Sunday Morning with Mr. Handsome

Our friends the Hatt family gave Treyson this adorable little tie and once again I just couldn't resist taking his picture 100 times.  He and daddy make such a handsome pair.

What angelic children I have (well in photographs anyways-and most of the time in real life)

World's Best Dad

The girls and I had a blast on Father's day.  We did little things for Greg throughout the whole day.  We made biscuits and gravy with a berry smoothie for breakfast.  The girls made little cards for him and we gave him a #1 dad tie banner with chocolate bars taped to the back of each.  Then before church we took these pictures:

 I love Brailie's expression in this one.  So typical.

 After church we gave Greg some more gifts.  One was a framed picture of all our hand prints on top of his.  It said, "Daddy's hands hold enough love for everyone."  We also surprised him with some chocolate covered peanut butter graham cracker balls.  Oh and don't you love his summer hairdo?

 Then later in the afternoon dad and the girls watched golf.  It was probably the most interesting golf game I have ever watched (and trust me since being married into the Parsons clan I have watched way more golf games then I ever have wanted to).  The girls kept yelling, "it's going in the hole, it's going in the hole" and then when it wouldn't they would sigh and go "ughhhh."  It was so cute.  Must have picked that up while golfing with daddy.  I made roast beef dip sandwiches and homemade potato chips with a flat apple pie for dessert.  Then we gave Greg the camo pictures and a super duper high pressure water sprayer for outside. 

He really is the greatest dad.  He does so many things with the girls.  He takes them golfing and fishing and visiting friends.  He is always thinking of my needs and how he can help with the girls.  He takes them out of town with him and to run errands.  He does more with his girls then lots of dad's I know.  He is really trying hard to build good memories and bonds with them.  What other dad would sit in a tiny paddling pool with their girls on a summer afternoon?  He reads them stories and wrestles with them and even plays dolls on occasion.  We were so glad to shower him for a day.  Thanks babe for being such a great father.  We love you.

Backyard Blast

With the weather heating up we have been trying to find ways to cool down outside.  While Greg was gone to basketball camp the girls and I borrowed Grandma's Gecko sprinkler and paddling pool and got refreshed with that for a couple of days.

 The when dad got home we built the girls a water blob (it's like a bit water pillow slip and slide).  The girls had a blast especially on the night we let them play on it in their dresses.  Dad made sure it was safe.  And since we didn't have our big pool set up yet dad promised the girls he would swim with them in the paddling pool.  It was a tight fit but a ton of fun as you can imagine.

 Then a few days ago we got our big pool set up and it has been a lifesaver.  We can all fit in it together and it is the perfect temperature and we bought a cover for it this year so it is staying clean.  Oh thank heavens for this pool.

A camo surprise for daddy.

Weeks ago Greg planned to take the girls with him to Richfield because he had a doctors appointment and wanted to give me some time off.  I got the girls to wear the camo tutu's for the occassion and then when Greg was at work in the morning we did an impromptu photo shoot.  I wanted to make something out of the pictures for Greg for fathers day.  The first collage is what I made (only I just had 3 separate pictures that I framed).  Greg said that when the doctor commented on their camo tutu's that Allie said, "These are what we get to wear when we go on a date with dad."  Isn't that the cutest thing.  They love hanging out with their dad and I love pretty much everyone of these pictures.

Happy Anniversary to us

It has been 5 years that we have been married.  To me it just feels like everything that happened prior to getting married wasn't really life and so my whole "life" I have spent with Greg and I love that.  We decided to go to Richfield to spend the night for our anniversary (I know-what world travelers we are).  I was actually nearly as giddy as I was when we first got married to have this little getaway and we didn't even have much planned.  I guess I just needed it.  We stayed at Greg's parents house in Monroe.  We went shopping all afternoon and by we I mean me and Greg had to just wait patiently and push the cart.  We went to DI which is always my favorite.  We found some cute stuff for our baby boy and lots of other goodies.  We ate pizza which is one of the only things I have craved all pregnancy.  We also went to the dollar store.  My friend Allisha told me about a tradition her and her husband have for their anniversay which is to go to the dollar store and buy each other gifts and then come up with cute sayings to go with them.  I wanted to try it and though Greg was hesitant, he did an awesome job.  It was actually one of my most favorite parts of the outing because it made us be creative-especially my husband.  We watched the movie "We Bought a Zoo" which was really cute and slept in the next morning until 9am which we might not have done since our actual honeymoon.  Then we went to the Manti temple for a session which was also wonderful being in the temple we got sealed in on the day we were sealed.  I felt overwhelmed with gratitude the whole 2 days to be married to such a wonderful man and have a beautiful family.  I love you my honey bunny.

