Hattie turned 3!

We had a little family party for Hattie's birthday this year.  Brendan's parents came, Christopher, Grandpa Glenn, Whitney, Blake and Katie, and the Hulan family.  We started with a good smoked meal by Brendan.  Christopher let us borrow his Traeger and Brendan smoked several pounds of pork and it was delicious.  We opened presents and ate a raspberry nutella crepe cake that Hattie requested.  I was looking on pinterest one day and Hattie was in my lap and saw a picture of the cake and told me that was the cake she wanted for her birthday.  It was kind of fun and different, so we tried it.

Hattie is such a joy to have in our family.  She is so kind and is always looking out for Hazel and Niels.  Whenever she asks for a snack or treat she always asks for two so she can give one to Hazel.  I made muffins the other day and she kept telling me to make sure and save one for Dad.  One day Hazel was throwing a fit when we were out and I was pretending to leave her and Hattie was upset and told me we can't leave Hazel.  She tries to be a big helper and feed Niels his food and give him toys.  She is still our best sleeper.  We love our Hattie!

 This is what we get when we tell Hattie to smile.  We usually have to tell her to say a word or make her laugh to get anything natural.

 Uncle Blake got Hattie this cool scooter.  It has two wheels on the back so it stands by itself.  Hattie would try to use Hazel's razor and it was too hard, so this was perfect.

We gave Hattie a balance bike, so now she can go on bike rides around the block with Hazel on her bike too.

4th of July 2014

Christmas and the 4th of July are the two holidays Brendan and I look forward to every year.  Last year all of my family came into town for the 4th and had so much fun that we were all going to do it again this year, but with Blake getting married in a few short weeks in Seattle, everyone decided to meet up at the wedding instead.  We still had a great time with Brendan's family and my family members that live close.  

We started out the day by going to the big parade at 9 am.  Christopher and Brianna were kind enough to go down at 4 am and save us a parade spot with shade tents.  After the parade, we rode our bike down to the Freedom Festival and got some lunch, but it was so hot, we left pretty quickly.  We cooled off at home and took some naps before heading up the canyon to the family cabin for swimming and food.

 They were all matching in their stripes.

 Paige's family in their red, white, and, blue. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of my family in our red, white, and blue.  They changed too fast into their swimming suits.

I could take pictures of this baby all day.  He is such a cutie, and that swim suit.

 Niels took a little longer to like solid foods, but now loves it.  He ate his entire corn on the cob and lots of watermelon.

 It is so green and beautiful up the canyon right now, and the weather has been perfect.

 Some pickleball games in the court.

A good game of horseshoes.

After the fun at the cabin, we headed back to our house to finish our festivities.  Whitney brought lots of candy to make candy kebobs.  Genius.  I loved them!  We also had a huge firework show outside our house with lots of aerial fireworks.  It was a pretty spectacular show and a great evening!

Children's Parade

The Saturday before the 4th of July they have a big children's parade in Provo as part of the Freedom Festival.  The night before we spent time as a family decorating our tandem bike and trailer and Hazel's bike.  We won a trophy for being unique or something like that.  Hazel said that she knew just where to put it when we got home.

At the end everyone gets popsicles.  Don't even think about taking Niels' away without a fit.

After the parade was over, we rode over to the Farmer's market.  On our way over we found a place off center street that sells kolaches.  They were really good, and we've since been back.  At the farmer's market we bought some delicious cookies and fresh broccoli, carrots, and green beans.    

Blake and Katie's Engagments

My youngest brother Blake recently got engaged to Katie Bell.  We love Katie, and are so excited to have her join the family.  Since Blake and Katie both live around the corner, we've gotten to know her pretty well.  It's funny because this will be the third marriage in our family that has come from the same BYU ward.  Brendan and I met there, Bruce and Jessica met there, and now Blake and Katie.  Whitney also lived in the same ward when she was at BYU, but somehow missed the boat.  JK Whit!

I've taken engagements a few times before, but I feel like this time it was a harder.  Blake is handsome, and Katie is beautiful, but we struggled to get a lot of good shots.  It's hard to pose people and between Blake's weird smiles and Katie's blinking eyes, we managed to get a some decent ones.