Leaves, leaves, and more leaves

Can I tell you...we LOVE living right next to a great big softball field with lots of trees lining it because it means LOTS of leaves that we can play with and not have to worry about raking. (Unless we're making leave piles to jump in, that is!!!) :0) The kids thought this was the best thing ever and have done it many times since. I'm sure you notice Austin's bike helmet. He LOVES this thing. He was riding the trike before this but refused to take it off. Silly boy.

I've been trying to do more projects with the kids because I've been slacking in that area lately. But how can you NOT do projects in the Fall with all of the leaves, Halloween, etc.!! :0) We've made little puppets, owls, and many leaf projects. I don't have pics of all the projects, but here's a couple.

My sweet little kiddos

Paige had her Primary Program yesterday at church and she did a great job. She was so excited to sing all of the songs and say her little line. The whole time she was up there she made sure I was watching her. She would get a huge grin on her face and wave whenever I looked at her (which was almost the whole time, of course!) :0) She had her line, "Heavenly Father loves me and has a plan for me" memorized and she had no problem saying it except she was a little too close to the mic. Oh well, I knew what she was saying! :0) She knew almost all the words to each of the songs and wasn't afraid to sing! I love that about Paige! She is always singing, making up new songs, dancing, etc. If music is involved, she's a happy camper! Anyway, all 3 kids looked so cute yesterday so I had to take some pics of them. Aren't they the cutest?!? (Or am I just a little biased?) :0)

Oh, how we love this sweet little girl!

A couple projects I've been doing

A friend of mine saw Paige's halloween bow and wanted some like it for her girls. The only request was that it had a little purple. Kelly definitely has great taste because the purple in these bows made them complete!! I LOVE them!! If I had had a little more time, I would have made another bow just like these for Paige. You can never have too many bows, right?!? :0)

Austin's walls are looking a little bare, so I decided to do a little project to fix that! I have Bri make some very simple 12"x12" frames (I could have done it, but I wanted Bri to have a chance to help me! :0)) and then I covered the frames with fabric and painted these adorable pics on them. I just found the pics online, printed them out and used them as stencils. Very easy. I had to include the Jeep because Austin absolutely LOVES his Uncle Brandon and Uncle Brandon LOVES Jeeps! ;0) I have to say, they turned out so cute!!

June pool party with the monkeys

Every month a bunch of moms and the kids try to get together to do an activity or a project. In June, we had a little pool party, except it wasn't really little. There were A LOT of little kiddos, but that's what made it fun. Paige and Austin had a blast, as you can see from the pics! Can't wait to do it again next summer!!

A view of all the pools. I think we had 5 or 6 pools set up and each one had kids in it the entire time. :0)

Long boarding

Uncle Dan and Aunt Rachael are definitely the coolest!! They are awesome longboarders and they let Paige and Austin ride their boards when we were with the over the 4th of July weekend. It was just down G and G's driveway, but that was great according to Paige and Austin. They got really good at leaning to turn and going across the road. If only blogger would let me upload videos without taking all day because I have some pretty cool videos of it, too!! :0)

Seven Peaks and waterfalls

After the Blackham reunion, we got together with just Brian's family and had a little reunion of our own. We went to SLC to a really fun waterpark. I can't remember the name of it, but it had little ponds and waterfalls that were built to look like miniature replicas of all the canyons in the Salt Lake valley. It was so fun for the kids. Perfect for a very hot day in June!

Later that weekend, we went to Seven Peaks. Such a fun day! I was even able to enjoy it being hugely pregnant! ;0) It was super hot, but since it was a water park it was just wonderful!

Paige and Austin chowing down on doughnuts before going into the park

Some of the cousins taking a break in the shade.

Blackham reunion 2009

In June, we went to a very fun reunion for Brian's side of the family. We went to Utah to a place called "Reid Family Ranch". It was so fun! They had horseback riding, swimming, fishing, archery, mini golf, frisbee golf, canoeing, a great lodge that fit the entire clan of 60+ people, and meals that were included in the price. It was great! I highly recommend this place for a family reunion because they provide everything for you. Each individual family had their own room with a bathroom and the meals were very good!

Here are a few pics from the Ranch. I wish I had taken more, but I'll just use the excuse that I was very pregnant at the time! ;0)

Lauralee loved riding the ponies, Lady and Tramp, just as much as Paige and Austin!! Definitely a kid favorite!

Austin being silly at the talent show

If you know Paige, you know that this is what she was doing any chance she got!

A new trick of Paige's that she learned from cousin, Ashley. I think it's called the "robin's nest".

Austin with his horseback riding gear

I was a little surprised that Austin loved riding the ponies as much as he did. He is usually very cautious and not too daring. He did end up getting thrown off of Lady when she got spooked. He didn't want to get on her again, but he did give her a little hug afterwards to say no hard feelings.

If you remember my post last Christmas about how much Austin was afraid of his cousin, Ava, you'll be as shocked by this picture as I was! J/K :0) They became great friends on our little hike to see the horses and ponies. I had to take some pics as proof!! :0)

A few random pics from that last couple months

I have so much to catch up on! I thought I'd just post a few of the fun things that we've been doing.

We have had lots of family come and visit us! Here are a few pictures of our visitors!

