Visitors!

Last week my parents, sister, and nephew came out from Utah to visit for a couple days. We had a wonderful time! We went to the ZOO, Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak, did some shopping and hung out. I was so glad they could come visit!

At the Entrance of the Zoo

Tegan is trying to kill the giraffe.

We were super close to the tiger but could not get a good picture.

I have been the the Zoo 4 times now and this is the first time I have ever seen the bears. They were very active, walking around and eating. It was an amazing sight. I would not want to come against one of those in the wild!

Sabrinna and I feeding the birds!

papa and the kids

The Family!! (notice Tanner and the bag of Cheetos. He loves those things and would not put the bag down.)

Playing in the sand box

Tegan and Sabrinna with balls in their shirts. They thought this was the funnest thing!

Playing in the rocks at Garden of the God!

Sabrinna's first time to carve a pumpkin! She wanted to see the 'slimy' stuff inside.

Its a little blurry but these are the finished results!

At the top of Pikes Peak

I believe you can see 5 states from up on top. maybe its 4?!?!?

It was really windy and Tanner would not sit up so we could get a family picture! its kinds of funny!!

The highest point!!!

Over all we had a wonderful time. We did some fun things and saw some amazing sights! Thanks for coming to visit!

Overload

I have not blogged much this month so there are a lot of new posts. Enjoy!

Tanner-Man

Tanner loves to play with his sister. He likes the dress ups, kitchen set, and babies. You name it he will play with it. Sabrinna has quite the collection of necklaces. Tanner will come in all the time and show me his latest pick. This was too cute not to take a picture of. A very manly builder!

One morning Tanner had his current baby for the day. I look over to see what he is doing and find him putting the baby in the drawer and saying "Nigh Night". The baby stayed there all day!!

It still makes me laugh!!!I love that kid!

Tanner also likes my camera. I think I deleted almost 50 pictures off my camera today. Most of them were blurry and you couldn't tell what he was taking a picture of. These were two of my favorites, the stairs and a picture of my feet while I am getting ready. Perspective of a 2 year old!

Sabrinna's 4

We finally got to celebrate Sabrinnas birthday. She has asked for months when her birthday was. The morning of I let her open the gift from her Dad. He sent it to her from Afghanistan. She has loved the jewelry box!!!!

These are the gifts she got from all of the family. Of course she loved the new toys!!!

She wanted a ballerina themed birthday party this year. This is the cake I made for her.

Sabrinna opening gifts at her party.

A picture with a couple of friends that came to her party. We played some ballerina games and ate the ballerina slippers. She loved the party and after wards was going around the house say "I'm 4, I'm 4." She didn't think she had turned 4 until we had her party even though her real birthday was earlier in the week.

A little bit of everything!

I have been so busy lately that the blog has taken a back seat. Here is a sample of a few things we have done over the last month.

Sabrinna got my camera one morning and took this picture of Tanner. I was a little slow to go get him. He does not look to happy. Pour boy a cup of milk will make it all better!

We keep our balls and other toys in this big tub in the backyard. The two of them decided they wanted to try and see if they both fit. Tight squeeze!

The kids have taken to fighting A LOT lately. Mostly later in the day when we all start get hungry and tired. I felt a nice change would be to go to that park for a picnic. The kids had a great time and it helped limit the fighting for the day. As you can see Sabrinna brought her baby and diaper bag along. These two go everywhere with us. Today they came to the store and her baby sat in the shopping cart. Its funny to watch peoples reactions to seeing a stuffed bear in the shopping cart seat. Some say how cute and others look at you like your crazy or something. Ultimately all that matters is what Sabrinna thinks! And she thinks she is being a good mom taking care of her baby!

Steve loves pears! So I took on the big job of canning some for our food storage. It was a lot of work but I actually enjoyed doing it. In all we got 28 quarts plus a few pears to eat. They were very good and super juicy!

Kellie Got Married!

