Talking to Rachael

Somehow Rachael was able to call home from her mission to talk to Aaron before he left for his mission. So she called about 1/2 hr before Aaron was getting set apart. We headed over to the Ericson's after Brooklyn's dance class and waited for her call. It was fun to talk to her and the kids loved telling her everything they've been doing.

Fun Night With Friends

Last minute we invited a bunch of friends over for pizza and to hang out. It was a lot of fun catching up with everyone. The kids had a blast playing and chasing each other all over the yard. We got Kube out and played a great game. Here are 5 of the 9 kids:

Gymnastics

Brooklyn's gymnastics class was having a free trial class for kids under 3. So of course I jumped at the chance to let Brynlee have fun. Surprisingly, Brynlee was very timid and shy and didn't want to leave my side. She is normally BEGGING me to let her go in when Brooklyn has her class. Finally I asked the teacher if Brooklyn could come in for a few minutes and play with Brynlee. It worked like a charm. The rest of the hour Bryn followed Brooke around and they just played and played!

Idaho

We went up to Idaho for my nephew's baptism. It was fun to have my entire family in my brother's house all weekend. We drove up late Friday night. The kids did pretty well, although Brynlee never fell asleep until 11:20. We got there at 12:30am and quickly put the kids to bed. We all slept in Hannah's room. Brynlee thought it was fun that we all were in the same room, and ended up being awake playing until 3:30. Awesome. Let's just say we didn't get much sleep that night. Saturday morning was Harrison's baptism. It was fun for the kids to sit up close and watch Harry go into the water. Afterwards we had a big luncheon at Ryon and Jana's house then relaxed all afternoon. For the evening we went to a great little restaurant. Hannah and her cousins watched all the kids so it was just the adults at dinner. Sunday we had a yummy breakfast then headed off to church. We left to go home Sunday night, as did Justin and Ali. Everyone else stayed until Monday afternoon. Overall, it was a great weekend!

The girls loved playing dress up:

 The boys were obsessed with Plants vs. Zombies:

 Playing with grandpa:

 Flag football was a ton of fun:

Brooklyn and Samantha's Birthday Party

At the beginning of the year I set a goal to atleast do one home birthday party. So I've been planning a water party for Brooklyn for months. It was perfect because her actual birthday fell on a Saturday so it was one fun day. I filled Brooklyn's room with balloons before I went to bed. She loved it when she woke up.

 Since Samantha's birthday is only 3 days before Brooklyn's, we combined their parties. So we have all been busy for weeks getting ready. We made a giant water bubble out of painter's plastic and duct tape. The kids LOVED it! It was awesome and it held up really well.

 We didn't serve lunch, but we had a snack table.

 Sean spent the whole week creating a drink station. There is a tube that is frozen inside the block of ice. You pour the juice in the funnel at the top and it comes out the bottom. It was pretty cool.

 We had a bunch of pools, slides, and the blow up slide. I think we had about 25 kids. It was a ton of fun.

 4 years old!!!

 The party was at noon and the kids stayed outside playing until 7! We quickly bathed them, got in their jammies, and headed to Menchies for frozen yogurt. The kids loved picking out all the fun toppings.

 When Brooklyn walked inside she saw her final present...a new bike! She loves it and we've already gone on a bike ride. Happy Birthday babe! We love you!

Brooklyn's First Day of Preschool

All last year Brayden and Brooklyn went to preschool together. Different classes but at the same time. So she was really sad when Brayden started going to a different school from her. But finally she got to start and she loves it. 

Jimmer

My parents gave Josh and Brayden their VIP tickets to a fundraiser dinner for Jimmer's foundation. They had dinner and a silent auction. Josh went a little crazy with the auction and spent way too much money. It's all for charity, though, right?! Awesome. They had a lot of fun and got a few things signed. Thanks mom and dad for the tickets!