July 23, 2013

 1. Cute Bethy church ready, playing with her Dad

 2. Pickles.  I had a bug to make some pickels, but of course we don't have much of a garden this year (though we have been clearing rock in the garden area all week) so I bought cucumbers just for the endeavor.

 3.  Bethany and Marianne.  Marianne seems like a giant next to her.

 4.  Tie-Dye.  We did them this weekend and the kids couldn't wait to wear them.  Each kid got two shirts and Bethany a onesie. They turned out pretty cool.  Funny enough I bought a bulk pack of little boys shirts size 4 and they fit 3 of my children because Kate wears a 4-6  Sam wears a 3-4 and Mary wears a 3 usually.

5.  Bethy may indeed be a red head.  Everyone always comments on her red hair, we kind of brush it off because the other kids had some red in their hair as a baby too. But Bethany seems to be holding strong with her red hair,  It is a different red than the other kids too.  In fact it is almost pink hair.  So cute.

July 20, 2013

Around the house this week.

1. My baby girls playing together.

 2. Beth-a-roo as a lady bug.  This is her ready for the hike/ gondola outing in the rain.

 3.  Yes that is Bethany in Mary's doll stroller.  The kids thought this was hilarious.

 4.  My sweet girl.

 5.  Still a pro at grumpy old man faces.

July 16, 2013

To celebrate my 31st birthday  as a family, we went up to The Canyon's to ride the Gondola.  I thought the kids would love it.  And I was right.  And it was the perfect way to spend the day as a family.  Kate thought it was cool and wished it would go faster, Sam was elated, over the moon, shouting "we are flying"  with some reference to "like Batman" I'm sure (he is obsessed right now) and Marianne was unsure, then terrified, than alright . You can see it all in their faces in these photos. And Bethany was the perfect trooper as always.  When we arrived at the top we found some great little kids nature hike which the kids were also super thrilled about.  It started to rain on us so we headed back.  And rode the gondola back down the mountain. On the way back the kids compared notes on the things we had found.  Kate claims to have never seen a bumble bee until up there, or a flower with three colors.  She was very responsive  to the nature hike.  Mary was covered in dirt because she tripped a few times and the fine dirt stuck hard to her sun screened arms.  We had planned to eat at one of the restaurants at the top, but it was closed for a private event.  So we at at Cafe Rio just around the corner.
We love Sun Valley, ID as a vacation, it is a family favorite  in fact Kate says she likes it better than Disneyland- but being up in Park City for the day made us realize that Park City is really the same vacation... only we live 20 minutes away.  We plan on making lots more trips to the ski resorts during summer.  It was a great day.

July 14, 2013

This weekend was great.  After a very long stressful week, for silly reasons, we spent the entire weekend enjoying our family in town for our Bethany's blessing. This was the first time Jake's parents got to meet our sweet new girl, as well a his sister and her family from Idaho.   We had people coming and going all weekend, and it was so much to fun, especially to have everyone in our home.  Our kids may have had the best weekend of their lives, as their 6 cousins from Idaho spent the night.  They stayed up so late, and we rarely saw them, especially Kate and Sam.  We had cousins over from Orem, West Jordan and Lehi as well.  It was also my birthday, and I couldn't think of a better way to spend it than with so many of the people I love.  I almost always get too caught up in visiting with family that I never take pictures.  I didnt get any pictures of my family who was also in and out all weekend, but I did get the camera out for a few minutes toward the end of Sunday night and snapped a few pictures to remember our great weekend.  On Sunday at church as I sat with Bethany asleep in my arms dressed in her cute white gown waiting for her to be blessed with family all around, I looked at her with her scrunched up nose and her hand clinging to my shirt collar and I couldn't have felt more blessed to have her.  Bethany was giving a blessing in which Jake mentioned that she grow up to have some of the same attriubtes and strengths of the great grandma for which she is named, then later My mother in law told me even more stories about the Dorothy I never met.  She seems to be the more revered and loved ancestor of the Freeman family who has a huge valiant posterity all because of her own faith and courage and I couldn't help but feel we named our little Bethany Dorothy perfectly.