While we were in Utah we had the great privilege to attend Kellie's wedding. Kellie and Steve were extremely happy and beaming with joy. They had a lot of great support from family and friends. What a joyous time!!!! We are excited for them as they start out together. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Hansen!!!

He's Home!

We had the wonderful opportunity to go to Utah this last week and help welcome home Uncle Kyle! He has been serving a mission in the Ft Lauderdale Mission in Florida for the last two year. It was so wonderful to see him again and wait for him at the airport!

Riding in a shuttle heading back to our car. Isn't he a handsome missionary!

Back at the house! Thanks again Theora for your help with the poster!

Kyle got to meet Tanner for the first time, in "tanner style". He was scratched up, had a runny nose, and cookie on his face for their first meeting. Kyle did not seem to mind. :) Tanner was born a little over a month after Kyle left.

I had a great time listening to Kyle talk about his mission. He had some amazing experience and has grown into a spiritual giant. It has helped me to re-evaluate what I am doing and I want to try harder. Kyle is such an asset to this family and I am grateful for his service, sacrifice, and dedication. We are all better because of it! Welcome Home!

6 Years and Counting!

Its hard to believe that 6 years ago Steve and I were married. The time had flown by and so many things have happened. I am grateful for Steve and his hard work! He sets a wonderful example to me and the rest of the family. He helps me to be a better person. Thanks for a wonderful 6 years. I plan on many more great years to come!

P.S. Thank you for the flowers! Not the best picture of the flowers you sent, bad lighting!

First Day of School!

Make a silly face!

Getting ready for school ...Cheese!

Sabrinna had her first day of preschool this week. Its a half day program and she goes four times a week. She has loved school so far and recess is her favorite part! She loves the swings. It is such a bitter sweet time as a mom. I am excited for her to be growing and ready for new things. At the same time its hard to see your little ones grow up and be more and more independent. In all truthfulness I have enjoyed the quiet time at home. Tanner is sleeping and Sabrinna is at school. The other day Sabrinna asked me, "Mom what are you going to do while I am at school today? Are you going to take a nap?" On day one I did!! She is so smart and insightful.

Sesame Street Show

A week ago we went to a Sesame Street show on post. Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, Rosalida, and Zoey were all present for the big show. Sabrinna was so excited and wanted to give them all a big hug. The characters from the show danced and sang some songs. It was kind of hard to understand what was being said but the kids still loved it. We went with our neighborhood friend Sophia. The girls were dancing around and playing with there Elmo toy, given to them at the door. At one point during the show Elmo and friends started giving out hugs. We were sitting kind of in the back and by the time Sabrinna got up there to get a hug Elmo was done giving hugs out. Sabrinna was devastated! She did not stop talking about how Elmo did not give her a hug or touch her head. It was pretty hard to console her. Luckily with time she did get over it.

Sabrinna and her friend Sophia. Tanner kept trying to grab the camera so I could not get a good picture.

A picture in front of the Sesame Street friends poster!

Waving Hello!

Sand Castles!

The dirt in our backyard is mostly sand. We have joked many times there is no need for a sand box because the whole backyard is one. After a particularly large rain storm the ground was really soft. Sabrinna and Tanner took to making sand castles. The only bad part is Tanner would not let one live long enough for me to take a picture. Oh well! The kids had fun.

Tanner is sitting on where there was once sand castle!

Busy at work filling the buckets!

Camping Trip....to the backyard!

Last week the kids and I set up the tent in the back yard. They loved it! Once the tent was up Sabrinna said she was tired and ready for bed. The time was about 7pm normal bedtime is about 8-8:30. Sabrinna and I slept on the air mattress and Tanner tried to sleep in the port-a-crib. Tanner was up most the night...so was I!

The next morning we woke up with the sun about 5:30AM. We were all very tired the next day and took a nap. Even though we did not sleep the best it was still fun to break up the routine a little and enjoy a beautiful summer night!

The Kids being silly!