Roasting Marshmallows

One of the nights we were staying with the Ballards we ventured outside to have some fun!

It was kind of chilly, but the campfire kept us warm

How fun to have a fire pit right out your back door!

{Ryan would SO love that}

The ladies didn't mind that it was TOTALLY dark outside, they still liked jumping on the trampoline

{Ella is FINALLY not afraid of them. She's been terrified for as long as I can remember}

Ella and me
{Jack was sleeping, which was a very good thing. I don't think that Jack and fire would go well together}

Preston, Lisa and Paige

Silly BOY!

We had so much fun, just enjoying the cool weather, chatting, drinking hot cocoa and roasting marshmallows!

Happy First Birthday Preston

Today is Preston's first birthday!

Hope you have a happy birthday big fella!

{I was able to take his birthday pictures while in Utah, isn't he adorable!?}

Hee Haw Farm

One of the first days we were in Utah we went to HeeHaw Farm in Pleasant Grove. Ella and I had been there before. Check it out here! Of course we got all of the girls twinner shirts.

We are ALL about being twinners.

Picking out our pumpkins!

Avorie, Ella and Paige

Best buddies!

Look at this HUGE slide!

All of the little girl's were so excited to go down and did, over and over again.

Nobody got scared!

So us old Mom's decided that we should go down too.

We screamed the whole way down! That thing went so fast!

Preston and Jackson

Watching all of us girls being crazy!

We all got to go on a hay ride. We thought it was just going to go around in a circle, but it didn't, it took us all over the farm.

Some scary characters were hiding in the corn fields and throwing candy to all of the children!

They all got so much candy I thought they would get upset tummy's!

Eating all of their candy!

The girl's loved to swing!

***

They all loved the animals too! They were all brave and held chickens and bunny's!

Ella's favorite was getting to ride the pony!

Ella, Adi, Avorie and Paige

Jack loved, loved, loved this tractor! He would have stayed on it all day!

He just sat there and sang and sang!

He was very upset when I tried getting him down. It took me a few minuets.

Lisa, Me and Tiffany

{isn't it funny how we all were wearing brown!? What were the chances of that?}

We had such a fun day.. all together again!

Meet the Robinson's

When we got to Utah we headed straight to our friends- The Robinson's!

The Weather was SO NICE

60 degrees with the sun out and shinning

The kids got right into having fun ridding bikes in the cool weather

Jack loves being outside!!!

Dang, I didn't get any pictures of Ella on a bike. She was so sad. She still has to use

training wheels

Avorie is a crazy woman on her bike!

She's so small, but man she was jumping that bike and swerving all over the place!

Then we went inside to meet our newest friend

ALIVIA!

Ella loved holding her and feeling her soft skin

Jack REALLY loved her!

He surprised me with how gentle he was with her

Wanting to hold her just right and lightly kiss and hug her

Time for a new Bailey baby??

No

Give me at least one more year

While staying with the Robinson's we had a lot of fun

Playing down stairs

Playing in the back yard

Playing play dough

Playing computer games

Having sleepovers

Movie/TV nights

Ice cream Sundays

Plus

Lot of eating and shopping!

Jack and Adi got along really well together. They played together a lot


The little girls
The big girls

We had a lot of fun, it felt like old times hanging out at their house
So many fun nights we have spent there!
Thanks Tiffany and John for having us! We all really did have a great time with all of you!
You're such a sweet family and such good friends to us!
We love you!
While there, that first weekend we were able to attend Lisa's little sister Jill's wedding reception
Jill looked so beautiful and Blaine seems like such a nice guy

That was the first time that we were able to meet up with Lisa and her family

They were so busy with the wedding!

Preston is so grown up!

Doesn't Lisa look HOT! Whoohoo!

more to come.......

And the journey began...

Our trip to Utah started very early

I kissed my husband and packed up the kiddies into the car all before 4am

Ella zonked out before we got to the freeway

Jack stayed awake for a while, but he was good

He just looked out the window at all of the lights of the city

{It was still very dark outside}

It was raining. That reminds me, I need new windshield whippers. Bad.

We made it out of town just before morning traffic

Jack soon fell asleep though too

and neither woke till flagstaff

Perfect

We saw some lovely sites throughout our travels
The children were wonderful
I'm sure they could not have been any better
What's so amazing is, in this time of technology when my 6 year old teaches me how to use my computer, we went the whole way without anything other than our radio
Jack can now sing "single ladies" oh oh ohhhh oh oh oh ohhh oh oh!

Ella got a hold my camera
Looks like she and "sister" were having a little fun


After 11 1/2 hours, three potty breaks and two gas tanks later we finally made it to familiar territory!
You're looking at the amazing city of Spanish Fork. Hehehehe.

After the long drive we all felt surprisingly pretty refreshed

It went by quickly

We were so excited

Let the fun begin!!!!

Back from our Utah Adventure

We are back in Arizona.

We had so much fun in Utah!

Pumpkin patch

a baby blessing

Shopping

Walking to the Park

Dinner and Movies

a Wedding

Riding bikes

Having hot coca around the fire

And much, much more!

Millions of pictures coming soon!

ok, well maybe not millions.. but a LOT! Plus don't forget to check out my photography blog! I had a couple photo shoots while I was there!

Isn't She Lovely

On Saturday the kids and I were out running errands.

Nothing too exciting.

Ella almost always HATES running errands.

{She would almost never leave our house if she didn't have to}

Ella, she was in a pretty darn good mood though!

