Vivian is ONE!

 We celebrated with fresh cinnamon rolls for breakfast!

 And her favorite food "Mexican" Beans, rice and tacos!

With little individual strawberry pies and apple turnovers!

She is a true joy to have in our home!

She can walk say: Da da, Mom, Jes ss, she has

a super contagious smile.  We feel so blessed

to have her in our family! 

BACK YARD CAMPING

Because of the nature of the "work schedule" we opted for camping in our back yard this summer.

We went all out...tin foil dinners in the ashes of our fire, smores, the tent, sleeping bags, ghost stories around the camp fire and we even stayed up late.

Yes even Daddy and Mommy camped sleeping or actually not sleeping on the hard ground. (next time we're getting a mattress, we must be getting old!) And for breakfast the next morning mommy made homemade donuts, scrambled eggs, bacon and hot cocoa.  To complete the camping experience we  got an unexpected visitor for breakfast Mr. spider. 

How many Dad's do you know that will...

 Get their fingers painted Rainbow colored by their 3 yr. old?

We are lucky to have such a DAD!

Apple Orchard

August has been a crazy month. Dan is on a rotation where he gets the day off after he's been on call. (this is good and bad because he is usually so tired that he ends up sleeping) but today he suprised the girls and when we picked them up  from school we took a trip to the apple orchard.

School Days

 It's hard to believe that summer has come and gone so fast.

Aug. 18th was the first day back to school. Elli started Kindergarten

she got Abbi's teacher Ms. Kaspareck she was so excited.

She didn't even shed a tear when I left her.

 

Daddy Got to come to school and be a guest reader...that was a super treat!

Our Big THREE year old!

It is truly hard to believe that Gwyneth has been alive for 3 whole  years.

First things first she requested a Mermaid cake with 2 mermaids on it... and yes after staying up until 2am and attempting my hand at fondant I came up with this and when she woke up it was waiting for her on the counter and I took a video of her reaction- it is priceless- alas I can't get it to download so this pic will have to suffice.

She could hardly wait to open presents ...thanks Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles and Sisters(aka mom & dad)

For the great gifts!

Then for the birthday girls lunch of choice we went to Mc Donalds and she chose

to sit in the "sparkly Golden" chair...super magical

Then for a special treat...we went to build a bear we have never been and well lets

just say we won't be going again unless free gift certificates fall from heaven

(which in part they did to make this trip possible!)

What is right is right yes 2 pictures of the cake just be glad I'm not making you look at all 10 I took!

So this year we didn't do parties but each child got to invite one friend and their family

over for cake and ice-cream. Gwyn chose "Owen" they bonded during summer swimming classes

where they were the odd men out!

Over all it was quite the memorable day and Abbi said she wished they could

have that day every day!

Happy Happy birthday Gwyneth dear, We love you so much and are so happy you are apart of our family!

Some more SMORES!

 Abbi's the queen of burnt marshmallows...won't eat them any other way!

Elli and Gwyn only want theirs "Golden"

All I can say is my girls LOVE Smores!

OK really they love marshmallows, chocolate, and gram crackers separate.

And they really love fire.

Temple Trip

 This tree had a perfect "seat" in it and Elli needed  a picture of

how it fit her perfectly!

The girls look forward every month to our temple trip... this one was especially fun

we got to go to one of the summer plays Just Plain Anna Amanda. The girls loved it.

We also got a special treat... a stop at the fudge factory!

Our Garden

Our Garden has been glorious...excepting the tomatoes won't turn red

while weeding today I discovered a huge watermelon...

after tapping lifting and making sure by all possible means

(excepting of course opening it up) we plucked it from the vine

excited to be eating watermelon from our own garden for dinner and upon

cutting it this is what we discovered...not so tasty!

We have another one growing so we have hope yet!

This Girl Loves her Mexican Food!

We must note that this girl is getting picky and there are few things she will eat and be happy with.  Re-fried beans and rice is one of those make me happy meals for her!

Not that she is wearing it all over her face... so to speak!