Water is Totally Overrated!

Whoever said you need water in your pool to have fun obviously didn't tell these kids. My mom's pool is undergoing some repairs, which has left a big concrete hole in their backyard. So, while we were at my parent's house for dinner last Sunday, Chloe and the other cousins had tons of fun playing in the "pool."

Chloe

Michael, Elijah, Chloe and Kayden

Aaron and I

Mara and Tawna holding Abby

Seven Years and Counting

Last Sunday was our seven year anniversary. However, since it was also Father's Day, we didn't celebrate it until Tuesday. My mom and Tawna were brave enough to watch the kids for us and endure hours of Abby's crying, and we really appreciated it.

While on our date (the first one with just us in way too long), we realized that yeah, we do still love each another...hehe =). We found ourselves holding hands, opening up doors for each other and just having fun! NOT that we don't do that with the kids, but you know how it is when you have two young ones fighting for your attention all the time!

Needless to say, we had a wonderful time and I am so grateful for my husband. He is the best husband and father to our children that I could ever ask for. He is a hard worker, fulfills all his church callings, serves others, is loving, kind, handsome, caring, thoughtful and so much more. How I got so lucky is beyond me. Thank you Aaron for everything you do and for the past seven years. I can't wait for the next 700 that I get to spend with you.


I'll end with the quote from the card that Aaron got for me for our anniversary.

"I'll follow you wherever you go....

The view from behind is great!

Happy Anniversary and Happy Fathers Day! I love you!

Family Pictures

We got our family pictures taken last week by our friend Kim (http://kimberlyaldrichphoto.blogspot.com), and we love them! Here are just a few of our favorites.

Discovery Park

So I know that this park isn't new, but it was the first time that I had taken the kids there so I deemed it picture worthy =). This park reminds me of one that I would go to as a kid and it totally brought back some fun memories. We would always go to see a firework show at a park in Davis, California with all of my family and at this park, they had a huge wooden play area that we would play at and this park is pretty much the same.

I knew Chloe would love it and of course she did! While we were playing she told me what a cool park it was. Tawna is also in town, so she came along to play. Chloe loves to play with Tawna, whenever she comes home all Chloe wants to do is go to Grandmas so she can play with Tawna. She could care less if me or even Grandma is there to play, all she wants is Tawna. So sweet!

Work of Art

Chloe loves to color. She literally could color all day long if I let her. However, she has a particular way of doing it. This picture shows what most of her coloring looks like. She will fill up pages and pages like this and not let us through a single one away. Even if she is coloring in a coloring book or with chalk, everything is multicolored. The best part is that once she uses a crayon, she will put it aside in a neat line and has to go through all the rest of the colors before she will use it again. What a funny little girl! I love her pictures though and have them all around the house.

Check me out!

Yep... Abby is sitting up independently now. She is still a little wobbly, but being that she just started a few days ago, I think she is doing pretty good!

We also gave Abby rice cereal for the first time on Sunday and she loved it! Granted more of it came out than went in, but that is to be expected. We also let Chloe help feed Abby and Chloe thought that was just the coolest thing ever.

Moab 2011

Every Memorial Day weekend we head down to Moab with Aaron's parents, the Cummings, and the McKinlays. We had a lot of fun, but unfortunately didn't take a lot of pictures. In fact, Aaron didn't take a single one of him on a trail in the Jeep. I think it had to do with the fact that he was in his old Jeep with the new one sitting at home in the garage.

I did take a few shots of the kids while we were in Arches National Park. We went shopping the day before and got the kids matching shirts. Arches was kind of a bust because that day the wind was blowing between 20-30 mph and we got sand blasted every time we got out...oh well! Heather was nice enough to hold Abby through it all and did a great job of keeping the sand out of her face.

Other than the wind, we had great weather and spent lots of time outside playing. We even took Abby on her first Jeep trail! She slept through it all. =) Aaron is excited for our next trip because he will get to take his new Jeep Rubicon down and see how it does.

C-H-L-O-E

Chloe is able to write her name now, and she just thinks it is the coolest thing ever! She got so excited the first couple of times she wrote a letter and actually recognized it. Here is a shot of her name that she wrote. Chloe can also identify all the upper case letters so my next goal is to get her to recognize her lower case letters and her numbers. She knows some numbers but isn't as interested in them. But, I am still proud of her, she is such a little smartie!

Introducing Kiara Nichole Allen

My newest niece, Kiara, was born on April 22nd and I was finally able to do a photo shoot with her. As most of you know, she came a month early and was born at home in Amber's bathroom in the middle of the night. Kiara had to spend a few weeks in the NICU due to some lung problems but was finally able to come home a few weeks ago (while still on oxygen) and now she is doing great and off of all her tubes and monitors. We feel so blessed that all is well with her and welcome her home!