KALLI TURNS 8!

Kalli at almost one.

July 24th was Kalli's eighth birthday. I can't believe I am old enough to have an eight year old.
She is really excited (and nervous) to get to be baptized on August 1st, we are so proud of her decision to do so and want her to know that. She has grown up so fast and has become such a great helper and sister to Tarek and Dreyken. She has become a HUGE help to me in entertaining Dreyken and Tarek. She is such a great daughter and I am so proud of who she is becoming. It seems like just yesterday that she was born. I am so grateful for her and feel so blessed to get to be her mother and have her in our family.

For her birthday, she wanted to have a friend party. This always turns out to be difficult as many people seem to travel for Pioneer Day. She invited a few friends and ended up having four girls over for a water / pizza party. They ate pizza, had milkshakes (thanks to my Mom and Dad for letting us borrow their mixer and flavors), than headed out to the yard for some water games and a slip n' slide. The hit of the party turned out to be the sprinkler under the trampoline (the only not planned game). Dan ended up putting the extra water balloons onto the trampoline and that went over well also. The only real disaster we had was when Kalli and a friend decided to jump together on the end of the slip n' slide and popped a huge hole in it. At least the party was almost over.

She seemed to have fun, and Tarek was so proud that he got to join in the party. We love you Kalli. You are very special to us and we are very proud of who you are.

On the tramp with the balloon's

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

and finally getting ready to Jump!

BOATING, FOURTH OF JULY AND LAKE POWELL

So it has been awhile since I last posted anything and a lot has gone on. I have a ton of pictures but could only put on a few of the really cute ones. So to start off with we headed to the lake for a day of boating with my dad and brothers. It was the first time we had been out this year, and the kids had a great time. Dreyken loved being outside, however, she HATES her life jacket.

Kalli and Dreyken enjoying some sister time. I love how Dreyken is looking at Kalli and smiling. She definitely knows who Kalli is and loves seeing her come into the room.

Kalli and Tarek getting ready to swim. The water was actually quite cold still.
Kalli and Dreyken

On July 2nd we headed down to Gunnison to a family reunion for Dan's family. It was at his parents house so that worked out nice for us. It was the first time most of his family has got to see Dreyken. They had so many activities and things to do, and I of course didn't get any pictures. However, his sister got a lot and is hopefully going to send me a disc with them on it sometime. They had a mini golf tournament, a four-wheeler race track (with mud hole included), rode horses, had a marshmallow gun shootout, water-balloon volleyball and lots of other things going on. That night they had a motorcycle stunt show with some of the local boys doing crazy tricks followed by a concert by Meryl Osmond and a fire work show. The next day, they had a parade for the fourth which the farm had an entry in, so Kalli got to ride in the parade on the float. They throw out so much stuff at the parade (candy, shirts, Frisbees, glow sticks, chocolate and strawberry milks, etc. The kids came home with more stuff then they got for Halloween. That was followed by a bunch of games and food at the local city park. It was a very crazy and busy two days.

On Sunday we went to church and than headed down to Lake Powell for a week of water and sun. Dan's parents have a few weeks on a houseboat every year and the kids love going. It was a little harder for me with a baby, but she actually did really good and eventually loved the water. It was warm and nice, but never got to extremely hot like it can down there. Dan had Tarek trying to snorkel, he loved the goggles but not the breathing tube so he abandoned that quickly, but I was really surprised at how long he could hold his breath for. Kalli was almost always in the water with her cousins and even got brave enough to ride on the tube behind the boat a few times.Dreyken and I enjoying the water.
This was how Dreyken spent a good portion of the trip.

Tarek trying to catch anything that crawls or moves. We ended up coming home with two frogs and six lizards (thanks to the help of his uncles and cousin Duval). The to frogs didn't make it all the way home, but he now has a tank with five lizards. (The smallest one got eaten we think) They come home much to the dismay of his mother, but he really is so proud of them.

Kalli getting ready to go for a swim.Dreyken in her favorite position again. She did get really spoiled as Dan's cousins that joined us had brought some friends with them along with one of his cousins that loved Dreyken. She was always being held and played with and loved every minute of it. It also made it so that I got to enjoy a little bit of time swimming with my other two kids.

Kalli and her cousin Harley playing in the mud pit that Dan and Danny dug.

And finally Tarek in his goggles. He is showing his find from the bottom of the Lake. It was so funny to hear him talk when he had the goggles on. We had such a fun time and hopefully we will make it back again next year.