Father's Day Week

The week of Father's Day we did a lot if fun things. On Father's Day we couldn't go to Morgan because Tyler had to teach young men's but we went to Tyler's family's house. We had burgers and hot dogs and I made peach cupcakes for dessert. 

On Monday for make something Monday we made muffins. Braelyn had a lot of fun stirring the batter and helping pour it in the cupcake liners. 

Take a trip Tuesday found us in Tooele to visit my new nephew. My grandma doesn't drive on I-15 so she came to my house and I drove us there. Braelyn got to play with Caydence and we got to hold a new baby. Win-win! 

On Wednesday we went to play with Danika, Karli, and Sierra. Braelyn played dress up and Braxten was showing off for Sierra. She would scoot so of course he tried scooting. He was fascinated by her. She is exactly 2 months older than her but he is already much bigger than she is. I love her grin!!

On Thursday we didn't really do much. We just stuck around the house and cleaned and played. The story is same for Friday. I worked so it was pretty lackluster. 

Saturday we had the Dickson family reunion and Tyler raced his bike from Kamas to Evanston over mirror lake highway. He took 6th so that was pretty cool. It made for a really long day though.

So there you go! Sorry it was so boring...Hopefully next post is more exciting!

This Week's Fun

In my last post I talked about the fun we were going to try to do weekly. Here is just a little update on the fun things we did this week:

For make something Monday, we made crepe paper art. We weren't able to finish because Braelyn lost interest, so we are going to finish on Monday.

For take a trip Tuesday we went to the Air Force museum on Hill AF Base. Braelyn really enjoyed it and thought the airplanes were huge and fun.

For wise Wednesday Braelyn went to Grandma Matson's house and learned how to pull weeds. We also did a lot with the letter A throughout the evening. I have Braelyn enrolled in a week long summer preschool camp In July and her new backpack came! Yay for $3 amazon! She also decided to try her hand at putting on her own makeup. :)

For thankful Thursday, we made cookies for Uncle Josh and Sister Taggart because it was their birthdays. We wanted to show them we were thankful they were born and for everything they do for us. I love serving in the primary with sister Taggart, Sister Nicholas, and Sister Davis. (Josh really isn't a sibling, but we became great friends while working together at Deseret Book. Tyler and Josh enjoy spending time together and he loves my kids as if he really were their uncle.)

Uncle Josh meeting Braxten for the first time

Finally, for have fun Friday we were lucky to have daddy home! Braelyn had fun with him while I was working, and when I got home she got to fly her kite! She even made her own PB&J!

All of these things were fun for Braelyn and Braxten just tagged along for the ride. We were able to get him a doorway bouncer and so far he enjoys it which makes me happy!!

Picnic at the Park

I have been trying to come up with some ideas to make this summer more fun for the kids and me. I found this really awesome post on Pinterest and I am trying hard to live our summer by it:

Monday is Make Something Monday

Tuesday is Take a Trip Tuesday

Wednesday is Wise Wednesday

Thursday is Thankful Thursday

Friday is Have Fun Friday

On Mondays I am going to alternate between making a craft and making a treat with Braelyn. Tuesdays are going to be spent doing free or almost free activities. If you have ideas for this one let me know! Wednesdays we are going to work on our alphabet. I will do a different letter each week and do an activity associated with that letter. Thursday we are going to try to serve others and show our thanks to neighbors, friends, family, and so forth. And finally, Fridays we are most likely spending with a picnic at the park! What's more fun than that?! I'm hoping this can relieve stress as well as get us out of the house and bring Braelyn and I closer together. She is a very headstrong little girl and we tend to butt heads a bit :)

I have a few pictures from last week's picnic in the park. There is also a picture from the 5k we all ran. 

 Left to right: Amy (she took 6th I believe), Dale (4th) Marilyn, Claire, Aaron, McKinnley, Braxten, me, Tyler, Braelyn

 Cheese! Oh wait SQUIRREL!! (This is how I feel when I take pictures of this child...)

 Mmm.... PB&J Sandwiches, yogurt, grapes, and carrot sticks! (Mom! Don't forget to pack carrots!)

 Braxten loved checking out the great outdoors! He was fascinated by everything!

WEEEE! Going down the twisty slide!

Well that is it for today! We are heading to the Hill Air Force Museum after nap time! I'll be posting on that later!

Braelyn's 3rd Birthday

On Saturday we celebrated Braelyn's third birthday. We had a lot of fun. At one we had a couple friends over and they had a ball together. I told Braelyn she could invite three people and she picked cousin Caydence, her little neighbor friend Rilyn, and my friend Karli's daughter Danika. Danika couldn't make it, but the other two were here. I forgot to snap pictures, but they colored Rapunzel coloring pages, popped bubbles, and decorated cupcakes. Then the three of them watch Tangled until they left with their parents. Then at 5 we had family over for pizza (Braelyn's request) and cake and ice cream. Here are a few pictures I got from that:

Her balloon avalanche on her birthday

The birthday invitations we made

Tissue paper Pom poms I made

Punzel was in the corner and her "hair" was draped all over the ceiling

Her braid coming out of the tower Tyler made 

Opening presents

And last but not least Braelyn's birthday cake:

It took a lot of time but the look on Braelyn's face made it completely worth it! She loved her "Punzel cake" and kept talking about it all day long :)

It was a fun day, but I was so exhausted from late nights/early mornings to get it ready that I felt so sick on Sunday. Luckily I don't have to plan anything anytime in the near future!!

Where has the time gone?

Braelyn is 3!!! Where has the time gone? Here are some words that describe her:-- (The first letters spell out THREE)

T- Terrific big sister
H- Helpful
R- Rambunctious- in everything she does
E- Enjoyable
E- Empathetic -she is always so worried about the people around her and how they feel :)

I love my little princess. She brightens my day. Every morning she walks into my room and says, "Mom, the sky's awake so I'm awake so we have to play." It never fails to bring a smile to my face.  :) We are having a Rapunzel birthday party for her tomorrow so I will post pictures of how that goes later :) 

She wanted Braxten to watch punzel with her

Her "boyfriend" uncle Nick. She loves him

She loves to hike!

Being helpful!!

I love this girl so stinking much!! Thank you for coming to our family Braelyn! You made me a mom and for that I am forever grateful!! MUAH!!