Birthday Recap

I think 32 was the best birthday I've had in a long time! I must get better with age. :) Dana and I spent the whole day together. She did my nails and fed us lunch. Then we went to Cubby's for dinner, where my order number was 32! They are a new burger joint by Thanksgiving Point, which I heard was yummy, but I was also pleasantly surprised to learn it's all grass-fed and organic too! I got the most delicious lemon cilantro tri-tip salad. 

Then we went back to Dana's for festivities.

These two schemers planned the party. Mike bought a smore chocolate cake and trick candles--32 of them!

I got super spoiled by my mom and sisters with clothes. And my kids with amazing dollar store finds. 

And by Mike with the Green Smoothie Girl 12 Steps to Whole Foods manual which I have had my eye on for 3 years now. I am so excited to implement more healthy ideas!

I don't have pictures but I also have to say I have the best friends and neighbors. My two old roommates/best friends and I celebrated June birthdays getting pedicures together. Many sweet friends gave thoughtful gifts. And my next door neighbor planned a girls movie night for me and invited a huge crowd! I am not fond of the spotlight, but it did make me feel super loved. Plus she went all out and prepared a feast of non-sugar party food that was absolutely delicious! Ausenland was hilarious and the night was so fun that I couldn't get to sleep when I got home, just thinking about how blessed I am to be surrounded by wonderful family and friends.

No wonder June is my favorite month of the year!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

I decided it was time to have another sessions of Andrews summer school, in a very relaxed sort of way. Tyler and Jake weren't alive last time we did it, and they deserve some extra attention too! Plus it will help us fight the boreds this summer.

We started with a natural topic around here... since our house is already filled with planes, trains, and automobiles. I didn't stage anything about this picture, and all three items are strewn around the house.

We had some kids over to play and my kids had a sudden interest in the Thomas the Train mat. They huddled around it for at least 30 minutes using their cute little imaginations.

We used past issues of the Friend magazine to find planes, trains, and cars to make collages. it makes a mess but the kids were so entertained!

While we were searching we also found a good article to read together about sharing cars. This was perfect for Ty who is working hard on sharing with his brother.

Bless his heart, he tends to be a hoarder of all the special toys and lays on them so Jake can't get them. But he's learning. 

One cold day I decided to burn some time and energy by stopping by the old Lehi Railroad station. Little did I know it was such a gem of history and stories from the past!

We thought we'd just check out the railroad tracks and talk about how people used to wait for the train here, but then Ty tried the door and we realized there was someone inside!

It was a guy from the chamber of commerce who has an office on the top floor. He gave us permission (or rather said he wouldn't notice) to peruse the museum. Apparently you usually make an appointment with the curator, but we just took a peek.

Such cool old models and photos!

The girls pretending to wait for their train.

The best part was a miniature model of old-time Lehi with all sorts of detail, including people and animals, and tons of history about the railways that this area depended on in the past! I learned a lot about this town... for example, we live right by where there was a huge sugar factory owned by the church. It was the first in the mountain west and fueled the economy and the railroad here for a long time. When the main building was taken down, the bricks were then used to build the Joseph Smith Memorial Building on BYU campus!

The kids thought this little "jail" door was fun, and the mannequins were hilarious! They gave us quite a scare.
 

On Saturday we decided to take a family outing and ride the real train, the UTA Frontrunner, for the first time. Ty will be talking about this one for ages!

While we waited on the platform a real freight train barreled by. That was the closest we had ever been to a train and the kids thought it was so cool.

Then our train arrived!

We were quite the spectacle for the other passengers. Our were the only kids on board, and we were all exclaiming about what we could see--the school, the llamas, friends houses, our neighborhood, the roundabout, the rodeo grounds, Thanksgiving Point! Maddie even saw her best friend and neighbor's car parked at a crossing, and checked with them when we got home and it was them stopped for our train!

Ty made everyone chuckle when he exclaimed, "All aboard!"

Thanks for the fun ride, Frontrunner!

Father's Day

We love our Daddy! He's the greatest guy around. I'm thankful I am married to my best friend and that he's such a good Daddy to our kids!

