Adventures at Girl's Camp!

I (Kylee) got to spend most of this past week with these wonderful young women at Girl's Camp! I was very sad to leave Russ and Caden, but they had a great time together. They went to play racquetball, went out to dinner and went swimming. It was quality father-son bonding time.

I, on the other hand, got rained on numerous times, heard hundreds of screams about bugs and mud, and had the time of my life! It was really great to be with the girls during their classes and especially in the testimony meeting. I learned a lot from the young women in my ward as we laughed, talked, ate s'mores and cried together.I also was a unit leader for 8 first years, which was a blast! Here is our cute group of girls, ycls and me (in the red hat on the right side)

It was a very happy reunion on Saturday afternoon when I got to be with my two favorite boys of all time! Russ and Caden cleaned the house so I could come home to a clean house! Also, Russ searched everywhere to find our dvd remote and, most importantly, our sealing certificate that we haven't been able to find in about a year! I have the BEST husband ever!! That night, we went to the park and played for awhile. Caden and I were tackling each other while Russ was throwing us the Frisbee, and then we played on the slide. After that, we cuddled up in blankets and watched a movie in the park. It is so good to be home again!

In GREAT company

Because of this great family (Russ' brother, his wife and their sweet little baby boy) coming here to bless their baby...

All of the cousins on Russ' side got together for a few days....

And almost all of Russ' side was there too! (We were just missing one brother that is currently serving a mission). We had a TON of fun with everyone here.

Here are a few things that we did:

went swimming at least two times
played on the slip 'n slide
went dirt biking together (all the boys)
went shopping and out for ice cream (all the girls)
went to the aquarium

touched sting rays

played wallyball (both adults and kids)

had lots of fun with cousins

got to spend time with the three smallest cousins

And had an AWESOME time being with family. Most of them have already left and we are having withdrawals....Caden already misses his cousins to play with!

Our big brother in the making

Caden is really excited to adopt and to be a big brother. He frequently tells people about it and talks about it with us. This morning he was coloring with markers and this is what he came up with (all on his own):
It is Dad on the left, then Caden and then Mommy with a baby in her arms (that we adopted). On the right are two of his girl cousins.

I was really touched. He is going to be a GREAT big brother and will be a huge helper with his little brother or sister. He has already been practicing for years, because he pretends that his stuffed animals are "his babies" and he feeds them, puts them in the stroller, reads to them, puts them to sleep, etc. He is 100% boy, but he has a tender heart for little babies and is excited to help us care for our adopted baby.

Our 4th of July

We love to celebrate the holidays! I saw an idea to make a fruit pizza flag and I had to do it! Luckily we had my sister and her husband still there to help us eat it, and we gave some to the neighbors as well. So fun!We went to the town fireworks with my sister and her husband, Russ' parents and his little brother. We loved watching them and Caden liked the "big boom" and making letters/numbers with his glow sticks.
Plus, Russ lets me do my "girl things" and even appreciates the way that I love them so much. I painted my toe nails to look like the flag and made these fun tissue paper balls in patriotic colors. What a great husband! :)

We told Caden he could do pop-its for our activity for Family Home Evening. He was so excited and kept asking if it was Monday night or if we could do the Family Home Evening right then. He was so excited to throw the pop-its and hear them pop. He also loved watching the neighbor's fireworks after we put him to bed. :)

We feel so blessed to live in a free country to be able to worship how we want to, and to be able to feel safe. We are also grateful to all the armed forces that sacrifice so much to protect our great nation.

Weekend O' Fun

We got a surprise last Sunday night when Kylee's sister and her husband told us they were coming this weekend to stay with us. We were SO excited! Here is what we did while they were here:

We went to Elitch Gardens all day on Friday. Caden had gotten a free ticket from the summer reading program at the local library, so we had to take advantage. He LOVED it!! We had a blast going on all the water rides and all the little kid rides. My sister even volunteered to watch Caden for awhile so Russ and I could go on some of the big roller coasters. It was such a fun day! Caden had been excited for a really long time, and he couldn't get enough of all the rides.

One of our favorite rides of the day. Kylee and Caden took a back seat on this ride


Surprisingly, they even let Russ on this one with Caden. Leg room was a premium on this one!

Caden and Kylee enjoying life on one of his favorite rides.

Definitely going to have to come back again soon :)

Enjoying the view from the top of the Ferris Wheel of Kylee... we mean, Denver :)

We were also able to celebrate Caden's birthday! He is now a big 4 year old. He has been excited for months about his birthday, so it was fun that it finally came. We went swimming as a family in our neighborhood pool and had a BBQ with my sister and her husband, as well as Russ' parents and younger brother. After dinner, we had a Cars cake, opened presents and then went to watch the fireworks. Caden was happy all day and we just feel so blessed that he is in our family. Here are some things that we just LOVE about our little boy:

• He is very caring and will be a great big brother some day. He pretends that his stuffed animals are babies and he takes really good care of them.
• He has a really contagious giggle and a really cute laugh.
• He gets really excited about things and makes our lives so much richer and fuller.
• He LOVES swimming, playing sports, going to the park, reading books, playing with cars, playing games, etc.
• He loves breakfast and will eat anywhere from 2-5 bowls of cereal every morning.
• He is very well behaved and obedient (most of the time).
• He gives the best hugs and kisses.
• He is a great eater even while we are having a picnic with friends, and he always says he "eats like a missionary" if he finishes everything on his plate.
• He loves BYU football....clearly he learned this from both his Mom and Dad! :)
• He loves to be tickled, which is great because we love to tickle him!
  
• He is learning so much and can focus on one thing for a long time.
• He LOVES to talk and he will talk to everyone we see (in the grocery store, in the library, at the pool, running on the side of the road, etc).
• He gives lots of compliments. He is constantly telling us that he likes our hair, our shirt, our food, etc.
• He LOVES the movie CARS and he's pretty much read every possible book in the library about the movie. He can name even the random cars that aren't even mentioned in the movie (Nitroade, Leakless, Easy Idle, etc.)
  
• He is excited to adopt and frequently talks about it or tells other people about it.
  

Did we mentioned he likes the movie CARS? :)

After so many birthdays of friends and family in June, it was finally Caden's turn.

Kickboard for the pool. He'll get plenty of use out of that. He was so happy to have his aunt and uncle there to celebrate as well.

Cars and a baseball mitt. Life doesn't get any better than this.

Busy at work opening presents.

Now its time to play with them all! Russ' mom showing him how to use some of the new trucks.