Our Fun Fank Cousins

We have some of the best cousins in the world - this post is going to focus on my sister's kids - they are absolutely FABULOUS cousins! We have been able to do some of the funnest things with them over the last few months. We went to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens together this month.

Here are just a few pics:

My mom and cousin Ella with Rio. She is seriously the best little girl in the world! So loving and so extremely helpful!

Here's all the boys : Zak, Gabe, Luke and my two: These boys are honestly the best boys in the world - they would do anything for my kids and their younger siblings. I love you guys! They are the sweetest, kindest & most playful boys - even though they are older, they don't ever act "too cool" for anything - they are amazing boys! And Luke is so super funny and entertaining :)

Austin made his way through the tunnel on his knees and was so happy he made it all the way out of the tube - he just sat there so proud of himself!

This pic is of Rio and Halle - she is only about 6 months older than my kiddos and she is so funny! She has such a big personality and always smiling! We went to Jungle Jim's for her birthday in July and they all had a blast on these jeeps.

Oh Anna! What can we say about Anna? She is such a ball of energy and fire! Anna & Zak took Jax and Rio on this ride and they loved it. Below is Ella and Luke with my sad little Austin - he's not the most adventurous kid in the world (unless it involves jumping or water) and was a bit nervous about this ride at first. Seriously? Their little arms around mine - oh.... melts my heart :)Sky and Matt took our family to Discovery Gateway for a Christmas gift (yes, we just got around to going) It was SO MUCH FUN! They had these little farm costumes you could dress up in and of course, my ever "showy" Rio couldn't resist. She's a little donkey on her tractor - love you sweetie!Austin LOVED the grocery store and we couldn't get him out of there. He pushed the carts around and shopped and shopped.

Here's Zak and Gabe again taking my three for a ride! Told ya, sweetest boys in the world!

Rio and Ella shopping it up!

Sky with all the girls :) Thanks Sky! I love you! Best sister anyone could ask for!

Last but certainly not least - Jax was in complete heaven when he saw this car and knew he could turn the wheel and actually drive it! It's a super short clip but I LOVE IT!

5 Seconds of Fame

Here's our 5 seconds to fame - a good friend asked me and the trips to be in a commercial for the Utah State Fair this year. He does commercials for his job and so of course we accepted. How fun for the kids to have this? I love it!

ME and My....

This age is so, so fun! I absolutely love it! They are saying so many funny things and learning new things every day. It amazes me how much they change. They are always into new things that they love at the moment so I thought I'd post about their "cuteness."

My Rio LOVES "being a girl!" She will make a "bag" out of anything with a strap including things I'd rather not post a pic of but nonetheless, she is so funny! She'll carry about 4 buckets around because one is clearly not enough! She loves her purses and her glasses and there are days where she won't take them off even to eat like this one above :) What a cutie girl you are sweetie!

My Austin loves trying on "da-da's shooooes." He tries SO hard to walk around and is determined that he can walk in them. He tries everyday and always with a smile on - you'll get there Austers - keep trying!

And then there is Jax - oh Jaxy! You LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your "kanket!" This pic was one day that he couldn't decide what was more fun and/or important to play with - kanket or his "lawmow." So... as per Jax... he combined it! I heard him saying, "kanket, kanket..." and the next thing I knew he was cruising around the corner with kanket on his "lawmow." Love you buddy! You are so determined and I love that about you :)

It's all about water around here!

"Wa-wa" is the new word of the summer. My little kids just LOVE the water! They would play in freezing cold water everyday and all day if I let them. And honestly, I better take advantage of it now before the summer starts coming to an end right?

We set up a little, tiny pool in our backyard and let the kids just run wild. They are in and out of it for hours at a time. The other day they even pulled out their strollers to put "in the pool" - silly kids :) Instead, I had them run around with them in the back just next to the water.

Spence is such a great daddy - we love Saturdays this summer because we can get all the "yard stuff" done and then just play outside with these 3. A few weeks ago, we went out front and just turned on the hose and they were in heaven! Just let daddy hold it and they were happy as could be!

Little Rio loves being "cozy" with anything she can find. This time, it was her hoody bath towel - she walked around with this on her head for at least 10 minutes just laughing and running with it trailing behind her. What a cutie you are sweetie!

They even got to enjoy a Popsicle and of course, true to form, they have to take turns with each others Popsicle too - at least they are trying to share right?

Austin loves water probably the most! He just sees water and doesn't stop smiling! He's learned to put his foot on the sprinkler like the "big kids" do - he thinks he is so cool :) What a smile on him right?

Rio is so funny at the splash pads. She will run face first into the water and then quickly turn and dash toward me laughing and smiling and then do it all over again.

