Christmas Eve!

Dev's 6th Birthday!

Devri celebrated her 6th birthday this year with a Cupcake party. We painted cupcake boxes, played pin the cherry on the cupcake, decorated and (of course) ate cupcakes. It was a sweet party fit for the sweetest 6 year old alive. I am so blessed to have her fill my life with joy each and every day. Here are 6 of my Favorite things about Devri:

1: Such a sweetheart! She is constantly telling me and showing me how much she loves me.

2: Smarty Pants! She is very Very smart, one of the top readers in her class & excels in every subject. She really enjoys school! I hope this will never go away!

3: Best Big Sister Ever! She absolutely LOVES Haven. She plays with her, reads to her, takes care of her and always includes her. What more could you ask for in a sister?

4: Wise beyond her years. I try to sneak things past Devri- but she is way too smart for me. I am constantly amazed at how much she knows and how smart she is.

5: Happy! Happy! Happy! Chances are, if you've seen Devri- she was smiling! She is a very positive and happy little soul that fills me with sunshine and brightens every day!

6: Girl after my own heart. Anything Sweet or Chocolate, is Devri's favorite thing- and she loves to share. She loves to bake yummy treats and some of my fondest memories will be baking up goodies with her in the kitchen.

Thank you Devri for 6 Fun Filled years! I love you more than you will ever know!

Yee-Haw! Hee-Haw Farms!

Last year we went to Hee Haw Farms & my kids had so much fun that they thought they needed to go again this year! It was full of all kinds of down home farm fun! Like a petting farm, train rides, hay rides, pony rides, corn maze, potato sack slide, corn box. (I won't mention the dirt & stink that also comes with the farm fun) The kids loved it & it was a great way to kick off the fall season! Yee-Haw!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy hAvEn !!!

How do my kids keep growing up? I must say they are very disobedient because I am consistantly telling them to stop growing. Haven is 2! She had a fun birthday, we threw an Elmo party and she loved every minute of it. Here are some Highlights...

Having fun with her bestest- Sissy. Isn't our grass looking awsome???

Haven Loved opening presents, she got a scooter, which she LOVES. She thinks she is so big now that she can scoot with the big kids!

Party Decorations

Of course, cupcakes.

What a great day, she is still talking about it- how she got to stay up late on her birthday, got presents, sang Happy Birthday to you, and my favorite- she says "I Love it my Birfday!"

Here are some of my favorite things about Haven (in no particular order)......

*She is so spunky and full of personality, always making me laugh!

*Loves to sing (and does at the top of her lungs on a regular basis).

*When she goes to bed she pats her pillow and says "Lay by you?"

*Finally when I leave her at bedtime she says "daddy kiss?" When Erik leaves she says "mommy kiss?". She does this over and over until finally we stop coming in and she falls asleep.

*Loves Devri! (almost as much as me) When Devri gets on the school bus Haven waves goodbye with all her might and yells "bye sissy, luv you" until the bus is out of sight.

*Loves to color beautiful pictures and brings them to me with the proudest look on her face every time.

I could go on and on and on! Haven is such a sweet little slice of heaven. She brings so much fun and joy into our family. I feel very blessed to be able to call her mine. We love you Haven!

School Days

Devri started kindergarten yesterday, it was a very bittersweet day for me. I am so excited for her to learn and see her grow into her own little person, but at the same time, I don't want to see her grow up. She was so excited and a little nervous. She wasn't sure she wanted to ride the bus to school, but decided to at the last minute. Then I raced the bus to school to make sure she got into her class ok and when she saw me she said, "Mom, I'm so glad I rode the bus- that was fun!" The 3 hours she was at school were complete torture for me, I kept wondering if she was having fun, making new friends, if the kids were being nice, if she missed me. Then when I went to pick her up from the bus stop after school, I was so relieved to see a big smile on her face! She ran to me and gave me a big hug- whew! She did miss me and she did have fun! I made her cupcakes while she was at school (her favorite), so she could have a treat to come home to and when she saw them she got the biggest smile I've seen in a long time and jumped into my arms and said "Thank you mommy! You're the best mommy in the whole world!" - That totally made my day! I am so thankful for this little cutie pie and look forward to what the future holds for her! I love you Dev!

Hooray for Family.... and Swingsets!

We have been waiting all summer for our grass to come in good enough for the kids to play on it! It finally is, but Erik has been working in Vernal for the past 3 weeks and hasn't been home to put our swingset up. His brother, Jared, came up with the idea that we should do it while he is gone and suprise him! I thought- What a Great Idea! So Erik's awsome family came over last week and built our swingset! Erik was very suprised when he came home and very relieved that He didn't have to do it! The girls have been out there a LOT- they love it! It's sooooo nice to finally be able to let them loose! A HUGE thanks to Erik's awsome family- You're the Best!

VaCaTiOn!- It's about time!!!

It's been almost 3 years since we've gone on a REAL vacation, so we REALLY enjoyed this trip. I can't believe all that has happened since our last vaca- when we went to Disneyland just before Devri turned 3. Now she is almost 6 and we have Haven who is almost 2! Where does time go??? We went to Island park and Yellowstone. It was so great being able to take time off and be together. Erik's fam has a friend with a cabin in Island Park where we stayed. We went into the Yellowstone park, which I have never been to before- it was absolutely beautiful! We did a lot of hiking and site seeing. It was a very nice and relaxing vacation and I loved every minute of it! I never wanted it to end!

Day 1- "Fishing" in the river. The kids caught a lot of sea weeds.

Day 2- Yellowstone. Firehole falls, we went swiming and had lunch by the river.

Day 2- Yellowstone. Old Faithful was awsome. Devri loved it, she thought it was going to be red when it exploded- she's so cute!

Day 2- Yellowstone- Canyon Falls was so beautiful! It was quite the hike and Devri was the first one up and down! We were so late getting out of there that we didn't get back to the cabin until midnight! Let's just say we had some tired kids by that point!

The whole group at the bottom of Canyon Falls- Erik's brother Jared & his family, sister Julianne and her family, and his parents.

Day 3- Big Springs was one of my favorite places we saw! It is the start of many of the rivers, you can see the water pouring up out of the ground and the rocks. The water is so crystal clear you can see the fish perfectly. It was so beautiful!

Day 3- Filling up our water bottles at Henry's Spring the water was ice cold and delicious!

This is what Haven looked like during much of the trip. So sweet! I'm so glad we had our babypack!

Day 3- Cistern Spring hot pot in Yellowstone- Beautiful!

Day 4- Mesa Falls- my favorite water fall! It is so beautiful! Right in the middle of the Targee National forest surrounded by huge logpole pines is this little rainforest and amazing waterfall! Some of the plants around it don't grow anywhere else in the world. I loved these falls because you can get so close to them- you even get wet from the mist and they are absolutely breathtaking!

Exhausted on the way home!