Sweet Baby

This sweet baby is one of my greatest blessings! She is so cute, smiley, happy, patient and fun! I could hold her and kiss her all day!

Hailey - 5 months

Circus Party

A few days after we got home from Wyoming this summer, we had Hannah's 3rd birthday party! It was really easy, and really simple and really fun! We found some cute party favors from the dollar section of Target, so we decided to do a "Circus Party."

This was the cute invitation - designed by Kelsi (my cousin-in-law). She did such a cute job (as usual!)

Hannah excited for her party - with the party favors behind her.

We made cupcakes and the kids decorated them

Heidi Richardson (Hannah's best friend). We started by letting them color a circus page when they first came.

Sadie Booth

Then we went outside and played games....bean bag toss

Knock down the cans

Ring Toss

Throw the circus animal through the hula hoop

Do tricks on the trampoline with the animals

After each game, they would get a piece of candy. There was also a tight-rope walk behind them in this picture (it's just colored duct tape on the deck).

Hannah, Sadie, Heidi & Grace

Then we went inside and ate lunch and opened gifts.

And then ate cupcakes & icecream!

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Hannah's First Day of Preschool

I don't know who was more excited for the first day of preschool - Hannah or me!! I'm pretty sure it was me!! This cute girl is LOVING preschool and I'm so grateful that she loves it and that she gets to go with her best friend, Heidi. They go 2 mornings a week and I am loving the time with just my sewing machine and Hailey!

Life with Hannah

Life with Hannah is interesting! Because she turned 3, we had her get rid of her binkies. She's done really well with it, but has instantly given up naps. She was taking a 2-3 hour nap each day and easily falling asleep by 9:00 at night. Well, no more! This stinker now crawls into bed with us each and every early morning and then takes quite awhile to go to sleep at night. Because of that, I've often found her like this:


Which is fine (other than the marker she's holding right over the carpet), but it's always at 5:00 at night. Her new thing is she also completely undresses to go to the bathroom, including taking the rubberbands out of her hair.

But, amazingly, we love this little girl so much! She cracks us up each and every day and it's been fun to see her begin preschool, start a new gymnastics & dance class, and listen to her talk and talk and talk!

Back to School

We had a great summer, but I always love the beginning of a new school year! The kids started on Monday, August 22nd and so far, they are all having a great year! Emily's in 6th grade with Mrs. Kjar (pronounced "Care"), Lindsey's in 4th grade with Mrs. Horne, Jack's in 2nd grade with Ms. Jackson and Kate is in Kindergarten with Mrs. Tomlinson.

The hottest 2 weeks of the summer decided to happen the first 2 weeks of school, but the kids seem to be really enjoying being back and are loving their teachers. Kate had to wait an extra week to start, which nearly killed her. We even had a horrible stomach bug go through our entire family (except Hailey!) and Kate was so determined to go to Kindergarten the first day, that she waited and got sick the next day.

One more week and Hannah will start preschool 2 days a week and I'm just a little excited to think of 2 mornings with just Hailey. Hopefully she'll take a nap most of those mornings and I may actually have a wee bit of time to myself!

Lindsey made her bag at sewing over the summer - sooo cute!

First day of school - August 22nd

First day of Kindergarten - August 29th

Literally running to school (out of excitement, not tardiness)!

Kate's so happy that her friend, Josie, is in the same class!

Worlando Beach 2011

We had the BEST trip to Worland, WY at the beginning of August! We had looked forward to this trip all summer, and it was absolutely wonderful! Once again, Aunt Claudia & Uncle Bruce gave us memories to last a life time!!



Ashlie (my cousin) and her cute kids (Riley, Max, Abby & Tom) and my cousin Matt and cousin Annie, were already in Worland when we arrived on Monday. Becky & Brooklyn arrived Monday night. Meg & Lucy arrived Tuesday. Mike & Ryan (Ashlie's husband) arrived on Wednesday. Richard, Misty, Sophia & Peter arrived on Thursday. (Thursday night was the night that EVERYONE was there, so their house had 27 people in the house!!!)



