Home Improvements and Eagle Island

Last week was a pretty successful week with getting things done around the house. It seems like since we have been homeowners, most of our spare time is filled with things that need to be done around the house and we keep waiting for things to slow down so we can just enjoy our hard work. Although I must say, Mckay and I really do enjoy working on projects and as soon as we finish something we are already looking for the next thing we can do.

Here are some "in progress" pictures of what things looked like last year (weeds and all).

Here are some flowers we planted.

Payton loves to water plants. At Grandma Swensen's he would always get a watering can to water all of her flowers outside, and now he is excited for his full-time job of water all of ours (wonder how long that will last).

Part of the finished project.

I love how it turned out, it has been a lot of work!

We still manage to have a little fun in the meantime though. On Monday we had a few visitors: Isaac, Lindsey, and their cute boys spent the night with us on their way to Utah. Lately the kids have really been playing well and getting to know a lot of their cousins even better. They are all at such fun ages it is so great! The kids decided to run through the sprinklers to cool off that evening and stripped down to their undies. Someday these will be great pictures to use against the kids if necessary!!

Payton was devastated the next day when they had to leave. We made a Costco run and he could just not shake the blues, he was even tearing up at times in the store. He has just been having too much fun with his cousins lately, he has a hard time letting them go!

Last week I took the kids to Eagle Island with a group of friends. The kids had a blast and that is an understatement! Payton was like a little fish and hardly came out of the water. McKenzie enjoyed swimming and playing on the sandy beach with sea shells (courtesy of someone who left them there). Taylor was such a trooper and even wanted in the water at times, and just hung out with me. The company was great and it was good to get out of the house and enjoy the SUN!

ToGetheR TimE

We spent the past week in Montana. We have so much fun going to Montana, the company is great, the scenery is beautiful, and the time to relax and spend time with family is perfect! The only downfall is that the time there goes by way too fast and I feel as if the kids and I still didn't get enough time with Mckay, before it was off to work he goes - again. Here are the details of some of the things we did while we were there (in pictures)...

This time we took a detour and stopped off in Rexburg to spent some time with my sister Cynthia and her hubby, Dean. It was fun to revisit good ole Rexburg and see some of the changes that have taken place since we last lived there. We also went to the 4th of July Parade. The kids had a great time!

On to Montana... as we got there just in time to celebrate the 4th the next day. We had a Potluck and visited with family and friends.

Mckay and Taylor

McKenzie and Me

Taylor all dressed in PJ's for the Firework show.

Grandpa is showing the kids the smaller fireworks (snakes and tanks) while we were waiting for it to turn dark.

Payton and his SPARKLER!

Kenzie and her SPARKLER!

Daddy and Taylor cuddling while watching fireworks.

Payton has never liked the loudness of the fireworks so these ear muffs came in handy.

Maren and me with the kids.

The next day was Payton's Birthday and he turned the BIG 5! He had a great day playing with his new toys and cousins there to celebrate with him. He was so excited to open his presents.

Lucky boy even got to ride horses on his big day. He just loves all animals.

Payton kept us on track all day. He would say, "Time to open presents"..."Time for cake", Time to ride the horses", it was pretty cute. I guess he has seen enough birthdays to know how things roll, and it was fun to do things the way he wanted them.

The next day just our little family went up to the family Cabin to spend a day there ourselves. We even spotted a smaller bear about 200 yards away, it was neat to see one in the wild, that was a first for me. Of coarse since Mckay grew up in Montana he has seen a few in his life.

The kids are exploring a beautiful nearby lake.

Here they are fully dressed trying not to get went.

All of our kids love the outdoors and checking out new places. Taylor would bring me my shoes every time he wanted to go outside on a 4-wheeler ride (he is one determined little boy).

Mckay is attempting to keep Taylor out of the water.

After fighting the kids for a while to stay out of the water because it was a cool evening and we didn't bring swimming suites or towels, we caved in and let them undress a little to enjoy the lake even more. They were a little chilly on the way home but it was worth it just seeing how much fun they were all having.

The next day was McKenzie's birthday!! I can't believe that she is already 3. She was so ready to open her presents since Payton had just done it a couple days earlier and it was finally her turn.

She loves microphones and music so we got her a Cherokee machine with the new Chipmunk CD. She loves the "ALL the Single Ladies" song.

She also loves coloring and books. She is one smart little girl!

Time for CAKE! She says her favorite colors are pink and purple, so we settled for a Pink Strawberry cake.

She loved it and Grandma made some yummy homemade ice cream to go with it, after they joined us at the cabin later that afternoon.

The trip wouldn't be complete with out SMORES! Payton is assembling his marshmallows on the stick to get ready to roast.

McKenzie is eating a roasted Starburst. Maren got us hooked (you should try one sometime).

Payton is reaping the benefits of his labors.

Kenzie didn't care much for the marshmallows but she did find an abandoned Hershey Bar!

Hanging out around the campfire after Mckay and Oli took a long time remodeling the campfire with new benches and log stands. I'll admit that it looks pretty nice now.

Dad and McKenzie swinging in the hammock. When we tell her to smile she can be so cheesy!

We love the Cabin and always have a great time going there. Here is Grandpa with the kids watching a movie on the couch.

Little McKenzie posing for the camera, she is such a fun little girl.

Wow that was a lot of pictures! We had a great time and are sad that it had to come to an end.