After church we posed for a picture gave him our various gifts and cards. A favorite was the second book in the series "The Three Investigators" by Alfred Hitchcock. Mike's has very fond memories of his Dad reading these to him when he was little. They are out of print and we can't get them at the library, so I found a copy on Amazon. He was happy to continue the tradition. 

Reading and snuggling turned to naps quickly. There were a few times Mike was reading and then would just stop--and Maddie would have to show him where he was. As soon as he's horizontal, he's asleep, since I've known him!

Summer Starts

Summer is eluding us today... 50's and rain. But last week we had a day warm enough for some water fun, so we made up a new game--water slide! We put the hose on the big slide and a pool at the bottom, and called it our own Seven Peaks. The kids thought it was pretty awesome.

This is what the boys thought though. They woke up kinda cranky and  it took awhile for them to get close.

Our summer has been kinda slow also because we caught a yucky bug. Mike, myself, and Maddie were all bed-ridden for a day (separate days). We tried not to share it with friends so we mostly stayed inside and took it easy.

One day I decided to have a little map lesson with the kids. By the age of 2 Maddie knew about 20 countries, Ella knew about 15, and Ty knows about 2. That's okay, at least he knows where WE live now.     

We had a picnic on the back deck to get some fresh air.

We ventured outside when the UPS man delivered Maddie's Dollie & Me jammies! (This was her prize for finishing the No Sugar Challenge in May. Ella's was the movie Frozen, which she loves, but it had lost some of it's savor by the time Maddie's came, and she was a little sad she couldn't match her dollie too.) These girls have played with their dolls a ton the last few weeks. I love summer because they get to use their imaginations together more!

Jake escaped and we found him exploring the shade garden. This kid loves dirt!

This is a typical Ty moment. He is often partially in costume, doesn't want to take his pajamas off, and surrounded but his tractors.

A few other quintessential summer pictures... The library has saved us from doom and despair! Ella had so many books to choose from, she would start one and move on to another before finishing. Meals often interrupted her reading so she started using her stool as a bookmark! Funny girl.

As often as possible we go on family bike rides and walks. This was a Sunday when everyone had already changed into jammies, so they just put their shoes over the top and hopped on the saddle!
That's how we roll.

There are lots of tractors around us working on landscaping projects, so the boys are often at the window watching. This was a sweet moment--often Ty is stealing the stool or knocking Jake over, so I'm glad I caught it. 

Tyler's 3rd Birthday

I like to remember birthdays, dawn to dusk.

Ty woke up and was excited to see his Spider Man streamers and the birthday banner he's been waiting for. I love this age because they really grasp the birthday idea and know it's their special day.

He wanted to help with breakfast and got the bowls out of the dishwasher. 

After lots of errands and a nap, Daddy came home early and played with Ty all afternoon.

He took the kids on a walk, which was fun for them, and nice for me! I was able to have a quiet kitchen and caught a last minute delivery from the Fed Ex man, just in the nick of time!

Then the party started with a bang! Auntie Noelle and her kids sent a huge balloon bouquet with Auntie Dana and they were on Face Time as he received it. What a cool surprise!

We had grilled pizza for dinner, and everybody picked their own toppings. We attempted to make the little ones look like a spider web, you know, just to be festive.

Then came presents! Ty could not wait and ripped through them faster than a tornado.

A cool Spider Man car from Bodie and Daxton!

A hat (he asked for... his first one) and shoes. A Super Man piggy bank from Auntie Em! Also a Spider Man sleeping bag (that he has been sleeping in since) and clothes from G&G Jensen, and a cool Cosmo book from Grandma Osmond.

Best of all... his Spider Man bike! He has been riding the little pink tricycle up until a few days ago when the front wheel broke off, just in time for a big BOY bike! :)

Happy 3rd Birthday to our silly, mischievous, pestering, loving, full-of-life little boy! OOOooh, I love to squish his face with kisses, while I still can.
 

And he's off! He is beyond excited about that bike. It's all I can do to keep him inside now.