Backyard campout

We had told Elizabeth she could sleep out in the backyard this summer and we never got around to it. So with the first week of school behind us she convinced Jared to set up the tent in the backyard. Jared even made them a campfire out of some scrap wood he had laying around. It was quite the fire, maybe a little too big for a backyard fire :) but oh well it didn't catch the house on fire. I don't know if you can see Blake's arms in the picture it is a little dark, but he has his arms up around his head just relaxing like his dad does, he is so cute. :)
We weren't going to let Blake sleep outside with the girls but he went into the tent and got in the sleeping bag and was very content, so we thought why not.... Jared and I went inside and watched a movie, about an hour into it we decided to just go check on the kids. When we peered into the tent with the flashlight Blake's face was right there. He had been up the whole time playing with Cleo and running all over the tent. That was the end of Blake's camping adventure his mean old parents made him come inside and sleep in his room. :(

About 5 in the morning Kayla came in crying that she was scared and that her stomach really hurt. Well we knew what that meant... Blake had the stomach flu a few days ago and when we felt her forehead she had a fever. I got her a bowl because I knew the vomiting would begin soon and got her to take some medicine before it started. She has been pretty sick today, slept through most of the day and couldn't keep anything down until this evening. Hopefully she will be doing better tomorrow and then ready for school on Monday. :) I know I am a mean mom.

Winter Cabin

Jared got drawn for 6B bull this year which is in Sycamore Canyon. Since we were headed up to Flag to see Jared's brother Mac come home from his mission he thought we should hike down to Winter Cabin in Sycamore Canyon. It is about an hour drive out of Flagstaff on a dirt road.
The hike wasn't too bad getting to the cabin it is hiking out that sucks. :) Oh and we forgot to bring Blake's hiking backpack so Jared and I (mostly Jared especially on the way up) got to hold him for most of the hike.
There is a little Spring just a little ways from the cabin so we hiked down to it so Cleo could get a drink. When we got to the Spring there were a ton of Wasps flying around getting a drink so the girls are telling Jared to hurry and take the picture so they could leave.
Like I said before the hike going up the canyon is pretty tough and with the altitude change it was hard to breath at times but we made it and we were all so happy to sit in the air conditioned truck when we were done. Sitting I think we take for granted, while I am sitting I don't usually think, oh wow this feels so good.... But that day just a little rest of sitting on the ground in the woods for a few minutes was like a gift from heaven. :)

The toothfairy is going broke

So in the past month Elizabeth has lost 2 teeth and Kayla has lost 3! Kayla who previously swallowed her first two teeth actually pulled out her dangling teeth with the help of Elizabeth. The first tooth she lost this month was around the time Nick got married, so with grandparents, great grandparents, and the tooth fairy in town she made 16 bucks on one tooth! Unfortunately her other two teeth she only made a buck a piece. :(

What we have been up to

Well it seems like we have been really busy and boring this month. We moved into our new home the end of last month and have been slowly unpacking. Once I unpacked all the essentials unpacking started to find a backseat to other things. We also have been cleaning up our rental to get it ready for our "final" inspection which we had yesterday, YAY we are all done with the rental!

My sister Bridgit came to stay with us for a few days before my brother Nick got married. We watched Pride and Prejudice and Lost in Austen. Before we started the movies we went to the store and bought a lot of junk food, my kids thought it was awesome! They each got to choose there own candy, very fun. One night while Bridgit was here we went out to dinner with my mom and cousin Caisa. We went to Macaroni Grill and had to each write a poem about girls night out on the table, they were pretty good but I don't remember them. We then went to dress barn to find something pink for me to wear to Nicks wedding. After that we headed to Superstition mall and listed to some sellslady try to sell us some REALLY SPARKLY makeup, she even put purple eyeshadow on me..... Apparently if you want a good deal you should keep telling them no thanks, I think the price of the makeup started at 25 bucks a piece all the way down to 10.... but we still said NO, it was really sparkly. So on the way home for girls night a sonic commercial popped into my head about two women hanging out on girls night and one of the women say at the end that they should go get some eggs and...... boil them. Well it was pretty funny because at dinner we had discussed at length how to boil eggs. :) We are so lame.

