Summer Time Love

We love to go boating in the summer time!  Love, love, love it!  We decided that we needed to get our kids doing more than just riding the tube.  Brad looked around online and found something called an EZ Ski Trainer.  It was a little pricy, but being the amazing online shopper that he is, he found a store selling it for half price.  Awesome!

It got here last Wednesday and on the box there was a picture of a little blond boy about the same age as Cade, riding it.  Cade took one look at the picture and said, "Oh Mom, I be SO good at this!"  That night Aleah and Cade practiced in the kitchen.  One would sit on the EZ Ski and say, "Hit it!" and then stand up and the other one would hold the other rope pretending to be the boat and say, "VROOM!" They would say, "Faster!" and the "Vroom" would get louder.  Then they would say, "Cut it" and switch places.

They were ready to do it for real Thursday afternoon.  Cade was so excited to be first and Aleah was excited to be second.  They both did great!

We got to go out on the boat again on Saturday.  I had fun wake boarding.

Cade loved going first on the EZ Ski again!

Aleah had fun going second again and even tried jumping over some bumps!

Brad loved riding the air chair!  He did a really cool backflip one time when he crashed.

The kids spent most of their time looking over the side of the boat.  They found a dead fish, "EEW, gross!  If anyone crashed they would ask, "Are you ok?"

We had to try to dodge all the thunder storms, which made things even more exciting and refreshing!

Cade is really getting into building things.  During his quiet time the other day, he built this van with a trailer.  He was very proud of it and saved it until he could show his Dad.

Aleah is now 4 1/2!  She is so amazing, smart, cute, funny, talented... and just growing up too much!  She is our early bird.  We think that she wakes up around 6:30 most days.  When she wakes up she will look at her clock and if the first number is a 6 then she will rest or go back to sleep until it is a 7.  Once it is a 7 then she can read (look at) her books.  The other day she asked me, "Mom, why does it take my timer so long to get to the 7?"  I had to laugh.  Yes, time goes very slowly when you are watching the clock!

She has been "reading" her Book of Mormon in the mornings.  She says, "It's really good for me to read my scriptures in the morning!"  I love that she even has a book mark!

I don't think that I will ever be able to express how grateful we are to have Aleah in our family!

She loves to help out around the house.  She will come into the kitchen and say, "Mom, I want to help you make dinner.  You love me to help you so it goes faster!"  She is right, I do love having her help me.  It's nice to have company and a helper in the kitchen.

Aleah has been playing tickle monster with Cade.  She will chase him and tickle him.  It's so cute to see them playing and laughing together!

She loves her CTR 4 teacher Sister Peterson and all her friends in her class at church.  There is only one other girl in her class, Lexi.  Aleah and Lexi are cute friends.  Aleah was so excited when Lexi finally got a scripture bag like hers.  Lexi also had to get headbands so that she could be like Aleah.

Last week her lesson was about missionaries and she colored a picture of a missionary.  She had to do two pictures, a girl and a boy, so that she could have one for Cade as well.  She is so thoughtful!

I'm so thankful for the blessing of being a Mom!

Independence Day Fun and Relaxation!

Our Independence Day tradition is to go to Brian Head with Brad's family.  This year it ended up that we were the only ones who could make it to the cabin.  At first we thought that it was going to be strange, we have never been to the cabin by ourselves.  We missed our family and Aleah and Cade missed their cousins, but we had so much fun together and it was nice to relax and enjoy the cabin just the four of us!

Thursday (the 4th) we went down to Parowan for the parade and celebration at the park.  When I told Aleah and Cade to smile for the picture Cade said, "Aleah, take a picture of Mom taking a picture!"  They are so funny! 

The Parowan parade is so much fun.  Aleah and Cade loved getting candy and seeing the firetrucks.  Cade would wave and say, or should I say yell, to everyone who passed us, "Happy 4th a July!"  When Aleah didn't get a piece of candy she would say, "I didn't get one this time.  That's ok!"

They had fun jumping in the bounce house.

The highlight of the day, and what they were looking forward to, was running in the race.  Cade kept starting to run before the guy said go and Aleah would quickly get him back to the line.

They kept looking over at each other as they were running.

After the race they both got popsicles and they shared with Brad and I!

We did some geo caching.  Actually, Brad and Aleah did some geo caching.  Cade fell asleep on the way so I stayed in the Pilot with him.

The dirt roads were so dusty, this is the dirtiest our Pilot has ever been!  But, it was fun.

Aleah helped me make dinner.

We had to have smores and tell stories by the fire while we waited for it to be time to go to the fireworks!

This was the first year that we had Aleah and Cade stay up for the big fireworks show.  Therefore, it was also the first time since Aleah was born that Brad and I have been to the big fireworks show.  We got the kids in their pjs, put the seats down, and parked by the side of the road with the back of our Pilot facing the fireworks.  We had so much fun!

We played Go Fish while we waited for the fireworks show to begin.  It was funny to watch Cade, he was so hyper and could not sit still.  He kept going over to the back window and saying hi to everyone.

It was the perfect setup.  Before the fireworks started it started raining.  We were protected from the rain and could see the fireworks perfectly!

When Cade was asked what his favorite fireworks were he said, "They go up up and then they all mix together."  He showed us with his hands as he explained it to us.

It was so much fun.  Aleah and Cade loved it!  Toward the end of the fireworks show Cade sat down by me and said, "I'm all done with fireworks.  I want to go to sleep in my bed now."  As soon as the fireworks were over Aleah said, "I'm going to go to sleep on the way back to the cabin."  Then she talked the whole way home.  Haha, she's just like me!  As soon as I lay down to go to sleep, I get really chatty. 

The next couple of days at the cabin were very relaxing and fun.  We had a great time taking the kids out on the 4-wheelers for the first time.  We saw some deer, other wildlife, and beautiful views.

Aleah and Cade loved sitting together in the chair behind Brad!

Cade took this cute picture of Brad and I by the fire.  He is such a good little photographer!

We always have fun running races on the deck!

On the way home from our wonderful vacation we stopped at a restaurant for dinner and Aleah got a balloon turtle bracelet and Cade got a balloon sward.

That night when we were home and I was tucking Cade into his bed he said, "I don't want to sleep in my bed, I want to sleep at the cabin!"  It is safe to say that since we left the cabin, we have all been wanting to go back.

Our Utah Lake

Aleah and Cade feel like Utah Lake is their lake!  When we are driving and they see it they say, "I see our Utah Lake!" Or sometimes they will say, "We go on Grandpa's boat to our Utah Lake."  They ask, "Why is our Utah Lake so big?"  They were very excited to go to our Utah Lake on Saturday!

We always have fun swimming!

When Cade was watching Brad wakeboard he said, "Wow! My Dad is SO good at the wakeboard!"

 At lunch time we like to hang towels up to make a tent.  It is really nice to sit out on the lake in the shade, eat lunch and visit!  I love this family!

The kids had a fun time playing ring around the rosie with Grandma.  When they would fall down, they would all put their faces in the water, blow bubbles and then laugh.

Aleah and Cade enjoyed practicing their swimming.

And then it came to the most exciting part of the day, tubing!  The boys went first.

They loved it and said that they were going to stay on the tube, forever!

The girls went second.

They had a great time!

All the guys redeemed their Father's Day gift last week.  They went shooting after work.  They had a lot of fun!  We had fun too.  We went swimming!  Nothing better to do on a hot night.  Aleah started diving in from the step and swimming all the way to the bottom to get the diving ring.  Cade started going all the way under to get the diving rings on the step.  They LOVE swimming and I LOVE swimming with them!

My parents set up a swing set in their back yard.  It is a big hit!