7.26.15

 This week was one filled with family. Brett's sister and her kids came from Oregon to visit. She has 5 kids so there is always lots of fun things to do when they are in town. We go together with them several days this week, along with the rest of the family.

S, Nana, and her newest cousin

One of S's aunts brought over some fun things for her a few weeks ago to help her celebrate her forever day. She brought crayons, coloring books, bubbles, and stickers. Stickers are one of her favorite things. She was enjoying them while I was doing the dishes one day, and came to me looking like this.

"Look mom! Stickers! Lots of 'em!"

Our cousins left the day before pioneer day. Their mom and I decided to do pioneer activities the day before they left to celebrate the pioneers coming into the Salt Lake Valley (July 24, 1847). We looked through books to get ideas of the different type of games the pioneers played that the kids would have fun with.

stick pulling

wheel roll (or in our case hoola hoop)

ice blocking (a bit of a stretch, but super fun!)

homemade ice cream

everyone wanted in on it :)

snow cones...just because.

It was a crazy busy week. We love it when they come to visit and get to spend so much time with them. S would ask to go to Nana's house each morning (since that's where the cousins were staying).

We have wanted to overhaul our laundry room almost since we moved in. The builder put the water and vent in the wrong spots, and the least effective way to use up the space that we have in that room. So, we spent Friday and Saturday moving power, laundry vent, and adding water since we are adding a sink in there :) It took a lot more time than we had anticipated, and we aren't finished yet, but we are getting there. We are hoping to have laundry painted and hooked back up by Wednesday...at the latest.

Putting the vent in was the worst part of the project. It seriously took us hours. We had to reach through that tiny hole and hook the hose to the vent going outside. 

7.19.15

We started this week off by celebrating as a family S's "Forever Day". It is kind of crazy thinking that it has already been two years. We decided to get her 2 gifts that let her use her imagination. She loves blocks! She was thrilled when she saw this giant box to create with. We have played with them everyday!

She also really loves music, so we got her a set of musical instruments. She was really excited to open them and start playing. I may go a bit crazy hearing all the music, but I love this creative outlet that she has. She has a great imagination and loves to create things herself.

We went out a few days to go on a walk or ride a bike. She is becoming really good on this balance bike. She can go pretty good distances without having to touch the ground. One morning she rode close to a 3/4 mile on her own. 

We met  up with grandma, some aunts, and cousins to hit the zoo Wednesday morning. I realized on our way out that I hadn't gotten a picture of her to this point so we stopped for a quick photo op. She loved all of the animals and told dad all about them when he got home that night. 

This picture is thanks to Aunt Ashley. That was seriously the biggest turtle I've ever seen.

These two were SO kind to her. She loves playing with the big kids. J & D both took her hands and were her buddies as the adults followed behind. They are a lot of fun!

Our cousins got here late Friday evening. They'll be here for a week. Nana and Papa always do a super fun Halloween party. Since these guys live so far away, they are never here for it. Nana decided it would be fun to do a Halloween party in July to include these cuties. One thing that has somewhat become a tradition is minute to win it games. I loved seeing S participate in things!

cookie from forehead to mouth

everyone enjoying the festivities

one of her favorite "bigger" cousins. They were buddies the whole time we were there.

ding dong unicorn on dad

costumes all compliments of the teenagers picking them out earlier that day at a local clothing exchange.

buddies

kids in costumes

7.12.15

We ended up going to spend some time with my parents. It was fun to have just S/grandparent time. She loved it! Grandparents are so fun to have so close by! Jenny's mom is a school teacher and has the summers off so we spend as much time as we can with her! Grandpa even came home from work early :)

We stopped in to visit my sister and her kids. It was her daughter's birthday, and S had a good time joining in on all the fun! My sister made cupcakes in ice cream cones. Scarlett was in heaven. Two of her favorite things in one treat :) 

We spent one day at a local beach with my sister and her kids. She is employed full time, but because of her son's doctors appointment and preschool graduation she took the day off. S loves being with her cousins, and playing with them in whatever way she can! The water is one of her favorite things, and the weather was perfect at the beach! We were there for nearly 3 hours. I'm not a huge fan of the hot, hot summer days but she has shown me a new love for it by being able to see it through her eyes. 

We went on a walk through local gardens to go see an outdoor movie on Friday. We went with my sister and her kids (plus one friend). S loved pointing things out to me along the way. She loves the outdoors!

waiting for it to get dark

group pic before the show started.

We decided last year that we would celebrate S's forever day with her annually. The first year finalizing the adopting and having her sealed to us was the celebration! Her actual "Forever Day" is tomorrow and we will do something together as our little family, but wanted to do something fun with all of here cousins to celebrate to. Not everyone could make it, but those who did had a lot of fun. Brett spent a good chunk of time designing and making some fun water toys for her.

Uncle Ben is always a good sport to join in the fun!

loving the water!

water gun fight

After all the water fun was over we had a barbecue with everyone who came. It is so nice to have family so close!

enjoying her Popsicle with grandpa

We feel so blessed daily to have this sweet kid in our home. Truly. She is such a fun kid with a great personality. She makes life around here so great. I couldn't imagine life without her!

7.5.15

A couple of weeks ago I started taking pictures on Sunday of our family. We didn't do it in our Sunday clothes today, but its still a fun family picture. I'm looking forward to seeing all of these compiled at the end of the year. 

This has been quite the week. S woke up before 6:00 Monday morning. I had planned to take her to Blackhawk Reservoir in Herriman, but was rethinking that when she was up so early. By 8:30 we were out the door headed for the reservoir since she was still really happy. It was SO hot. By 10:30 it was nearly 90 degrees. I sat in the sun sweating all to allow my kiddo to have fun :) It was totally worth it...but next time I'll definitely wear my suit too :) The beach here is pretty perfect, nice soft sand, big enough for lots of people, warm water. What a fun day!

Our niece had a birthday on Monday and we all went over to have dinner and hang out together. S just loves baby. This is her newest baby cousin. She is in heaven being able to hold him and talk to him. She continued to talk to us during the week about "Baby Porter". 

Since the 4th was on a Saturday this year Brett was able to get paid work off on the 3rd. Provo has a great hot air balloon festival July 2-4th every year. We usually go the morning of the 4th, but opted to go the 3rd this year since we could still go as a family. It was so nice, and so much less crowded. I love how much she loved it. There were so many fantastic balloons. I hope we choose to have this family tradition for many years to come!

We chose to stop at Macey's after the balloon launch for donuts. We let S have whatever one she chose...I actively decided to not be the uptight mom. I didn't try to convince her to have a different one despite her having on a white shirt and choosing a donut with dyed red frosting. She loved it and ate it most of the way home. 

The morning of the 4th S wasn't feeling stellar. She went back and forth between wanting me or Brett. We looked at her and saw a couple of blister like things on her hands. Hand Foot Mouth and been going around the kids in our area, and S conked out in less than 2 minutes of me holding her, she crashed on me. I love those moments when I can just snuggle this precious baby of mine. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to have this run its course. It is a miserable illness for anyone to have to struggle through. Here's to a quick mend!