July 2013--Kate's birthday

Kate turned five last July, just a few weeks before she started kindergarten. Angie was still in town on her birthday but was flying home that afternoon, so she took Kate and Ada (since her birthday is 12 days after Kate's) to get manicures and pedicures. The girls were so excited! Kate got a few small gifts but had to wait until Ada's birthday for her big present. She was very patient!

Kate wanted a pink flower cake, so this is the best I could come up with. It's actually much easier than it looks. The cake was chocolate since that is Kate's favorite

A few days later we had a combined family party for Ada and Kate at the splash pad by our house. We ate pizza and cake and the kids had fun playing

2013--July

July is always a busy month for us and last year was no exception. I'll have to divide July into a few posts, but here are a bunch of random images from the month:


Cute Lyla

Decked out for July 4th

The only kind of parade you'll see me at on the 4th! That's my kind of parade!

We got together with my family for a picnic and games before watching the fireworks at Murray Park. Kate was TERRIFIED of the fireworks, so Tyler had to take her back to the car!

Ada was so excited to go to her cousin Ella's baptism

Cutest Ly

Cousins at Grandma's house

More fun at Pineview

We finally got around to giving Tyler's parents their Mother's Day/Father's Day and birthday gifts: we took them to dinner at Taggart's. Yum!

More Ly

I got to see one of my favorite bands play! I never thought I'd get the chance to see these guys. $5 is an absolute steal! The show was so awesome. I wish it would have lasted longer. My amazing SIL Korrin watched our girls while we were there. Since my brother was also there, she had seven little girls by herself! She also offered to let the girls sleep over since the concert got out late. Apparently Lyla and Audrey really bonded while sleeping in the same room :)

Some of Tyler's cousins got together for a picnic. His cousin Debi lives in Herriman near Black Ridge Pond. It is a man-made pond with a beach and it was so cool! People were canoeing and long-boarding in the water. The kids loved playing in the sand

Tyler skiing at Pineview

Kate even tried to ski! (Ada has done it a few times but we didn't get a pic)

Ice cream always makes everyone happy

Kate started kindergarten! Here she is on the first day

Ada started 2nd grade. She looks so grown up

Kate at her table

Lyla loves to mimic her sisters

Tyler got me these lovely flowers for our anniversary

2013--June

Before I move on to June, I forgot to mention that Lyla finally started walking at the end of May. She was 19 1/2 months old and we were ready to schedule an appointment with a physical therapist. Luckily she complied before we got around to it! Silly girl. Also, as a side note, most of the pictures posted were taken on our phones. We just got tired of lugging our camera around. Maybe one day we'll get a nice camera... (I do have an iPhone now, so quality of our recent pictures should at least be a little bit better.)

Now, some random photos from June:

Snickerdoodles cupcake

We hiked on a trail up in the Eaglepointe area of NSL

I got together with some friends that I grew up with. It had been way too long!

We found this steak marinade in our pantry that had been expired for years...

Lyla loves to wear other people's shoes

We spent plenty of time at the splash pad in our neighborhood

One day I found Lyla stuffing crayons down her shirt

Ada and her friends wanted to dress like princesses for school (yes, she was in school through June)

I turned 32. Tyler got my favorite cupcakes from Mini's

We were supposed to paint our family room/kitchen after we put in the wood floors, but we didn't get around to it until June. :s  I was ready to be rid of the red! The room feels so much lighter and spacious. That mirror above the couch is tricky to hang and Tyler left the screws in when he painted, so I had to figure out how to hang stuff around it. I wish it was lower, but I think it still works. It used to be centered over the couch, but I shifted the couch over and hung a gallery wall of sorts

I hosted my book club and made a delicious lemon blueberry cake. While it was cooling I noticed that someone had grabbed some significant pieces from it. Hmm, I wonder who that was? (cough*Kate*cough)

Crazies

We went boating several times over the summer with Tyler's family. We usually go to Willard Bay but the water was so low last year that we went to Pineview instead

Tyler went to Girls' Camp and stayed the entire time as the priesthood leader (did I mention he got called to the bishopric in April?)