Anne's Birthday and Other Great Fun

An award I won at our chili cook-off at our ward campout for "Most Experimental".  Let's just say it had zucchini, many types of beans, tomatoes, and a hint of sweetness.  

 Michelle used her softball expertise to teach the kids to play T-Ball.  They loved it! Anne loved hitting the ball and running after it.  I think T-ball is in her future.

 I loved this picture.  This was on her birthday while waiting for dinner to finish cooking :)

 Birthday purpleness.

I cooked Anne's favorite meal....Lasagna!!

You can't have a birthday without birthday balloons!

Anne helped pick out her cake ingredients.  She said she wanted a purple cake (hence the frosting), and she picked out the sparkles and funfetti batter.

Present time.  Thank you for all that contributed to her happy day.  She's one lucky awesome girl :)

She started off the day by us all taking a ride on the "City Bus" as she calls it.  It was the number one thing she asked to do for her birthday.  She has always wanted to ride on one.  So we rode to the mall and let her pick out a dress then she got her picture taken at JCPennys.

She is very in to weddings and talking about getting married so I made her this bouquet.

And found her these cute slippers at DI.

Cute clothes from Grandma Thatcher!

Wedding accessories and dress from Grandma Russell and Aunt Jennifer!

Bean bag chair from Grandpa Thatcher!

Purple cowboy hat and Winnie the Pooh chalkboard from Aunt Michelle!

Corn from our garden.  Didn't taste very good but it made for cute Fall decorations.

Our sickness epidemic.  Anne and Rachel both had strep, then Anne got a cold, then Anne got an allergic reaction to amoxicillin, then Rachel got hand foot mouth disease.  Boy was that a long time spent inside and not in contact with other kids.  But we are very blessed that they are now recovered, eating well again, and no longer spotted.

I loved these pictures.  Zac loves having girls :)

The three amigos.

Birthday song.

Anne's new favorite hobby.

Summer 2012

Pool time in the backyard.

 Our little cowgirl.

 Watching videos of Uncle Jason.

 4th of July Treats.  I love the little sneaking hand.

 Fairy Princess playtime

 Double rainbow out our front yard.

 4th of July poppers

 One morning I woke up to this.  They had pulled every single book off the shelves and were having story time together.  Awesome.

 First campout of the season in our backyard.  I wouldn't say it was a huge success. The girls ended up falling asleep just after midnight due to the ongoing fireworks and Shizzie's barking at said fireworks.  But they had a blast and it was a good trial run before the next campout.

 Campout the next weekend with some friends up in Maple Canyon.  This campout went muuuuch better.

 Getting the garden ready for planting.

There is something cool about living two blocks from 7-11.

 We got to participate in Springville's Children's Parade with our dear friends the Evans.  It was an adventure :)

 Gardening.

 They liked helping get all the big rocks out of the garden.

 I love this.  My kids have no fear of bugs or worms.

 Fun time in the dollar store.

 My sister treated us to Chuck E Cheese one day and boy was it a treat.  The girls were in heaven.  What a cool place.  I can remember why I liked it so much when I was a kid. I think I had as much fun as they did.

 I love this picture.

 One day when we were in the backyard the girls kept holding hands and would wander around together.  It was heart warming.  I'm so glad they love each other so much.  There is something truly special about sisters :)

 Rachel in her new big girl forward facing carseat.  Yes she finally hit 20 pounds.

 Free Dreyers ice cream at the Freedom Festival.

 View from my mountain biking excursion.

 The pictures are a little out of order cause they come from various sources.  Here's camping again.

 I like this one.  He's so cute ;)

 Our "Day Out With Thomas" on the Heeber Creeper.  Anne and Rachel were sooo excited to see Thomas and ride on a train.  Great memories.

 Pretty cool self portrait shot.

 Picnic in the backyard.

 Pool time.

 Date night at the Pleasant Grove Rodeo.

 Another date to go play paintball.  It was AWESOME! I wish I had discovered it sooner in life!

 Mmmm....

 Helping clean the Church.

 Rachel in her nursery class.  She does pretty good comparably speaking to Anne.  She lets us leave most of the time but still gets pretty sad.

 Watching the fireworks on the 4th from our Church lawn.  What an awesome view!  The girls loooooved the fireworks.

 Rachel and her dog.

 Believe it or not they pushed this thing all the way from the garage, down our driveway and onto the grass in the front yard.  They may not be buff but they're "wiry" :) (Anyone who's seen Replacements can appreciate that)

 They LOVE to help mow the lawn.

 We go for LOTS of bikerides.

 At the 24the of July Pioneer Day Festival.

 Anne was a natural.  Rode all by herself.

 And they got to go on a "siren" (firetruck).

At the end of our hike after our campout.

 The girls found a butterfly on our hike.

Helping Daddy chop wood for our campfire.