He's TWO!

Danny today Danny's 1st b-day

Danny 9 months

Danny 1 month

Danny's first day home

All about Danny:

He loves balls and stuffed animals - especially teddy bears.

He loves his big brothers and copies every move they make.

He's loves the trampoline. He'll just go out there and jump by himself.

He says the CUTEST "Mah-meee" that makes me giggle. (it took a long time to get that magical word out!)

He answers "yeah" to most questions.

He says "nyah, nyah" for banana... also super cute.
He has an attitude about what clothes I put on him!

He can run very, VERY fast.

He loves books. I love finding him in the boys' room with a pile of books around him!
He loves to chill in our bed and watch his "show" (Baby Einstein) It buys us an extra 15 minutes of half-snoozing.

He might be small, but he tends to bully his big brother, Cole.

And of course, Danny is just the most pleasant, happy kid. When things are going his way - you just can't get enough of that big grin and chubby cheeks.

And check out Danny's new found talent.

Wolf Creek

We spent a week at Wolf Creek with Shayne's siblings. Unfortunately, we never had all of the families together at once - there were rotations throughout the week - but, we had a great time spending time with cousins! Here are some pics - and I narrowed this huge post down from 200+ photos!!

Boating and tubing. Hunter got more courageos each day. Cole would get his 1 or 2 times, and he was back in the boat. Danny loved snacks on the boat.
Here's Hunter with two cousins, Julie and Chylee, being brave to let go of the handles! I think Steve (the driver) was being pretty nice to them.

My boys just chillin' at the pool.

Hunter lost a front tooth while there. He wrote the sweetest letter to the toothfairy and made her a cumfy little resting spot... in hopes she'd stop to rest and leave a little extra money.

"Dear tooth farye. I hope you like your bed I shind my tooth twise so it shood be shiny. I'm sorry I coodint make sheltr. PS can you tell me wut you do with the teeth? from Hunter

this is olso a pichr for you"

We did a "hike" one afternoon around Powder Mountain Ski Resort. I use that term very loosely - it was a walk in the nature... not very fast and not very far. The view was SPECTACULAR at the top of the mountain and we managed to get a group shot! (shown at the end of post)

Cole is so sweet - always finding flowers for mommy.

More time at the lake. The kids found "MUD" - rather than sand in abundance. So, here are the full body mud masks.

And Cole made a "pile of poop" (with mud, of course).

The evenings were my favorite time of the day. Danny was quite the center of attention with all these girls around! We wish these girls lived closer to us (1 lives relatively close) - but gosh - think of all the babysitters I could have!

Hunter and Carson playing on the beach.

Hunter playing soccer with his cousins. We're so lucky to have these boys living close to us.

Shayne came prepared with games and more games for everyone to play. We'd invite everyone over to our unit after dinner and we hosted games such as Pictionary, Settlers of Catan, and Crainium. Here are pics from Crainium night... boys versus the girls. And, yes, the girls RULED the night.

Here is the group shot from the hike earlier in the week. It seemed like a good photo to close my LOOOOONG post. We love being with our extended family. How lucky are we to have family who not only comes to vacation close to us - but we LOVE BEING WITH THEM. We are looking forward to seeing everyone this Christmas!

another "Cole" story

As you know, Cole is a very funny kid! His primary (church) teachers keep telling us about how he just says the funniest things, all the time! Well, a few Sundays back, Cole's friend was telling the class about his loose tooth. Cole said, "I want to see it!" and he went to wiggle it. He didn't just wiggle it, he grabbed that little tooth and pulled it RIGHT OUT!! Luckily, his little friend shed NO tears and thought it was funny - and FYI, his parents are the teachers of that class. I'm glad they enjoy our funny Cole and all his musings. He's so GREAT!

Happy 4th of July weekend!

The best part about holidays is having daddy home from work! He had an "early-out" day on Friday and we spent the evening with our friends on this great little hike to a waterfall. LOVED IT! Saturday was busy with a family picnic, dollar movie with our boys, and fireworks. We carried our camera with us all day, and didn't take a single picture. phooey. Monday we spent the day swimming and then had Shayne's family over for fireworks. It was a fabulous weekend!

When I was a freshman in college, I went on tour with the BYU band to Southeast Asia (Taiwan, China, Phillipines, and Hong Kong) for 3 1/2 weeks. I did not understand culture nor did I have a great appreciation for my home country until that trip. Don't get me wrong, the trip was amazing and eye-opening. I loved that experience. When we landed in LA and came through customs underneath a HUGE American Flag - my heart swelled with pride for our land of liberty and freedom. It was an amazing feeling that I can not forget. I'm grateful for the sacrificies of our forefathers and our grandparents, and even our neighbors who continue to defend and sacrifice so much for all of us to enjoy this amazing country. This is a blessed land and I'm thankful to be a part of it. Happy 4th of July to all!