We had a blast! We sewed, visited, laughed, launched rockets, raced boats in the canal, went to Maverick a ton for candy & pop, played the Wii, ate delicious food, exercised, played games, played kickball, ate snowcones, watched movies, took naps....



The thing that we'll remember most though is PIG WRESTLING!!! Yes, pig wrestling! Some people take their kids to Disneyland for summer vacations, we take ours pig wrestling in Basin, WY. We put together 5 teams (PeeWee, Junior, Women's & 2 Men's teams).

(To watch the videos of the wrestling, go to my sister's blog at: www.jbmortensenfamily.blogspot.com and scroll to the August 16, 2011 post).

Aunt Claudia, Matt, Misty and I sat in the stands with the babies - Brooklyn, Sophia, Hailey & Lucy (and Hannah) and cheered and cheered! I'll explain more through the pictures....

Our Jr. Division - Emily, Annie, Abby & Max


Most of our Pee Wee Division (Tom, Jack & Lindsey)

Our Women's team - Meg, Becky, Riley & Ashlie

Excitement before the wrestling

Kate & Jack watching them fill the "Pen" with dirt, water and Bentonite (a substance to make it very slippery).

Emily & Becky

Meg & Bruce

Uncle Bruce, Richard, Mike, Max & Ryan

Our little ones in the dirt before starting


So, our cute little city kids, were the very first team of the entire night. They didn't get a chance to watch anyone do it. Kate, Jack, Tom & Lindsey got right in there though and tried and tried. They looked so little out there. I was so proud of them, especially Lindsey who picked up that pig several times and tried to carry it to the barrell.

Quick side note: each team had 60 seconds to catch the pig and get it butt-side first into a barrell in the middle of the ring.

The crowd would go wild every time Lindsey got the pig like this - she worked so hard!

Her little red face shows how hard she worked to get that pig up in her arms! My heart still skips a beat thinking of Lindsey carrying that pig!

Next, was the Junior Division. We didn't realize this beforehand, but they introduced each time and "auctioned" them in front of the crowd. People would bet on which team they thought would win! Ours sure looked cute out there!

Almost their turn - I love Annie's expression!

Last minute advice from Ashlie

Annie, Max & Abby

That pig's face was absolutely covered in mud! Our cute ones tried so hard too!

Can you even see that muddy pig's face?

Then our 1st men's team went. We originally registered 2 teams, but some weren't able to come or be there yet, so most men just did it twice. Our first team was: Richard, Mike, Jon & Ryan.

Slippey, slidey Ryan!

These guys had a pretty good pig that let them get a hold of it, but...

The buzzer went off right about now! They were so close! I love Mike's head sticking up from the back.

Hey Mike, where'd ya go?

Oh, there's Mike again!

For the second men's team, Uncle Bruce replaced Mike. Uncle Bruce isn't used to slippery surfaces!

Rich with the 2nd pig!

Uncle Bruce's graceful fall!

Our women's team were the very last team of the whole night! What a great group of women!

Becky, Riley, Ashlie & Meg

It was dark by now and so the pictures are horrible! Dumb flash wouldn't get take them very well! This is the back of Meg running after the pig!

For those of you who watch "Sister Wives" on TLC, Emily & Lindsey noticed that Logan & Hunter Brown competed. This is Logan.


Anyway, pig wrestling was great! We got home really late and everyone was covered in nasty, grimy bentonite, but I seriously laugh myself to tears every time of think about it and love all these people more and more!

On Friday, we rented out the local pool for 2 hours and had the pool to ourselves. It was a little cold, but really fun!

Peter & Hannah

Kate

Matt & Kate

Brooklyn, Becky, Meg & Lucy

Hannah being her usual helpful self.

Sophia

The babies: Lucy (10 months), Hailey (4 months), Sophia (1 month) and Brooklyn (6 1/2 months)

Thanks again Aunt Claudia & Uncle Bruce!!!!