Little Miss Kelsey holding Bryn

Miss Janie holding Bryn (she's very excited, can you tell?!?) :0)

Dawson hitting (not holding) Bryn. I love Dawson's facial expression! "But Mom, I'm not meaning to hit my cousin!!"

Aunt Bethany holding Bryn and I'm holding sweet Max! We had to take this pic because Bethany and Bryn matched and Max and I matched. Love it!!

And here's a picture that Paige said I had to post. She thinks it is the funniest picture of her and I have to agree. Most people do this with oranges or apples, but not Miss Paige. No, she does this with tomatoes!! That's my vegetable-loving girl!!! :0)

Bryn's Blessing Day

I guess I should finally post pictures from Bryn's blessing since it has been over a month since it happened. (September 6th) Pathetic, I know! It was a beautiful, wonderful day, though. It was a little crazy with just moving in our house that week and trying to get it presentable (even livable) for family coming in, but it all came together. We had great grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and many cousins come to share this special day with us. Thank you to all who came!!

The blessing was wonderful. Brian always does a great job! Every time he blesses one of our children, I am reminded of how blessed I am to have such a wonderful man in my life who holds the priesthood and blesses our family with that priesthood!

Bryn's blessing will definitely be memorable, especially for Brian. It was his turn to conduct in Sacrament meeting, a General Authority, Elder Bradley Foster, was visiting because his great-niece was being blessed also, and Brian was, of course, blessing Bryn. He was a little nervous to say the least. Elder Foster joined the circle for Bryn's blessing. It was neat to have a member of the Seventy in the circle, but of course Bryn decided to let loose during the blessing and poop. Yes, when she's older we can tease her about pooping in a General Authority's hands. Lovely! :0) Besides, that she was great. :0)

Here are a few pictures from that wonderful day. I'm sad that we didn't take more pictures, but like I said it was crazy!! I know my parents took a few with their camera but I don't have copies of those. Hopefully I'll get those soon!

A 4-generation picture. It would have been a 5-generation pictures, but Bryn's great-great Grandma Randall couldn't make it.

Busy, Busy, Busy

So, for all of you who have commented about how much of a blogging slacker I've been....I'm SORRY! I think I have had some pretty good excuses, but I do admit that I am a slacker. Oh, well. At least I've accepted that fact! :0)

Here are a few of the things that are keeping me busy:

#1: Bryn

This is Bryn with her cousins, Dawson (12 days older than Bryn) and Carter (1 month younger). As you can see she did not like them invading her personal space!

Part of a smile. The picture of her full smile was blurry, darn it!!

Look at that double chin! You should see her thighs! :0) We finally have a chubbs!! :0)

She is such a sweet little baby! She went through a period of crying from 8 PM to about 11 PM, but that is now over. Thank goodness! Now she goes to bed between 8:00-9:00 and usually sleeps 4-5 hours at a time. Last night was amazing! She slept 8 full hours straight!!! I woke up at 4 AM and had to check on her to make she was breathing! She finally woke up at 5 AM to eat and then slept another 3 hours! I guess our little princess thought she needed more beauty sleep! :0) She is smiling a lot now and is very happy in the mornings usually. Paige and Austin can't get enough of her and neither can Brian nor I! :0)

#2: Paige

Paige has started preschool again and is loving it of course!! She is such a social little girl and needs that interaction with the kids and teachers. Since we moved to a younger neighborhood, she has been in heaven! She is outside more than she is inside lately and I'll take that as long has the weather cooperates! ;0) Paige is always surprising us with funny phrases and ideas. She remember things better than the rest of us and definitely keeps us on our toes constantly! She loves to tell us that Heavenly Father made her a vegetable eater and, boy, did He! This girl LOVES almost every vegetable we put in front of her. Crazy, but I'm not complaining!! Her primary teachers always comment on how bright she is and how much fun she is. I guess she REALLY likes to sing the primary songs that they'll be singing in the Primary program in a few weeks. If I'm out in the hall with Bryn, I can usually hear her singing at the top of her lungs. It will be interesting to see how she does during the program!! ;0)

#3: Austin

Austin has become my little buddy since Paige has gone back to school. He loves to help me with Bryn (a little too much at times), help me cook, and help me with pretty much anything I'm doing. He talks all the time and says some of the funniest things. The other day I went out to ask Paige and Austin if they wanted grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and Austin must have thought I said "girl" cheese sandwiches, because he said, "No, Mom, I want a 'boy' cheese sandwich!" It was so cute!! Then he was pestering Paige like always and she asked him if he was trying to make her cry and he said simply, "Yes". I was trying so hard not to laugh!! :0)

#4: Our new house

We are far from having everything put together the way I want it, but can I tell you...we are loving our new house. It's so much nicer than what we were in. I don't feel embarrassed to have people over, there's room (plus some) for all of our stuff, and the kids have room to run and play. I think the best thing is that we have a fenced-in backyard! LOVE IT!! Oh yeah, and we have a dishwasher and a garage. Ahhhhh, so nice!! :0)

#5: Bows, bows, bows

A friend asked me to make some bows for her granddaughters and it has been so fun getting into bow-making again! I couldn't help but make a couple bows for my girls while I was at it. Aren't they cute?!? I think my favorites are the butterflies and Bryn's Halloween bow! :0)