Very helpful and happy.

She told me, Mom, today it's my lucky day!

And she was right.

There were many many many small things that happened throughout the day that made it that much brighter for our little princess, but her most favorite thing was when we walked into a little boutique in town.

We go in there sometimes, just to look and never to touch.

Much to much money.

This time as soon as we walked in the lady behind the counted called to Ella, saying that she was the cutest little girl she had ever seen.

Nothing new to us of course. ;)

She asked if she could do Ella's hair.

They do those kinds of things for birthdays and parties for little girlies who have much to much money.

But Ella got it done for free, because she was the cutest.

She soaked it all in as the lady pinned and spayed everything into place.

Finishing off with a HUGE sprinkle of glitter!

We thanked the lady so so so so much and returned to our tasks.

However when we got home Ella brought me my camera.

She was right, how could she have such cute hair and not take some pictures!

Of course when you have cute hair, you have to have a cute feather hair clip and a cute scarf!

She really is the cutest girl that I've ever seen too!

Love You Princess!

I'm so glad it was your lucky day. It was my lucky day too, because I got to spend it with you.

Alright, I shouldn't be blogging!

I have too much to do!

I leave for Utah soon!

I really need a vacation you know.

No, I really do.

Although I have to make it there first.

Me, two small children on a 10+ hour trip- ALONE!

That might sound daunting, but I'm looking forward to it.

Putting some road behind me. Feeling the wind in my hair.

And being able to see old friends whom I have missed so dearly.

Having hot coca, going apple picking and talking walks in the fall leaves.

You can look forward to seeing many many many pictures of my kids and others children wearing sweaters and jackets and looking adorable!

So until then............. wish me luck!

No more Monkey's SLEEPING in my bed

Somehow this little monkey has been sneaking into our bed again.

Goodbye big boy bed, hello again baby crib.

I thought that I may have been jumping the gun a little.

Too bad it takes about a million more hours to get the front of the crib back on. Only takes a second to take it off. Oh well.

Look at this boy, I CAN NOT sleep with that anymore. He starts off so nicely snoozing, then he turns into the crazy bed bug as the night wares on! Lots of hair pulling and wiggling.

Not to mention dare we ever lose his passy in the sheets!

Ryan, he's oblivious to all of the commotion most nights.

He has his wall O-pillows and his own special silky blankie that almost nothing can bother him,

until the alarm goes off, or the occasional little foot that makes it through the mote.

I AM DONE!

***

Did you see, he's wearing big boy unda-wares!

We thought, hey, why not just give the undies a try.

Everything was fun and games until someone pooped their pants.

He loves wearing them though. So he does. Almost everyday. Over his diaper.

He's so into car's, trucks, trains, planes, helicopters and motorcycles!

Basically anything that he thinks he could drive.

So, he loves his Thomas undies!

***

We have been teaching Jack how to make some different sounds:

What's a kitty say- meow

Things like that.

But by far, his favorite thing is when I ask him what a car says!

He says Broom Broom!!

{Not, Vroom, vroom! Hehehehe}

***

A boy and his naughiness

Jack's latest obsession... TOOTHPASTE!

This kid loves anything mint flavored!

Gun, ice cream, chap stick!

But he's true love is toothpaste!

I know, i know, it's terrible! And I NEVER let him snack on it.

Somehow he always finds some.

I am now keeping all of the toothpaste in the house up in my closet on a very high shelf.

I now have to get it down for Ella twice a day. And then remember to get it back from her to put back on said shelf.

Although, this afternoon I did come upon Jack standing on top of his big orange car, in my closet, trying to get the stash. He's one smart little guy.

{Picture is of the toothpaste bandit standing on Ella's bathroom counter, doing as I have just mentioned.}

The other night, the lazy Mom in me decided that pizza was the only thing that I could handle.

So OF COURSE we got Papa Murphy's. There is no other pizza to our little Bailey family!

I had the kid pizza in the oven {Peperoni and back olives, of course} when I hear some strange noise coming from the kitchen! {I was busy working on some new sewing projects, yeah!}

THIS is what I found.

I guess that he was hungry, saw that dang pizza just sitting there and decided that he needed a slice. Did I mention that it was still UNcooked!?

I know that some kids have a hard time with utensils. Not Jack. He's ALL about the utensils! You should see his skills with a fork!

He knew that he needed to cut the pizza, but with what? As you can see he tried many things. Included the actual pizza cutter. But dang, the cover made that hard.

Next best thing, my pretty pie crust maker thingy, it's almost a little pizza cutter.

Smart I tell ya, smart.

{Other utensils tested, can opener, knife, potato peeler and several wooden spoons!}
When Ryan got home he asked "what the heck happened to the pizza!?" I only have to say "Jack" and all is understood.

{if you haven't ever got pizza from Papa Murphy's, you should, the cowboy is way yummy!}

He actually managed to eat a lot.

Which isn't good. It says right on the label. Don't eat uncooked.

Luckily he made it through the night... without barfing!

He is so naughty!

However, every once in a while he'll do something I feel so proud of, it makes it all worth it!

THIS is what I walked into the other day.

Yes, yes, he had spilled a few fishy crackers on the floor. OK, or the whole bag.

But that doesn't matter, because what he did next was adorable!

He went and got our little broom and dust pan and swept them all up and threw them in the trash! He did a darn good job too!

This last picture cracks me up!!!!!!

Look at that concentration!

A boy after my own heart!