Evening in Pasture

When we got home from our fun day at the Harley store Zoe had a nap and Maggie played outside for a while. We heard the lawn mower outside and looked out to see if it was Grandpa. Nope, it was Landon. He had the cart hooked up and everything so we jumped on and had a family ride on Grandpa's homemade version of the Polar Express.

Shortly after our ride we started getting things ready for our "evening in pasture", a.k.a. the annual wienie roast held in the backyard with all the trimmings from the spring pruning of the trees. Although I don't care too much for hot dogs I do enjoy being outside and having fun with the family.

You've just got to love it when a two year old insists on putting her own shoes on

Getting the fire ready for the hot dogs. Two pyro's at work.

Maggie didn't care too much for the heat of the fire. It would have taken all night to cook that hot dog!

Thanks Grandpa. Maybe she can eat tonight now.

Hard at work or play. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.

Zoe wanted in on the cooking action too. Luckily Grandpa had a really long cooking stick that they could use together.

Landon had built a fort out of old hay and such that needed to be destroyed so it got burned as well. I think he was having a little too much fun with this.

At the end of the meal we got to have some super simple & yummy s'mores. Maggie loves them!

So does Starr...

and Grandma!

Landon built these ramps for his bike, but the girls thought this one made a pretty good slide.

I took the kids for a little drive in Glenn's truck. We drove along the bed of the old railroad tracks that have been removed in preparation for the new commuter train they are putting in. It was pretty fun. We got to see the back end of the property where a huge house has been built. They have a large pond with a row boat and a motocross/bmx track. Landon was just a little envious. I think if he could he would make one in Grandpa's backyard.

Here is Zoe in all her cuteness after our ride. She wanted to ride in the back with the other kids, but she was just a bit too little for me to OK that. She got to play in the bed when we got back home.

Of course we couldn't be outside and not play on the trampoline. The kids love it. They had lots of fun doing cartwheels, somersaults, flips and jumping over each other. Even Zoe got to jump over Camille.

Camille cartwheeling over Maggie...

Zoe's turn...

Trampoline hair...

Another fun evening!

Lots of Easter Fun

Our...well Zoe's Easter started early this year. I took her to the library for story time and afterward the Easter bunny came to give treats and take pictures with the kids. It was so cute. She was very timid and unsure, but she really wanted the treat sack so she mustered up all her courage and went for it. She wouldn't look at the bunny or the camera's for the pictures. She's just being Zoe.

We went to Provo on the Friday before Easter so we could be a part of the birthday celebration for Starr. We had a fun dinner with the family. Then on Saturday we got to decorate eggs with the cousins. Mandi, Sadie, Maggie, Camille and Grandma did most of the decorating. Zoe got to have a nap during egg dying time so she missed out on that fun.

Easter morning. We hadn't really said anything about the Easter bunny coming so neither of the girls were expecting anything. They were excited to see what he had brought for them . Of course he brought Maggie a basket full of Hannah Montana stuff and Zoe got a Hello Kitty basket. Lots of fun!

Zoe's haul

Since Mom and Dad's ward was having their Stake Conference we decided to avoid that two hour nightmare with the girls and did something naughty instead. We took the girls to IHOP for Easter breakfast. They had a good time and I don't really even feel guilty about ditching church for some yummy pancakes.

This picture will need some explaining...

This is the contents of Glenn's wallet and his disassembled cell phone. What is the deal you may be asking? Up the street from Mom and Dad's house there is this awesome park. They have play equipment, picnic areas, a fountain (that you're not really supposed to play in, but the kids do anyway), walking paths and a pond that you can fish in. Since we brought the girls bikes down with us this trip Glenn decided to take the girls (and Camille) to the park to ride for a while before we did the egg hunt and had dinner. Landon rode Glenn's bike up later to play and see what they were up to.

Those of us left at home were working on dinner preparations when Landon came in and told us fabulous story. I knew I married Glenn for some reason :)! While Maggie and Camille were riding their bikes on the path that goes around the pond Glenn was standing near the pond watching. Some of the kids that were there had been throwing rocks in the pond to see how big they could make them splash. Not a big deal. While Glenn was watching the girls he kept hearing splashes, but at one point heard a pretty large splash and he turned to see what had caused it. Apparently at little boy with Downs Syndrome had decided to jump in the pond. One small problem...he couldn't swim. The kids parents were not around and no one else seemed to be doing anything so Glenn walked as far down the rocks as he felt comfortable and while holding onto a fence he grabbed the boy and pulled him out of the water. As it turns out the parents had taken a couple of kids to get loaded in the car and the older siblings were working on packing up their picnic supplies and such. The little on just slipped out of their view. But, thanks to Glenn he is still alive and hopefully they will watch him just a little bit closer next time.

Since I wasn't there I didn't get to take pictures of the daring rescue or the hero of the day.

After the drama at the park it was time to hunt for eggs. Everyone had such a good time. The Easter bunny is a tricky little guy. We had to look high and low to find all the eggs, but we were successful!

Maggie and the other kids were too quick in the hunt and I wasn't able to get pictures of them. I did manage to get a picture of Maggie, but it just got deleted so I'll add it later.

So that was our fun, eventful and drama filled Easter.

Princess Party

Mandi called me a couple of days before we were to head down for the weekend and asked if I would be interested in getting tickets for the girls to attend a Princess Party at the Covey Art Center in Provo. It sounded like lots of fun and something that I would have totally adored doing as a kid so I said yes and got more excited as time went by.

When we got there they had several stations set up in a dance studio with young ladies at each station to help the girls with the projects. Our first stop was at the "wand making" station. Each girl got a dowel, ribbon and a flower then took them to the helper who then assembled them with instructions from the girls as to how they wanted them. Maggie and Zoe chose two colors of ribbon for their wands. They turned out really cute and Zoe's flower actually made it through the party, but only because I ended up taking it away from her so she could do the other stations.

Maggie giving her instructions to the helper princess...
Everyone watching and patiently waiting their turn...

After the wand making we went to the "decorate a princess hat" station. They had waffle sugar cones that they turned upside down and then had the girls decorate them with pink icing and sprinkles...

After the messy hats we got to visit the "beauty" station. Both girls got their nails done and then Maggie was lucky enough to get some make-up also...

Zoe was a little less than patient and tried to take over Sadie's nail session...

After nails we headed to the "Tea Party". They were listening to instructions and being taught how to act like princesses. Then they were given some pink drinks and a waiter came around and asked them very politely if they would like some crackers and cheese. The princesses were to respond with a "Yes, please" or a "No, thank you". Maggie and Camille did great, but Zoe responded with a "yeah". Not exactly princess manners, but hey, she's two.

They never said it was not proper to dip you fingers in your pretty pink drink...

At the conclusion of the tea party the girls got to line up and take stroll down the runway. They showed off their pretty princess dresses and got much applause from the crowd...

Zoe had fun with this little girl and the mirror. They were giving themselves kisses and then laughing at each other...

All the pretty princess all in a row!