Pumpkin Patch

We visited the Koltiska Pumpkin Patch on Saturday in Sheridan WY. What a great way to celebrate the first day of fall! It was such a beautiful day! So warm, not a cloud in the sky and the trees were just gorgeous with the changing colors. The kids had a great time taking the tractor pulled hay ride to the patch and picking out their own pumpkins.

First Day of School

Lydia's first day of school was last week. She is really loving it so far and doing great!

Weddings & A Mini Vacation

Jack had the honor this weekend of being a ring bearer for the first time for my cousin Brooke's wedding at Spearfish Falls.  I was really worried he wouldn't walk down the 'isle' but he did a great job and followed direction well.  I must say he looked pretty stinking cute in his tiny little suit.  The 18 month size fit him just perfectly.   It was a pretty spot for the wedding and the weather couldn't have been more perfect, it was warm with a slight cool breeze.   We had made reservations at the new Deadwood Lodge for Saturday night and went on to Rapid City on Sunday to take the kids to Reptile Gardens and Storybook Island.  We were really pleased with the Lodge, its a beautiful hotel and the rooms were so nice, clean and well decorated.  The food was great too.  I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to stay in Deadwood.   They have a really fun children's pool area with a pirate ship the kids can climb on and slide off of, and a big whale slide that squirts water.  The deepest the pool gets is 3ft 6in.  The kids had a lot of fun playing there and luckily at the time we went it wasn't very busy at all.

This was Jack's first time staying in a hotel! He slept in the other queen bed in the room with his sister and they both did great.  Went right to sleep and slept through the night - I did wake up to Jack laughing in his sleep once though. :)

The weather was awesome on Sunday! It was overcast but really warm with a slight cool breeze.  Just perfect for Storybook Island.  The last time we were there Lydia was Jack's age and he was just a few months old.  It's such a neat place for kids to play. 

Reptile gardens has added some new things in the last few years, this was Jack's first time seeing live reptiles.  He was very brave and not scared at all to get close to everything.

Overall it was a great mini vacation and the first one we have been on with the kids staying overnight somewhere.  Hopefully we will get to go camping soon too!

Jack, Lydia & I are also in Ryan sister Laura's wedding coming up in August!  It is going to be such a beautiful wedding.  Super excited! :)    Here are a few pictures from Sunday.

Almost Summer

Wow, it has been awhile since my last post. So much has been happening! The weather is starting to warm up now and we have had a handful of above 80 degree days. We have also been getting a good amount of rain lately. The kids are really enjoying the trampoline and being outside, we are in the process of getting the safety net put on it. We planted lots of new flowers in our front yard and Ryan & the kids built me a flower box for Mother's Day by our front porch. I also bought 3 hanging potted plants that we hung from our front porch. It looks so nice!

  Lydia finished up her gymnastics classes the end of May. She really enjoyed the season. We are not sure yet if she will do it again this fall or maybe try dance. She starts preschool the beginning of September and she is so excited about it! I hope she makes lots of good friends. Lydia is left handed and she has been practicing writing her letters and can write her name really well now.

 Jack just learned to use the computer in the last week. It amazes me how fast children at such a young age and catch onto things. It only took him a day or two to get down how to use the mouse and get around. I was recently introduced to a website called zoodle.com. It uses your child's age and the learning preferences you choose to find them free games online that are age appropriate for them. You can monitor their use and have many other parental preference options. The desktop where they play their games is a safe environment where they can click anywhere and not harm the computer. Both kids are really loving it. Another set of games we have really enjoyed playing as a family recently are 'The Scruffs'. Its a great game for all ages.

Jack is his little sisters mini me. Its so funny to see him pick on the little facial expressions and speech that his sister uses and use them himself. The most recent being a little tongue click in between words when he is describing something (which is what his sister does). I will have to get a video of it sometime. :) This has been a busy few months for my photography. I had my first senior, a maternity/family session and a newborn. I learned so much from each one and had a lot of fun doing them.

 My brother Ryan and his wife Christine welcomed their second little girl into the world just a little over 2 weeks ago. Miss Kendall McKenzie is such a sweet angel! She was so much fun to photograph. I started my next photography class this week. It is Natural Light 101. My next shoot with be for my niece Shelby Lynn, she is 2 and we will be doing some cute outdoor shots before sunset.

