For Just Two Dollars...

...We get to have a blast every Tuesday in August at Thanksgiving Point. Admittedly, I am quite a cheap person overall and hate paying full price for ANYTHING. So this Two-Dollar Tuesday thing is a very joyous experience for me. We rarely visit Thanksgiving Point any other time of year, but totally get our fill in August.

We went to the Children's Garden the first time with my mom and two sisters (Camille and Rebekah). Adelyn's best friend in the whole world is her cousin Eliza, who she doesn't get to see very often now because she lives in Washington. But they had a blast at the garden together. The above pic is Addie sharing her towel with Eliza at the splash area.

The next time we went to the Children's Garden, we brought our neighbors from across the street, William and Leah. Incidentally, Leah is one of the only other girls on our street (there are about 20 boys!) so Adelyn and Leah have become very good friends lately.

Annalise LOVED playing in the sand. She got it everywhere, but it was definitely worth it to see her this happy.

The whole crew at the garden's caterpillar.

The kids went to the Dinosaur Museum twice as well, once with Ryan while I was at work and once with me while he was at work. They always have a great time, although Annalise was stuck in the stroller most of the time.

A cute dinosaur picture of Addie and Preston.

We also love Farm Country. Adelyn takes advantage of any opportunity to ride a pony and seems to get more confident every time.

Preston, however, prefers wagon riding to pony riding. He also just adores seeing all of the animals. He still talks about Farm Country often and wants to go back everyday.

Annalise had her share of fun too. Here she is with Ryan looking at the rabbits.

A darling picture of Addie with a peacock feather. I heart Thanksgiving Point! Thank you for making my August Tuesdays memorable.

Annalise's Portraits

My little baby girl is one. She is such a joy to have in our family. She is pretty mild-tempered, although she does not like being thwarted in anything. She has no interest in learning to walk yet, but she can get anywhere she wants to using her amazing speed-crawling and climbing skills. She eats like a horse, but no one believes it because she is still so little. She prefers to drink from a cup, even though she spills it all over her. She already refuses to wear a bib. She loves people and animals, singing and laughing. She still lets me cuddle and sing her to sleep in my arms, for which I am very grateful.

An eye-lash shot.

This is an expression I see a lot from her.

Oh, those eyes...

A more serious close-up.

Seeing her with these flowers reminded me of another one of her talents--getting into things and making big messes. Adelyn and I have nicknamed her "Baby Bulldozer!" She is very curious and determined. She is so fun to watch.

Annalise is such a precious little girl. We love her so much.

Preston's 3-Year Portraits

So I go to get Preston's 3-year portraits done, and although I had done my best to get him excited about the event (I even had a few bribes on the table: candy, stickers...), he still was not about to be cooperative. I looked at the photographer in desperation and she said, "Yeah, kids ages 1-5 are the very hardest." I laughed and said, "That's the only kids I have!"

I was just about to give up when we discovered this train. It was a life-saver! It was actually in every picture, but the photographer zoomed in on him on most of them. He would play with it for awhile, then we'd tell him to park it at the train station and smile. He was surprisingly cooperative if we let him play with it in between each picture. Now, when we go to Target, he wants to go back and play with his train. :)

This is how Preston shows off his muscles. You can't see it, but Preston was flexing so hard he was shaking in this picture.

Our cute little Preston guy.

Preston's Favorites at Three (based on a recent interview of the subject):

Favorite foods: hot dogs, pizza
Favorite drinks: water, milk, orange juice
Favorite colors: blue and green
Favorite TV show: Bob the Builder
Favorite movie: Toy Story
Favorite places to go: McDonalds, Thanksgiving Point
Best friends: Tayson, Kade
Favorite candy: "A lot of candy!!"
Favorite snack: carrots
Favorite vacations: Disneyland, Sea World
Favorite book: The Little Mouse, Danny and the Dinosaur, Monsters ABCs
Favorite song: Sunbeams; I am a Child of God; any song I make up for him (the sillier the better)
What he likes to do: play cars, go to Grandmas, eat food, color
What he wants to be when he grows up: airplane pilot, race-car driver

We love you, Preston! We cannot believe you are already three. You are growing up WAY too fast.

