Farewell

Well the event that we had been dreading all summer happened on Thursday the 18th- my baby brother Brett and his wife Chels left to start their 3 year adventure in Connecticut for Brett to attend Physical Therapy school. My family has been so lucky and beside Brian and Brett serving their missions, we have all lived in Utah. Good-byes really do stink and this good-bye was not fun. The gals and I spent as much time as we could hanging out with Brett and Chels before they left. My parents had a BBQ for them on Sunday and an open house for friends and family on Monday. The gals and I had to say our good-bye on Tuesday (because we were going to Lagoon on Wednesday)- I held it together pretty good until Chels was saying good-bye to Brooklyn and they both started crying- well any hope of holding it together was lost and Brooklyn and I cried the whole way home. It is even harder seeing how hard it is on her- she realizes what them moving means- Gracie doesn't. Brett and Chels took about a week to make it there and took in the sites. They were welcomed to Connecticut by the earthquake that hit the East Coast and right now are bunkered down in their apartment (that they had unpacked and had to pack back up and get their stuff off the ground) as Hurricane Irene is going to go right over them. We can't wait until December when they get to come home for a couple weeks! Good Luck Brett and Chels we are going to miss you like crazy and love you guys!!

The day of the BBQ- Ella also rolled over for the first time that day

The kiddos enjoyed playing dress-up

The day they left, Sean's cute grandparents took all the Maynard family that is around to Downata. We had a blast!! And then me and the gals headed to Yellowstone with my mom and Nat and her kids.

First Day of 2nd Grade

Brooklyn started her first day of 2nd grade today and she (and I) was very excited to get started. She has Mrs. Nielson this year (she is my cousin) and is SOOO excited about that plus she is in my mom's old classroom. She picked her outfit out and looked darling and had a great day!

Summer Happenings part 2

For the life of me, I cannot keep this blog current. Maybe when school starts- that is my excuse for everything! :) We continued our busy summer by taking the Frontrunner down to Salt Lake and letting the kids play at the splash pad at the Gateway. I have never rode the Frontrunner and this was something that I wanted to do before school started. The kids had a blast!! When a storm started rolling in, we walked to Clark Planetarium and watched a 3-D movie and let the kids play.

We enjoyed spending time at the Cache County Fair and Rodeo. Sean and his brother Keith had a booth at the fair so we spent a couple of days there. Brooklyn loved Big Blue and got a couple pictures taken with him. The second day she even planned her outfits- the first one was a Utah State shirt for her picture with Big Blue and the second outfit was one of the shirts Sean was selling- to support him she said. Gracie wanted nothing to do with Big Blue- the gals LOVED playing at the gymnastics booth. The gals and I went to the rodeo with my mom and dad, Brett and Chels, and Nat, Greg, Garrett, and Abby. It was a lot of fun. Brett and Chels moved this week to Connecticut so we were trying to squeeze as much in with them as we could before they left.

Gracie was thrilled to get her first haircut. Sad to say she will be 4 in December and just got it, but her hair actually has grown pretty even. We just trimmed a few inches off- nothing major.

Sean and I braved it and took the gals to Lagoon. I haven't been to Lagoon for over 10 years, but we had a blast!! There was a lot more for kids to ride there than I remembered. We spent time at Lagoon-A-Beach when we first got there and then hit the rides. We gave the gals a some money they could spend there and they decided to get their faces painted. It was so fun watching how much fun they were having and watching them on the little bumper cars was so funny! Another funny thing happened when we stood in line to ride the Puff rollercoaster, the gals got in a car together and so I decided that I wouldn't ride, but Sean still did. It was so funny to see a grown man riding in the little car all by himself on this tiny rollercoaster. Thanks to the Andies for watching Ella!

Fun with Cousins

My aunt Patt recently returned from a mission. My cousins Tara and Ashleigh came to town to visit so we got together at Patt's cabin in Bear Lake for a day of fun! It was so fun to visit and catch up and see our kids interact and play together.

Miss Willa does not like the camera so trying to get a picture with all the kids was quite funny.
Ashleigh, Willa, Guimo, Mirabelle, Gracie, Ella, Garrett, Brooklyn, Hudson, and Abby

The kiddos had a fun time playing with each other, the pool table, and the fun toys outside.

I love these gals!

Mirabella doing some awesome posing!

Guimo was quiet upset at this moment and wanted Tara- so the cousins with Guimo.
Tara, Jan, Kami, Marlee, Marijka, Ash, Em, Nat

Summer Happenings

We have had a FUN and BUSY summer! I can't believe in a couple of days it will be August.

Ella started smiling and like her sisters, her smile melts my heart. She also had her 2 month check-up which meant she had to get shots. YUCK! At 2 months Ella is still sleeping from about 11:30 to 7- which is nice for me. She still spends a lot of time sleeping, but is awake quiet a bit too. She is starting to coo and talk. She loves her sisters and they are good little helpers. She is a very sweet little thing- she hardly ever cries unless she has a bubble in her tummy
Her stats at 2 months:
Weight: 11.56 lbs. 70%
Height: 22.75 in 65%
Head: 15 in 29%

Sean came home one day with a tent and him and Brooklyn and Gracie have had several camp-outs in our yard. They all sleep surprisingly good out in the tent.

