SUPER MEGA SUMMER POST PART DEUX

Alright, I fixed the last post and instead of toying with Murphy's Law and trying to continue on in the last post I decided to just start a new one beginning where the last one left off. So, without further adieu...

Alysia's Scrap Retreat

The last week of June I went to Island Park for a few days to scrap with my good friend Carda and some of her friends and family. It was so nice to get away and enjoy the beautiful scenery and do a little scrapbooking. I really do mean little because whenever I sat down for more than 45 minutes my ankle, or cankles rather, would swell up and I would have to go put my feet up. I did need the rest however, the first night I was there I slept in the next morning until 11:00...seriously...11:00. I haven't slept in that late since college. Needless to say I came home rested. So, here is a peek at what I put together:

BIG Birthday Week

We celebrated four birthdays last week. Kaylee on the 3rd, my mom and our country on the 4th and my Grandma on the 5th (her birthday is actually the 6th, but we partied on the 5th). My Grandpa on my dad's side also had a birthday on the 6th but he didn't have a party this year. So, Happy Birthday to all you July babies.

Kaylee got to have a friend party this year for her birthday, she turned 6. Yes, I know, she turned 6...I still can't believe it. My baby girl just turned 6. Can you tell I am having trouble grasping the whole age thing with her. I think grasping the whole fact that she is my one and only girl is what I have the hardest time getting a hold of. She has brought so much fun and laughs into my life, I just can't believe she is 6. Okay, moving on...she wanted to go to the water park with her friends for her birthday and so that is what we did, and then that night we had all of our family over and partied some more. She had the greatest day, and I have to say I had a lot of fun, too.

These next photos are of Kaylee blowing out her birthday candles. While she was blowing them out she got a little too close and actually inhaled one of the flames up her nose. It cinged her nose hairs and made her cringe a little and made the rest of us laugh (after we made sure she was okay of course). It was about the funniest thing I have ever seen.



I decided to start a new tradition this year with Kaylee's birthday. During the family party I asked everyone to share what their favorite thing is about Miss Kaylee. This is what everyone said:

Grandpa C. loves her imagination
Grandma C. loves her dancing (seriously the girl is always twirling around)
Collin loves her because she is his Princess and she is so beautiful
I love it that Kaylee is not afraid to be herself and loves to laugh
Grandma W. loves that Kaylee colors so beautifully
Aunt Chelsea loves that she is so good at singing and dancing
Grandpa W. loves Kaylee because she is so good at everything (real original dad)
After making Bradley come out from hiding behind the couch he admitted that he loves it that Kaylee eats her boogers...I am not kidding, that is what he said. What a dumb brother sort of thing to say. He is a typical boy, luckily Kaylee laughed rather than crying.


God Bless America
I love the 4th of July...love, love, love!!! I always feel a tremendous amount of gratitude for our country and the freedom we have. This sense of gratitude has grown over the years because of Kaylee, I always start to feel that thankfulness for her because of her birthday and then our country and then my mom and it just grows from there. I really do enjoy having all these birthdays right together, and hey, the weather is always nice so we can do fun things and be outside. Our ward has a traditional breakfast on the morning of the 4th. The kids get to decorate their bikes and ride horses. It is so fun!!! After the breakfast we just hang out at home and play in the water. We always have a BBQ and this year we went and saw Wall E before we headed out to Collin's parent's house to light fireworks with our good friends the Armstrongs. We had such a great day, I love these fun traditions.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Okay, so my sister-in-law posted the nicest thing about my mom on her blog: http://teamwillie.blogspot.com/
and I totally made fun of her and called her a kiss up (I was only kidding, Heather), but now here I am about to do the same thing. I really do love my mom, she is so good to me. I think there is something special about the person who loved you first, knew you first, before anyone else. She has worked so hard her whole life to make sure that her children are happy and she did a fabulous job if I do say so myself, we all turned out great. She is a fantastic grandma, I think she loves my kids as much as I do, even more on some days. So, here's to you mom...Thank you and I love you!!!!










This is her giving me a pedicure the day after her birthday. She's the greatest!!!


Grandma-Great turns 75

I think she might kill me for putting that in print, but I seriously think it is awesome that she has experienced so many years. Just own it Grandma...you go girl. Her husband arranged a little surprise party for her, it was a lot of fun. I am grateful that my kids know their great-grandmother, who they lovingly call grandma-great, this is another Bradleyism from when he was a little guy and it has totally stuck. She has been a great example to her family. My favorite memory of my grandma is when she took me and my cousin to Utah for my Uncle Joel's college graduation. I just remember sitting in the car talking and laughing and I remember she bought me a tape from Deseret Book. Love you Grandma!!!!











In Conclusion...

I just want to share a few of my random favorite photos to end this insanely long post...enjoy:






We are so ready!!!!