A Beautiful Day at the Park

I love it when the lighting is perfect and I just can't resist taking pictures.  It has been a while since I have done so, so when the day was perfect and Greg was home to watch Treyson I took the girls to the park.  Allie has been riding her bike everywhere which is really nice and we just had a fun hour of playing and mom taking endless pictures.  

She can't go across these but she can swing like a monkey on them.  And Brailie can climb anything at the park now.  I am not nearly as nervous letting her as I was with Allie.  

When Lily came to play

Ashlee and her daughter Lily came to visit at the beginning of July.  The girls loved having Lily around.  It was so fun to visit with Ashlee and have her over for the day.  We met her in Price a week later and went swimming and ate dinner with her and her parents too.  These pictures are from the girls playing in the sprinklers in our backyard.  The day was so super hot so this was nice and refreshing.  I am not sure what Lily thought of it though.  She had the best facial expressions. 

Two girls and a bucket of water

The girls asked for a bucket of water and a few cups and bowls the other day.  They wanted to clean off their bikes.  When I went out to check on them it looked like their attention had quickly shifted from the bikes to them.  They were standing in the water bucket dumping cups of water on their heads just giggling and having the greatest time.  I just left them alone to play.  They were drenched within minutes but it was a hot day so I don't blame them-probably felt wonderful.  i love it when they play well together.

The new playhouse

Our neighbors the Hughes family has a little outside playhouse that the girls absolutely adore.  It is a pretty girly one but I figured if we could just find any kind of outside playhouse the girls would be happy.  And I was right.  I found this one on KSL classifieds.  We were going up to Provo for Stadium of Fire and Auntie Helen was giving us her old table and so we just decided to see if we could find a playhouse and a kitchen that we liked and we did.  I got the playhouse and a nearly brand new kitchen (we have it inside-pictures to come) for $180.00.   

 We put the girls old kitchen inside the playhouse (which is a good size).  They have been making mud pies ever since.

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.

Tea (Juice) Party

We were having a horrific day at our house and after many time outs and much screaming and yelling from everyone I finally had the thought pop into my head, "the tea set."  I have had this since my Ricks College days.  My mom saw it and new I would love it and put it to good use some day and I did love it then and it was just as fun to get out for this very special occasion.  I told Allie about it while Greg took Brailie on a little date to the school and then I took Allie on a date to the store to buy cookies and grapes for our get together.  We set up a blanket, poured juice into the tea pot, got napkins and found some extra fun guests to have at the party.  When Greg and Brai came home we all sat around drinking (and spilling) punch with our pinkies up and perfectly happy.  The girls loved it.  I am waiting for another equally special occasion to take it out again because I don't want the charm of it to wear off just yet (as so many things seem to do with the girls.)

Cooling off

It hasn't been overly hot around here yet but it was pretty warm the other day-warm enough for the girls to take a dip in the sprinklers.  It went from washing their hands to fully soaked in just a matter of minutes. 

 Here the girls decided to wash off their shoes.  I had to put the axe down on drinking the water out of their shoes (always a dark cloud I am as the mom).

 And of course washing off their feet.

 Brailie was more willing to pose for the camera than Allie

 And of course what would a dip in the sprinklers be without washing off your bum.

A new year with many trips to the beach to come

I decided it was time for us to head to the beach once again for the new year.  The girls just love playing by the water and in the sand.  They even played for a good long time before I went back to get the sand toys from the car.  They are so carefree and delighted in the simpleness of getting covered in sand.  The worst part of going is actually having to come home-getting girls covered in sand who are wet into a car to drive back to town is one of the most unpleasant things I can think of.  Next time I think I will have to take a change of clothes with us and just keep them moving around until they are more dry and I can change them.  Anyway it was still a blast and we are looking forward to going again.

Swings

I am so thankful for our backyard swing set and that the girls love it so much.  We usually go to the park but I have discovered that pushing 60+ pounds of child in my red double stroller is too much for this prego mama these days so the girls have been content to play in our backyard much more.  I just thought they looke super cute on this day and couldn't help but take pictures.

 One of my favorite things about Brailie is her wrinkled nose cheesey smile.

How we are staying cooled off while the weather heats up

I bought this toddler pool at the thrift store to use as an indoor ball pit but it was really too small.  When the weather started getting hot I decided to put it outside and fill it with water for the girls to play in.  I didn't really intend for them to basically swim in it but in the end that is what happened and they loved it.  Greg called me out with the camera to get some actions shots of the head dunking they were doing.

 At least they are getting over their fears of water on their faces.

 Dad hosing them off cause they were covered with grass and we had let them stand and pee on the lawn through their wet clothes which they thought was the greatest thing ever.