Happy Birthday Brayden!

Thanks to all of our family, Brayden had a wonderful birthday! He is 2 now! He loves trucks, cars, airplanes, helicopters, fire engines, motorcycles, and most of all trains. I guess you could say, he is quite a little boy. We had a great time opening presents and eating cake.

His biggest gift was a train set. Ironically enough, he found it under our bed a week before his birthday and managed to open the box, remove all the tissue paper padding, and put together the train part of the set. He yelled, "Mommy, look a train!" I went in pretty surprised to see him and told him that we needed to put it back for his birthday. He wasn't too happy, but then finally agreed. He remembered that I told him it was for his birthday because every present he opened, he asked if it was the train. Each time, he would look at the present and throw it aside to open another one trying to find it. I thought it was cute how determined he was and how he had remembered from the week before that he would be getting a train for his birthday!





Thank you Miller family in Utah! He loved all the things you sent him! He tries to carry around all his new toys with him in whatever room he decides to play in everyday. I finally gave him a laundry basket to put everything in and carry around.





I made him his cake again this year. I thought he would like a train and he did!






This was his Birthday face! He was pretty serious the whole evening. I couldn't get him to smile at me for a good picture. I think he was so busy trying to open everything that he just wasn't interested in pictures! Notice the bruise... Gotta love that about little boys!



Brayden has been talking up a storm lately. He and Katelyn have been playing and getting along so much better now that he can communicate really well with her. They are so cute together! It is fun to just here them talking and playing with each other without them knowing that I am watching them. So Katelyn got a present too! Thank you Grandma Nancy! Katelyn's little thing lately is playing dress up. She loves to change outfits like three times a day. Looks like she decided to wear the Cinderella dress for Brayden's Birthday.



All the girl cousins got some comfortable foam pads to put on the hammock where they all hung out for the evening.

Camping/Boating

This passed weekend we went camping together as a family. The weather was just right for it. It was cooler in the evening and morning and warm during the day. It was so fun to watch the kids help build the fire and cook the food.







Gotta love dutch oven cooking



Sean had a youth boating trip the next day so we went up Friday evening and camped by the lake. A family in our Ward owns a boat rental business so he loaned us some wave runners. It couldn't have been more perfect. We took them out on the water an hour before the sun set and had a great time with the kids. Sean let Katelyn drive herself for a little while! I was nervous because she was being a dare devil. She liked going fast! The water was warm and the evening was a beautiful one.




Bishop also brought his boat and took the youth tubing and skiing. Katelyn and Brayden love Bishops boat!

1st Day of School

Here is Katelyn on her first day of Preschool! She was pretty excited that morning. Her teacher is so sweet and the kids in her class seem to get along with her well. Her teacher writes some really sweet things in her little book for me to read each week. Last time she wrote that Katelyn makes them all smile and she is one of their favorites this year so far. Katelyn goes all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Here she is posing a goofy picture first!



Her back pack is as big as she is, but she insisted on getting this particular one for school!

Horse riding

My parents have a horse named "Cody" on their property. The kids love to feed him carrots and pet him when we go to their house. During this particular visit, they got to ride him. Katelyn held on tight and giggled while he was guided and walked around for a little while.





Brayden was a little too nervous to walk around by himself, so he just sat there for a picture and rode around with Katelyn for a turn. Brayden looks like a little natural in these pictures doesn't he?

Gardening and Canning

The month of August has been mostly harvesting time. My mom's garden has produced a great deal this year. It has been such a blessing for them to store it and share it with everyone. Best of all, the kids have a great time helping out. Here are some pictures I took a couple weeks ago. My mom got them little hats and boots which Brayden always knows to put on before going to the garden!

They love riding in the tractor too! This is one of my favorite pictures





Here are the tomatoes...



Corn anyone???



Or Green Beans???



The kids prefer picking the raspberries... Especially Katelyn. If we can't find her she is usually here.





The kids like to fill their little buckets, but most of the time they eat them!






Awe... So cute!



Katelyn helped me pick the cherry tomatoes! Those are great for snacking and they are so sweet!





Brayden helped pick the peppers because he kept on picking the green tomatoes. The peppers my parents have been getting are beautiful. Some of them are as tall as a banana and as wide as a tomato.



Speaking of... Here are the tomatoes we picked that night! We have probably filled the table like this at least ten times. We have made everything from homemade tomato soup canned to salsa, to tomato juice, or just plain canned tomatoes. It has been really great!



These make great tomato sandwiches...



This is only half of the squash that was harvested. As you can see, we have been pretty busy and the kids have a great time helping!