4th of July

We had a fun 4th of July and how lucky are we to live in such a great country!  I tried to talk to our girls about why we are celebrating but they didn't get it.  However, they did like waving their flags they got in Nursery.  Side note, I love our nursery leaders...have I ever told you that?  I do, maybe I'll write about all the fun things they do with the kids and how excited and loving they are to all the kids.

Anyways, 4th of July morning started with our annual neighborhood bike parade and breakfast.  They even rented a bounce house that the girls enjoyed jumping on.  I didn't get any pictures though.

For lunch we went to my parents and had a family bbq of hot dogs and other yummy food.  We didn't stay too long because I wanted to make sure we got good naps in for fireworks that night.

After dinner we headed over to Sandy with most of my side of the family to listen to music, hang out with family, play 'cards with numbers' (Siena's current obsession!...thank you Jennifer) and of course watch fireworks.  Once again all our kids did great staying up way past their bedtime.  Even Jaron was happy as ever.  They loved the fireworks and I wish I had a picture of Jaron trying to reach out and touch the fireworks as they were shot into the air, it was so cute.  It was a great day and loved celebrating our freedoms we all enjoy.

Goold Family goes to 'The Ranch'

The end of June we went on a Goold Family trip.  My brother in law Brett's family owns a ranch house in Grover, Utah, which is right outside of Capitol Reef.  They invited ALL of us down to spend a few days there and we had sooo much fun.  Each family got their own room so it was plenty big for all 34 of us. My sister Christy and her family go all the time and we always hear how fun 'The Ranch' is so I was excited to finally be able to experience it for myself.

I'm loving the fact that my girls are getting a little older and can just go off and play with cousins, which doesn't happen all day but for part of the day at least they went and played and didn't have to be right next to me like they did on our trip last year.

They loved the trampoline and thanks to cousin Max they kept showing off their trampoline skills by 'doing a ffflllliippppp!'  in their best Max impersonation voice.  Which meant falling on their bottom.

We went into Capitol Reef with everyone one day to play in the park there, go on a nature hike and then of course have some ice cream.

I love these pictures of my girls playing together. Their faces are just so cute to me.  They're just off playing in their own little world.

Then just we went back a 2nd day when the older kids went on a bigger hike somewhere else.  We saw Twin Rocks, which I renamed to Twins Rock cuz twins really do rock...most of the time.  We also went on 2 short hikes.

One hike Shane and I had been on when we went on a trip to Capitol Reef while we were dating so this picture is a re-enactment of our picture from 7 years ago.  Looks nothing similar and of course cute little Jaron wasn't in the original either.

We went to a fun park in Torrey one night as well.

The cutest part of the weekend was when all the older cousins put on the play Annie for us.  The property is owned by the Hale family as in the Hale Centre Theatre so they have a little summer theatre there and the kids used props and costumes to put on the 10 minute version of Annie, complete with Hard Knock Life and Tomorrow sung by them. It was so cute.

We might have even heard a personal performance by a cousin who will be playing Gaston in Beauty and the Beast international tour, who also just finished playing Javert in Les Mis at the Hale Centre Theatre which was AMAZING!

Overall we just hung out and had such a fun time spending time together as a family.  Thank you Brian family, such a fun treat to finally say we've been to 'The Ranch.'

Cousin Week

Christy and her family have been here all week and we've had a blast doing so many fun things with cousins. The girls have been in heaven going from activity to activity, although my house has been very neglected this week it's been so fun.  Whenever Christy is up here I usually have to work so this was my first time really being able to do all the fun things with everyone and I was soo happy I didn't have to work this year.

We went to the Monte L Bean museum which has been renovated and is so fun.  My girls loved looking at all the animals and probably don't realize they aren't alive but maybe their favorite part was the little slide/play area which is tiny but they love.  We ate at the Cougareat for lunch...memories.  I hadn't been there in sooo long.

One evening we went up the canyon for dinner and smores.  The girls loved throwing rocks into the river and they even survived going potty in a 'camping bathroom' of which I barely survived having to take them.

We went to the new Curiosity Museum at Thanksgiving Point which I think Jaron had more fun then anyone there.  Kidding, everyone had a great time but Jaron was in love with this water table and threw a fit when I took him out.  Then the little crawling areas they had he was in love climbing all over and even learned how to go up the steps and down a little slide.