Well on the 20th of June my brother Nick and his lovely wife Katherine were marrried. They had the temple ceremony around 9 and then we all headed to the Wright House for pictures and a luncheon. It was all very nice and I am so excited for Nick to start this new chapter in his life, here are a few pictures of our kids in their flower girl outfits the Angie was so nice to make for them. Oops I must have deleted the one of Elizabeth oh well, here is a picture of Kayla in her flower girl outfit. :)

We Closed!!!!!

Well it finally happened after almost 6 years we are homeowners again. It was a long and grueling process but in the end the house we got was worth the wait. :) We found out we had closed at 4 pm today (Friday), when we got the call we were so excited, we thought we were going to have to wait until after the Memorial Day to close. So being true to our promise we all put on our swimming suits and headed over for our first swim. Here are a few pictures of us this evening....


Blake loves his new swing set and jumps on the swings every time we go over to just hang out in our backyard. Hey now we have the key! We can actually get inside.


Elizabeth and Kayla waiting for us to get ready for the big jump...


Fake pose before we have the count down. 3-2-1 JUMP!!!!



I was a little nervous to jump in, it has been raining all week and I thought it would be really cold but it wasn't the water felt great.


Jared trying out the diving board, we had thought at one point we would get rid of the diving board for safety reasons, I doubt that's going to happen though... Diving boards are too much fun. :) Well tomorrow is going to be a fun day, yay we get to pack and haul stuff over to the new house all day long, bleh.... Can't wait for the work to be over with. Goodnight everyone.

Hawaiian Luau

Even though Elizabeth's birthday is not until the end of July we usually have a "fake" birthday party for her at the end of the school year so it is easier to get all of her friends together. This year Elizabeth fell in love with some Hawaiian invitations, so a Hawaiian Luau we had! The night before the party Elizabeth and I went to the 99cent store and found hula hoops, grass skirts, beach balls and other great Luau decorations. When the girls arrived they each received a lei and began making flowers out of tissue paper. While the girls made their flowers I began whipping up Mango/Pineapple/OJ/Strawberry/Guava fruit smoothies. They were a big hit. We had a hula hoop contest (we thought the hula hoops were not going to work because we bought them at the 99cent store and none of us in our family could get them to work but apparently it is just us lame Dutton's that can't hula hoop :)) They had a limbo contest and Kayla won. We had a relay race where the girls had to put on grass skirts, flip flops, sun glasses, straw hats, leis, and carry a beach ball. They dressed and then ran around the "island" and quickly took everything off for the next girl to put on. It was a big hit and really fun. I also made coconut cupcakes that the girls are eating in this picture. Elizabeth sure is pretty silly when you get her around all of her friends. We are pretty sad to be leaving this great group of girls but with Elizabeths fun personality I'm sure she wont have much trouble finding new friends.









Jared took Blake to an urban lake to go fishing while we had our Luau. Not thinking he took the camera with him in case he caught a fish! About thirty minutes into the party I went to get the camera and could not find it! After calling Jared to learn he had taken it (which he felt bad about) I had to call our next door neighbor and borrow their camera. Oh well it worked out. Elizabeth got mostly jewlery from her friends, which she has been wearing all week. Her friend Jenny made her a rag time High School musical quilt, I was very impressed that she took so much time to make Elizabeth such a thoughtful present. Jenny's mom told me that on their way over to the party Jenny had put a kitten into her bag to also give to Elizabeth for her birthday.... Good thing her mom found out before it got here!
Well this saturday we will be again having another Hawaiian Luau. Apparently Kayla is old enough now to realize that she too needs a "fake" birthday party before school is out and we move away from all of her friends.

Angels

Last night (the Saturday before Mother's Day) Kayla gave the prayer and asked that when the primary was singing for the moms during church that the angels would touch my heart. How sweet is that. So this morning when she came to sit back down after the primary had sung I told her how the Angels had touched my heart while she was singing. :) I love my Kayla what a sweety.