24/52

I have lots of Mom pictures this week.
We went with Chris on Tuesday to check grass. It is always fun and interesting to have 4 of us on the 4-wheeler together. :)




Chris took these pictures of me at the river after our cookout. He used the panorama feature on our camera.

And here is me again cutting/serving/blowing out the candles for Hazen's birthday party.

A cookout by the river...

It was a beautiful evening, and so we decided to cookout by the river. It was only a 10 minute drive from our house! We decided that we needed to do this very thing more often.

When you turn 2 it is really fun to have your own gatorade bottle and lid.

There were lots of little duckies everywhere...

I had to add this picture because it just reminds me of Hazy J's personality. He is fun loving, tenderhearted and ALL BOY. I cannot believe that he is already 2! Just last night I banged into the night stand next to his bed, and he leaned over and said "Bonk, Sorry." And then he kissed me. :) We all love him dearly, and couldn't imagine our little family without him.

There is a fun story about our duck cake. I did not intend to have so many ducks on the cake, but the kids at the birthday party, Fish, and Hazy J thought differently.

PS Note the finger mark on the side of the cake.
When I wasn't looking Hazy decided to try the frosting.

I took these pictures while the boys were napping. I blew up balloons, and placed little "cowboy rubber duckies" everywhere. I also went through my scrapbooks, and pulled out a few LO's that I made about Hazen. I thought it added a special touch.

When the boys woke up from their nap, they wanted to see all that Mom did while they were sleeping. Hazen was excited about his duck cake.

Note that at this point there was only 1 duck on the cake.

After the boys saw everything we hurried to take a bath, and get dressed before the party. I bought Hazen a t-shirt at Wal-Mart that fit his personality. It has a picture of Bamm Bamm....doesn't he look like Hazen? And Bamm Bamm with his big club just fits my rough and tumble little boy!!!
Plus is was orange and only $3.00...I couldn't resist buying it for him.
The boys decided to have a quick "duck fruit snack" before the guests arrived.

Now you can imagine that I was in a rush, and not paying very much attention at this point. When I came around the corner, I noticed that there were now 3 ducks on the cake. Hazen found a couple of ducks that I had placed around the house, and decided to place them on the cake too.

Fish wanted to be included and so he grabbed another rubber duck and placed it on the cake too.

Our guests started to arrive, and we decided to open gifts.

Then it was time to sing "Happy Birthday" to the birthday boy and blow out the candles.

We were able to take a picture of all of the kids at the birthday party. Even Corbin was able to stand for a little while. He was quite shocked when all of the kids decided to start walking while still holding his hand after the photoshoot!

Sydney (a little girl at the party) decided to add two more ducks to the cake while we were setting up to cut the cake! I just love how it turned out, and it makes it more fun that the kids were able to help decorate it.

Don't you just love the rubber duck that looks like it is about to fall off of the side of the cake!

Young and Old and In between helped Hazy J celebrate turning 2. I loved that there were so many different age groups at the party, but it didn't matter. We all enjoyed watching a very excited little boy TRY to blow out his candles.

Hazy finally had to have Fischer's help to blow out his candles.

A shot of the birthday boy! A big thanks to Crystal for taking pictures for me. It was so nice to have someone else take pictures. She did a great job.

See my cupcake that G'ma Susie made...

I love this picture of Hazen too. It captures his birthday t-shirt, and him enjoying a yummy cupcake!!!

Fish and Hazen then decided they needed cake and ice cream too. They were stuffed, and ate way too many sweets.

But hey it was a birthday party right?!?

Thanks to all of our guests for making it a very special birthday day for Hazy J.

23/52

The kids and I took a hike down below our house on Tuesday. These yellow flowers are everywhere. I just love them! So we had a photoshoot.
Well, I guess I took lots of pictures of my boys and I mangaged to take a picture of my hand and my sneaker.



Fischer walking on my shadow. The boys and I have been trying to walk at least 2 miles everyday.

Fishing at the Beaverpond!

The hike into the Beaver pond was not at ALL easy.
I was wearing a jean skirt, and by the time we finally sludged (that is my own made up word of the experience) through muck and stinging nettle with a jean skirt that weighed probably 4 pounds at the bottom because of all of the water it had soaked up...did I mention I lost my croc 3 or 4 times in the muck and had to go digging for it? I won't mention how many times I fell trying to balance and carry my 2 year old on my hip with a skirt that weighed 4 pounds while also digging for my croc in muck. :)
Did I paint a pretty good picture as to why at the beginning of the fishing trip I was slightly "waspy." That is how Chris described my attitude. But after Chris caught at least 15 huge brookies, and Fish was able to reel one in my attitude changed. :) It was exhilarating and REALLY hard to get back there, but it was worth the memories that were made!!! Chris thanked me for making the effort, and then told me that when I am "old and unable to make it back there" I will be happy that I made the effort! I think he is absolutely right.

Some Cousin Time!

We enjoyed our time with Jeremy, Amy, Rory and Jace last week. The boys played hard and fought hard. Is there really any other way with four little boys running around? ;)

A Wedding Picture to celebrate our anniversary...

I also included a picture that I took the other day. This is what I am now 5 years later. I am a rancher's wife who loves being a certain rancher's wife. :)

Our 5th Anniversary, and a very special birthday day!

We are celebrating our 5th anniversary today. I can't believe that Chris and I have been married for 5 years. George and Susie are going to keep the kids. We are heading to Steamboat for the night. It should be fun. I am going to enjoy not sharing my food or picking food up off the floor and driving in complete silence. :)
But I am going to miss my kiddos...I am a bit nervous about leaving them. I know they will have a great time with G'pa and G'ma. Their house is like a second home. I just know Chris and I will say several times how much we miss them. And we will miss them, but it is good for both of us to take time together! Wish us luck...

"Moon, you have followed me all the way home. What a good, round friend you are!" said Owl.
This is a quote from Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel. I love this book, and we read it right before bed last night. It was perfect because right after we read this book, Dad looked out of the window and saw this!!! I had to take a picture.
We finished my birthday day with Fischer singing All Things Living. It was a lovely way to end a very memorable and special birthday day.



We had an amazing thunder/lightening rain storm last night. It was incredible, and hard to put into words. It was cracking and booming louder than I have ever heard it before. Then a double rainbow appeared. It was beautiful to see this rainbow shining down, and all around it bolts of lightening would appear.

We had homemade turkey soup yesterday for lunch and dinner. It was perfect for our stormy, stormy day.

All afternoon I wore my new slippers and PJ's. :) It was really cozy while it poured outside. :)

22/52

Today is my birthday! I can't believe that I am 27 years old. :)
My hubby took my picture today right after I got out of the shower at 6:30AM. I hadn't even combed my hair. I guess I'm just "keepin it real" like the pioneerwoman would say.