Lydia

 This little angel of mine turned three on June 23rd. 

 I absolutely LOVE going the extra mile for my girls because it means so very much to them.  This is Lydia in the morning when she woke up and saw her birthday decorations.

Of course we had to invite all of her piggy friends.  

We had a piggy bank party favor for each of her guests.  We ended the party with a money hunt to find coins to fill their piggy banks with.

This cake is Pinterest inspired

mud puddles were chocolate pudding cups, we had hot dogs wrapped in bread sticks and curly fries as pig tails.

These are Lydia's cousins and Emma's best friend Addi who Lydia considers a good friend as well.  It was really nice having older kids who were so excited for Lydia and happy to be there.

This wasn't planned, but Lydia just dug right into her cake without having a fork or anything.  So I told all the kids they could eat like little piggies and not use utensils, needless to say, they all loved it!

We ended the evening with a friendly visit from some real live pigs!!  

This little girl just lights up our lives.  We're so thankful to have her very sweet and gentle spirit in our family.  We wouldn't be complete without her.  Happy birthday sweet Lydia!!

June

 This beautiful little girl of mine just keeps on growing.  I am pleased to find that the milestones in childhood are just as delightful to watch as a parent as they were for me to experience myself not so long ago.

 Emma's tooth was loose for nearly a month.  Finally one day Ryan told her to grab some floss and he worked his magic to set it free.  Let me just point out what a BEAUTIFUL view that is from the back deck.

We have loved having a ROOK tournament with my parent's.  The losing team buys the winning team dinner.  What a wonderful six months this has been having my parent's as our go to couple.

I am so pleased with how much we have enjoyed the beautiful state of Utah and that we really do take time to soak up the scenery.

Porcupine Reservoir has given us a destination for many family adventures.  We took the Jensens here for a fire and kayaking and we all loved coming upon some Beavers building their little dam.

 We made a delicious dinner and had the best s'mores ever with strawberries in the middle!

I made the girls (mostly Emma) a summer bucket list so we can MAKE SURE we get all of our adventures completed before the school year starts again.  So far we have gone swimming 4/10 (four out of the ten times that we are planning to,) kayaked 2/3, gone to Bear Lake 1/3, got a hotel, mommy daughter date, flown kites, ice sledding, piggy party, watched fireworks, and caught up on our sidewalk chalk.  Not too shabby.

For our hotel adventure we went with our besties the Malmbergs up to Powder Mountain for the weekend.

The kids LOVED playing in the pool and running wild around our condo/hotel room.

Emma and her very best friend, Addi

 We all took a great hike to the top of Powder Mountain, picked wild flowers, and had a fantastic bbq to end the day.  Jed and Carrie have been our friends since Emma and Addi were newborns and there are times I would be lost without Carrie.

We've all kept pretty busy this summer.  Ry had a little stumble and sliced his hand open in two places.  Too bad for him I think they sewed some nerves up.  So he has been enjoying shooting shocks of pain if his hand gets bumped, so ya know, that's fun.

My cousin Jake bought himself a little scooter and has been kind enough to take the girls for a ride.  As you can tell, Emma is just as delighted as can be.

My mom took me and my darling sister Sara out for sushi, we loved EVERY bite.....however my mom will probably never eat sushi again.

Not too much longer after losing her first tooth, Emma lost her second tooth.  She places them in this little tooth pillow and that way the tooth fairy knows just where to find it under her pillow.

This has been a friend filled month for us.  I joined Carrie and her sister-in-law who is also a friend of mine up in Bear Lake at their cabin.  The girls had a dance party, long days on the beach, and of course photos galore.  Look at the photo below of Emma and Addi dancing, Emma looks sooooo very protective.

 I LOVE going places with Carrie.  She always brings her camera and is a significantly better photographer than I am, and I love benefiting from that :)

Emma and I attended Canyons baptism (my friend Natalie's son.) They have two daughters Montana and Aspen who I adore.  Of course this whole baptism went off in true Natalie style, and I was there to capture the best of it :)

For my Aunt Lee's birthday we went to my favorite boutiques in the Ogden area and then attended a wedding celebration for a friend of the family and we were able to listen to Paul Cardall play my most favorite song in the whole widest world.  What a great memory this was :)

Summer bucket list: Flying Kites

I know Emma looks a little bored, but she loved every minute.  This photo doesn't do justice of how funny it looked to see something as little as Lydia controlling a kite that was triple her size.

Summer bucket list: ice sledding

A definite hit.  Can't wait to do it again on Old Main hill.

Camping at Causey with our friends the Tippings.  It was crazy crowded and there were no spots to be had.  Luckily we found a little gem all the way up the river.  We kayaked to the mouth of the river, then loaded our supplies in our raft and went up stream.  Our camp spot was right up against this rock face so we had a perfect fire that blocked the wind and funneled the smoke up like a chimney.  We stayed up late talking and having sugar, what could be better?  Notice our little pinterest find...put a head lamp around a gallon of water, works like a charm!

We ended the month by celebrating my sweet little girl's third birthday.  There will be a separate post to come soon devoted to Lydia's Piggy Party.