Princess Festival and more

My all too sweet sister-in-law took Katie and I to the princess festival. I complain that my brothers aren't married but I do have ONE sister, and if I only get one right now, I'm glad it's her. She really is great.
The festival was SUPER cute, but Katie was being kind of a party pooper. A good chunk of it, she was acting as though I were torturing her. Mostly because when you first walk in there is a large water area, and asking Katie to walk past water without getting in and splashing around is torture to her. I wanted to save that for last because I knew once she started playing in the water she would not be leaving without a fight; at which point we'd have to go home.

Despite her less than pleasant moments, she loved it (especially the very end when I finally let her play in the water). When we got home she had to tell her daddy all about it. She saw Rapunzel, and said she wanted to go say hi, when we got close to her for pictures she acted as though I was pushing her towards a monster. So... her mean mother FORCED her to stand by Rapunzel long enough to snap a picture. I told her if she smiled she would get a sucker. I don't like to offer her candy often, but when I do it's pretty much a sure fire way to motivate her. She LOVES all things sweet (except hostess snacks). I blame her dad who is constantly sneaking her little treats. Fortunately Katie is a good tattle-tale and informs be everytime her dad gives her a snack when he's not supposed to. For example: before dinner or any meal, after her teeth are brushed (yep that's his FAVORITE time to sneak her a treat, I suppose he wants her teeth to rot :P)

Katie decided beanie needed to dress up too.

Dog does NOT look happy, does she?

Ahh, my little pleasant child who is NOT great with strange adults, princesses or not. But this princess was sweet, she was the best at putting little Kate at ease.

Smile for candy, Katie!

The carriage ride :)

AndFINALLY the water area.

and more

Little blonde snow white.

Kylee won't eat yogurt, which was one of Katie's favorite foods at her age BUT if you freeze it, she's tricked into thinking it's a Popsicle.

Daddy can't have one without the kids needing their share

Katie cooking with her grandma Bennett. I love that she is forming special memories with her grandparents.

Fun splash pad in Hurricane? I think... or somewhere near there. Katie called it a lily pad, silly girl

Kylee trying to plug in my phone, I thought it was cute, but she ended up ruining the charger (thank goodness it wasn't my phone)

Katie and my lil bro-in-law Jared. She LOVES him!!! She is his shadow whenever we visit.

I love that even though we don't live close, she is still able to form close relationships with Jeff's side of the family.

Summer Fun

 We are LOVING the warm weather.  I took Katie to a Spanish Fork's public pool.  She LOVED it!  We spent two hours swimming and she was not ready to go. Unfortunately I did not bring a camera so, no pictures of that adventure

My parents secretly came to our house and left a pool with a little water.  Katie was so excited!  I wish I could have captured that moment on film.

 Kylee preferred to sit out of the pool and put her hands in

 She would sit in for a little while and try to climb back out

 Does she look like she's in heaven or what?

 Kylee can stand alone but we haven't quite gotten to that first step (without the walker).  She is getting close

 Daddy kisses.  Kylee does this silly thing when she wants a kiss, she opens her mouth and says "awwwww."  She's a funny girl.  Her FAVORITE person to kiss her is KATIE!  It's so funny, no matter how upset she is if Katie gives her a kiss she'll smile.  Katie really does have magic kisses.

 family prayer usually ends like this... Katie on her daddy's back.  I don't know why she does it, but I remember when we were younger we liked to get on our parents' backs to pray.  Why?  I don't know, but apparently it's genetic ;)

 I love this face Kylee pulls.  It's so funny and seems to be her go-to face.  When we're at church she LOVES to pull this on whoever is sitting behind us. 

 For months Kylee has been trying to play with Beanie but Beanie is so paranoid about hurting or upsetting her she absolutely would not take her toys away from little Kylee.  It's been just recently that Beanie will actually play with Kylee and she LOVES it.  She squeals with delight.  I'm glad my girls love their dog.  We really did get the perfect dog for our little family. 

For the record: we HATED the name Beanie but... that's what she knew so that's what we started calling her and by then it was too late to change it, both for us and for Beanie

Happy Father's Day to my sweet husband

Ok, so I am well aware that Father's Day is not for another week, but we won't have the privilege of spending father's day with Jeff so we're are celebrating and honoring him this week instead.

First Katie and I did a daddy questionaire (and she drew this sweet picture of him)

Here are the responses the questions I asked her:

1. How tall is daddy? Many tall

2. Daddy is "S" years old (yep)

3. Daddy weighs: a lot

4. Daddy's hair is: Brown (it's actually a dirty blonde but... we'll give it to her)

5. His eyes are: "blue, like mine"

6. He likes to: Go to school

7. His favorite food is: pizza (nope ;) ).

8. For fun he likes to: "go down slides at the park"

9. He always says, "ha ha, you can't found me" and "Knock, knock" (kinda thought those were things that Katie says... but ok)

10. Daddy really likes it when: "I jump on the tramp with him"

11. It makes him smile when: "When I take a piggy back ride on him"

12. My favorite thing about my daddy (and perhaps my FAVORITE response of hers): "He always ALWAYS makes me happy"

Can you tell his girls LOVE him? (to include the dog)

He can not lay on the floor without immediately being attacked by two girls... and often the dog too

This morning we made a favorite breakfast of his: German Pancakes (not actually a German dish... just so you know)

We also decorated the house with these all over... you only get a picture of two because I didn't particularly want to take a picture of more. You get the idea with these two.

I'm very impressed with my husband. He's just SO busy with a very intense DPT program, but he manages to find time for his family.

He is quite the health guru also. He's a personal trainer and nutrition specialist. He is quite knowledgeable about most things health. He can do very impressive things. Already this month he's run well over 50 miles. His goal is a bare minimum of 100 miles a month.

One day I'll let him train me but.... I'd rather be in better shape when he does so I don't feel so lame when I struggle to do what he's telling me to do. He makes us very happy. He is a hardworking, self motivated, kind, thoughtful, honest (sometimes too honest :) ), religious, smart, funny, athletic, wonderful father, great listener, is amazing at conquering anything he wants to do, and also is my BEST friend. I love him and picked the perfect father for my children.

We have some more father's day fun planned for tomorrow, but I don't think I'll post that because it's a bit mushy and in the event Jeff checks this before tomorrow (which is unlikely) I'd rather not spoil surprise. Since I can't spend anything, that's really all I have is the element of surprise :)

Happy Father's Day Jeff!!!! We LOVE you

And now some random, completely unrelated pictures:

Playing in the sand... on the driveway? Yep we have Katie to thank for that. We don't actually have a sandbox but we do have play sand that we have in a wheelbarrow we let her play in. She likes to dump it on the cement so she can sit and play. We'll get a sandbox someday... when we find one cheap enough (5 bucks is my limit... I'll make it happen somehow)

Jeff my personal trainer husband has been making home-made gym equipment. The basketball will be his fourth medicine ball he's made (filling it with fine sand)

he's also made a ladder (not to climb on, but the use for various exercises on the ground) and some hurdles using PVC pipe.

Jeff IS doing push-ups with his girls on his back. This often happens... be impressed. He's quite amazing, I must say