Twin Lakes

It was a great year at Twin Lakes, we had really hot weather. Thankfully my parents brought an AC for their cabin, which was a life saver. I got in the water almost everyday to swim, which is saying something. The kids had fun knee-boarding and tubing everyday. Ella did all on her own this year and wanted to do it everyday, thanks to Talia and Aunt Janet who were willing to double knee-board with her. Tanner loved tubing and was willing to try knee-boarding. Ella jumped off the dock all on her own this year and Tanner learned to swim way out in the deep water all by himself, with a life jacket of course. Thanks to Aunt Trina and grandma who helped Tanner overcome his fear and swim on his own. They both were so brave and tried lots of new things. I had fun relaxing, hanging out with my mom and sisters, eating too much yummy food, and swimming everyday. Dave was able to go fishing every night with my dad and got to water ski everyday.

Freedom

Our 4th of July was a fun filled day. We started with the Pasco parade, which mostly consists of classic cars, farm equipment, motorcycles, and a few other fun things. Kids love it every year. The kids love the candy being thrown and this year some were throwing Otter Pops. 

We then headed over to the church for a lunch, a bike parade, and water games. It started off a little rough. Ella had a pretty bad accident coming down I small hill. She isn't great with her breaks and so she used her foot to slow down, ended up scraping her shoulder pretty good. At least her wreck was pretty awesome and the whole ward saw it. We are slowly working on riding her bike again, she pretty much has been sticking to her scooter. 

Later that night we went to a friends house for a BBQ, swimming, and later watched fireworks. Tanner almost made it the whole night, he fell asleep 5 minutes before the fireworks started. 

 Girls gathering more candy.

 What you can't see in this picture is Tanner screaming with excitement, he loved the farm equipment and motorcycles.

 Dave playing tug-a-war with several kids. 

 Ella with her friend, Tayvin.

 The girls hanging out in the car. 

Tanner loved this four wheeler.

Utah

We were able to drive down to Utah to visit Dave's family. As always, we had lots of fun and did lots. We went to a petting zoo, regular zoo, fishing at the hatchery, the planetarium, a water park, and had lots of fun playing with cousins. We saw most of his family, we ended up not being at to see one of his brothers. We were also able to have a family party with most of Dave's family on Tanner's birthday, we had some yummy cake and sang to him. 

We had a few memorable moments driving 10 hours there and back. On the way there Ella had some major gas, we had to air out the car at least hourly. Luckily she eventually starting giving us warning, she thought it was pretty funny though. On the drive back Tanner was taking a nap, he woke up in the middle of it and starting giggling and said a few funny things for a minute or so and went back to sleep. It was so random and gave me and Dave a good laugh. 

 Emmy and Ella taking a carriage ride at the petting zoo.

 Grandma has some good dress up clothes, Tanner seemed to enjoy them..

 Planetarium.

 Fishing at the hatchery, the kids love it.

 At the water park I just watched, I love this picture of Tanner. Ella was splashing them. 

 Dave sister decided to do a Alice in Wonderland party just for fun. The made hats, did pillowcase races, ate yummy cupcakes, and had a treasure hunt to find the white rabbit. It was so cute and fun. 

Dance Recital

Ella had her last dance recital and finally got to wear her very expensive outfit that we waited MONTHS for.  She did a great job and will miss dance but mom needs a break, especially with a new baby coming. We need to simplify our lives a bit, I also have not been impressed with the studio so if she does take dance again we will be going somewhere else. I think she looks pretty stinkin cute in her outfit though. I didn't take any pictures of her at the recital because they asked us to not take pictures and so I didn't bring my camera. 

He is THREE

I can't believe my baby boy is three, and lets just say he is definitely three. He has become very independent and wants to everything himself. He really is a sweet little boy, who gets mad but is always willing to say sorry and give kisses and hugs to help correct the problem. Its funny because he has become the bully in nursery, he used to be the kid that got his toys taken and I think one day he decided he was tired of it. It looked much more appealing to take the toys then have them taken. We are working on it. We love Tanner and love having him in our family. 

For his birthday we celebrated it early with my parents before we left to Utah. He was so excited to open his presents and have a helicopter cake, he has been talking about it for weeks. We had a family get together in Utah on his birthday too and we had cheesecake and a delicious chocolate mouse cake that was divine. 

Little Graduate

Ella's preschool had a little graduation for the end of the year. I know its a little ridiculous but it was pretty much the most adorable thing to watch. The kids sat up on stage and sang several songs. Ella's preschool teacher handed them their certificate but before the kids received their certificate they spelled their first and last name. Ella was the very last one called up and she did great. Ella's teacher, Miss Molly, is probably the best preschool teacher a kid could have. She loves what she does and I loved knowing that she loved Ella. I know Ella will miss her.

A cute little story about that. A few weeks ago Ella's Elementary school had an open house where the new kindergarteners could tour the school and meet the teachers. The next day I found Ella in tears, when I asked her what was wrong she told me that if she went to kindergarten that she wouldn't see Miss Molly anymore and that she would miss her so much. 

Another funny story that I was told about preschool. There is a little boy that has seemed to like Ella for a while. I found out that they were outside playing the other day and he was putting his arm around Ella and he also sneaked in a little kiss on Ella's cheek. Later I asked Ella what she thought of this boy kissing her, she told me that it was okay because it wasn't sloppy. Yeah, I think we might be in trouble. 

On the program there was a section with what each child said they wanted to be when they grew up. Ella said, "a school teacher, because I really like school." We'll see if she continues to feel that way about a school teacher and school.

We did a little photo shoot before the graduation.