Lake Powell without Kids... HOLLA!

We spent a couple days last weekend on our friends' houseboat at Lake Powell. The best part of the whole trip was that we left our kids home!!! It was so nice to be able to hang out on the boat and not have to worry about kids and if they were drowning. We went with three other couples and had a blast. We felt like we were in College again; like we were just hanging out without a care in the world! Oh, the good old days! We ate a lot of junk food, played some games, and talked a lot. I don't think we shut up the entire trip! We did some tubing and wake boarding and swam a lot. We even did some cliff jumping which was a lot of fun. At night it was so nice to just sit on top of the house boat and talk while we looked at the stars. Brooke and Tyler even saw the Milky Way for the first time! I know... what?? They are city folk, I guess. We had a great time and a big thanks to the Vanderhorst's for their hospitality and an even bigger thanks to Ricki for watching my kiddos!!! You are awesome and now I owe you one! Here's to good times and good friends!!

Tag's First Day of Preschool

Today was Taggart's first day of Preschool. The other day when he saw all the kids going to school, he cried and said he wanted to go to 'cool' as he calls it. Last night he said to me, "I can't want to go to cool, I'm nervous." I just kept wondering if he even knew what nervous meant. This morning he was excited and a little scared. He wasn't too excited for us to leave him alone, but he did great after we left. He wanted to stand this way in the picture so we could see his T-Rex backpack. I wanted to tell him that he wasn't getting frisked, I just needed a picture!!

He was so excited to see me when I picked him up and told me all about preschool and I pretty much didn't understand what he was trying to tell me since he was so excited!! Here he is showing me his papers from school. He insisted on wearing his shirt that his friend (our neighbor) Wesley gave to him yesterday. He wore it yesterday afternoon also and it was a little dirty! So much for new school clothes!!!

He was excited to see his 'Sis' too. Here he is giving her a hug, although it may be a headlock... I'm not sure! I am so excited to have him in Preschool and to be able to just have some time alone with Maddie. Good Job Mr. T on your first day of Preschool; you're such a big boy!!

18 Months Old!!

Our little Madelyn just turned 18 months old! I can't believe she is already this old! She is the cutest thing in the whole world, even with her little attitude. She is turning into quite a little girl and we are a little afraid. She loves to dance and whenever we turn on any music at all, she gets her groove on. She also tries to so somersaults, but usually just ends up landing on her head. It is pretty hard for her to get her ghetto booty to roll over! She is starting to say a few words, but mostly just talking in her own language. She is getting pretty cute and pointing to some body parts and telling us what the animals say. We love it when she uses her sign language and tries to tell us what she wants. She is such a sweet cuddler and will crawl into your arms and snuggle with her blankie when she is tired or just waking up from a nap. We love this! She is so cute at giving kisses and hugs too! She officially gets to go to nursery now, but since we are already nursery leaders, she is stuck with us! Or we are stuck with her (and several other 18-24 month olds!) Happy 1 1/2 year birthday to our little lady!! We love you so much!!

The County Fair

This past weekend was the County Fair here in Washington. Taggart loves the fair, but he was up north staying with his Grandparents, so we just took Maddie and went with some friends. The fair is so much fun and it always brings back some good memories for me.

We ate some not-so-good carnie food and then let the kids ride some rides. Here is Maddie riding the train with the girls who are usually hanging around with Taggart. Maddie loved the rides and really wanted to go on the rollercoaster. Hello.. can you say daredevil??

It was soooo nice only having one kid to look after. Maddie has been spoiled the entire time Tag was gone. I got a lot of things done and also a little relaxing time! It was great!

New Friends and Frogs

A few weeks ago we got new neighbors who live right next door to us and they have five kids. Taggart thinks that he has died and gone to heaven now that he has someone to play with at all hours of the day. He wakes up early every morning begging to go to the 'boy's house'! They spend most of the day going from our house to theirs and having a ball doing it! Here are a few pics of some of them. Wesley just loves Maddie too and I found him holding her on the couch the other day. He often tries to pick her up when she is crying and it is just too cute. They love to play with our other new friends... the FROGS! Around the same time as we got new neighbors, Cam brought home five frogs that he caught while playing tennis one night. I figured we would just let the kids play with them for a couple days and then let them go, but boy was I wrong! Cam came home the next day with a terrarium complete with rocks, moss, bark, and a watering hole for the frog's new home. I wasn't so sure about taking this leap of taking care of pets, but he informed me that Tag was old enough and 'needed' a pet.... whatever!! Cam is responsible for purchasing the crickets and taking care of them; I already have enough to take care of, let alone 5 frogs. Needless to say, the kids love the frogs and I have to admit that I have always loved frogs and I don't mind touching them (except when they pee on me, which they do frequently when I get them out of their cage!) One day when Wesley and Tag were playing with the frogs, they lost one, so now we are down to four. Anyway, we are just happy to have some great new neighbors and some really cute frogs! Here are a few pics of the little guys!

Lake Powell

We had so much fun this past week as we spent a few days at Lake Powell. The kids did great and had so much fun too. Both of them loved the boat rides and the water. Taggart spent a ton of his time fishing from the House Boat. He is becoming quite the Fisherman and taking after his Uncle Carston.
Here is our sweet little Hawaiian girl. We were worried that she would just jump off the boat, but she was better than we thought and had a little more fear than we expected. Thank heavens!!
Maddie loved driving the boat and House Boat. She would put her lips together and make an engine noise and wave whenever we would see another boat; it was so cute!

This is how we spent most of our time- in the water!! Since it was so hot and the water was soooo nice and warm, we lived in the water. Yes, I know Maddie is naked. She spent most of the time in a diaper or naked. I know that we looked pretty white trash!

Taggart was so worn out from the sun and all the swimming that he fell asleep on the boat a few times. Isn't he so cute sitting with his daddy?

Tag and Mommy riding in the boat. Taggart and Maddie even rode on the tube this year and both loved it! We tried to get Tag to go on the wake surf board with Cam, but Tag chickened out. Maybe next year!

Look at these cute smiling faces!


Here Maddie and I are drinking our fun drinks on Hawaiian night. The kids all broke open a pinata and we had a big party! The kids spent a lot of time dancing and getting their groove on! You should see Maddie; give her a beat and she goes crazy!

Maddie and Isabelle sucking on limes in their Hawaiian dresses. Aren't they the cutest cousins ever! They had so much fun playing with each other.

Here is to another great year at the Lake! The adults even snuck in a few games and relaxing times every now and again. What a fun vacation!

4th of July

We had such a fun weekend for the Fourth of July. We decided that we just wanted to stay home, so we talked my family into coming down for the weekend. On the 4th, the guys played some tennis and we swam during the day. In the evening we went downtown for the festivites on Main Street. The fireworks were great and both of the kids liked them. Taggart especially loved the 'green' ones! On Saturday, we spent some time hiking in Zions. It is so beautiful up there and we hiked some of the Narrows. Both of the kids fell asleep on Cam on our way back; they looked so funny! It was great to see my family again and the kids were spoiled as usual with all of the attention. This week they just keep looking at me like 'You are the only one here?!!' This was our first time staying in St. George over the 4th and we had a lot of fun. It was hot, but heck when you are in the water, who cares? Thanks again to my family for making the trek down here; you guys are great! Hope you all had a Happy Independence Day!