24th of July Fun!

This past weekend, we had a mini family reunion. All of Dan's family was able to come down from Portland and Wyoming to spend some time together. We used every spare minute to have lots of fun! I got a few pics of the cousins swimming and then of some fireworks Saturday night. It was so nice spending some time together!

Dan's Mom with Allison

SIL Traci holding Ruthie

Dan's brothers, Darren (on left) and Dave (on right) lighting fireworks.

Darren and his oldest Emmie.

All the cousins getting ready to cool off in the pool!

Abby and Kate

Rachel

Annie, Megan and Hailey making faces in the deep end.

Joe and his cousin Zach

1st Tooth!

Ruthie has been so incredibly cranky this last week. I knew it was either a new tooth or her not responding well to solids. Today, I felt her gums and there was this sweet little tooth poking me back. Yay! This will totally change her little smile. Why do they have to grow so fast?! It's not fair...but then again, it is exciting to see her reaching these milestones ;)

It's Short!

I cut my hair! Ahhh! My hair has been my stress for the last few months, and I finally took the plunge and chopped it off! I've wanted to grow it long and it got pretty long, for me, but I have lost a TON of hair after having Ruth and it just needed a lift. I usually lose some hair after my babies, but it's gotten worse with each one. Again, my wonderful cousin Tammy cut it. She does wonders! I love it! I just might keep it this way for a long while. We'll see!

Catch Up...

I haven't blogged in forever! It's amazing how fast time flies!

Father's Day was so much fun...I have a cute pic with Dan and the kids below. I made the BEST Buttermilk Pancakes! I will post them below as well. Dan was a happy man.

Joe just finished t-ball. Oh my goodness, have any of you done t-ball with your kids?! It's so cute to see all the kids hitting the ball and running bases, sometimes running the wrong way or if you were Joe, running to first base with his bat still in hand or just running from 3rd base to go sit down instead of running home, lol. It was so much fun to go and watch him play. He's so cute!

About 2 weeks ago, I noticed Hailey had this weird black and blue spot on her gums. She had been to the dentist a couple of weeks earlier and they had told me that her adult canine tooth was growing in sideways and that I would need to take her to the Orthodontist. I thought I would wait until Dan had made the switch from Flat Iron to his new job with Thorthrup Grummon and then get her in. Well, after noticing that this canine tooth was bulging from her gums, I got a little worried and got her right in. The orthodontist said that we would have to pull her last baby tooth that wasn't budging and then she would need braces to pull that crooked tooth down and widen her mouth to create room for her canine teeth. If we waited that crooked canine tooth would hit the root of the tooth next to it and she would lose that adult tooth, so in a couple more weeks Hailey will be getting braces. She's not excited. Neither are we. She'll have one expensive mouth for the next 18 months.

Ruthie is almost 6 months old now, I can't believe how quickly she has grown. She loves to roll, refuses to sit up and loves the sound of her own voice. I love her so much! Babies are so much fun! She loves to grab everything in sight. The other night we slept out on the trampoline as a family and she snuggled right in next to me and loved looking at the stars. Every time I would open my eyes, she would just be looking up. We took the kids to see Toy Story 3 yesterday and she loved the movie. She was super loud, jabbering non-stop. It was really cute.

Last week, we went to see 3 movies, haha! Dan, Hailey and I saw Eclipse opening night. Talk about crazy! I'm not gonna lie, I was screaming as loud as all the 12 year old girls. The movie was great! Dan and I saw it again over the weekend...lol. We took the kids to see Toy Story 3 and Karate Kid. I loved them both! Karate Kid was amazing! Toy Story 3 made me cry, in a good way. I love movies!

This year I've enjoyed two hikes so far. The first one I did was with two of my brothers and a sister-in-law. We hiked White Pine. It's about 10 miles total. There was a ton of snow at the top and although it was tough hiking up it, it was so much fun sliding down it! Over the weekend, my brother Brent and I hiked Olympus. This hike I've done several times before, but wow, I wasn't prepared for what I forgot. It was brutal! I am still sore after 3 days and can hardly walk right. It is only about 2 1/2 miles up to the saddle of this mountain. I hiked this hike in about 3 1/2 hours, which is fast for me! No wonder I'm feeling it. In a few more weeks we will be hiking Timpanogos. This hike is about 15 miles and it so beautiful. I hope I survive. Every time I hike, I ask myself, why am I doing this? and I chant, "I'm never doing this again". But, I do, because I like a hard workout and nothing else compares. I'm feeling my age this year as my knees hurt so bad on the way down. Losing about 30 lbs. sure would help, dang it. Oh and despite my best efforts to remember my camera for these lovely hikes, I forgot. That must be from getting older too :)

(Below) Hailey and I before the Opening night of Eclipse. (We are so excited!)

The Pictures...

Here they are... the pics! Marcie did an amazing job! I love how they all turned out! Check out her website here! Dan made all their longboards.

Pics of My Kiddie Ditties!

My cousin just took some amazing pics of the kids...and with their new longboards! I can't wait to see all of them next week. Here is a sneak peak. Thanks Marcie! I love it!

The Latest

Wow...time flies! Ruth is now 4 months old! She is so full of smiles and has laughed a few times. I am loving every minute of my time with her! She is such a good baby! She sleeps through the night and takes good naps during the day. She is a Mommy's girl. She is kind of fussy when I leave her with Hailey or Dan or even my Mom. She is getting close to rolling over. I don't think she will for another month. She hates being on her tummy, but I make her, to help her get stronger. It makes her mad :)

The kids are off track. They are looking forward to next year in school. They can't wait for the pool to open. Hailey met her new teacher, Mrs. Edwards. She is nervous and excited to go to a new school next year as part of the ALPS program. She has a lot of catching up to do this summer, because she will be basically skipping 6th grade math. I'm confident she'll do great, but she is nervous.

Abby was just in her UP WITH KIDS play, The Wonderful Witches of Oz. She had so much fun and we were so impressed with the costumes, music and all the kids who performed!

Hailey is going to be starting soccer this summer. She is so excited for it!

I'm doing my best not to be too stressed out keeping up with it all. I've been especially overwhelmed lately. The kids fight like crazy! One minute they are friends with each other and then the next, they fight like cats and dogs. I know that this is normal, but I hate it! I remember fighting with my brothers constantly!

On my other blog www.happyhealthystuff.com I've been tracking my weight loss. I'm trying to lose about 30 lbs. I hope to get there by Christmas. I want it to be a slow loss, so I don't have to do anything overwhelmingly drastic. My goals are to keep exercising, try to not eat late, cut out all sugar, except special occasions. I have cut back on eating meat and this has helped a ton! Besides I've grown to LOVE beans :) I'm trying to add healthy recipes when I can.

Face painting at my Aunt Teresa's block/neighborhood party in Logan when we visited a few weeks ago for my cousins Mission Farewell.

For about a week, Ruthie was sucking on her thumb constantly. This is a cute pic of that. She stopped and now sucks on her fingers. Hopefully she won't be a long time finger/thumb sucker like ALL of my other kiddo's