Jax is probably the most demure when it comes to water - he LOVES it for sure but is quite tentative about how he plays in it. That was of course until we went swimming at Aunt Sky's place and he learned the word "float." Now, all he wants to do is lay down in the water and "foat" as he calls it. He closes his little eyes and grabs my hand and just lays back. I love this picture of him - he just got blasted by the water at the splash pad and was not happy about it. Love you buddy!

Summer "Splashing"

Oh little girls - is there anything cuter?

Okay so any of you that have both boys and girls (or are around both often) know that oh, are they different! I'm a firm believer that we come with our personalities already formed and that our genders have a HUGE impact on our mood, temperament and ways that we react. Case in point... my sweet Rio is SO funny, loving, silly and sweet and yet SO emotional! Translation... moody and a little tantrum thrower at the drop of a hat! To be honest, it's kind of funny :)

Anyway, this post is for my little loving and silly Rio - we love you so much sweetie and all your emotions - good and not so good!

Lately, Rio has been getting attached to certain objects (including mama's hip, leg and lap - she's my little shadow) that she finds interesting for the day or a few days. Right now, she loves her sunglasses and when she sees them, she insists on wearing them either on her eyes, top of her head or around her neck (which by the way, she will tantrum if they fall of her head/neck - of course). So here is my bathing beauty in her glasses, diaper and nothing else since she got soaking wet a few moments before.

Let's just say that some of us had a hard time deciding whether or not it was summer or winter this day. Seriously? Could she be any cuter? She saw me putting away winter type stuff and she once again insisted on wearing this winter hat - pretty much all day :) along with her sun dress.

Another favorite of Rio's at the moment are these little silver shoes that I believe actually belong to our cute neighbor and friend Eliza. But one morning Rio saw them in her closet and kept saying, "shoe, shoe" and at first I couldn't understand her so she kept getting more and more frustrated until I finally figured out which shoes she wanted - the pretty silver ones of course!

***I just realized that in two of these pics, she isn't wearing clothes - please know she actually does have clothing and she does wear it... it just so happens that the first pic was a product of playing in the water and this one was during the "getting dressed and diapers changed" part of the morning.

I love you sweet Rio - you are a true joy in my day :)

Is Summer really here???

Okay so honestly, could it really be summertime? I'm not sure if I should put away the long sleeves and pants and jackets/coats for good or keep them out a little longer - it's driving me crazy! But... I've been loving this weather lately - it is so fun to let the kids out so much and they are so loving the sun and water. We are dorky bird loving people so when we go outside, the kids always look for "birs" (birds) now - I love it! They are talking so much more lately and this time in their little lives is so fun - wow, do they change so quickly. I have to remind myself everyday to love these moments and eat them up.

Spence is so busy with work, school and church stuff and is often not home a lot so my sweet dad is so helpful and comes over a mows our lawn for us sometimes but really I think he just likes the riding mower :) My kids were terrified the first time we pulled out the mower but now they love it! Rio constantly wants to sit on it in the garage and everytime we go into the garage Austin has to go look at it and he attempts to say his version of "lawnmower." He says the same thing everytime so I know exactly what he is saying - what a cutie! Anyway, the kids LOVE "granpa" and get so sad if they can't see him so I pulled out the laundry baskets over to the window and let them watch him mow one day. They loved it!! Not the best pic but I love that they were glued to the window watching him.

We've been to the park a few times with our little play group (thanks Meliss and Alicia for asking us to come with - we love it!) What a new experience these guys are having with swings, slides and sandboxes! I love that everything is so new to them this year - what a joy!

We had a family reunion on Spence's side of the family a week or so ago at a fun park. There was a huge duck pond and the kids loved it! They wanted to go into the water with them - GROSS!!! It took all we had to stop them from walking right in but we did hear a ton of "quack, quacks." Spence's family is great and we love them so much - we walked around with our cousins and aunts and uncles and played on the swings and slides. My kids are slide lovers! Rio especially, she doesn't ever want to get off and they don't quite understand the "taking turns" concept with other kids just yet. We've got to learn that quick because I know we will be at parks the whole summer.

Aunt Erin was pushing Jax and he almost fell asleep he loved it so much!

I got the kids these little chairs and they love them and want to take them everywhere they go - they go outside, down the stairs... we've even had attempts of taking them into the car and into their cribs during naps - so sad when they can't nap with their chairs :( Even Lennox has been enjoying the nice weather!

Why is it that little boys are attracted to everything messy and anything that stains!! Drives me crazy but on the other hand, I love it! Austin cannot get enough of water and mud! He thinks it's the best thing in the world.

Austin and his "mud pox" - I was watering the flowers and turned my back to him and the next thing I saw was this little muddy boy. But oh, was he happy!!!