Circus!

The circus came to town last week - once again David was gone so we had to go without him. The girls enjoyed the tricks, animals, and performers. Trysten still doesn't like loud noises so he got upset a couple of times when the crowd got really loud, but surprisingly he actually fell asleep and took a little nap. I let the girls either pick a ride or a treat - they are too expensive to do both for all three kids! Brianna wanted a treat so she got a snow cone. Kaylee and Brailee both wanted to ride the ponies. I told you Kaylee has my love of horses - I tried to talk her into riding the elephant, but she said next year. She was the biggest kid on the ponies, but that's what she chose!

Brailee enjoyed dancing to the music - she provided some entertainment, too!

Monthly catch-up!

Once again I am playing catch-up! I have lots of creations I still haven't posted yet, but for now here are some more June pictures!

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Last week Brailee asked if she could hold Trysten and read him a story - how sweet! She read him The HICCUPotamus. It was so cute, she would 'read' the page "The Hiccupotamus says hic, hic, hic!" then turn the page and it was the same thing over and over. I just love how my girls adore their baby brother! Trysten always falls asleep on our bike rides and Brailee is always in the bike trailer saying, "Mommy, the bumps are going to wake up Trysten!" She takes such good care of him.

We've had a cool and wet summer so far - which is good, we could really use the moisture! The reservoirs are really looking good this year - probably the highest I've ever seen them. Anyway, it finally got warm enough last week so I broke out the Slip 'n' Slide and the girls had a blast. We got the pool set up this last weekend and they've already had so much fun playing in the water - they would live in their swimsuits if I let them ;-P

An update on our animal friends - I think some of the bunnies may be living under our back porch - either that or they just like to hide there and in our Raspberry bushes. They are getting braver however - I took this picture the other day when we were playing outside.

And I think these are our little robin chicks - they sure are growing, though!

Trysten loves to be outside - here he is in his swing. See our Raspberry bushes behind him - we are going to have LOTS of berries this year, we are so excited! And our Strawberries are doing really well too, this year we've managed to keep them safe from squirrels and birds.

Sleepyheads! This first picture is from a couple Sundays ago - Brailee was so tired after church she just went downstairs and climbed up on the couch and crashed! And then just some other random sleeping pictures ;-)

Pre-Hop Post!

I’m so excited about the upcoming July Stamp of the Month Blog Hop. There are 46 CTMH Consultants participating! Check back here on July 1st - this will be the starting point for the blog hop, but don't worry, if you start somewhere else, you'll still make it all the way around!

In order to make the hop run smoothly, I’m testing out links to Wendy’s Blog, she’ll be the one that you’ll jump to after mine. I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with - I hope you'll hop with us!

June MMB Give-Away!

More fabulous prizes to be won this month - check it out at Mormon Mommy Blogs!

5 Months Old

Trysten is now 5 months old and he is getting so big - he won't go in for another appointment until he is 6 months old, but I'm guessing he weighs around 18 pounds now. He can sit up by himself for a little while - he mostly likes to lean forward on his hands, as you can see in the picture above. He loves to play with toys, and he especially likes to stick things in his mouth! This last Sunday at church he was just fascinated with Grandpa's tie and kept grabbing it and trying to suck on it. He has also found his thumb - it was always his fist he sucked on before, but now he will occassionally get his thumb in there by itself. It's funny because my first two never did a binky or the thumb, and believe me, we tried, but my last two sure have liked both! He is still so smiley and that is usually the first thing people notice about him - he has a smile for everyone! He loves his sisters and they love to make him laugh. He is still such a good boy and he has been sleeping through the night every night for the last two weeks! We tried to start him on some cereal - he didn't hate it but he's not quite ready for it. I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up!

Take me out to the ballgame!

Brailee wanted to wear a ball cap like her brother last week as we were getting ready to head to softball. So I pointed her to the hat closet and let her go wild - AKA pick her own hat ;-P I don't even know where we got this hat, I think it came from her cousins or something like that. Anyway, this is what she picked, and this is how she put it on herself - doesn't she look too cool! Of course not as cool as she looked a couple days earlier when Daddy put her shoes on the wrong feet ;-P

And here is Trysten in his ball cap - it's a bit too big, but at least it will stay in place and give him some shade unlike the bucket hat that's still too big.

Happy Father's Day

Yes, I know I'm a day late - what's new with me lately ;-) I hope you all had a very Happy Father's Day! For some reason I always seem to get sick on Father's Day, so we didn't do much this year. In 2006 when I was pregnant with Brailee, we were in Utah visiting my Mom's family and I ended up with my first sinus infection, so I was miserable that FD weekend. Then in 2007 we went camping with our new trailer for FD weekend and I got sick again and spent most of the time sleeping. And then again this year - yuck! Hopefully I can break this 'tradition' I seem to be starting. Anyway, David was in charge of the Stake Father/Son Outing this last weekend, so he was gone Friday and Saturday. On Sunday we went to church, came home and had a nap and watched a movie and then David BBQ'd us a yummy dinner. Yes, it was Father's Day and he had to do the cooking! Here are some cute, quick pictures I took of him and the kids that night.

And here is the card that I made for him using Jeanette's Color Me Monday color combo from a couple weeks ago. I used the tie stamp from the June Word Puzzle and created the pattern paper using Twilight, Sweet Leaf, and Tulip ink. I used another fun circle card pattern from Wishes called Simple Statement. The sentiment came from Say It In Style, and then I finished it off with Tulip CS, punched and covered with Liquid Glass to look like brads.

Thanks for looking!

Help me decide...

Should I create a new blog for my family stuff and leave this one for creative posts only? When I started blogging over a year ago I didn't expect to do this much with it and now I'm wondering if I should have a different blog for my family posts. I would love to hear your opinion - please vote in my poll on the right or post a comment here.

Thanks!

Ghostbuster Pages

Here are some pages I have done of Ghostbuster - he was such a great horse - he will be missed! Thank you for looking and thanks for all the sweet comments and encouraging words! My kids have handled it better than I thought they would - Kaylee especially loved Ghostbuster, she takes after me with her love of horses. After I talked to my dad, Brailee could tell I was upset and asked me why I was sad. I told her that Ghostbuster had died and she said, "Will he wake up tomorrow?" I briefly tried to explain the best I could to a 2 year old and we haven't talked about it since. Then last night when David got home she went up to him and said, "Ghostbuster died and now I can't ride him anymore." Oh how I wish that weren't so!

I'm even getting brave enough to post some "old" pages - I did these at least 10 years ago! Now keep in mind, I did these back in high school, so lack of supplies and experience contributed to these pages - thank goodness for decorative scissors (which I still have, by the way), decorative borders and markers, or they would be even plainer! As much as I don't like my style on these pages, I will never re-do them (except maybe the water damaged one) as it shows how my style has changed over the years!

Sad Day...

My dad called me last night and told me that my horse, Ghostbuster died yesterday. I am just so sad right now as I've known him ever since he was born! Even though he was old (for a horse) it's just one of those days I hoped would never come. My Grandpa Sager gave him to me for my 8th birthday - the best birthday present ever! I showed him in many shows and won many ribbons and awards on him - we were quite a team! I even had the opportunity to see Kaylee show him in her very first horse shows in 2005. My dad took good care of him in Star Valley but I missed being away from him, we only got to see him once or twice a year. Here are many pictures to remember him today! I have lots more pictures, but they are all pre-digital.

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Ghostbuster

February 24th, 1985 - June 17th, 2009

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Jena & Ghostbuster - Summer 1985

Kaylee & Ghostbuster - Spring 2009