our summer saturday

we woke up 'early' saturday morning and quickly got ready so we could head to rigby's little main street and save ourselves a spot for the parade!  the kids got everything from candy to popsicles to toothbrushes.  the littles were thrilled!

i guess we weren't ready to go home because when we hopped in the car we spontaneously decided to head to rexburg and go to the air show.  i took riggins when he was about 6 months old and i remember being so surprised at how interested little riggies was at watching the planes.  well 2 years later and riggins still absolutely loves watching every type of airplane.  it was so fun to watch his little eyes light up.  i didn't have my phone or camera with me so i didn't get a single picture during the airshow.

after getting home from the airshow we watched zootopia for the 2nd or 3rd time and took a nap.  rhett and i were on the fence about going to the rodeo because it had been super windy and honestly we were just so dang tired.  just when i was about to go put my sweats on and be lazy for the night tacey walked in and said 'it's rodeo time! it's one of our best summer traditions!!'  rhett and i looked at each other and knew we had to get off our bums and take our kiddos to the rodeo.  i was so not feeling it at first so i told the kids to just go grab some clothes and we will go.  

this is how tacey and brylee dressed themselves. haha, i loved it so much.

we showed up just before the rodeo started and seriously had horrible seats.  we were on the bottom row in the grand stands and the kids and i couldn't hardly see.

 rhett remembered we had some chairs in our car still from the parade so we went and sat our chairs on the dirt right outside the fence.  i actually kind of loved it.  it did get a little exciting at one point because our chairs were right in front of the ambulance.  who would have thought they would have to actually use the ambulance that night!  we had to move in a real hurry so they could go help the poor cowboy that got stepped on by a bull....

riggies has talked nonstop about getting owies or getting hurt and having to go to the hospital ever since. 

we got home around 11 and our kids slept great that night!  

i am loving these summer days with us all together.  

fathers day

  i've always known that i 'married up.'  but the older i get the more i realize just how blessed i am to have rhett.  he truly is the best of the best.  

with it being fathers day today i've thought a lot about what it takes to be a great father.  i saw a quote this week that said;

"Perhaps the most essential of a father's work is to turn the hearts of his children to their Heavenly Father." - D. Todd Christofferson  

rhett is by no means perfect, but he sure does put forth some serious effort into being an awesome father.  i've watched rhett almost daily take each child individually aside and let them know how loved they are and then point out some of their great qualities.  he takes the time to read scriptures and pray with them.  and never misses an opportunity to share his love for the gospel.

i hope my littles understand what an amazing dad they have.  

 (rhett chaperoned bry's field trip this year.)

thanks for being a father our kids can always look up to and strive to be like.

burley

we had a quick one night trip to burley last week.  i love going home during the summer.  my dad always cooks us dinner over the fire and almost always has a firework or two to set off for us.  he did both while we visited this last time(:

my dad and 'toodles' getting the fire started for dinner.

i about had a heart attack when these two hopped on the motorcycle together.  

riggins had everyone running!

while we were outside that evening a HUGE storm hit, it was fast and furious.  it was one of the coolest lightening storms i've ever witnessed.  lighting was striking from every corner of the sky and the sunset was amazing.  we stayed outside as long as could to watch the storm and then the rain came down super hard.  

i love summer storms.

my dad decided to take us on a 'quick' hike.  we started out thinking it was only going to be a couple miles.  we ended up hiking six and didn't even make it to the lake we were trying to hike to.  rhett had to get back to mutual and we ran out of time.  i have to say our kids were awesome troopers.  my girls were in dresses and awful shoes.  not to mention there was still quite a bit of snow in some places.  it ended up being a really fun day and lots of great memories were made.

tacey and her pinecones.

 bry got pretty tired.  between uncle jaxyn and rhett taking turns giving her a piggyback my dad was pulling her up the hill with that stick.  it seemed to actually help quite a bit!

rhett carried at least one child the entire hike.   

 hard to tell here but rhett has bry and riggs on his shoulders!

uncle jaxyn was such a huge help all day! when did this little brother of mine grow up?

love these trips home!

sunday stroll

a couple sundays ago after church we decided to hop in the car and head to cress creek just to get out of the house.  it was our first official hike of the summer, the weather was perfect.

we took my camera along for the mini-hike and captured some pretty cute moments with the kids.

bry making a wish

 riggs decided to throw a little tantrum and went running down the hill, slipped, and fell on the back of his head on the gravel.  it was a pretty hard fall and super sad.  it definitely left a mark.

rhett is the pro at finding a rock to balance the camera on for our little family photos.  too bad we all look completely homeless.  haha.

on our way back down the hill the kids wanted to stop and play in the creek.  pretty much right away bry fell in.  haha.  

 this is the look rhett gave me when i asked him if i was a bad mom for laughing and taking a picture instead of helping her out of the creek.  

 the girls jumped over the creek for a good 15 minutes.  

i love days like this.  i feel like these are the days my kids are going to really remember.  sweet, sweet memories.

our happy place

 for some reason i woke up feeling super unmotivated and just tired and fatigued.  i planned to do nothing at all today.  and then my night in shining armor showed up at home and encouraged me to get my booty to the gym.  a couple hours later i was a new woman!  i came home in a much better mood and a lot more energy.  

with my new energy the girlies and i went to work on our backyard.  we pulled and pulled at some nasty weeks for a good two hours.  and it was HOT out.  i really wish i had taken before and after photos because wow, huge difference!!

as soon as the kids were finished helping me their suits were on and they were out in the front yard playing.

this is what summer is about!! i love it!!

if you see a hose in riggs hands, RUN! he has no shame in spraying you.  

i have a few empty spots (okay A LOT of empty spots) in my yard.  i decided i'm going to let each of the kids pick a perennial to plant!  yesterday bry chose these pretty purple flowers and today we planted them.  

somehow a picture by the new flowers turned into this.

this has to be my favorite picture of the day.  bry doing cartwheels and riggs drinking from the hose.  looks about right.

and we can't forget about the american girl doll.  

pretty sure she is the only one who didn't get sunburned today.

this is the good life.  

spending my days with my kids out in the sunshine.

adios third grade

i hate that my kids are growing up so fast and i am always begging time to slow down.  but i would be lying if i said i wasn't super happy third grade is over with.  i feel like from start to finish with this school year has just been hard for tacey.  luckily i'm pretty sure it has affected me more than her.  tacey really hasn't been this poor picked on little girl or anything, it just has been a lot more dramatic than previous years. and also, a lot more issues where i feel like i have had to try super hard to protect her innocence as a 8 year old. 

 i already have a great feeling about fourth grade.  the girls that have been giving everyone a hard time are not in her class this next year, which i have actually been praying for! and we just found out that tacey and her best friend are in the same class next year.  our paper for teachers next year say she will be having the new hired teacher.  now i just need to hope and pray that this new teacher is awesome.  i swear i never used to care this much about what teachers my kids got.  but after having my kids in elementary school for a few years i've learned that a teacher can really make or break a kid.  tacey has had teachers that have made her feel like a million bucks, like she is just the best student in the whole world.  and guess what, tacey would grow leaps and bounds with those teachers.  she has also had the opposite happen.  so, that is why i stress about the dang teacher thing.  i am thinking i just need to take a chill pill and not worry about it so much because honestly, there is not a whole lot i can do about it right now! 

here are a couple of pictures of tacey on the last day of school on thursday.  even though i was so relieved to have this year over with, tacey was actually sad it was the last day.  i love this cute girl of mine.  i need to be more like her(:

adios third grade!!

SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER!!