Haylie's 7th Birthday

Haylie celebrated her 7th birthday on December 1st.  She has always been one to really get into the actually party, and the planning for it.  She loves a good theme party and this year she chose to have a Rio party from the Dreamworks movie that came out a while back.  It was difficult finding things for it so we went mostly tropical.  It turned out great and we had fun even with 9 six and seven year old girls running around. I can't believe that I have a seven year old.  She is growing up in to such a sweet and funny girl.

Haylie wanted brownie and ice cream cupcakes.  They ended up a little messy.

Thanksgiving

We have made a bit of a tradition of going to my parents house for Thanksgiving, especially since we have moved to Price and have a pretty easy drive to get there.  This year we got to spend the holiday with my parents Mel and Irene, my brother Darin, my sister Alyson and her family, and my niece Janelle and her then fiance Heath.  We had a good time spending time together and enjoying one another's company.  We also enjoyed tons of delicious food.  So much comfort food!!  We were also starting to create a book for my mom for her 70th birthday which led to a late night with Alyson and I have way too much fun with the photobooth feature on my iPad  I love my family so much and love having the opportunity to get to know them better and to let my kids get to know them too.

Dad making the traditional Sunday night popcorn.

Halloween

This year Haylie was a bat for Halloween and Zander was Mario.  We had many opportunities to celebrate including the ward carnival and trunk or treat and the school carnival.  Zander and Dave had a battle of the wills on Halloween night.  Zander refused to eat dinner and Dave told him he couldn't go trick or treating unless he ate it.  Zander chose to not eat dinner and not go trick or treating.  Kind of a bummer but one of those things that comes with parenting I suppose. I think I was more upset than he was about him not getting to go.

Sally Ann Holzer

In October we had a few days off of school so we decided to make a trip to Wyoming to visit Dave's family.  We hadn't seen his Grandma, Sally, (or Gram as we call her) in about 3 years so we wanted the kids to be able to see her and know who she was.  She played a big part in raising Dave and is an important part of his life.  The first full day we were there we went to the nursing home to visit her.  She looked better than she had in quite a while and absolutely LOVED seeing the kids.  Dave's sister, Dawn, had her daughter, Alexa, there too so all of her great grandchildren were there.  We visited until she grew tired and the children were getting restless.  That night, right before we went to bed, the nursing home called to tell us that Gram had tried to get up to go to the bathroom without waiting for help and fell.  She sustained quite a few injuries, including some bleeding in her brain.  We spent the rest of our visit there with Dave spending time with her in the hospital and me staying with the kids.  We didn't want them to see her all banged up since we had just had a great visit with her.  The morning we left we stopped at the hospital on our way out of town so Dave could stop in one last time.  He went in and came out a few minutes later saying she was asking to see the kids.  This was about the first time she had been awake and coherent of what was going on since her fall.  We unloaded the kids and went in.  She was a little confused and very tired but she looked at each of the children and talked to us a little bit.  We all gave her a hug good bye and headed out of town.  That was one of the last times she was coherent.  Dave's parents called the next week and told us that Gram had passed away.  I am so thankful for the prompting we had to go to Wyoming in the first place.  It isn't an easy trip to make.  I am thankful that my children got to visit with Gram and that she got to see them.  She was such a positive influence in Dave's life.  What a tender mercy to be allowed to visit her one last time.  Love you, Gram!

Bubble bath

One of the kids favorite things to do is to fill up the jetted tub, throw on their swimming suits and have a party in the bubbles!

Haylie's bike riding

This is definitely old news at this point for anyone reading the blog but I am determined to get caught up on my posts so that I can continue to make blog books.  Haylie has always been very cautious.  When she was a toddler she wouldn't even go under a table to get a toy for fear of hitting her head.  So, as you can imagine,  getting her to have the confidence to ride her bike without her training wheels was quite a feat. Last July, she got a new bike and we didn't tell her it came with training wheels. She caught on right away but still wanted someone to walk or run beside her just in case.  We live across the street from church with a nice parking lot that is empty most of the time so we spend a lot of time over there doing bicycle practice.

Independence Day in Perry

 The kids and I seem to be making a tradition out of going to Grandma and Grandpa Oberholtzer's house for the 4th of July.  Dave usually can't get off work, or in this case, was working on the house.  We had a wonderful time! We got to see some fireworks, play and have a weenie roast in Grandma and Grandpa's beautiful yard, see a parade, and even make a parade of our own! We spent a day at Willard Bay swimming and playing in the sand. We also got to go fishing with Grandpa O at Mantua.  I was so glad my kids got to go fishing with my dad because I can remember many times fishing with him myself.  It worked out wonderfully because they both caught a fish within the first 3 casts!  We didn't catch anything else the rest of the afternoon, but it was still fun.   

After the parade and kids activities in the park.

On the beach at Willard Bay

Our very own parade!

Weenie roast on Grandma and Grandpa's fire pit.

Haylie's Fish

Zander's Fish

Fishing with Grandpa

Reel it in!!