US

This is a picture Mark took a while ago. I thought that the kids were funny in it. Brigham in his ever superhero stance/Look.

These two pictures have a story to it. The other day Lissie was at the table eating or coloring. Alex took this rope and was tying her up. Obviously, that didn't go over too well with Lissie. She kept crying. I told Alex to go find a stuffed animal or doll that he could tie up. He was gone for a while and then he came out from his room with this in his hand. Goofy all tied up. It was quite the job.
A better look at the hanging.
LISSIE IS POTTY TRAINED!!! Well she's been mostly potty trained for quite a while, but since we put the stipulation of 7days and nights in a row it took a little while. She'd make it 7 nights but on the 7th day.... We let the kids choose a toy. She wanted a princess. She decided that she wanted this little Sleeping Beauty doll.
Also, one of my friends sent me this pattern for a smock. I made a little jumper with it. This is the front.

This is the back.

Our Week in Photos

Dad came home for lunch and we were all dancing at one point. The three kids attacked Dad and were dancing like this. I tried to get photo proof, but wasn't quick enough to catch Brigham, who actually took this photo.

Have you ever made a crystal garden? We did this week with the kids. They are now at the point of cluttering up the counter, so we told them we would take pictures and keep them for a couple more days, and then bye bye.

We also received a scooter this past week and the boys have enjoyed learing to ride it, especially Alex. The only thing is that its the easiest to ride it out front, and I have to be there with them. (Which isn't a problem except I don't get much done). I decided I'd get the dandelions out of the yard while I help. I also help Lissie and Brigs around as they aren't quite as steady yet.
Here's Alex practicing. He's still learning to turn and put his foot up. He tried to miss Lissie the other day, but hit her and made her fly. She now has a nice little goose egg on her head. She cried the other night that she wanted Dad to help her with her ouwie, but he couldn't because he was at a meeting. The one time she wants DAD.
This is how I found Lissie asleep the other day for nap time.
I decided to try making some applesauce using the apples from our trees. I was inspired by one of our friends who had made some applesauce. Here the kids were really excited to help. We also have made a couple of applecrisps, and we have more to do.
Yesterday I found Brig and Lissie on the floor sharing and coloring together. IT was cute.

Life

Things are going well. Unfortunately I forgot the camera when we left our house to go down south. Mark's brother came home from his mission. It was really fun to see and he seems great. We also got to hang out with my family, which was fun. I have a brother that decided it was okay to move out here with his wife and family. Well at least for a year and a half. So we got to see them as well. We had a blast and wish we had to camera to show the fun we had.
Here's beard time.
If you look closely Lissie was painting and got paint on her nose.
Here's some beautiful flowers that some wonderful people sent me! Thanks. They are beautiful.
Okay so this is what I looked like after it all. Do I look 50 years older? It was great fun.

Our House

This is a little mess thekids made. I was cleaning up something else and they were having a little snack of cereal. They wanted the dust. So I came back and they had had a little bit of fun. Dust everywhere.
We planted some flowers in May. We finally have one poking its face out.
This is our attempt at a garden this year. First are tomatoes, then onions, yellow bell peppers, cucumber, starburst squash, crookneck squash, and yellow zucchini. We have had a few adventures getting it to grow, but we have gotten a few small tomatoes. We can't wait until everything else is grown.

My parents also visited from. We did a lot of fun things and had a blast. However, since they took a lot of pictures, I did not so we don't have any good pictures. The kids all want to visit them now.

Super heros and more!

Mark and Alex decided to mow the lawn on Friday night. Alex didn't want to help drive, but use his own lawnmower. He followed Mark around the whole front yard.
A couple of weeks ago this is how Lissie fell asleep on her bed!

The kids have now mastered the art of flying. They are official superheros! This is Alex.
This is Brigham.
This is Lissie.
Brigham, "I'll protect you!"
And this is the super princess!

Father's day

So I never posted the father's day pictures on this, and I've had them ready to forever, so I thought I'd post them 2 months late! This is a game, guitar hero, that my brother in law got for Father's Day. I'm playing it. I'm not a huge play station fan, but this was actually really fun.

We gave Mark breakfast in bed. He had a little friend until his stake and eggs were gone!

We had dinner outside. Brigham asked Sweet Pea if she would eat with him. He told her after that he likes her. I thought this was darling and nice of her.
This is Papa doing the guitar hero.
This is Mark's mom playing the game as well.

Yellowstone Adventures

This picture was taken in West Yellowstone as we are eating some icecream. The kids got a bit bored sitting there forever.
This is one of the views that was gorgeous.

The following are some of our adventures to Yellowstone. Below is what I believe is Hebgon lake. It is the largest lake of at that high an altitude. Mark loves to get wet. Growing up they always visited this lake and were never allowed to get wet. Now you can see Mark is getting ready to get wet. He jumped in with his clothes on. I thought this one had the kids in it, but it didn't. Same lake before but the boys with Katelyn
And then Lissie in Brigham in the same lake.
This is trying to keep the kids entertained in the car, since we spent almost the most of two days in the car going around looking at things.
There was an earthquake just outside of Yellowstone in the 1950s. I believe that Sweet Pea and Papa (mark's grandparents) were there but Sweet Pea was sick and they went home the day before it happened. She was either pregnant with Marty or he was a little boy. This below is one of the sights you can see. I think this lake is called Quake Lake. There are 2 destroyed homes right here that fell into the water.
This is Canary Springs. Its quite pretty. It does smell like sulfer. This area Mark loves.

This is a deer with rack. We saw a few of these as well as lots of Elk, bald eagle and baby and lots of falcons and hawks.
This is the firehole and the kids favorite part. They have on life jackets. Part of this you can jump on the rapids and float down to this part. That was fun.
This is when we were getting ready to go. Alex was the only one up and was having fun with the suitcase.
This is Hanging Valley. This is really pretty.

Alex being entertaining in the car.

One day Lissie wanted an apple. It was about the same size as she is. Lots of people made comments about it as we passed by them.
This is a grizzly bear. (The black part on the yellow grass in front of the trees for those of you who were wondering). He was walking around. I was amazed at how close people were trying to get to this bear. The day before there were bear here before(probably the same one) and he got up on his back legs and the rangers told everyone to leave. (Julie was with her inlaws and told us about it.)
Brigham being silly in the car.
This is a buffalope (as the kids call it) walking right past our car. You can see these all over the park.


So those are some of our adventures. Now I need to go take care of my kids. 2 of them have caught the flu. Enjoy.