Celebrating Eight Years

We really wanted our anniversary (August 17) to be really special this year so we dropped our kids off at my mom's house (thank you Mom and Camille!) and spent nearly 24-hours all by ourselves in Park City. We went out to dinner at Redrock, which was my first time. Then we pampered ourselves and got massages. We went back to our hotel and went swimming and then watched a movie. The following morning, we went on bike riding and running before indulging in the hotel's hot breakfast buffet.

Then we went to the Utah Olympic Park and had a blast...

Doing the Alpine Slide. This was my first time ever. Unfortunately, we got stuck behind a young kid and we had to slow down several times. But fortunately, Ryan told the attendant guy and he let us go AGAIN for free! (It was much better the second time.)

Then we did the Xtreme Zipline, which is apparently the longest zipline in the world! Amazingly enough, Ryan was able to snap a picture of me when I got in front of him.

We went to the Tanger Outlets and browsed, then walked around the shops on Main Street and ate sandwiches and frozen yogurt on the little patio at the Main Street Deli.

We had such a great time! With three kids, we have found that it is really hard to get adequate togetherness time with each other. But it was so nice to have a day to celebrate the beginning of "us" and sort of be kids again ourselves. I love you, Ryan. Here's to many more happy years to come!

Mary's Wedding

My sister Mary got married this past weekend to Timothy Jensen in the Salt Lake Temple. We spent the whole day celebrating with them--what an amazing experience.

I LOVE this temple!

The happy couple.

Mary with my sweet dad. She was his last child to get married.

She is so beautiful and she was just glowing the entire day.

I loved her cake! Isn't it amazing! (It was yummy too.)

They look so sweet in this picture. They will be very good to each other.

Adelyn is so darling to pose for Ryan's photo-shoot.

Preston showing off his little personality.

Our princess Annalise was a trooper; it was a long day for her.

Sweet Annalise is One!

For Annalise's birthday, we gave Timpanogos Cave another try. This time we got tickets in advance. The hike was much easier than Stewart Falls and Preston was able to do more walking by himself. Annalise, however, still got to ride in the Bjorn.

This little birthday girl is already good at sharing. We gave her snacks to eat on the way up the trail and she worked out a little system: she would eat a bite and then feed me a bite. She is so cute and generous. :)

We made it up the trail without too much trouble. Everyone loved the cave except Annalise who apparently got bored and fell asleep.

We came home and had a little family party for her. She was surprisingly proficient at present-opening, especially for a one-year old.

Annalise's personalize pink cake.

Her first bite...

"This is quite delicious indeed."

" Um, I think I've had quite enough, thanks."

Park with Daddy

Ryan captured some really nice pictures of the kids when they went to the park together. So of course I thought I'd share them.

Happy Preston.

Annalise, the climber.

Sweetheart Addie.

Preston is Three!

We enjoyed a full day of family fun for Preston's third birthday. We planned to hike to Timpanogos Cave, but it was a 3-hour wait for tickets so we quickly changed plans and hiked Stewart Falls. I've done this hike three times now and each time I completely underestimate it. With three kids, it took us over four hours and we all got absolutely filthy. We packed Annalise and carried Preston the majority of the way. The falls were absolutely beautiful though, making it well worth it.

The kids loved playing in the water, even though it was ice cold.

We stopped at home before rushing to see "Toy Story 3" with the kids. Preston was so excited and we all loved it! When we got home we had his little party with the family. We barbecued hamburgers and had ice cream and cake. It was such a fun day. It is always great to have a reason to celebrate.

Preston with all his presents. A little story to remember-- We wrapped several of Preston's gifts in an old diaper box and when he opened the wrapping paper he said, "Diapers! Yeah!" And he was serious. He is so easy to please. But he was pleasantly surprised to see there were toys and no diapers inside. :)

Preston was very happy with his Toy Story cake. He loves Woody and Buzz.

Preston enjoying his new toys.