Independence Day

I love the 4th of July! It makes me happy that we can celebrate our nation and the freedoms that we have.

I especially love that I get to spend it with my family.

This year we were missing two important little girls, but we managed.

The girls were having their own fun.

Our day consisted of Einstein Bagel, a parade, stickers, hanging out at Dan's sisters house, playing games, eating, and finally fireworks. It was a lovely day and ended really late.

It wasn't as scorching as last year, but it was still hot. We got prepared by finally buying us some misters and a shade thing.

The only thing that would have made it better would have been to have our girls with us.

Happy 4th!

Lately

Ty has been taking swim lessons. She is awesome!! She is learning so much and despite the cold, is having so much fun.

Dan went to scout camp for a week. Oh boy did he have some incredibly funny stories when he got home.

Because he was gone, the crazies and I decided to take a girls trip to Utah.

We went to the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti.

This girlie was mad at me because I wouldn't buy her a snow cone. Apparently I am the worst mother. But the funny thing is she wouldn't leave my side all night and even sat on my poor lap almost the entire pageant.

We had kiddos pretend that they were pregnant.

When I was young, every once in a while on Sunday we would get together with a few family friends and have "treats". Everyone would bring a treat and the adults would sit around and chat and us kids would play night games and whatever else we could think of. It is such a great memory of home. We were able to have "treats" while we were there and it was so fun to see my kids running around playing with all the other kids and to also chat with my "family"!

We went to the Rez.

We also went horse riding.

A couple of my crazies went solo. Jo Jo rode without ANY help. She held the reigns and rode the horse all by herself. GiGi also rode by herself, but she had someone walk the horse. I was a proud and nervous momma. I am hating that I didn't get a pic of GiGi. At one point miss Jo Jo decided that she wanted to have the horse run and so Morgan got on with her and they had the horse gallop. Oh my gosh, she smiled forever after that. I haven't seen her that excited for a long time.

Jenna came down the night before we left. She took my twinners back to her house to stay there for a few days. And I came home with only 2 of my crazies.

I'm so grateful for this family of mine!

Special Weekend!

We were in Utah this weekend. It was a super quick trip, but it was special and very lovely. Friday was traveling day.

Saturday was another traveling day, but only for a couple of hours so that we could see this lovely family get sealed.

Such a great day.

When we got back we had some more fun.

Tazer Fun from Tiffany on Vimeo.

Unfortunately it was such a short trip because we have 2 1/2 days of school left! We loved it though!!!

Spring Break, Easter and a Surprise

It just happened that Spring Break, Easter, and my Dad's 60th birthday all ended up on the same week/weekend this year. How great for us! We spent the first couple days here at home and then the crazies and I headed up to Utah. It was all a surprise for my dad. We showed up on Wednesday and he was way surprised to see us there! We also surprised my sister! I love doing that. We were able to go watch Oak play her volleyball game. Annie didn't like just sitting there and told me more than once that it was boring.

Thursday was a fun and interesting day. Dad found people to watch all my crazies and we drove to a running coal mine at 5:30 in the morning. It was really fun and interesting and nerve racking at some points. Because my dad gave them such a good tour when they went to the power plant, the miners didn't disappoint. We went further in than most visitors and were able to watch them break up the coal and feel the mine collapse behind us. At one point even all the miners jumped when there was a collapse behind us. Here we are all trained and ready to enter!

Thursday was also Dad and Cade's birthdays, so we had a dessert and present party after dinner.

Here they are NOT getting off of their phones. We were trying to sing, but they wouldn't put them down. I have a love/hate relationship with phones these days.

What was funny was that mom and I planned on her getting dad something that would take him out of the house Friday night, so that I could get everything set up for his surprise birthday party on Saturday. When he opened his present, he looked at me and said "sorry, but we are going out of town for the night." But then when Saturday morning came around, he just wanted to get home because he felt bad that they had left us alone.

Friday we got everything ready.

Saturday was the party and it was a good one. I wish that his brother could have been there, but he was in France, so he was allowed to miss. I also wish that I was more prepared and got a picture of him actually being surprised. Oh, well.

Our gift to him was a Top Gun Experience at Sky Combat Ace. He has always wanted to do something like that, so he is excited and nervous that he will throw up.

After the party we had a easter egg hunt. Gigi had so much fun finding her eggs. She kept talking about it afterwards. Love that girl!

We then played tag and kickball.

That evening we went for a drive and we ended up at a house with a pony. The kids all went crazy for that.

Easter was a hit. The crazies enjoyed all of it!

I am so blessed to have so many amazing people in my life. I love them all so much and I'm so grateful for the times we can get together.

We are now home and happy to be. I missed Dan!