Fun at the Cabin!

This past weekend we went to Gatecreek Cabins with our good friends, the Bentley's. Originally Brett and I were going to go to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversay, but when we saw the pictures of the cabin we thought, "How could we go to such a fun place without our children?" Then when we saw how many beds the cabin had we decided to invite friends to come with us! We had such a blast! Our kids get along so well with the Bentley children, and we think Chance and Lori are pretty awesome too! It was a nice get away, and we wish we could have stayed longer!



This is the "Forget Me Not" cabin that we stayed in. There was a bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom on the first floor. Upstairs were four more beds and another bathroom. The boys had fun bonding in one of the rooms, and we attempted to let Maren and Jenna share another room, but that didn't happen! They would not go to sleep! Too much fun to be had I guess.

Crozman, Dallin, Jared and Dane. I don't know if they are excited enough. What do you think?

Brett and I making out by the fire! I'm glad Brett was keeping an eye on the marshmallow so it didn't burn!

Jenna and Maren having so much fun playing on the fence.

Crozman and Dallin are such good friends a get along so well together!

Jared and Dane are in the same Primary class and were in the same preschool this year. They are best buds and are inseparable!

The boys loved the paddle boat and went for a lovely jaunt around the little lake. It was so beautiful!

Jared loved the whole weekend, minus being forced into the canoe. He was not a happy camper, but I think he enjoyed it more once he was in for awhile. However, I don't think he'd never admit it! Hmm, I wonder where he gets his fear of water? It couldn't possibly be from his mother! =)

Jenna, Dallin and I getting a little exercise and enjoying the beauty of the great outdoors!

Chance and Lori cooking us a mean chicken dinner!

Crozman and Brett working so hard. Dallin enjoying the ride! That's my boy!

Aren't they just so dang cute! We are lucky to live in such a beautiful area and have such wonderful friends!

Jenna is such a daddy's girl! She was funny, because whenever she had her life jacket on, she felt like she couldn't move.

My three little angels! I love you Jared, Jenna and Dallin!

Peek-a-boo little miss Jenna!

Check us out! We should start our own red-neck reality show!

Okay, one more thing......This was the local grocery store. I realized the batteries for my camera were dead so I decided to stop by this quaint little place. The second I pulled up, a lady from the house (see picture below) walked up to the store door with a key and opened it. I couldn't believe she was opening it just for me. The store was fully stocked, but price tags were no where to be found! It's a good thing, because I really don't think I would have paid as much for my batteries as I did! Oh well! After I was done she turned off the lights inside the store, locked the door behind us and she walked back to her house. Such a different life!

The store is on the left and her house is on the right. Brett asked if I would want to move to a little community like that. My response was a roll of the eyes and silence. Really, after 8 years of marriage do you really even need to ask such a question? I love you Brett! Happy Anniversary!

Jenna's 3rd Birthday Party!

I can't believe that my baby is three years old! It seems like yesterday that I was holding onto the porcelain throne for dear life and that my ankles were too swollen to wear any shoes. It seems like just yesterday that we welcomed a precious baby girl into our lives. Jenna has been such a blessing to us and brings so much laughter into our home! We love you, Jenna!


On Saturday we invited four extra little princesses into our castle. Each of the girls looked so beautiful and were very well mannered! The party was hosted by King Brett, Queen Kristy, Prince Dallin and Prince Jared.

Of course Jenna loved being the center of attention and enjoyed her princess friends. We also invited the kids' favorite babysitter, Addison, to help paint the girls' fingernails. She was such a big help!

Jenna loved her pink princess cake and didn't want us to eat her! I must say a huge THANK YOU to my friend Michelle for decorating this beautiful cake. It turned out so cute! We had so much fun and I learned so much from her!

After the girls ate sandwiches, grapes and strawberries they were ready for the yummy strawberry cake. (Jenna insisted on everything being some shade of pink!)

Here the girls are admiring the cake. Maybe Jenna is coming up with a good blowing-the-candles-out plan!

The next 3 pictures crack me up! In the first one she was concentrating so hard on blowing that single candle out. Then she was so mad when it wouldn't go out, even though she practically spit on it! When she finally did blow it out, she was a very happy princess indeed!

As the girls were waiting for their cake, Addison painted their nails. Of course Jenna chose HOT pink! The girls were so cute and held very still.

Jenna was so funny because even though her nails were dry, she was so careful about handling things for the rest of the day. She just kept staring at them because of how beautiful they were!

Jared could NOT wait for Jenna to open this present! It had arrived in the mail earlier in the week and the anticipation was just killing him! What could Grandma and Grandpa Lacey have sent that was so big? It was so cute because after waiting two seconds for Jenna to open it, Jared got impatient, grabbed it away and opened it. It's a beautiful, very soft and very big princess blanket. (There is a picture below.) It was a big hit for the princesses!

Here is Jenna with all of her fun presents! She received paints, a paint book, markers, notepad, a Doodle Pro, two "Groovy" dolls , a bunny and a princess pack containing a brush, comb, mirror, sunglasses, purse and pretend lipstick. (She will get to open our presents later today.) What a fun day! We'll just have to do it again next year!