YEAH for peaches!

I love the cheers and shouts of joy when I'm buying produce. You'd think that I never buy produce, but there are lots of things that just get those boys EXCITED! I have my list of produce to buy, but how can I say no when they ask for a plum? or grapes? or peaches? I kept saying yes and they were simply THRILLED with all the goodies mommy was buying them. Honestly, they shouted with joy and it made me giggle. Who knows what the others around us were thinking... I was extremely PROUD of those gleeful shouts!

By the way, that reminds me that Cole keeps asking in his prayers that the vegetables will grow in our garden. I keep trying to tell him that I didn't plant any vegetables (it's a berry patch this year) and well, that means no tomatoes. But, he keeps on praying for them! LOL.

I {HEART} NYC & DC

We had the fabulous opportunity to have a kidless get-away to NYC and DC this past week. Here are some picture highlights!

Riding around Central Park - definitely the best way to get around that AMAZING park!

The pit-stop next to the big tree that protected us from a sudden cloud burst! (and gave me a chance for a cat-nap!)

Look at ALL THOSE BUILDINGS! How does this place continue to exist while I live in my cute suburbia neighborhood?!?!

This was a "MUST DO" on Lea's list. We saw a clip on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" about a marshmallow milkshake in NYC that was to die for. Ummmmmmm, can I PLEASE have your secret recipe?!? I can't afford another trip to get one!

We got to see Phantom - a first time for me (Lea). LOVED IT!!

Yeah, I got to meet Rachel Ray - she was super nice.

You can tell that Shayne got all flutter-hearted when he saw this dude.

This is Shayne's highlight of the trip.

If you didn't figure it out yet, those famous people were all at Madame Tausade's - a wax museum. LOL!


The Catamaran Ship we sailed in to see the Statue of Liberty. Too bad the weather had a turn for the worst and the majority of the trip was me sitting under that little canopy afraid of getting soaked to the bone. It was still a great experience.

Us, on the boat. And I have to say at least ONE of the many pictures we asked strangers to take for us, worked. Seriously. Can people really not take a picture?!?!? Our experience is: NO.

This is me with my Great Aunt Lorrie. She was so kind to let us stay with her in Brooklyn - that's how we afforded such a luxurious trip!! Thank you Aunt Lorrie! I hope I can be as healthy and active as she is when I reach her age.

When we left NYC, we went to Atlantic City. But, I guess I didn't even take a single picture there. It was so fun to just take a day off and lay on the beach!! We managed to NOT get sunburned - and enjoyed walking up and down the boardwalk in the "mini las vegas" of the East Coast. We grew to HATE all tollways and there is an ABUNDANCE of them when driving on the East Coast. Seriously, it was ridiculous. We made it to DC and enjoyed some time at the National Museums. My favorite museum was the "Holocaust Museum" - but no photos were allowed while in there. Definitely a place I wish I could have spent another 3 hours.

This is the "Red Castle." We just liked the look of it!

I love the GRANDEAUR of the buildings in DC. WOW.

The guy who took this picture for us, had an amazing camera. I thought, SURELY, this guy will be able to snap a picture for us? Well, it's fine.... crooked, but fine. It's better than the "heads cut-off" ones or "what, you wanted a picture with you AND the Time Square buildings behind you?" Whatever.

Coming home was as adventurous as our entire week! We managed to to arrive at our plane's gate - after the plane had pulled away. (TRAFFIC WAS NO FUN) We did get on a flight for the next day - but every one of those flights were delayed. UGH. When my sister asked me what the highlight was for my trip - it was being with Shayne. It's rare that we can have a conversation and not be interrupted! Thanks hon for a fabulous week. And a HUGE shout-out to all the family who took care of my little ones. It wouldn't have been possible without you.

Memorial Weekend

Well, I don't have many photos to prove our adventurous weekend - but we had a lot of fun with Aunt La-La visiting us from Georgia. I wish she lived closer!! It was a great week to have time for 4 of my 5 siblings to be together and just love being in one-another's company. We spent some time in Heber - including a fun "hike".... well, it was a long, slow walk when you have 5 kids under the age of 7 together! But we survived our adventure in the woods and got in the car just as it started to pour. Whew. We also enjoyed a visit to Bridal Veil Falls and Shayne was crazy and took Danny and Hunter WAY UP HIGH.... my camera doesn't have a zoom to prove why their mommy had a LUMP in her throat the whole time they were up there. Glad everyone survived and had fun. Thanks La-La for visiting us - we LOVE YOU! But we vote you bring Greg next time too - we missed you Greg.

Flashback for Boyd

Several years ago, Hunter made this special book with help from his personal scribe, Boyd. Hunter knew the stories he wanted to tell and the picture to go with them. I wish I had written down the year he wrote this - but I'm certain it was before school days. Enjoy!