Black Island Farms

Earlier this week the girls and I went with Kinsie and Britnee's Joy School group to Black Island Farms to pick some pumpkins.  This was such a treat for the girls.  Lots of hard work for me, but really fun for the girls and all their little friends.

 

 

Last Family Camp Out for the Year

We always like to get one last camp out in before the weather turns and winter arrives.  So, we usually tag along with Chad while he spends a few days on the deer hunt.  However, this year he decided not to get a tag.  Luckily, we weren't going to let that stop us from taking a week off to get out and have some fun. 

We decided to head up to Chad's grandparent's cabin for a week full of four wheeling.  As always the girls had a great time, although this time around Kinsie seemed more keen on building forts and playing in them instead of doing a lot of riding.  I can't blame her.  We did build a pretty cool fort/house.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture.
Our second night out there we were joined by some of Chad's family.  Jason and Amy (Chad's brother and his wife) came up with their three kids to "break in" their new wheeler.  We don't get to see them as often as we would like, so it was nice to spend some time with just their family.  It was also fun to have another family within the family to go riding with. 

On Friday we were also joined by Chad's parents and Craig and Melissa's family (Chad's older brother).  We spent most of our time taking turns shuttling the kids around on the three four wheelers that are now apart of the family.  It was fun having so many people come out and join in the fun and we missed everyone who wasn't able to make it.

My baby isn't such a baby anymore.  I am in love with the little girl and all her funny little antics.

The girls with their cousin Savannah.

Kinsie and Savannah.  Notice that they are holding hands.  So sweet!

My little Mylie girl all bundle up for a ride with mommy and daddy on the wheeler.  Loving her cheeks.  They are so fun to nibble on.  Yep, I'm one of those moms haha.

Catching Up...again!

For some reason time seems to slip right past me and before I know it I'm months behind in my blogging.  I normally wouldn't be too concerned about it, and would simply give up on this little blog of mine.  However, this little blog of mine has become my own personal journal.  For me it's a way to keep up on what it happening in our family and a great way to highlight our little adventures.  As boring as they may be.  So, when I see the days, weeks, and the months tick by without a single post from me I start to feel the guilt creep in.  So, to avoid the guilt (and because my two oldest are over at a friends) I've decided to see if I can change my ways and get myself updated on our current happenings.

The summer was spent having lots of fun with family.  Unfortunately, I've slacked off big time on the picture taking.  So, I missed several opportunities to catch some of the fun that we had.  Luckily, I have some great family members who tagged us in a few of their photos on facebook.  Every year Chad's family goes to Flaming Gorge.  This year was great since everyone (except Mike) was able to be there.   We had lots of fun and spent most of our time at the beach while everyone took turns tubing on Craig and Melissa's new tube which was a huge hit with the kids...and adults.

We also had a few other family reunions that we attended.  One with my family that was held at my granparents cabin.  No pictures of that, but we had a great time seeing cousins and family that we don't get to see very often.  We also had an extended reunion with Chad's matrenal side of the family.  We were only able to participate in one day of the week long event, but it was fun to get out and hike around and then cool off with grandpa and granma's slip n' slide.

We also made an effort to throw in as many little family campouts as we could.  They were few and far between, but well worth it.

It was a fun summer.  Nothing big and spectacular, but we had a great time with our families and our girls and that's really all that matters!

Kinsie Turns 3

Can you believe that this little beauty of mine is three years old.  I can't!  Or, maybe I just refuse to believe that time continues to move forward turning my babies into spunky little girls.  Especially this one.  

As the month of May approached, Kinsie was very aware of the fact that her birthday was right around the corner.  Because everyone else in the family (including Mylie) had already celebrated their birthdays (within a four week time period) she was anxiously awaiting the time when it would be her special day and she could have a party.  For months that was all I ever heard from her..."Mommy, when is it going to be my birthday party?"

So, I promised her if she could be patient and wait for her birthday that we would have a party and that I would make her a princess cake.  And I did just that.  I made her a special princess cake and threw her a little swimming party that several of her friends were able to come to.

Kinsie's big present this year from Chad and I was a little three wheel Barbie scooter that she loves to ride around on.  She also got some new clothes from my mom and a dress up Snow White dress from Chad's mom.

The highlight of the week was probably her party.  She is such a social butterfly and loved the idea of having all of her friends come over to play with her.  Luckily, we have lots of amazing friends who were willing to come a help us celebrated Kinsie's birthday and helped me get this little shindig up and running.

Kinsie was great at jumping in and helping me make party favors and putting together some little snack bags for her friends.  She loved it, her friends, loved it, and I loved seeing how happy Kisnie ended up being with the whole thing.

As sad as it is to see her growing up so fast I wouldn't trade these moments for anything.

Fran and Dannie's Wedding

On May 5th Kinsie's birthmom, Dannie, was married to her fiance Fran.  We were lucky enough to be apart of their special day and Kinsie and Brtinee made for two beautiful flower girls.  They were both so cute and did such a great job walking down the aisle with their little baskets.

Dannie was gorgeous and rRan was as dashing as ever.  It was such an amazing day for both of our families. Many of Dannie's family members hadn't seen Kinsie she was born and they visited her in the hospital.  They were abl to see her again and talk with her and we were also able to meet many of them.  It was such a neat experience and I'm so grateful that we were all able to share that together.  It was also great to see Kinsie's Birth grandparents again.  They attended our sealing and it was nice to visit with them again and have them see and hold Kinsie.
It was just another witness to me that adoption is really about love.  Kinsie is so lucky to be loved by so many amazing people.  It really was a great day!

Spring Break at the Zoo

Back in April the girls and I were able to convince my mom and sister to join us for a day at the Zoo during their Spring break.  I figured it would be a good time to go since all of my girls would be free.  (Kinsie just turned 3...more to come on that)  We were also joined by Kylene's friend Alex who took some great pictures of our little outing.  We had so much fun and the girls continue to ask if we can go back to the Zoo.  Luckily we have another trip planned this September with some friends of ours, but it sure was nice to spend the day with Grandma and Aunt Kylene.

We got to see some pretty amazing things this time around.  There was this peacock who had decided to flaunt his feathers completely fanned out.  I don't think I had ever seen that before, or heard a peacock's call either which is very loud.  The alligator was trying to cool off and had it's mouth wide open.  A little intimidating, but very cool.

Mylie was amazing and enjoyed being held and carried by everyone without complaint.  We finished our day at the zoo with a train ride and headed home.  Hopefully I can continue to convince my mom to make this an annual trip because it really was lots of fun.