This is S u M m E r!

Our Summer has been fun, different than our usual hang out and do fun stuff summer we have been spending all our spare time working on our house that is almost done.  You can head over to the house blog Here  to check out all the fun progress there.

Marin had her summer dance recital she danced well and shouted I love you Daddy as she ran off the stage, pretty sure Mark is still smiling about that one.  Marin switched dance studios and is loving her new class and teacher, it was a little bitter sweet leaving her first place she had so much fun and loved her teacher! Thank you Aubrey!

Mark and I went for a hike with some friends of ours. We all agreed that hiking with Mark is no picnic ( I could have told them that) We all felt like 5 year olds on the worlds longest car ride with burning quads asking "Are we close?" The farther along we got our asking turned into pleading "PLEASE tell us we are almost there!" To which his response was ALWAYS "Almost there" We still had a mile to go and it was almost there.  Sheesh.  The view from the top wasn't as breathtaking as other hikes we have been on but there is always a sense of accomplishment when you reach the top of anything.

Just to make myself feel better here is a showered non hike picture of the 2 of us.

H a P p Y : F a T h E r ' S : D a Y : Man alive he is such a good Dad to these 2 kids of ours.  I love this picture it makes me smile every time I see it.  Heading into church on Father's Day.  The kids colored him pictures and he got mountain bike shoes. Good Day Good Day

Our mountain in Alpine went up in flames.  It was one of the most stressful things I have witnessed in a long time.  Mark took this picture has he was coming out of his doctor appointment.

Speaking of doctor appointments I had to go pick up the folks from the airport so the kids went with Mark to the doctor they loved sitting on the sofa reading books and acting like big kids, how cute is that?

Back to the fire.  Images like this just made your heart skip a beat, It isn't the best picture but it is from my phone and I was more amazed watching it then with snapping pictures. 

The view from our deck the 2nd night of the fire.  We all prayed for rain because nothing was stopping or slowing down this fire.  Our prayers were answered and the rain helped get the fire under control and after the storm had passed we had a lovely double rainbow that I noticed as we were cleaning up at our new house.

We had a family camp out sleepover in Mark's brother Jimmy and Lori's backyard.  Here is Grandma Bev with all 9 of her grand kids! They had so much fun and they played so well together which any parent will tell you is a blessing when the kids get along!

Damen and Isaak slept in our tent they were such good sports to let Marin sleep parallel in between them...

This child....Oh how I love that little Austin!  He is an animal.  He jumps on everyone, runs everywhere, and growls the funniest growl I have ever heard. 

We did a birthday dinner for Bev it was so fun to have the family together and we changed it up and ate outside.  The simple things a little decor does to a dinner.  LOVE IT!

A friend of mine got married and the kids loved walking around the gardens.  I almost died when Marin reached back to grab Paxton's hand and he reached for hers. This little boy doesn't hold hands, doesn't sit still, doesn't like to cuddle, you get the picture he is EVERYWHERE! He always loves to be wih Marin so this little moment is so sweet to me.

As it turns out to get him to sit still....you get a bucket out and he is in it for the long haul. 

We went boating with Paul and Rachel it was fun however it was NOT boating weather! The water was so choppy and it started raining on us.  The day was cut short but that was probably good the water was making us all feel a little sea sick.

Mark wake boarding notice the big dark clouds?

Rachel, Paul's brother Adam, and Mark on the tube, they were getting some good air with the weather and the speed of the boat, it was fun for almost all 3 of them.

Kids were sea sick...Paxton couldn't sit up straight, he was the happiest one to get off the boat.  I'm still feeling a little "sideways" All in all we have had a good summer so far and the highlight is going to be getting into our house!

The GIANT camera post

I know that these kind of posts are sometimes hard but I want them documented so here is a whole slew of pictures from Mark's camera from Disneyland til now. So if you don't care to see them skip and come back later : ) but lets be honest the kids are cute and so is the hubs.

Marin got a hug from Belle probably the highlight of her trip, at least next to seeing Steven.

Paxton getting some love from Minnie. He handled large headed masked characters a lot better than we thought he would.

Oh Tigger!  Winnie the pooh was dancing while Marin sang him a song and bam we got photo bombed by Tigger.

Marin loved Captain Hook!  She called him a cod fish and everything!

Mark, Steven, and Marin ran Minnie down since it was Minnie's Breakfast and she was getting food while Minnie came to the table.  So they went and got her.

Star Wars after breakfast...was a bad idea.  But we looked good doing it!

Marin and Steven.  LOVED Disneyland and getting to do it with each other made it sweeter.

The Fam!

Marin pulling the sword out of the stone.

LOVE this picture.  He was working on it so hard.

However no one pulls swords out of stones like Mark.

Paxton thought this was the funniest thing. He worked almost as long on the weights as he did on the sword.

