Downtown park

Brigham

Mikayla

Hyrum trying to jump and down and make a funny face for the picture

Grandma, Me, Mikayla, Tasha, and Hyrum over at the splash pad.

Brigham, Jessica, Hyrum (Rebekah looks like she's sprinting in the background)

Rebekah and Brigham

 They have so much fun every time we go down to the park it makes me want to take them all the time, because they're happy and having fun the whole time we're there!

Rebekah

Brigham resting his feet in the river

Hyrum

Rebekah walking away to go play

Rebekah and Hyrum climbing up to play with the frogs and climb the waterfall

This park also has a Carousel that the children enjoy going on and it only costs $1 for adults and 50 cents for Brigham-the other two are free. 

Hyrum's not happy in this picture because he slipped right as the carousel got started and he got scared.

Timothy (helping Hyrum), Rebekah, Brigham 

We are really loving all the splash parks and fun things to do around here! But, right now we're most grateful for the splash parks, because it's way too hot the play outside if you're not wet.

Happy Independence Day!

The children getting ready to watch fireworks

Timothy lighting fireworks

We were blessed to have the privilege of some of my family come for the 4th.

 

 Brittany, Tasha, Rebekah, Brigham, Hyrum, Grandma, Mikayla, and me (Timothy took the picture)

Rebekah

Hyrum

Brigham

To celebrate Independence Day we invited some of my family down for a visit.  It was so fun to have them here!  We went to a splash park in the morning and had a picnic lunch there.  The kids and most the grown-ups had fun getting wet and playing at the park.  In the afternoon most of the visiting family napped, so the kids watched a movie.  We hung around the house and talked and played with the kids. Then, in the evening we had dinner, lit fireworks for the kids, and put the kids to bed.  That night  Brittany (my sister), Timothy, and I climbed on the roof of our house and watch fireworks in several places in Washington, some in Middleton, and the huge city display in Saint George.  We had a great view!  Timothy even popped popcorn and brought it up on the roof for us to munch on while we watched.  We were also lucky the fireworks didn't wake the children.  Some of the BOOMS were very loud.

 We are so grateful that we have a free country, especially for the opportunity to live our own religion.  I am so grateful to the founding fathers of our country and all the service men who work to keep this country what it is and what it stands for.  We hope each of you had a great Independence day as well! 

Our new House

 We are loving our new house!  

Here's the boys' room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's Rebekah's room

Here's our Front room-  we use it for receiving guests and family scriptures and prayers.

 

 Here's our front hall coming in from the front door.  on the right is the front room and straight ahead is the family room, and the other hall on the left leads to the bedrooms/bathrooms.

 

 Here's our family room where all the "stuff" is:  Toys, entertainment center, children's books, computer...

 This is a view from the kitchen into the family room.

 Here's our kitchen, it's a little odd having the sink out in the middle of the room, but I think I like the vantage point I have from it.  I can see the children in the family room, the bathroom, the dining room and about half the back yard from standing at the sink. It makes doing dishes a lot easier, because I can supervise at the same time.

Here's our dining room.  We have a big dining table, and a little table...

...that we call the art table.   I've set up an art area in the dining room where the children have ready access to a lot of the art materials.  They have really been enjoying the freedom to color and create almost anytime they want.

Here's our large pantry that I'm so excited about!  It has shelves on both sides, I don't think it will fit a year supply of food, but it will fit most of a year supply.

 Our laundry room-  I'm excited about the extra deep sink.  I've been using it for washing things by hand, and for mop water.  Timothy had just put in the hanger bar the day I took the picture, so I can hang clothes right as they come out of the dryer.

Our "Storage room" we haven't quite figured out how to use this space.  It's meant to be a den, but we like the computer in a more public place for safety reasons.

 So those three rooms: pantry, laundry, and storage are off the back hall which is off the kitchen.

Then this picture below is from the family room facing the side hall where the bedrooms and bathrooms are.

Here's the children's bathroom:  (Monkey themed)

The children are sleeping in their rooms:

Master bedroom, which isn't fully unpacked, set-up, or decorated yet.

 walk-in closet

 master bathroom

 We are sure grateful to the Lord for providing Timothy with a job and the opportunity that created for us to buy our first home.  We truly have been blessed.

Graduation

 Timothy worked hard and studied through 12 years of college and all that work is finally paying off.  On Monday, June 18th, 2012 Timothy graduated with a PhD in Music Theory.  As the kids say, "Daddy is a music doctor." 

We are proud of all the hard work Timothy has put into his studies and glad to see him graduating. (It'll be so nice to have him done with school- the first time in our married life that he won't have to study every evening!)

Hooray! 

Way to go Timothy!

All his hard work, research, and studying has paid off. Timothy got offered a job at Dixie State College in Saint George, Utah! We are very excited about the job and are looking forward to being closer to family! He will be teaching Music Theory, Composition, and Trombone.

Timothy will be graduating in June with his PhD in Music Theory. (As long as he can finish the final draft of his dissertation.) One the kids took this picture.

Look out Saint George here we come!

"Jack", "Annie", Mr. Pull-up Head, unicorns, and More

What Hyrum did after going potty- he was "washing his hands"... Apparently with A LOT of soap! Our bathroom sink doesn't have an extra drain to prevent overflow so the water was about 1/2" deep on the counter and spilling all over the floor by the time I realized the water had been running for a while and ran in there.
Rebekah- AKA "Annie" From Magic Tree House. And there are two Jack's: the one with glasses, and the other one. So, when I want them to come out of Frog Creek woods I have to call, "Jack, Annie, Jack! Time to come home." They have their very own Magic Tree House (bunk bed) in Frog Creek Woods (bedroom). I play a dual role as Mother and Morgan LaFey.

Can you guess what books we've been reading a lot of lately? Currently we're on Magic Tree House #22. And they are anxious to continue reading until we get through all 47.

Brigham's block creation on top of the piano bench.

Many times during the last month I have looked at the phone cradle and found a different phone than I expected sitting there "charging". These picture were taken on three different days.

Exhibit #1 Wooden Phone that belongs with the kitchen set.

Exhibit#2 Yellow Phone that used to go beep beep but doesn't anymore

Exhibit #3 Red and White Phone that changes animals every time you open it.

The latter two phones used to "do" something but now don't. I wonder if the children thought if they charged them they would work again. I have no idea why a block of wood in the shape of a phone would need charging, but hey, when you're a preschooler anything can make sense, right?


Here we have a boy that has gone through some plastic surgery in order to change the appearance of his eye. What do you think of the change? (He performed the surgery himself even!)

This is the kind of face we see often on this boy. Maybe I should tell him the old wives tale that if you make a funny face too long it might stay forever....nah...he'd actually try it.

This is also a common sight in our home. Little Miss Bekah chews her poor blanket to bits! I'm sure glad I'm not that blanket...although I have had a finger still in it when she's bitten down... that I hope never happens again. She's got one strong jaw!

And next for your viewing pleasure- four friendly unicorns. It's kind of hard to see, but each of the unicorns has a horn made of hair- just like rhino's horn. (Even the boys have ponytails holding up their hair in front.) They also have different colored tails. (They asked me to put ponytail holders on the back of their shirts to make unicorn tails.) They sure enjoyed being unicorns for an afternoon!

Last week we got out the old trombone and let the children try playing it. They actually did fairly well buzzing and making sounds in it.



And lastly we have Mr. Pull-up Head. He is showing the latest fashions in wearing Pull-Ups and bibs. (notice he has at least 2 layers of bibs on)
These amazing children sure keep us laughing with all the silly things they come up with. They sure are a blessing to our family.