Ward Pioneer Day BBQ

After spending a fun day at the lake, we continued our evening by attending our Ward's pioneer day BBQ.  It took place at Brionnes Park, just up the road from our house.  It's a regional preserve with great hiking trails, but during the hot summers, has NO grass for sitting.  Luckily, Jules and I brought our blankets for the little ones to crawl around on!

Daxton and Kaiden had a blast hanging out again.  Daxton especially thought it was funny when Kaiden would poke him in the bum with a fork...yep, they are both total boys!

Covered in watermelon juice

(great photobomb, Jules!)

Brionnes had great trees and logs for all the kids to climb on.

 Gregory and Bryson had a blast!

Tim and Levi joined us on the blanket for awhile.  We thought it was pretty funny that Kaiden and Tim were wearing the exact same outfit.

Just some of the amazing faces from our Ward family.

Lorts Family, Godfrey Family, and Bitter Family

(Aubrey and Shawn as crazy as ever!)

Some of the many faces of Hadley (and photobombing Shawn)

Bishop, Warren, McConnells, Jen, and Jules

Daxton even got the chance to make friends with a sweet dog as well.

We had to end the evening with a "bro" shot...

Jeremy, Nate, Dallas, and Daxton

Great fun and great company=a great night!

Shadow Cliffs Lake

Mid July we went to Shadow Cliffs Lake with our good friends, the DeMary's and the Cooks.  For some reason Dallas and I were under the wrong impression about what to expect with the swimming situation and had decided that we would simply hang out with our friends instead of swimming.  We didn't even bring our suits...big mistake!  It turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day and the man-made beach and lake were perfect for swimming.  Daxton wanted to get in the water immediately and luckily I had brought an extra outfit for him incase of an emergency.  We ended up having a blast, though, regardless of our our lack of swimwear!

Our beach set up, complete with the worlds best beach tent I can put up myself in less than 2 minutes (gotta get prepped for Florida after all!)
From L to R: Hadley, Nate, Michelle, Brooks, Kaiden, Jeremy, and Jules

Daxton was a bit unsure at first, especially with how his toes would sink into the wet sand so easily, but he soon got more comfortable.

 Daddy helping Daxton get used to the sand and water.

Daxton getting a bit braver and more curious about his surroundings.

It was pretty funny to watch Daxton get more and more confident with the water.  He kept walking backwards deeper and deeper.  He ended up getting so excited and face planting into the water, which of course really scared him.  Luckily daddy was right there to pick him up.

  

Before and after shots

Jules brought a floaty for Kaiden, which Daxton fell in love with.  It gave him the security he needed and ended up having a blast in the water the rest of the day.

 A Very Happy Baby!

Such a cheesy grin!

 It was pretty funny to see how relaxed Daxton was.  He would lean back and cross his little ankles underneath the floaty.  He was perfectly content under his little shade.  Takes after his mommy and her love of relaxing in the water!

Since we hadn't planned on swimming we had forgotten the swim diapers.  We ended up going through a couple diapers throughout the day, just full of lake water.  He had quite the cute J-Lo booty, though!

The cute kiddos pausing for the camera.

L to R: Hadley, Brooks, Daxton, and Kaiden

 Daxton loves his buddies!

Taking a laughing break with daddy in the tent.

The Cook Family

Gotta love Kaiden crawling head first into the lake! 

Michelle and her adorable kids, Hadley and Brooks.

Jules got some great snuggle time in with her constantly smiling Kaiden.

Hadley and Kaiden had no fear as they crawled into the lake.

DeMary family bonding

Jules let me come out from behind the camera to play with my little man for a few minutes.  I've found that I am rarely in pictures anymore, since I'm always the one taking them. 

It's always a blast when the DeMary family is involved!

Michelle, Nate, and Brooks had quite the water wrestling match, which was very entertaining for the rest of us watching.

It turned out to be a super fun day.

