Reagan's Birthweek.

July 19th.  Reagan's birthday (her 4th, this year).

On her actual birthday, we were in Wolf Creek with my family.
It was the day we went boating.
In the evening we had ice cream cupcakes from Coldstone Creamery to celebrate.  And Reagan was spoiled with gifts.

The Monday after he birthday, Nick and I took Reagan to the Lagoon amusement park.

The child is fearless!

Reagan went on every ride that she was tall enough for, and loved every minute of it!

Roller coasters, Ferris Wheels, Log Flumes; she tried them all.

Mom and Dad were ready to go home after 8 hours.  But if it had been left up to Reagan, she would have stayed all night.

My parents were superstars and they watched Cohen and Elsa all day so that we didn't have to take them with us.

The weather that day was perfect.  It was warm and overcast, so no one got a sunburn.  And we rarely had to wait in line to go on a ride, because the park wasn't busy at all.

It was the most ideal day to go to the park.

Reagan's already talking about going again next year for her birthday.

And, since I am not one of those Mom's to throw lavish birthday parties (we'll see how long I can continue to get away with this? :) ...

I opted to take Reagan, and her friend, Julia, to see the movie Brave for her birthday celebration.

All of it was perfect!  Reagan is my loving, imaginative, spitfire of a child.

I'm so glad she's mine.

Summer Daze.

Just a few (of the many) things we've been up to.
I took Reagan with me to my hair appointment, so that she could get her hair trimmed too.  My stylist, Suzanne, is now working out of her house in Hooper, UT.  I love her so much that I'll make somewhat inconvenient drive to her.
Reagan has been asking for pink hair, ever since I had my blue extensions put back in, in March.
Suzanne didn't have any pink extensions.  So Reagan chose a feather instead.
Suzanne said she'd get some pink extensions just for Regan to have the next time I take her in for a haircut.

 Reagan and Elsa did a second week of swimming lessons.

 Reagan's teacher was Brooks, again.

 Elsa was paired with a new teacher.  Sarah.  Sarah was great with Elsa.  She got her to backfloat without screaming. 

Reagan improved her backfloat too.  On her last day of classes she floated for 96 seconds.  She could have gone longer, but she got bored.

I snapped a few pictures before church, one Sunday. 

Just because my kids looked so cute. 

 

My Family.

The people I love most in the world.

Out of the Frying Pan, and in to the Fire.

It was time for our annual vacation with the Sims' family!
We were excited to leave the insane UT summer heat behind.
This year, we decided to meet up in Silverthorne, CO.
We planned this vacation well before all of the fires broke out in that state.
Fortunately, there weren't any fires in the area where we were staying.  But we did see a few fires on our drive to Silverthorne.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't shocked about how well the kids did in the car.
It was a 7.5 hour (one-way) drive, and I was terrified about how it was going to go.

They never cease to surprise me!  They were angels.

I may prefer driving vacations now, to flying vacations?!  I can't believe I said that!

What's not to love, though, when your kids behave? 

I didn't have the stressors of getting through airport security, or about keeping kids calm around strangers on the airplane.

Too bad there aren't many exciting places to visit within an 8 hour radius of our house.

Yep.  They did great.  They watched DVD's.  We sang songs.  And they napped.

We rented a townhouse in Silverthorne at the Wildernest resort.

It was modern, and had all of the conveniences of home.

Nick loved cooking us dinner on the induction cook-top.

Garrett introduced us to the animated Avatar cartoon series several years ago. 

We were all excited when Nickelodeon started showing a new Avatar series!

We all agreed not to watch the last 5 episodes that aired before our trip; and the first night we were in Colorado we (to quote Katie); "got our nerd on", and watched them together.

We let Reagan and Lily stay up to watch them too.

Then we sent them to bed.

They started off the night in separate beds.  But Nick went in an hour after they went to bed and got this picture:

The next morning Nick and Garrett took: Lily, Reagan, Elsa, and Cami to Lake Dillon Marina Park.  Cohen accompanied Katie and me on a shopping trip to the outlet mall. 

This is the third time Katie and I have managed to purchase entire summer wardrobes for our kids in one fell swoop!  It's so exhilarating!

The townhouse had a "bonus room" in the basement with a Roku game system.  The kids loved playing Angry Birds on it. 

The morning of the following day, we went to the Farmer's Market in Vail.

The food booths there were delicious! 

 

It was a hot day.  Cohen slept nearly the entire time we were there.

The rest of us did what we could to keep cool.

Katie discovered some Watermelon lemonade that was to die for!  They didn't add any sugar.  They just let the watermelon act as a sweetener.  Yum! 

The kids took naps, and then we all went to the clubhouse pool.

As our luck would have it the pool heater was broken.  Of course, this didn't stop the kids from wanting to get in.

The water was freezing!  But Reagan still threw a temper tantrum about leaving after we'd been swimming for an hour.  Typical.

We grilled dinner at the townhouse that night.

Garrett made S'Mores for everyone, as dessert.  They were mouth-watering.

Everyone went back for 2nd's and 3rd's.

I forgot to take a picture of Cohen in his "Harry Potter Digs".  So this one will have to suffice. 

Cohen slept in the pack n' play in the walk-in closet in the bedroom with Nick and me.

It worked. 

The morning of our last day at the townhouse we let the kids finish off all of perishable food left in the fridge.

For the girls, this meant that they had chocolate pudding, and a push-up ice cream pop for breakfast.

Katie and I were of the same lax mentality, that "hey.  We're on vacation".

We packed up our cars, and went back to the outlet mall so that Katie could pick up a few more items.

Reagan, Lily, and Elsa ran around and posed for the camera.

We went to Arapahoe Cafe for lunch.

And afterward we found a random stranger to take a group picture. 

Getting 5 kids to sit still is nearly impossible!

And next year there will be 6 kids.

For the past 5 years Katie and I have been taking turns being pregnant.  She is due with their "surprise" baby (it's a boy) at the end of October.

But we both assured each other that neither of us will be pregnant next year.  Or ever again, for that matter.

I LOVE that our family make-up's are exactly the same.

If we ever do move, in the future... it will be somewhere close to this fun family.  We love the Sims'.

We were sad to leave their company.  But all good things must come to an end.

Our destination for next year is already set!

Coeur D'alene, ID... here we come!