Heaven for the kids...well, and Brian

  
 
 

Our friends are making a sandbox in their backyard & needed sand, so of course we needed sand too-right? Brian & Ben figured that it was more cost effective to have the sand man deliver 16 yards to one house, then order just a little bit & deliver it to 2 houses, so we had a lovely mountain of sand on our driveway. Here is my version of the good vs. bad of sand...
The Good: * The Bad:
-The kids play great together & * The kids want to show & yell to everyone in
are creative. our neighborhood, that "Hey look! We got We sand!"
-The kids loved to help. * The kids really didn't help. :)

-The kids are able to make sure that * With every load of laundry I do, which has
all of their clothes are able to mulitplied, I'm able to sprinkle in sand,
hold sand & get dirty well. along with the detergent.

-Brian is re-living his childhood * I have to call them ALL in a couple of times
days & is including the kids. when dinners ready. :)

-We now have a huge sandbox and it's *The nice soft sand, is now all over my kitchen
great soft sand. floor & I get to sweep at least once a day.

-We have great neighbors who came * The other neighbors(who are still great) keep
over with their wheel-barrows & asking why we need more sand. :)-beats me
shovels to help with the sand.

And, the best reason of all, the kids get lots of time playing with Daddy and there is no "bad" about that! He even helped them build a great sand castle last week & gave them each their own part to work on. They were all very creative. :)
*(And no, this has not become the neighborhood Kitty Litter- thankfully we have only had one cat in the back yard, and after it saw my evil eye, he hasn't returned.)

The last picture is my Dad with all 4 of his sisters & their parents (Grandpa & Grandma Smith) Grandpa will be 85 in October, and Grandma will be 82. They are such wonderful people. We were able to have a family reunion over the 24th of July & we all had a great time. My favorite part was visiting with family, getting lost with Kaylie (I think I really "need" a GPS from Santa) :)and playing "Hearts" with the fam. I loved hearing my Grandpa laugh to the point of tears when he played a card that made everyone get points. At one point Brian was laying on the floor in my Grandparents living room and there was an extra pillow beside him. Grandpa came in the room and said something like, "Hey there sport, did you find somewhere to lay down?" Brian told my Grandpa that it was a nice place where he could stretch out & that Grandpa could lay down on the other pillow if he wanted to. Grandpa said that he was afraid he wouldn't be able to get up once he got down. He walked out of the room, and a couple of minutes later, walked back in the room & laid on the pillow next to Brian & talked with him for a little bit. It meant a lot to Brian, that Grandpa was that interested in what Brian had to say & spending time with him, even if it would cause him pain. We are not sure how much longer Grandpa & Grandma will be around for. It is so nice being with them whenever we can. Morgan told a friend the other day, "Yeah, I have 6 Grandpas!" I had to count them and couldn't believe she was right- all 6 Grandpas & 5 Grandmas are still alive and they are each such a blessing to us.

Lovin' Landon

We all love spending time with Landon and doing anything we can to get him to smile or laugh. He is such a fun, cute, & patient little guy. I went into Hallie's room the other day, and Morgan was playing "Dress Up" with Landon. I couldn't believe how patient he was while she put things on his head & dresses on his body. He is such a little sweetheart & we all love him!
 
 
 
 

Sleeping beauties... pictures

 
 
 
 

Sleeping Beauties...

 
 
There is something so nice & sweet about seeing my little babies sleep. I'm not sure if it's that they look so sweet I just want to kiss them, or if it's the fact that they are finally quiet & I can have some peace & quiet time. :) Either way, I love watching them sleep, and it always makes me laugh to see their different sleeping positions. Landon is also finally sleeping through the night & I LOVE it!!!!
 
 

Jackson's birthday cake & the children's parade

 
 
 
 
Jackson wanted a dinosaur cake this year for his birthday, and he was SOOO excited when he saw the end results. I love the picture of Hallie- she looks like she is deciding what part she wants to eat first. We had cake with my parents & his littl cousins a week after his birthday. He was so excited to show his cousins & Uncles his cake- especially that it was cool with dinosaurs on it. :)
The day before his birthday celebration, the kids rode on a "float" with other kids in the ward for the "Children's Parade" the theme was really cute & I think the kids enjoyed sitting and not riding their scooters. The little Pratt girls (cousins) came to the parade too, and we were all ready to go home when it was over. :)

Jackson's Birthday

 
I'm not sure who was more excited about the mini set of golf clubs. Brian had gone shopping (well-actually no, not shopping-Brian doesn't shop) He went "looking" for something at the store with Jackson, and somehow they ended up in the sports section & saw this golf set which they both "needed" to have. :) Jackson was begging us all month to open it & play with it & we kept telling him to wait for his birthay. Right after he opened it, Brian took Jackson and Morgan to go and hit a bucket of balls at the golf course. Jackson was in heaven, and Brian came home to inform me, that not only can his son play well, but our little girl was equally excited & interested in the sport. So... thus begins our life as a golfing family. :)
 
 
 
Jackson had a really fun birthday. We had planned on taking him to see the dragon movie, but I was sick in bed all day & slept while they went and played golf. Luckily I had enough energy to go to the Nuttall family reunion in Heber that night. We had a blast! Brian's cousins were all there & one of them had 4-wheelers for the kids to ride around on. Jackson & Morgan spent the majority of the night riding with people on the 4-wheelers. Brian's cute cousin Laura (who looks exactly like an older version of Morgan) is in the picture riding with them. We had such a fun night eating, playing games & visiting with family. We also had a huge birthday cake for Jackson & we all sang to him. I was thinking this had been a pretty fun birthday for him, so I asked him to make sure. I said, "Jackson, wasn't that a fun day! Did you have a good birthday?" His response, "No, cause I didn't get to ride the 4-wheeler one more time." I'm sure he would have slept on it if he could have. :)

4th of July Parade

       
This year some friends gave us tickets to eat the "Kwansis" pancake breakfast while watching the hot-air balloons. It was really nice & we saw more friends while we were eating. We then went over to the parade, where Brittany had saved us a great spot. We watched the parade with Brian's family & Josh & Janelle(Brian's sister) came down from SLC. The kids were very HOT & Josh & Janelle were so sweet to buy them "Gelato." Every time Hallie came back to the curb where Brian and I were sitting, she had a different colored sucker- I don't think I want to know where she was finding all of them. :) The parade was wonderful & we were definatly ready to go when it was over. We then went and ate lunch at Joe Bandido's and then went and browsed the little shops that were set up. My parents were in Georgia for EFY, so Kaylie spent the day with us. After shopping, we went up Hobble Creek canyon for a party with all of the Nuttall extended family, and then we were on our way to Ogden to visit my Grandparents. (My grandpa had just fallen and hurt his hip, so we wanted to check up them) We had a great visit with them & Brian was sweet to barbeque for all of us. We left at 7:00a.m. and got home at 10:00 p.m. It was a VERY LONG DAY, but very fun & so nice being with family.