Monday, July 30, 2012

Trains that don't choo

There is a pecular little place near Big Rock Candy Mountain on Highway 89 that has lots and lots of train cars next to the river. Someone had placed each of them on a piece of track and then painted them. I was talking with a friend of mine and she told me that someone had bought them all with plans on turning them into individual hotel-style rooms. Wouldn't it be sweet if you could rent a train car for the night? 

We couldn't help but stop and poke around one night. The cars are in different stages of being worked on, only one looks somewhat ready to be used and even has some furniture in it. Others are starting to be insulated and some are just the train cars as they were bought. You can see plumbing come from each of them and going into the ground. I'm not even sure if they are still working on the project or if the idea has been abandoned, but it was really cool to stop anyways. 










Thomas was standing at the train and throwing rocks into the river that is a short distance from them. What I love is how in love Henry is with the ordeal. Isn't his face adorable!

After we poked around the trains we went to find a good spot to throw rocks in the river.



Pretty sweet family night if you ask me!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The Babies

After many long months (almost a year and a half actually) of  pondering and pray I decided that I would keep Macey home from Kindergarten this year and let her start a year late. She'll be the oldest in her class now instead of the youngest. The more I think about this decision the more I know it is right for us. I am beyond excited for her to have another year at home with me!

Here's what we do all day:

Dress up and dance:

SING sing sing:

More singing:

Did you know I am amazing at making up weird rhyming songs? Well you shouldn't because no one but the babies hear it. I don't hardly even sing in front of Thomas; but inside the walls of my own home we sing and sing and I just love it.

And then we act like monsters, snakes, or cats and chase each other all over the place:


We laugh a lots too (and cry and whine, but we ignore that part):



And then we bake and eat and snack. Sure some of us like dirt while others do not, but hey, I try to give them what they love :)


And by then it's 5:00, Curious George is starting on TV and I have a half hour to clean up the house and make dinner while the babies watch their show. Pretty great life, I know!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

4th of July 2012

Holy Hanna our 4th of July was exciting! Here is a pictorial recap of the day.

We decided the day before that we would go up to Provo for the festivities. We left for Provo at 9pm on Tuesday night and rolled into the O'Dell's house a little after 11pm. 

We woke up at 5:30am to catch the hot air ballons that were being let off near the hospital. We did this multiple years in a row while living in Provo and I'm so glad that we went back again. I just love the hot air balloons.








We went back to the O'Dell for a nice breakfast before we walked to the parade.


Oh that Provo Parade. It's a lot bigger than Orderville's to say the least. We had fun watching and eating snow cones.

My wonderful baby even fell asleep on my lap. It is so nice to have a happy and content baby who will sleep when he needs to.


After the parade we party crashed at Josh and Chelise's for lunch.

After the babies napped we went to Heather's for dinner... I told you it was a crazy day!

The babies played outside together.


Henry bravely held a sparkler.


And then to top off the night we went to the fanciest party I've ever been to! The Hunt's (Thomas was in the BYU Bishopric with David) invited us to their amazing family party. It was on the terrace of the new Utah Valley Convention Center on Center Street in Provo. There was live entertainment, an alcohol-less bar (virgin pina colad for me), amazing food, and we could watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks from the rooftop. AMAZING!


This was ice that a woman poured lemonade down and it landed, chilled, in your cup. Holla!

The point of this picture is the mountain is on fire! Can you see that red glow behind the mountain? That is the Alpine fire... so weird.

The theme of the party was "Fire and Ice". The centerpieces were ice with a candle in them.

Rooftop fireworks.

Food, food, and more food!

Seriously action packed and so fun. We got home at 1am that night and Thomas went to work at 8am the next morning.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

10 years later

Thomas graduated from Valley High School 10 years ago. Where oh where has the time gone?! I'll tell you where it's gone - on a mission, 2 college degrees, 8 moves, 3 babies, and a cute wife later, that's where Thomas' last ten years have gone.

I was excited to go with him to his reunion. He has cousins and friends that I just love so it was fun for me too. I decided that I wouldn't be the prettiest wife there, but I could be the wife that brings the best food :) I whipped up some cupcakes and I think they compensated for my lack of hot-ness (or maybe they are just contributing to it LOL). The baby enjoyed them...



Henry was tired at the party.

Thomas graduated with in one of the largest classes to go through Valley - 43 kids. Yup, his huge class was a mere 43 strong. About half of the class showed up and the other half was missed.

It is super fun to start having friends with kids out kids ages. We took some pictures so that when they are all in the same graduation class we can put the photos in the slideshow.

We took advantage of my Mother-in-law being around and went to dinner that night with some of Thomas' classmates in Kanab. The after party was as fun as the lunch. It ended with Thomas' cop-friend giving us a drug dog show. An eventful end to a super fun day.

Thomas and the cowboy at Houston's in Kanab.

Sunday was church with Grandma and Grandpa, lunch, and then we pitted some cherries to dry.

Kimball enjoyed Grandma treats.

Macey mid brain freeze.

On the way home we drove right past the wild fire that is on Cedar Mountain. It was strangly beautiful in its own terrifying way.

Smoke from the fire:





There you have it, another adventure filled weekend in Orderville. Won't it be nice when we don't have to drive to get there? I sure think so.