Birthday Boy and Getting Dirty

Warning! I haven't posted for awhile, so what you are about to view might take a little more time than usual. But it will be worth it! This past week has been a busy one. Tanner celebrated his 4th birthday so we had a little party for him at Pirate Pizza (his favorite place on earth!).

Batman was the theme this year. I knew it would come around to super hero's eventually! I thought this his cake turned out cute, mostly because I didn't make it!

This is a typical face that Rylee likes to pull. It's a good thing she is so cute and only 1 1/2 or this face just wouldn't fly. Funny little girl!

Of course Tanner is always good for a silly face. I hardly get anything else these days.

I was a little slow on the camera and missed him blowing out the candles.

He is very curious about everything, so we got him a globe to help him learn about the different continents. He also got some dinosaur stuff and some batman stuff, so he was pretty happy. He played some arcade games with Jimmy while I tried to keep Rylee from getting stuck behind one of the games again.

There is an animal museum here that Tanner loves to go to, so we decided we would take him for part of his birthday celebration. He decided he needed to be our tour guide so we let him wander and he would look back at us and say "Are you following me?". I guess he thought he had to remind us that he was the leader.

They give the kids these little red binoculars so they can get a better look at the animals. Tanner had them in hand almost the entire time and would stop "guiding" us from time to time to check things out. It was pretty cute!

As soon as Tanner would look through his binochs, Rylee would follow suit, only she wasn't quite sure what they were for. It was pretty funny.

Tanner is such a little poser! I think he had a pretty good birthday. He did tell me that he wanted to be five. He was pretty disappointed when I said that you don't really get to chose how old you are. Later he said that it was OK to be four but he can't wait to be five.

We went camping over the weekend. Well, my family went camping, I slept in my cozy bed and drove to the camp site for the day. Jimmy had to work and I didn't want to camp with the kids, in a tent, by myself. Don't judge me! While we were there we had a little b-day party for Tanner. His uncle Russ got him a white board and markers and he LOVES it. The kids were in the trailer drawing and Tanner was way too busy to smile for the picture.

You just can't go camping without horses. We love to ride the horses and all of the kids can't wait until it's their turn. This is Rylee's first horse ride. She didn't want to get on the horse at first, not even with her papa. So, I had to get my butt up there so she would, and then she was loving it. She loves animals and needed to give Blondy a little pat on the neck before she went on her ride.

Her face was dirty pretty much the entire time. I know, I know, we are camping, she is going to get dirty. I did really good at not washing hands and faces every five seconds. As you can see, it didn't bother her a bit!

Tanner wouldn't hold still long enough for me to take very many pictures of him. He was always on the move.

Ry was just having a little pudding.

I think that you can tell how much fun they are having by how dirty they are. The kids had so much fun. They both just ran and played and didn't stop until they were put to bed at the end of the day. We love summer!

And Another Furry Friend Makes Four

Well I guess three dogs are just not enough for us. Jimmy found another Mastiff that needed a good home and decided that home was ours. We named him Tank. He is a Bull Mastiff, 15 mo old and already at about 102 lbs. So pretty much he is going to be huge!

They were loving our time at the park.

The crew!

We have been lucky to find two Mastiffs that are very good with kids and other dogs. They all get along so well and the kids absolutely love them! We just have to be constantly on the lookout for flying tails. Especially poor Rylee. She usually gets them in the face. I know you all think that we are crazy, but it is working out pretty good for us.

Hangin' Out

We have been enjoying the nice weather lately. These are just some pictures of the kids playing and hangin' out.

Rylee had an especially good hairdo this day. A little like Cindy Lou Who, don't you think?

Tanner can't ever pass up a photo opportunity. And this is usually what we get!

Somehow Rylee can see these microscopic bugs and she has to get down on her tummy, with her little feet in the air, to get a better look. When she is finished looking she usually squishes them. Isn't she tender?

Tanner has a little gun that blows bubbles so it's been fun for him and Rylee to play outside with the bubbles.

Don't you love the look on Tanner's face as he is shooting bubbles right in Rylee's face? Little stinker!

One of Ry's favorite places is the porch swing at my parents house. She climbs up on it and says "WEE!", which means she is ready to swing. If her papa is outside she says "Papa!" and that means "Come and swing with me.", and he is happy to comply. As soon as her papa gets on the swing with her, she smiles from ear to ear and is pretty content for a minute. She loves her papa!

Bath time for these two is almost as fun as playing outside! Thankfully, because of all the playing they do, they are in there a lot! We are enjoying springtime and hope that it lasts just a little longer before summer comes. I am not looking forward to 100 degrees and above!

Our Little Gardener

Tanner has been begging me to get some flowers that he can plant and take care of. So I finally made it to the store and got whatever flowers he pointed out (of course with my approval :P) and the biggest pot we could find. He had so much fun 'helping' me. He was smiling the entire time. We even let Rylee in on the action.

