Our Adventurous (6th) Anniversary

August 1st was our 6th wedding anniversary. We had a really fun weekend as a family. During the day we went to Elitch Gardens with the kids. The temperature was in the high 90's even in the morning. It was so hot that some of the rides actually burned the kids when they got in their seats! Matthew's favorite was a big enclosed area full of balls!! We had a fun little picnic in the parking lot and then went to the water park. The kids loved the lazy river! It was really crowded so we didn't get to do much.

One thing that drives me crazy at water parks is kiddy areas that have really cool slides and climbing structures and yet you can't use them because they have water squirting everywhere so that no matter where you go you get soaked or water in your face! No wonder my kids didn't want to play there!!

Brian went on a log ride and got SOAKED!

After Elitch Gardens we went up to Allenspark. I have always wanted to go horseback riding so I found a "cute" little cabin rental that also had horseback riding in the morning. We wanted to leave the kids but it didn't work out so we ended up taking them. We had rented a DVD and were planning on putting the kids down and relaxing and watching a movie. However.......

I wanted to cry when I walked into the cabin. There was no DVD player let a lone a T.V., no air conditioning, a bunk bed in the living room and the wonderful smell of horse manure in the air...not exactly what I had planned on! We unpacked and then went and looked at the horses. There was a really nice man that taught us about the horses and even let the kids feed them granola. That went pretty well until one of the horses bit Matt's finger! We then decided to head back to our cabin and put the kids down. There was no door on Brinley's room so she just kept talking to us and little Matthew screamed for about an hour. I went in to see if I could lay with him until he fell asleep and when I came back out Brian had borrowed someone's laptop and had the movie we had rented all ready to watch. It was the best surprise!!

We got up bright and early to Matthew screaming again at 6:00 a.m.! Happy Anniversary to me! Brian was nice enough to get up with Matt around 7:00 and let me sleep in until 8:30 or so. We went on a 2 hour ride which we soon discovered was a little long for us. I had Matt in the baby bjorn so he wouldn't wiggle or try to jump off the horse. Brinley loved her horse and both kids thought it was pretty cool when to horse in front of them tooted! (Anything to make them happy right...)

The kids loved to climb on the top bunk and jump!! It was a little nerve racking for me.

The kids were out within minutes of getting in the car to go home.

Even though we had the kids and things didn't go exactly as planned, it was a lot of fun and we created some great memories! The past six years have been a roller coaster of a ride....some of the best and some of the hardest times of my life. I love you Brian.

I just had to post this video. Brinley was on the bumper cars but wasn't quite strong enough to turn the wheel so she kept going around in circles. At first we thought she was laughing but you can see that she is crying and miserable by the end. It was so sad but at the same time so funny to watch her spin and sway and cry.

Brian's New Pet

This is Brian's new pet. It is a baby goliath bird eating trantula. It supposedly can get up to 10 inches! Yikes!

This is Brinley holding the baby spider on her finger.

Matthew

Matthew is such a fun little guy. He is talking lots and loves balls, dogs, and "mo-mo's" (motorcycles). He is my little climber. He has learned how to climb up on his crib. Brian has found him sitting on the front bar both legs forward. The funniest and scariest part is that while he is doing that he is saying "jump, jump." I lowered his crib as low it will go but he still gets up there!

Matthew LOVES his Daddy! Several times a day he will ask me, "where's daddy?" It is so cute.

Matthew loves bike and stroller rides and also to be just like his big sister. Brinley had her helmet on and so Matthew wanted to wear one as well. Notice the cast on his leg...Brinley had a cast on her leg so of course Matthew wanted one too!

Matthew is my little sugar shark...just like his Daddy! He loves gum. Every time I open the cupboard he says "more dum."

Sometimes Matthew likes to be like his big sister a little too much!

Brinley and Matthew are getting to be good little friends. They love to jump and dive and wrestle. One of their new favorite things is to play babies or pretend like their kitties and crawl around on all fours.

Brinley

Brinley is getting to be such a good helper and very smart. The other day she was riding the elliptical while I was getting ready to exercise. When I was ready I told her to get off. She kept riding for a couple seconds and then looked up at me and said, "You need to say can I please have a turn."The other day Matt was poopy so Brinley went and got the wipes and a diaper and laid Matt down and changed his diaper. She was so cute and Matt held perfectly still (usually it is a nightmare to changed his diaper and it often takes two of us to hold him down). I helped her wipe and pull the tabs tight on the diaper but she did everything else! If that could only happen every time Matt needed a diaper change.

Brinley loves to ride her bike. She just learned how to use her brakes and so now every 10 seconds or so she slams on her brakes and says, "Look at those weeds Mom" or "Look at those flowers right there." She can ride pretty fast but it takes quite a while to get around the block because of the frequent stops.

Brinley also loves to make messes! This particular mess was made when I went downstairs to talk to Brian for a couple of minutes. I came upstairs to find VERY quiet children...never a good sign! Brinley had reached up on the counter grabbed a bag of miracle grow and her and Matthew were "cooking" with it. It was all over her play kitchen...in the kitchen, in the drawers, and they even got some water to "mix" it! I was so mad because 1) I was only gone a couple of minutes, 2) Brinley knows better than that 3) I was just getting ready to mix up the miracle grow to put on my garden! Little rascal!

How doth the little crocodile....

An ambitious lady in my ward put on a production of Alice in Wonderland for all the kids in the ward. Brinley was a little rabbit and did a great job learning her song. Her favorite part was dressing up in her rabbit costume. (Brinley is the one in the middle.)