 I have been trying to keep up with my running. I run 5k on Wednesdays and Saturdays and am doing Body Revolution circuit training the other 4 days of the week with one day of rest. Ryan has just started doing it with me this week. I am finishing up week 3 of the 12 week program. It is very intense but really rewarding, we are getting up at 4am before he goes to work to workout together. It will be fun to watch each other progress.

Ryan was in an accident a few weeks ago. He was called out to work at 9pm on one of the nights we were getting a ton of rain. He started to head back from the field at 1am and slid off the muddy road and rolled his truck. We are very thankful he was not hurt at all, just a few bruises. He had his seat belt on which really saved him. Other than that work is going well for him and they have him staying very busy.

It's hard to believe our 10 year anniversary is just 2 weeks from today. We don't have anything planned yet but hopefully we will be able to get out of town and stay somewhere for a day or two together. It's so nice to have a little getaway every now and then. We had a water fun day a few weeks ago with Shelby, actually the day before Kendall made her appearance! I will share a picture from that. Most of the pictures below are snapshots from my iphone, I'll post a few from my photography sessions as well.

Jacks Birthday Party

Jack had a great birthday party this year! He got so many fun new toys, lots of trucks and some great toys he can play with outside - and his first bike! Unfortunately he didn't make it through all his presents, he crashed before he could open the last two. He slept for 4 hours after that! His little party really wore him out. :) You can see all the photos and the videos from the party on our smug-mug account under the gallery April 2012.

Fun in the Sun!

We had an 80 degree day this last weekend so we set up the trampoline that mom and dad bought for Jack's birthday last year. It was a nightmare to put up! Luckily after doing it a few times now I think we will be pros when it comes time to put it up again next year. The kids absolutely love it!

Yesterday while playing on the trampoline I overheard this conversation between the two of them..

Lydia: Jack will you marry me when we grow up?
Jack: ....(thinking)....yes, when I grow up!
Lydia: ((jumps up and kisses jack on the cheek))
Lydia: Yay!!! This is the best day ever!

It was hilarious! LOL :)

We are going to host a Easter brunch at our house this year for my family. Something we have never done. I am excited! Everyone is going to bring a breakfast type dish. I am making Belgium waffles with fruit and cream and little yogurt and granola parfait shooters and we will start that at 10am on Sunday. Friday we go to Ryan's families to do an egg hunt and cupcake decorating with all the cousins on that side of the family. Saturday is Jack's birthday party! It is a construction pals birthday theme and we are going to have burgers and brawts with chips and some side salads for everyone to eat. I'm so bummed that the weather isn't suppose to be great. I hope the forecast proves to be wrong. We wanted to do an egg hunt for Shelby, Lydia and Jack in our yard on Sunday.

Here are some new photos. Enjoy!

Welcome March

We celebrated Lydia's birthday on February 11th this year with a Disney Princess party. We played some dancing games, a pull string pinata and pin the kiss on the frog. :) Lydia had a great time and got lots of really nice gifts from all her family and friends. Here are some pictures Ryan took for us of her big day! :)

Ryan also celebrated his 29th birthday this last week. His birthday was on a weekday so the kids and I decorated the house to surprise him when he got home from work. We got Daddy some new shirts. :)

I also had a wonderful birthday! My family really spoiled me and made me feel so special! My parents got me some awesome running gear and a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Ryan bought me some Photoshop Actions and a plugin that I had really been wanting. I love them!

We are getting ready to plan Jack's big 2nd birthday coming up next month. Ryan wants to pick a theme and plan it, I think it should be a fun project for him.

Our newest nephew was born on leap year day! Miranda had a great pregnancy and labor and baby Blake is healthy as can be! Just adorable too. :)

Valentines we made as a family. :) Chocolate dipped nutter butters with stripe colored decoration!

We took a fun family trip to Spearfish last weekend, the kids had a blast at the park. I took a few pictures on my iphone.

Some of my favorite photos this last month.

Lydia's birth day treats, Pinkalicious Pink Lemonade Cookies  :)

 My little sleeper...