day 3 of driving: flaming gorge!

on the third day of driving we stopped at flaming gorge in utah. 

it was beautiful and refreshing.

we went down to the water and threw rocks in, brett got in the water with the kids.  we saw fish too.

it was a great break from the car.

these are our shadows. 

olivia, stacey, brett and mallory.

this little cove was great for telling/showing the girls about an echo.

it was fun to yell all sorts of stuff.  kale even got into it.

there were lizzards all over the place.  running everywhere and brett almost caught one.

i took a picture of this because the lizzard is on the side of the cement barrier.

they were so cute.  kale really wanted to "hold" one.

the view.

beautiful.

roosevelt

we stopped in roosevelt, where brett went to high school,

to see his uncle scott and brett's grandpa's grave.

it was a really neat experience. 

brett and the kids at the gravesite.

the kids with uncle scott and aunt sheranna.

we had lunch and the kids got scott under their magical "cute" powers and got some toys out of him.

thanks scott!  they were very entertained the rest of the way to springville.

brett and uncle scott.

scott is holding a picture olivia drew for him. 

she was really cute on the trip making cards and pictures for all of her family.

liv would draw something and say the picture said

"i love my whole family".

goodbye

one of our favorite families is moving. 

the madsens.

for the last 1 1/2 years we have celebrated almost every holiday with them.

2 christmases, 2 easters and many things in between.

we are going to miss them.

here are blake and kale. 

here are the big kids.  these four LOVED eachother. 

they were adorable together and had TONS of fun.

maybe alittle too much fun on a couple of occasions....

good luck to the madsens, hopefully we will see you again!

surprise visitor

this is brett's uncle cody.

he called us up the other day and said he was in town.

so of course he came over for dinner and hung out with us!

the kids loved him, of course.

he will be by often because of business.

we are excited to see him as much as possible.

 i think he likes these kids? 

it has been so amazing to realize, as the mother of these mother little people, how many people love these kids of mine.  so many aunts and uncles, cousins, great aunts and uncles, grandma's and grandpa's, nana and papa and so many great friends.

it is truly a blessing in our lives to have such a great family and friends around us!

thank you for loving us. 

we love you right back!

road trip!

we have decided to go on alittle road trip.

we are going to drive to utah, then to canada, back to utah and then home. 

a total of 8 days in the car.

i don't know if we are going to survive, but we are going to give it a try.

we will be gone for 30 days, go through 11 states, go by 13 temples and see tons of family.

we are so excited.

all because of my mother.

on the phone the other day, nana was talking to mallory.

NANA: are you coming to my house soon?

MALLORY: blank stare

NANA: oh, if you came to my house, we would have some much fun. 

we could go to the tot lot and all sorts of stuff.

don't you think that would be fun?

STACEY:  we are still thinking about it...

NANA: (in a really sweet sad voice) well, i'll just put my wish in that you will come to my house.

how can i say no to that?  nana!

we are going to find out if 2 weeks is enough time for you to get sick of us!

projects

these are some of the projects i have finished lately. 

crayon rolls for the girls and some cousins.

headbands.  tutorials here and here.

cute huh?

2 notepad/marker folders from placemats from the dollarstore.

felt dinosaur playscape. 

i changed the lights inbetween the kitchen and the playroom!

all by myself.

it only took 2 phone calls to my dad.

i can't believe what a difference it makes.

my dad was very proud of me!

before                                                                                                      after

the reason all these projects are getting done is because i have finally started to

organize my craft room

(a.k.a. the laundry room).

  i can actually see all the crafting/sewing stuff i have and have started to get in the crafting spirit much more often.   i love it and just wish i had more time to craft and sew.

more projects to come...

splash park

our church playgroup went to the coolest splash park the other day and the kids LOVE it!

it has a great park, picnic area, the splash park area and the water from the splash park is made into a river bed with rocks that the kids can play in. 

i don't know if that made sense at all, but whatever.  just know, really cool.

emily, mallory, olivia. once they had there was treats in my bag, they were over there for quite awhile.

stevie.  isn't he cute.

kale was scared at first, then when he figured it out he loved it.

olivia "helping" kale go in the sprinkler.

trying to drink the water.  GROSS.  i have a pretty funny video of this too.

sand box

a day in the life...

in the sandbox.

lots of pictures of kale to follow. 

i just can't get enough of him.  he is just too cute to me.  look at that face!

yes, he is in his pj's.  don't judge.

sisters helping.

this is a rare photo of mallory. 

she is just so silly she always has a funny face when i ask her to smile. 

i had to put this one in because mal has such a sweet look.

here is the usually.

they LOVE the sandbox. 

i think kale would play in it all day everyday, if i let him.

total boy

this is how we found kale the other day. 

just chillaxing!

he is such a BOY!

he was watching a cartoon and eating his dinner. 

he loves to be independent and will go off by himself to adventure. 

he is saying tons of words and loves to give squeezes (hugs).

he would like to live outside and loves to have sticks and rock in his hands at all times.

something cute he does right now: he will touch his nose and say beep when you ask

him what his nose says!

he is so cute he makes us want another one! 

(NO announcement!)

honor and remember

i was looking at some of my favorite blogs today and came across this.  please, go read the post and then sign the petition like i did.  i have a great reverence for all our military men and women and their families.  i can't express the gratitude i feel to them for making this land we live in free.  i signed the petition because i would like the families of the men and women who have given their lives for ME to be free to be honored and remembered EVERYDAY!  this is alittle something i can do to show our military how much i appreciate their service.  happy memorial day!

uncle greg

ummm, can you tell they like him alittle bit!

greg came out to indy for the indy 500 and he took time away from the race and friends to come see us!!

we were all very excited.

we used to live by greg in the twin cities. 

we would go out to lunch with him, the girls and i.

brett and greg saw almost every UFC together, at our house or his.

we loved being that close.

we really, REALLY miss him.

thanks for coming to see us greg. 

we got to hangout, play outside and splash kids!

more pictures to come when greg sends them to me.  hint, hint!

WE LOVE YOU GREG!