Utah - 4th of July - Saturday/Sunday

We made our way to Utah for the 4th this year. We got to stay for 9 days of craziness and fun! The trip started out with a lot of driving, all day Friday. We settled in that night and Saturday was the start of the fun!

Saturday we made our way to our parents houses to see everybody. And in between we hit up my 10 Year High School Reunion. It was a busy day. We ended it with Fireworks in grand ol' West Point... with the Chapmans. (Who we love and miss deeply!) Kayden or Cordell?

Jackson

Harrison

Haylee. (I should have taken some while it was still light?!)

Sunday we went to church in our old ward, which was fun and weird at the same time! :) And then headed over to my parents house for the Salisbury Celebration. It was a blast! We ate A LOT, played volleyball for like 4 hours (my body hurt for 3 days!), and ended the night with fireworks! We got to see lots of family. The Biedlers, cousins, aunts and uncles, Grandparents, Great Grandparents and Great Great Grandpa were all there, so we took some fun pics. It was an awesome 4th of July!

5 Generations

I would explain this picture, but... ya well. :)

The kids got to have a sleep-over too! They had so much fun they didn't go to sleep until it was Monday! I love this holiday! And I love that it lasted 3 days for us this year! :)

Little White Dress

I am obviously not a photographer, but I am what we have! So, I made an attempt. She was VERY angry, but we got a few. She looked so pretty in her dress! :)
PS. To my Photog friends! If you have any pointers or suggestions, I would LOVE them! I am probably going to try one more time, I just don't know what to do to make them look better! HELP!

Lil' Chef

It makes sense... food is his favorite thing! :) He has to be in the kitchen whenever we are cooking. He always wants to see or help. He was helping me make hamburgers! (Not my favorite thing to squish, so be my guest!) He loves to "play" kitchen and prepare food! Everything and anything is food he wants you to try! He even uses his train cars and cargo! If there is a play kitchen in your house, that's where he is! We should probably get him one! haha! But in the mean time, he is my helper, and that is totally ok!

Sunshine

Yep, that's what she is! And we LOVE her to death! She is 5 1/2 months now! 24" long and about 13 lbs. Her hair is growing like crazy! She is loving her walker and still trying to love her bumbo chair! She LOVES her baths and her dad! Happy almost all the time! Patient, not so much! :) Not too fond of her car seat either, so the upcoming trip should be LONG! :) Sweet baby girl!

For Fun

They could do this ALL day! And they were laughing so hard they were probably peeing a little bit! They are SO funny!

FHE like Rock Stars

We set a goal at the beginning of the year to do better at consistently having family home evening. I'm pretty proud to say we have done pretty good! It's almost always some form of chaos, but they like doing it! And any lesson that involves fighting/battle/swords is a favorite! :) (Of course!) I don't write about them very often, but we had a lot of fun, and I got some funny pictures!

Follow the Prophet was Harrison's song of choice, it's his favorite song! I need to record him singing it, it's hilarious! (We even have to sing it at bedtime!) Then Patrick did the lesson on Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty. Jackson always gets very into the stories! He loves to hear them! Harrison was running around, making a lot of noise, probably still singing! He's 2, what can you do!? Then after the lesson we let them make there own Titles of Liberty. They drew pictures of the things they love and then we attached them to a stick!

They were very proud of their work! And last, for an activity, was Rock Band (or Rock Star to Harrison)! Jackson is pretty good at the drums and an even better little singer! Twice he outscored both Patrick and I while he was singing! :) Harrison liked drumming, but the guitar was his favorite! He has a pretty good Rock Star face he likes to do while holding the guitar! He wasn't actually playing, but he didn't know or care! :) Some pics from the concert! (Yes, Jackson has been Optimus Prime for a few days now!)

Miss Reagan was a good little audience! :)

They were playing Hungry Like the Wolf! Jackson was howling! And well, you can tell where they get there enthusiastic Rock Star attitudes from! :)

We don't always have the best structure, our lessons don't usually have anything to do with our activities and the song is usually one they pick. Last week we learned about the Golden Rule and then taught them Go Fish with cards! They're 2 and 5, we improvise! But they remember the things we talk about and we have fun together as a family! :) I am SO glad we do it!

To Dad:

I thought it would be fun to let the kids help write this! So I sat them down the other day and asked them about their dad... Man do these boys LOVE their dad! Jackson wants to be him and Harrison can't wait to beat on him! :) I don't know if he knows, but he has a fan club, and these fans are pretty dedicated! :)

Jackson:

(He was VERY enthusiastic and excited, he said A LOT, so I had to paraphrase! But talking to him really is this random.) "Dad is the best dad in the whole wide world! I am going to be like him when I get big. I am going to get married and be a dad and be a border troll. And I am going to be really really tall. He is really really tall and strong. I think that's kind of pretty cool. And I love him! A lot! I miss him when he is at work. I want him to be safe, and we say prayers. I love him to the moon and back to our new house!"

Harrison:

(Very serious face.) "Dad uh get bad guys... (Grunts and sounds I couldn't identify. Something about you being really big.) Dad uh wanna fight! (Fists and crusty look!) Dad stwong... (Showing muscles.) And dad sweeping uh a go to work. I wove you! I wove you moon and back to a house!"

Reagan obviously couldn't be interviewed, but it really isn't necessary! He is her favorite person in the whole world! And she lets him know all the time! :) Such a daddy's girl! The boys made him cards! And he got a new scope for his gun. (He picked it out and bought it himself! So naturally he loved it!)

We spent the evening with the Elams, celebrating Kerri's birthday and Father's Day. When we party, we party! And Patrick got to show the boys how to shoot! (They're bee bee guns.) Both of them took it very seriously! And they had a blast! :) We had a great day! He's not usually one to spill his guts and talk about his feelings, but there is no doubt when it comes to his kids, he loves being a dad! They mean the world to him! He works so hard for them. He prays for them. He worries and stresses about them. He likes to pretend it doesn't ruffle his feathers when one of them is sick or scared or hurt. But he's the soft one! Yep, he's the one who will lay down with Harrison on days when he won't take his nap... both of them on a twin bed! He's the one who gets excited to teach Jackson something new and sets time aside to take him out and practice! He also lets those boys beat the crap out of him on a regular basis! He's the one who jumps up first to go check on Reagan when she makes a weird noise in the night!... He kisses them before he leaves. And he loves that they light up when he walks in the door! It's kind of a big deal... being the center of someones universe! And he gets to have it times 3! :)

To our Dads: Thank you for always being the other kid! For all of the hard work and for showing us how to work, even when it meant lots of hours away from home! For our home! And for making it a safe place to be and blessing it with the priesthood! Thanks for being a teacher, a mechanic, a handy man and a road map! People make a lot of jokes about how many hats moms wear, but dads pile isn't much different! What would we really do without you!? :)

Happy Father's Day!

Ha ha ha haha ha haha ha!

She has the funniest laugh! It gets us all going!
...And apparently, her dad is freaking hilarious!
PS. You'll have to pause the music at the bottom so you can hear it!