Brinley's Favorite FIVE birthday party!

Brinley had a little pre-birthday party on June 18th! We celebrated with FIVE of her FAVORITE things: Friends, Dancing, Art, Ice cream, and the bounce house! The kids had a great time! Thanks to all the little gals that came!

MaKayla, KD, Avery, Brinley, Kylie, McKinley, and Casen


Brinley rockin out to Justin Bieber :)


The girls all did a great job painting... but I forgot to check which side they were painting and some of them were backwards, oops!


Brinley takes her "artwork" very seriously. She wants to be an artist like her Aunt Jess :)


Getting ready for icecream sundaes!


The yummy line up! I took orders and then created them all before handing them out... actually a little harder to pull off then I expected!



I love seeing kids crowd around to see the presents!


Brinley LOVED all her presents, I was glad I could catch just one of her excited faces!


They had SO much fun in the bounce house! I wish I could of captured it, but it is hard to take pics of a bunch of bouncy girls!

Lake Powell with the Nelsons!

May 30th - June 2nd we went to Lake Powell with the Nelson family. Despite it being windy and the water being freezing, we had such a great time! It was so fun just getting to spend time together as a family! My kids LOVE their cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and ofcourse their grandma! They only wish we could of stayed all summer! :)

Casen with his big boy cousins - Mack and Brigham


Olivia, Calli, Brinley, Rachel (her fav. cousin on that side :)) Brooklyn, Mack, and Brigham

All being brave in the cold water! Brinley doesn't really care how cold the water is, she just loves swimming and playing in the water!



Grandma Q and Marlee. I walked in to find these two smiling at each other and was glad I had the camera in hand!


Straton and Brinley... the kids were literally on the beach all day!



I love it when Casen actually keeps his sunglasses on!



They did a little talent show and Brinley loved watching everyone. Brinley and Casen both had a great time showing off their gymnastic and dance skills! We took video though so I don't have any good pics!


Marlee chilling with Dad and loving the talent show.


Brinley and Rachel had a great time out on this little island/peninsula right off our beach.


Casen and Brooklyn wanted to join them but they can't quite keep up with the big girls. Notice Casen in his basketball shorts and t-shirt. He does not like cold water and asks to get clothes on after barely getting wet... then he forgets and gets his clothes wet. Vicious cycle.


I LOVE this lake! I have got to go to Lake Powell nearly every summer for the past 20 years and it just never gets old!


Grandma Q and Casen going "climbing rocks"


Brinley Boo and Rachel - Rach is a year older but these girls get along great!


Alex played out in the sand with the kids and built a huge sand castle. Brinley had so much fun and ofcourse didn't want to come in for dinner!


This sweet girl spend a lot of time in this little bouncer, including sleeping at night. I was so glad we brought it!


We had a little Family Home Evening lessons on the blessings of the temple. We are all so grateful for the sealing ordinances in the temple that allow us to be sealed to our families for ever and for the knowledge that we get to see Grandpa Galen again. Afterwards we each built our own temple out of marshmallows.


No surprise that Casen was more interested in eating his marshmallows :)


The marshmallow temple collection! I was pretty impressed and some of the creative minds!



Brinley's Temple :)

Lake Powell Days 3 and 4

Aunt Becca painted little Marlee's toes - she happened to have just the right color that matched her outfit perfectly. Her little toes sure looked cute! Thanks Becca... and Jeff for helping! :)



Poor Casen was exhausted but refused to nap, fortunately he fell asleep on the couch twice - yay!


This is Straton, he is about 16 months. Seriously such a cutie! Love those cheeks :)



Casen and Ryan in the kayak... the older Casen gets the more scared he gets in this thing!


The grandkids playing games, I love it when the big kids include the little ones.


Mars just hanging out. She's so good at that :)


Stinkers with Stickers


Anna was such a good sport and let these cute little girlies do her hair!


Casen was pretty excited when he got this water gun, maybe the most fun he had had yet on the trip!


It took quite a bit of talking into to get Casen in this tube, but then he loved it! He never wanted to stop. Go Case! Brooky did great and sat so quiet the whole time!


Anna and Brinley got going pretty fast but Brin was loving it... that 's my girl :)


Laughing about how awesome she did :)


Grandma Q and Brinley coloring one last time before heading home.

We had such a great trip!!

Miscellaneous May!

May was a great month! If the wind would just stop, May's weather would probably be my favorite!

I caught Marlee in a half-yawn, I just love when babies yawn!


Showing off her new shades.



The kids and I went on a Sunday walk and found this little treasure stuck in a tree... it is still in our toy room more than a month later!


Casen LOVES to play with Marlee, it's not always the safest, but I am glad he loves her. He was pretty excited about giving her a ride on his bike :) Ryan wasn't as thrilled when he saw this pic!


I think he actually thinks she is his little doll. Marlee is such a good sport!



"Helping" me make jam!


Two tired girlies


Marlee at 2.5 months



I could just look at this face all day, I can't get enough of her!!



I was driving and couldn't find my sunglasses... it wasn't until I looked in my rear view mirror and saw this that I realized where they had gone.... nice Becca, nice.


Casen wishes so bad he could skateboard, but he puts his skateboard to good use where he can.


The girls coloring together-ish.


Co-op! I love letting my kids go play and having kids come play at our house! I don't know what we will do when we leave Vegas one day!


The kids made up some random game and wanted Marlee to play. I set her swing by them and found her like this a few minutes later. They will be really excited when she can actually play!


Case and one of his favorite snacks - Yogurt with strawberries, bananas, and granola! Also a favorite of Ryan and Brin.


Miss Marlee helping me cook :)


Casen split his little head, AGAIN! He fell off the back of the couch and hit it on the window sill as I was literally walking downstairs to go pick up the babysitter! The next 20 minutes consisted of blood everywhere, inconsolable little boy, not being able to get a good luck at the cut, not sure whether or not he needed stitches, not sure if we were still going to dinner, etc. But 30 minutes later after washing his head in the sink and finding everything to be "ok" we were off to meet the Noyes' for dinner!


Kara and Clay just moved to Utah and this was our last night out with them. They are wonderful friends and we have loved the fun times we spent with them! We will miss them and their cute kiddos very much!!


Casen, Tre, Brinley, Kylie

I love the concerned face Marlee often makes in her sleep :)


Brinley made this robot out of legos, I thought it was pretty good!


Enjoying dinner in the backyard... in the wagon


Casen using the tongs to pick up his cars, I love his creative little mind! :)


Brinley was pretty proud that she could pick up 2 at once, I love her "happy she did something" face :)


Casen was in desperate need of a haircut, but I had kept putting it off since he doesn't usually cooperate. One night when he wouldn't go to bed I said he could stay up if I could cut and ta-da! Looks like I cut Brinley's hair! Poor boy! Now it is nice and short for the summer!