Schools Out

Schools out scream and shout.  This is what Greg had for breakfast on Friday (his last day of school)-a stack of cinnamon bun french toast with candles (which melted in the warm toast-whoops) and the girls and I sang him a "happy last day of school" song.  We are looking forward to the summer more than anything else.  He has had a very difficult class this past year so here is to a good summer and better students this coming year.

Just like dad

I remember being a young girl and wanting to do things just like my dad.  I think out of the two girls Allie is definitely more likely to follow in her daddy's footsteps.  She already has good hunting form and has asked for her own gun and bow and arrows.  What are they aiming at you ask?  A snowman on the window sill.

Hunting with Daddy

I think my big hunter is getting softer all the time.  I think that as much as he loves hunting big bucks, he loves hunting with his daughter/

Greg's Birthday

Sorry I am way behind on my posts because I have been trying to keep from being behind on my Small Fry blog.  So now this week I can play catch up starting with Greg's Birthday.

Greg's birthday was on March 9th.  We had a full day of celebrations.  In the morning I woke up and made him Biscuits and Gravy for breakfast.  After he left for school I made cupcakes and homemade mini pizzas to take to him for lunch.  Here are the girls eating their lunch with daddy.

Isn't he handsome!!!!

 Then when Greg got home we opened presents.  The girls got him a new hoe and shop light.  I got him a mini shopvac to use around the wood burning stove.

 Then I made a couple dozen of these:

 SPUDNUTS!!!

 After that I roasted a turkey that I had brined over night (p.s. this is the way I am doing every turkey from now on-HEAVENLY) as well as mashed potatoes, dressing and green beans.  Pretty much the minute we got done eating some friends came over to share dessert with the birthday boy. 

This was Greg's cake (it has a #1 candle on it because that is the only candle we own)

 And here he is in his 39 years of glory.  We love you honey.  What a great dad and husband you are.

Happy Birthday Dear Daddy

Some other girls we love

So those of you who know me really well probably know that I kind of have a love/hate relationship with basketball.  My husband on the other hand has a TRUE LOVE relationship with basketball.  The basketball season to me seems longer than anything else: school year, summer break, baseball.  My husband is Dedicated with a capital D to being a coach.  I have to admit that there are times with I feel a bit green with envy towards these girls who get to spend what seems to be more time with my husband than me or my girls during the season.  However this year I have particularly grown to love this group of basketball girls more than any others.  Maybe it is because I taught almost all of them when I taught for one year in Green River and also because they are just great girls.  They love my family, they are friendly and kind, they say "thank you", they listen to their coach more than to anyone in the stands and they work so hard.  This year, the team feels more like family.   That made today (Feb 5th) a bit of a bitter sweet day.  It was the last home game of the season but also the last home game of some wonderful Senior basketball players.

This is the whole Varsity team this year.

The Senior girls with their moms.  Kelsee #24 on the end only played basketball this year so she was not on the varsity team, but Greg had her dress for this game so she could also be recognized as a Senior. 

The girls gave us these pans of cinnamon rolls as a thank you.  I will be posting about them momentarily.

Hugging his girls.  I think Greg and I would both agree that we would be happy to call any of these seniors our daughter.

Greg with his "other girls"

Greg with all of his girls.

  

Greg with Melissa, Sarah and Cady.  He has mentored them since they were freshmen.  I remember that because we were just newly married at that time.  We love these girls.

Now I am not going to lie and say I won't be glad when the season is done for the year but it will be sad to not get to spend time with wonderful teenagers.  This world needs more of them.

Playing in the living room

When dad says "lets go play in the living room" I never know what to expect.  On this day (Nov 20th) I heard Allie keep telling him to close his eyes and open them.  I came in to find this.  She had given him a hat, shoes, a coat and all these "gifts".  What a good daddy.

What I have to look forward to in 20 more years