My cousin Kim had her baby Nora a month before Ella. We wanted to get a picture of them together while she was here- we had settle with them sleeping in their carseats.

This picture was a MAJOR feat! We got together with cousins one day at Willow Park and had a blast. It is always fun to spend time with family!
Lacey, Averie, Rylee, Brooklyn, Ella, Gracie, Carson, Hallie, Claudia, Eli, Kjeaton, Vinnie, Alivia, Carley, Daxton, Garrett, Nat, Abby, Kristen, Lolin, Nora (me, my mom, and Kim were taking pictures)

Brooklyn and Grace took a session of swimming from Gin's swimming. They did GREAT and loved it (most days). Gin and her helpers are awesome. She doesn't let parents stay and is a no nonsense lady- which I liked. She doesn't care if the kids don't want to get in or get their face in the water- they do it! And learn to swim the right way. We won't be taking swim lessons anywhere else. The last day was parents day- Sean, my mom, and I watched them and I was amazed at what they had learned in the week- they both jumped off the diving board for the last thing. I will admit that my mommy pride was bursting this day!

Me and the gals enjoyed the Newton town celebration. The kiddos enjoyed the parade, got their faces painted, ate snow cones, played in the water, and cheered for uncle Brett in the volleyball tournament. We had a great day!

After the Newton celebration, we had our own little celebration. Sean cooked a yummy meal on the grill and had gotten some fireworks. We did them and topped the night off by going to Mendon to watch the fireworks.

Relay for Life

We came down from Bear Lake to participate in my family's 9th the Relay for Life. We had kinda a traumatic morning the day of the relay. Brooklyn was holding Ella and dropped her on her head. She landed on a metal bar on a chair Gracie has. She had a big goose egg and a bruise so I called our pediatrician and they said we should probably just take her to the ER. She ended up having a CT Scan to rule out a fracture and make sure there wasn't any bleeding going on. Everything came back fine- it was super scarey will not go down as one of the better days in my mothering. After the hospital we were finally able to make it and we had a BLAST!! Our team was able to raise over $5000 and the whole event rasied over $86,000! THANKS so much to everyone that donated and helped out our team!

We had the folks from Studio 21 bring the photobooth and had a blast with that!

Bear Lake & The 4th of July

We always go up to Bear Lake over the 4th of July. We were able to spend a week up there and as always had a blast! There were people coming and going all week and we drove down on the 3rd to bless Ella in our Ward and drove back up. I absolutely LOVE Bear Lake!! I have so many fond memories of Bear Lake and I am so excited that my gals are able to start to get their own memories of fun times at the Cabin- they love it and keep asking when we are going back. Paula's family was up there with us and are so good to help with my kids. Paula spent a lot of time holding Ella for me and it was nice to be able to have some one-on-one with Brooklyn and Gracie. I feel like since Ella was born they get put off a lot. When Sean was up we were able to go go-carting, get a shaved ice, and go swimming. My little family is so blessed to have so many people that love us and are willing to help us- I couldn't have done it without all the help I got!

We enjoyed swimming, mini-golf, and the beach at Ideal Beach. My cousin's Lori and Camille are always at Ideal Beach the same week and we have fun spending time with them and their kids. My gals LOVE their kids. Brooklyn is especially taken with Elisha- and she is such a good sport to tote Brooklyn along with her.

We spent the majority of the day outside playing- my mom bought the fun squirters and the kids had a blast playing with them. I wish I would've gotten a picture when she lined them up and told them the rules of playing in the water- I don't think the teacher in her will ever be gone. If they didn't obey the rules they had to come in the cabin for a time-out. The kids (for the most part) took the rules very seriously and there was plenty of tattling when someone wasn't obeying the rules.



The kiddos didn't have an adequate pool so when my uncle Ric went down for the Cruise-In, he bought a pool and brought back up. They had a BLAST in it!



My mom also bought some water balloons for the kiddos. Gracie didn't want anything to do with them and Brooklyn and Garrett loved them and loved filling them up by themselves.







Ella was a champ on her first outing to the cabin and loved being held by anyone who would hold her.

One day we heard a commotion outside and looked to see almost every rule being broken- Ric, Brooklyn, and Garrett were having a great water fight.

Nat and I braved it and took the 4 kiddos to the beach. They loved digging in the sand.

We were even able to get a pretty descent picture of all 5 of the kids.

My 4th of July cuties!

We did some fireworks before the firework show on the lake and the kids had so much fun! Garrett and Brooklyn loved the sparklers- Gracie, ever the cautious one, like them but not too close. Notice the picture of my dad holding the sparkler and her trying to get as far away as possible!