I might have lost the girls once for about 3 minutes when they ran off to climb up a jungle thing with their cousins and I didn't see them leave.  I was panicked at the thought they were freaking out and couldn't find me but of course when I looked up and saw them up here they were smiling and waving and didn't know I had just run upstairs to the front desk wondering if anyone had 'turned them in'

We also went to Classic Skate water park.  The girls love the little pool and slides and it's so nice to always have a cousin there to catch you as you come down.

I even made it to a movie with my sisters to see The Fault in our Stars one night.  Loved it and luckily I only got a little teary, not the messy cry that I thought I would be.

Only once this week did Siena wake up and when I told her we were going to play with cousins did she say 'no cousins today mom, just family'  ha ha, she was more then excited to see the cousins anyways.

Tomorrow is one last family dinner before the Brian's head back home and boy is next week going to seem boring after the fun week we've had.

Siena's First Haircut

It was finally time to trim up Siena's hair.  I have been putting it off for a long time only because I don't want to cut off her cute curls at the end of her hair.  But it was looking scraggly and we were getting family pictures done so I broke down and cut it.  Here are her before shots...

Siena was soo excited to get her haircut.  She remembered when Aria got hers cut and she came home with a balloon.  So the days leading up to her appointment she kept telling me Saturday at 11 o clock I get my haircut and I get a balloon.

When we actually got there she wasn't quite as excited and was a little nervous but sat down and as long as I kept talking to her she was fine. The lady commented that Siena had more hair already then she has...yes she has thick hair just like her mom.

It was a little shorter then I thought it would be but it's nice to have it one length and there is still a little curl left on the ends as well.  It turned out cute and Siena was so happy to have her balloon.  And sure enough when we walked in the door and Aria saw the balloon, we immediately went to the pantry, pulled out a balloon and blew one up for her as well.

Father's Day

We made a celebratory weekend out of Father's day this year.  I got Shane a bike trailer to take the kids on bike rides with.  He had been looking at them since last year and we just never got one.  The kids love the rides and Shane likes taking them, as long as it isn't too hot.  The girls will be too big by next year to both fit in them for more then a ride around the block, so then it will be a father/son bonding time.

Shane and I also went to the One Republic concert Saturday night.  It was fun to get out for the night and my cute niece Ella babysat and did such a great job.  When we got home she had little frogs on the table and said I promised them a little frog if they went right to bed.  As soon as they woke up the next morning they asked me for their frogs.  Such a cute idea and they loved the little activities she brought as well.  The concert was good and I didn't realize I knew so many of their songs.

Father's day was spent at church and then a dinner at my parents.  I love the 2 dads in my life, my dad and the dad of my children.  They are both so attentive to me and our children and always look out for me as well.  I can say that equally about both of them.  I love them!

Jaron - 11 Months

The countdown to 1 has begun.  Jaron turned 11 months this last week and the only way to describe this month is he is on the go and busy.  He never sits still.  In fact his 11 month picture is the only picture I could get him still enough to take and not get a blurry picture of him crawling away.

Jaron is into everything!  He is a climber.  He climbs up on chairs, the girls little table, he'll use me as a step to get up on the couch.  I'm in deep trouble with him and his climbing. He's standing and letting go and he thinks he is so great when he lets go.  However, he gets so excited about it that he immediately falls.  He'll walk around with his walker or anything that will slide.

He finally learned to clap...it took forever but yay for watching a cute kid clap.  He loves to play with doors. He likes to swing them open and closed and a door can entertain him for quite a while.

Jaron got his first tooth this month!  It actually happened right after he turned 10 months.  So that makes it 7 month earlier then Siena got her first tooth.  Maybe we won't still be trying to get the Incisors to come in at 2 1/2 years old...sheesh.

He's been really good and flexible lately with his sleeping.  If we get home late or I need to put him down early so we can get him up to go somewhere he just goes with it.  He is rarely that unhappy about it.  And in fact we just took him with us to fireworks and he was up until 11pm and didn't make a fuss about it all, still the happy little boy we all know.  Everyone comments on what a smiley boy he is and he really is, you just look at him and he will usually give you a big smile.  He still has his sweet, happy demeanor and I hope it stays that way for a long time...or forever...is that asking too much?

He loves to feed himself and many times will swat my hand away while I'm trying to feed him his breakfast. He also gets so excited to see me still.  He can be totally happy and fine, playing or someone else can be holding him but if he sees me or hears my voice he gets so excited and comes right over to say hi.

I need to start figuring out how we're going to celebrate him turning 1. It's going to be a party for sure.