter as a candidate for your Ipad. It would be well taken care of and loved! :)