Such Muscles, such expressions.

Had to get a family picture with The Goof.

We also went and saw Daniel play it was so much fun! Especially since he pitched. Season is over for now but we have next year. : )

This is another baseball picture, trying to keep Paxton happy and entertained, it is getting close to his bedtime can you tell?

When you go to California and see Steven and American Vintage you HAVE to try on those stellar wedding dresses in that store. 

Mark's little brother graduated from seminary and this is his very funny group of friends.

Seriously who is the best Dad?!? That man right there.

The nieces and nephews minus the cute ones that live in Washington

That cute little brother graduated high school.  Marin didn't go she wasn't feeling well and we decided Paxton wasn't either because he sat there on Mark's lap the whole time.

Mark's family had a party at the splash pad here is one of each of us.  Marin running around loved getting soaking wet.

Paxton is madly in love with this hat, getting wet, and I am madly in love with these shoes his Aunt and Uncle gave him.

ha ha yeah we fun .

We have spent a lot of time at Mark's grandparents house since his Grandpa broke his hand and hurt his back.  We are one of the closer ones so we are out in Cedar Fort usually at least 2 a week.  The kids love going over there.  Marin brought her coloring book, so Paxton had to color too and they are listening to Nana tell them a story.  Such attention .

Thanks for sticking it out! It has been fun.

Spring Catch Up

We have had a great spring and are quickly heading into summer.  I guess since it is June we are mostly in summer.  The weather is getting warmer everyday and it is starting to feel more and more like summer.

Steven came out in April and for Mother's day we did our "ugly" family picture for her.  We recreated a picture of us when I think I was 11....it is precious let me tell you.  The one we blew up is the picture below.

We are super cute don't you think?

Marin had her 4th birthday I can't believe that she is already 4!  Time has certainly flown by and she is honestly the cutest, funniest kid.  She loves to dance and really enjoys being with her family and loves to play with her little brother.  Needless to say she got spoiled rotten!  Imagine that : )

This backpack was one of Marin's favorite gifts that my Grandma got her.  She thought it was great and uses it easily once a week. 

In Marin's birthday bag were some things for Easter that Grandma Welch forgot to give them.  Paxton LOVED the bunny glasses. 

Steven and Kimber were here for her birthday and Marin loved it.  Since Steven lives in California we don't get to see Kimber as much but we sure love when she comes around. 

Steven of course got her some awesome California Disney barbies....no wonder he is her favorite. : )

She blew out most of her candles....if I remember correctly...thank goodness for video cameras.

This picture was taken at our family BBQ and Paxton was trying to swing Daniel's baseball bat...it was a little heavy to say the least. 

My Nana came out to see all of us.  We haven't seen her since she was out her almost 4 years ago.  We went for walks, did the usual Utah tourist things and just hung out.  It was great fun having her here!  Thanks for coming to visit Nana!

My Nana took this picture right after church it is a little washed out but Paxton's face is adorable!

Speaking of Paxton's cute face...I have a picture of Marin wearing this hat in a yellow shirt she was a little younger than Paxton but how cute is he?!?!

Mark, D.Jay, the kiddos and I hiked to the Timp Caves.  It was pretty fun and it was even better that we talked D.Jay into going so I didn't have to pack Paxton up to the top. 

The views were beautiful.

My little pack mules

Gotta love the half way....Mark.  ha ha half way mark and Mark.  Anyway.

It wasn't too bad for D.Jay Paxton slept and he texted...such is life for that handsome brother in law of mine. Who is going to CANADA on his mission!

I needed to blow up his picture because this is the best picture of us in the caves because Paxton looks absolutely frightened.  It was pretty "intense" in there.  He didn't like walking through the cracks or the fault lines.

And Paxton crashed on the way down.

Mark and I went to girls camp this year to help out.  We had a blast.  I got sick, Mark worked his cute little bum off picking up my slack.  It was a great experience.  I didn't really like the picture of us looking at the camera so you get a "more candid" shot of us canoeing.  Mark and I were the rescue boat. 

The girls LOVED Mark and they even got Mark to do some crafts.  He made Marin a bracelet which he hasn't given her yet.

We did a zipline, Mark's picture is funnier than mine so his makes it up here instead of mine.

Mark also did a climbing wall I should maybe have put the picture up that shows how high up it was with only little 12-17 year old girls to save him if he slipped. Katy is demonstrating how she thinks Mark smells...he smelled beautiful : )

We came home and found out Marin created some "imaginations" on our wall.

And her wall...and the door...the light switch...the crib...the bedspread...some toys...you know everything.  My camera ran out of batteries before I documented all of her nail polish art work.  I will say that I am somewhat relieved that it happened while the kids were not on my watch.

Spring has been great and I am pretty sure that summer is going to be great too!  We have a lot of fun things coming up.  Until next time!