Summer Becomes Her

Summer stuff

Warning: pic overload. I haven't been able to find my camera cable to my small camera, so all my fun summer pics were trapped inside. :) Kevin found it for me last night and we're good to go. Here are just some pics of what we've been up to so far this summer.

Gavin is walking! I put this in because he went from crawling to walking in about a week's time. As soon as he turned one he was walking full-throttle. I'm trying to get him on video. He's such a cute little walker.Swimming with the cousins. We have really enjoyed playing in the water this summer. Last summer I had just had Gavin so our water time was really limited.
Rachel and Aunt Nicki. The big news here is that Nicki is pregnant! She's due around Thanksgiving. We are so excited for her and anxious to meet little Haws. She's not finding out what she's having...so exciting!

Cade

No suprise here that I've been sewing. My favorite right now are child aprons. I love this 'Lil Rockstar apron that someone ordered. Cute little model, eh?

We went to the zoo last month with some good friends. Yes, it was hot. No, we will not be going again this summer. :) But we had a great time!

Myla got a little kitchen for her birthday. She and Cade love cooking for us. :)

We've gone to the splash park several times this summer. These are pics from Myla's birthday party at the splash park.

Patiently waiting for food.

Kevin and Gav

Blowing out the candle on her cupcake.

Myla's birthday is really close to my mom's. Since we were leaving town we had a combined birthday dinner at Islands.

We met Kevin's family in St. George/Tuacahn last month. We had so much fun!! Kevin's dad brings his boat and wave runner and we make camp on the beach and hang out all day. The kids loved it. We had a very enjoyable time making sand castles with our uncles...

playing with sand toys...

playing in the water...

riding the "waves" with Daddy and Grandma...

exploring the new texture of sand...

soaking in the sun...

hanging out with our cousins...

more playing in the sand...

enjoying family we don't see very often...

wave running...

discovering with Grandpa...

spending time together!

Hope you are having a great summer so far!

Key Lime Cupcakes (and apron giveaway!)

Mmmmm...look good to you? That is a Graham cupcake, with Key Lime curd filling and lime whipped cream cheese frosting. It is delightful! Go to The Secret Stitch Club blog where I posted the recipe. I had fun making them, and more fun eating them. :) You can also enter to win this Key Lime apron! Perfect for baking (and eating) Key Lime cupcakes in. Hurry! Go enter! (I really hope one of you wins.)

Happy Father's Day!

I think the kids are more excited for Father's Day than Kevin is. It's because we took these great pictures (idea from Brassy Apple) to give as gifts to Dad and Grandpa the other day. They are so excited to give them to them.

DAD
Daddy's Shoes

We "Heart" Grandpa

Happy Father's Day to the wonderful fathers in my life! I am most grateful.

Our Sweet Girl

One of the great things about having two of my kids' birthdays within 5 days of each other is that I get to reflect on how wonderful and unique each of my children are. Myla turns 3 today! She has been eagerly anticipating this day for awhile. We have been counting down the days.

Myla. Where do I even begin with this girl? More than any of my children, she brings out the extreme emotions in me. One minute we'll be butting heads with her screaming her head off (and me wanting to pull my hair out) and the next we'll be cuddling on the couch with Myla giving me lovies and telling me she "lubs" me (and me wondering what I did to deserve her). That is Myla. What she does she does with her whole heart. And she inspires me to do the same. I know that stubborness and tenacity that she has will work for her good someday.

Myla and Cade are the best of friends. They share a room and many times, when they should be sleeping, I'll peek in and find them playing some imaginary game and giggling like crazy. As stubborn as Myla may be with me and Kevin, she is usually very giving and patient with Cade. Even though she may be younger than him, she still nurtures him and tries to make him happy. She does the same with Gavin. I love that sibling bond they have.

Sweet. Sassy. Smart. That's my girl.

Happy birthday Myla!

My Duty

So the kids are on a new movie kick: Mulan 2. They saw it on The Disney Channel one day and Myla talked about it non-stop. I got it from Netflix and we've had it about a month. We've watched it probably 40 times. You think I'm kidding.


Well, I've started realizing that we've watched a movie way too much when the kids start quoting the movie in their every day conversation. The basic message of the film is: My duty is to my heart. Basically Mulan and company have a mission to fulfill: to deliver the princesses to be married to men they don't know in another country in order to align the countries. Well, Mulan doesn't like it...or her heart doesn't like it. She (and the princesses) say several times throughout the movie that their duty is to their heart. It's a message that, while it sounds pretty, also presents problems. And this is one way how:

Yesterday Cade kept asking to go outside and play. It's a rule in our house that we don't play outside on Sundays and Kevin explained to Cade that Sunday is our reverent day. We can play outside every other day of the week. Cade responds, "Dad, my duty is to my heart and my heart tells me it's okay to play outside. I have to follow my heart." When Kevin told me this we busted up laughing. It was cute, and pretty clever.

After today I've decided it's not so cute anymore. Now everytime we ask him to do something he doesn't want to do (ie. pick up toys, take his plate to the sink, have quiet time) he says that his duty is to his heart and his heart tells him no. I did not see this one coming.

So I've decided that my duty is to send Mulan 2 back to Netflix and put some stricter limits on TV time. And my heart is okay with that.

Birthday Boys

Gavin shares his birthday with his Uncle James, my younger brother. James turned the big 3-0 (ouch!) and Gavin turned the big 1! So we combined birthday parties and had a great time. I have to share these sweet pictures of the birthday boys together.