Easter and Other Fun!

Happy Easter! We had a fun couple of days leading up to the big event! We started with the annual decoration of the eggs. Who started that stupid tradition anyway? They must not have been a control freak like me!

Okay, so notice my kids and the table wearing protective gear. (I was looking at my sister's blog and her daughter, who is younger than Jenna, was wearing a white shirt!) Hey, at least I didn't make Dallin wear an apron this year! Also notice the dye neatly placed on a pan so that if it spills the mess will be contained! (For those of you thinking I'm crazy, some dye did spill so the pan came in very handy!)

Dallin had fun making his eggs kiss! I laughed so hard when Jared dropped one of his and said, "Hey, we can call him Crackhead!"

Jared was very proud of his colorful eggs. (By the way, Crackhead is the one on the left.)

Nothing better than a finished product! What great sibling bonding!


The day before Easter the kids were invited to a birthday party at the Imaginarium. Dallin loved petting the reptiles, Jared wanted nothing to do with them and Jenna eventually touched the iguana and the snake.

Jenna also had fun with the trains, climbing the rock mountain and coming down on the slide.

I love this bubble thing. The kids pull it up and a bubble surrounds them.

Why pet a turtle when you can eat a delicious cupcake, right Jared?

Poor Jenna was a little sick that day. She looks like she's had a little too much sugar!

Jared was super fast at this bubble thing and completely surrounded himself! Look at his pants. He's completely covered in soap. I guess if I could choose one thing to have all over my kids it would be soap. That's so much better than other alternatives out there. Much better than the cow/mud pies I used to play with when I was a kid!

Once the birthday party was over, we raced to the church for a Primary activity. We dropped the boys off and Jenna and I went to the mall to buy some white shoes and sandals for her. We got back to the church a little early so Jenna could find some egss. As you can see, she was not thrilled about posing for a picture. She wanted to go home and take a nap!

Easter day finally came! The kids woke up a little too early and raided their baskets. We got them all sugared up, took a few pictures and went to church. After our meetings we invited some friends over for lunch. It's always nice to have people come to our home, especially people who bring good food to share!

Jared was very much enjoying his Storm Trooper that he received!

Jenna just wanted the candy! Toys are not necessary when there is candy to inhale!

Our movie-star-in-the-making, Dallin freaks out at the sight of Darth Vador without his mask on!

My little darlings all being bribed to smile! Just kidding, they're always this happy when I make them sit on a hard bench and pose! I sure love my kids! Happy Easter! (Sorry Brett, we didn't get any pictures of us this year!)

Gone Fishin!

On Saturday we had fun at the annual Sportsman Show. The kids have been looking forward to it for months now. It was only a few years ago when Dallin caught his first fish there! They turn the local convention center into an outdoorsman type shrine! It's really not my cup-o-tea, but the kids love that they have fish for them to catch, or should I say "TRY" to catch.

We thought this bear was a fun way to capture the events of our day. It's hard to believe that this guy in the background begins with a piece of wood, starts his chainsaw, and begins carving.

The kids loved the bus ride downtown. They picked us up at Walmart, which saved us a very long walk or $5 in parking! Score!

Dream on Dallin! You'd better start doing lots of jobs if you ever want to own one of these!

Maybe you guys can pool your money! Jared LOVED climbing on all of the 4 wheelers! He's born to ride!

Hang on girl! Jenna also wishes she had one of these, except she'd replace the camouflage with HOT PINK!

Well here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for! Who will catch the first fish? Look at the concentration on their faces. I loved how the people running the event kept telling the dads to let the kids do the catching! Brett was so patient with the kids. When I was back helping them, I just wanted to place the hook right in the fish's mouth and yell, "Fish On!" Anyway, they stock this "pool" with little trout, and let hundreds of kids fish all weekend. They have the local DJ's and news anchors wear microphones and entertain the adults while they wait in line all day. Can you think of a better way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday? (Hmm, let's see.....the spa, taking a nap, watching a movie. Okay, so those wouldn't be very good memories for the kids now would they?!)

Well, little miss Jenna caught her first fish and won this Barbie fishing pole! I was so excited because I had just purchased one to give her for her birthday, so now I can take it back! This nice man asked us if he could take a picture with her to hang in his Sportsman Warehouse store. We'll have to go check it out! (I could not get her to smile. She wouldn't even do her "tilt and smile" move that she does so well!) Oh by the way, Jared and Dallin left empty-handed. They were pretty good sports about it though and are excited to try again next year!

I don't know what cracks me up more in this photo, Jenna or Brett! Jenna loved her new friend! She was so excited to take it home with her! (Don't worry, I scrubbed her mouth and lips after this picture.)

Jenna showing off her HUGE catch! We're so proud!

Jenna loved watching Daddy cut the guts out! She was just so proud of her little catch! (Don't you just love her hairdo? I worked hours and hours to get the perfect messy look!)

Jenna thought her little fish was pretty darn tasty! She shared a few bites with Dallin, but pretty much ate the whole thing by herself.



She licked the platter clean. Well she wanted to, but I wouldn't let her eat the skin. YUCK!