We have such great friends and have loved making so many fun memories with them.

Obviously our little man was pretty exhausted...he couldn't even finish his cookie!

33rd Birthday

Life has been so insane with the big move that I've found myself getting VERY behind on our blog.  Daxton and I have been staying with my family in Washington while our things are being shipped cross country to Fort Lauderdale where Dallas has already started work.  We are missing him greatly, but have loved this time with family and friends.  I've also been slowly plugging away at editing photos and journaling our adventures while my little guy is asleep.  So pardon the massive update overload over the next day or so.  My goal is to be caught up before seeing Dallas Tuesday morning!

 On July 18th I turned 33 years old.
Just writing 33 makes me laugh out loud.

When did I get so old??
It feels like only yesterday that I was graduating from high school and attending college on my own.  And yet when I look in the mirror, I am baffled at how age is slowly taking hold of me, with a few more grays and wrinkles every year.

This year, with everything going on, my birthday was pretty low-key, which was perfect.  We were in the middle of finishing up paperwork on our new home in Florida, preparing for the big move, and trying to spend as much time with friends and family as possible.  On my actual birthday, I spent the morning playing with my little man (who did not get the memo that it was my birthday...darn teething!) and then spent a very fun afternoon swimming and getting yummy frozen yogurt with my nieces and nephews.  That night Dallas took me out for a fun birthday date night for sushi and a movie.  It really was a perfect day.  That weekend my brother and his family invited us all over for a birthday celebration with yummy food and cake.

Beautiful flowers arrived from my sweet daddy.

Dallas surprised me with one of the sweetest gifts.  He asked several of my friends to write a note to me and then he glued them onto hearts.  I walked into our bedroom to find the wall covered in amazing letters from my friends.  It was such a great idea and I saved every one!  I truly have the most amazing friends.

My girl, Janelle, knows me quite well!

She sent me the absolute best birthday card ever!

 

After a fun afternoon of swimming at my sister-in-laws community pool with all the nieces and nephews, we decided to head to the yogurt shack for some yummy frozen yogurt.  Rulon wanted to ride with Daxton in the back of the car, but he also loved crawling out of the sun roof once we parked.  He's such a funny character!

Daxton LOVED watching Lincoln!  He knows just how to make Daxton laugh!

Our crazy group of kiddos (minus Will who was being a bit camera shy.)  I sure do love those kids!

 Dallas took me out for Sushi at Nama in Pleasant Hill for our date night.  We got yummy sushi and then headed over to the movie theater where we saw "Red 2" which turned out to be hilarious.

That weekend we headed back over to my brother's place to celebrate my birthday officially with a yummy BBQ and cake. 

While we waited for the food, Olive and I got some snuggling time in.  She's quite the sweetheart, but I find myself distracted with Daxton most of the time, so I loved the one on one time I was able to spend with her.

Erik and Heather have done an amazing job at landscaping their front and back yards.  We had a blast eating at their new outdoor table.  I even got to use the special birthday plate.

Dinner time

 My adorably crazy nephews and niece Lincoln and Will (above) and Rulon and Ellis (below)

 

It has become a tradition to let the kids decorate my birthday cake.  It is always so much fun to see how many sprinkles they can pour onto the top, although it does tend to make it a bit crunchy.  We decided to let Daxton help with the decorating as well, but as you can see, he was more interested in eating the sprinkles than decorating with them.

 Caught red handed and "red chinned" as well!

To say I love this kids would be a HUGE understatement!

I am so blessed to have such a loving family.

After dinner the kids goofed off while the adults chatted.  It was pretty funny to watch them play dress ups, act out plays, and wrestle with each other.  Heather even taught Daxton how to play airplane, which he loved.

Little Olive had a blast running around as "Mary."

Playing airplane

Heather has quite the strong set of legs!

Overall, it was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday.  Great food and great company!  I love my family so much and feel so blessed to have been able to live so close to them for the past five years.