Thanks to Tanner, we have something pretty to greet our visitors. I'm going to have to hide his watering can so he won't be tempted to drown them!

Easter and Such

We have had a couple of fun and busy weekends lately. Starting with Easter. It was nice to be able to relax instead of trying to get everyone ready and on time for 9:00 church. We also got to spend a little more time with Jimmy, which is always a bonus.Because Eater Sunday was conference, I had the kids wear their Easter outfits the week before. They looked so freakin cute! This is the best picture I could get of the kids in their Easter outfits. We were just heading out to church and I couldn't get them to hold still. Go ahead and make fun of me for having them match. I couldn't resist! For those of you who are going to make fun of me (Dave!), I'm not going to do it when they are ten. They are little kids! It's OK!

It was a little more fun for Tanner to color eggs this year. He would NOT let me help him at all. He did a pretty good job, too. I guess he didn't need me after all. He had fun with his little friend, Tylee.

This is his favorite egg. Can anyone guess why?

TA DA! Not too exciting, but I wasn't in the mood to get too crazy. Maybe next year I'll be a little more creative.

Here is their loot. It seems like I buy more every year. This year I had to buy a third basket for the things the Easter bunny brought for them to share. Of course I ended up eating half of their candy! That's why I always buy candy I like! I'm just planning ahead.

Tanner was pretty impressed.

Rylee was just getting frustrated that she couldn't get the eggs open. I was ok with that. I didn't really need candy flying all over the place.

My parents were camping, so we went out to play a little in the dirt. It got windy and cold, so we all ended up in the trailer. The kids didn't mind too much!

Barik is Rylee's best friend! She LOVES that dog. This is a typical place to find her. She is always cuddleilng on him, but he doesn't seem to mind too much.

Last weekend we took Tanner to Vegas to see "Walking with the Dinosaurs". It was really neat and I think it goes without saying that Tanner had a good time.

My camera kinda sucks so these pictures aren't the best. This is a Stegosaurus and an Allosaurus.

Momma T-Rex with her baby. I really wish that I had a better camera because they did some really cool stuff.

It was a fun little trip to take with just Tanner. He had so much fun and it was worth it just to see how much he enjoyed it. We were only in the car for a couple minutes when he asked when he could see it again and then for the next few days, he acted out the entire thing with all of his dinosaurs. It was so cute! I love that kid! By the way, he is a face maker now. I'm lucky when I can get him to actualy smile. Stinker!

Hangin' Out

We haven't been up to much lately, just trying to keep up with the kids. These are just a few pictures of how we do it. Feel free to take notes!The weather is on and off lately but it was sunny and pretty nice the other day so we decided to take advantage of it and play outside. We love to draw on the driveway, until Rylee makes a break for the road, then we have to resort to the backyard where she can be caged in. But there is still plenty to do with the goats, chickens, and of course she has to help her Papa feed the horses. She just might be a country girl!

Tanner always falls asleep in the weirdest positions. What would it be like to be a kid again and be able to fall asleep anywhere?!

Jimmy is such a cute daddy! Tanner loves to color and he talked Jimmy into doing it with him one day. I think Tanner might be having fun!

On the way home from Orem the other day, Tanner was being silly and tucked his little toy into the seat belt with him. I guess he just needed to make sure that EVERYONE was safe!

So, today, Rylee took advantage of the fact that I was not in the room and emptied an entire box of cheerios onto the table. Barik was happy about it, he got to snack a little before I walked in. He seem to be very close to Rylee every time she has food. And she gladly feeds it to him. Little stinker!

Rylee didn't feel to guilty about it though. I figured the mess was already made so I just let her play in it. She had a great time, too!

The kids and I have been traveling a bit lately. We went to my sisters house in Delta and had a movie party for the kids. We didn't get much movie watching done, but they had a good time. And, yes, that is Tanner in the middle with the fro.

Rylee needed to try it out too. I think we should consider it for the future!
I just love playing with my kids and watching there BIG personalities blossom. They are so entertaining and exhausting at the same time. They seem to have a knack for that. They could not be more different from each other and that makes it more fun. I just love them sooo much! I almost don't want them to grow up! Almost......

Rylee Girl

Rylee has sooo much personality in her little body. She is so funny and keeps us pretty entertained.

She loved the camera, just like her big brother, and gives me a big cheesy smile every time.

She loves wearing hats and for some reason Tanner's bike helmet is her favorite. Probably because it looks by far the best on her.

We went to the park the other day and we couldn't keep Rylee out of the dirt. I guess she doesn't mind getting a little dirty, and in that she does not take after me!

We got her a little cabbage patch doll for Christmas and she loves snuggling with it. I couldn't resist this picture!

I am so grateful for this little girl! She keeps me running and chasing and I am ALWAYS looking forward to bedtime, but I wouldn't have it any other way.