Maelie the 5 year old!!!

Maelie is 5 today and she's had a great birthday so far. Maelie and Kyla have been doing Princess Bootcamp this week so that was a fun part of her birthday with the cute performance today, they loved it! Maelie opened her scooter this morning and has been riding it around the house. She asked for rainbow pancakes this year. After bootcamp, we went to Burger King with Grandma, Grandpa, Shannon, Taani, Kelly, Kailin, and Karsyn. It was a lot of fun! Tonight we're going out to dinner with daddy... my kids' birthdays are so much more exciting than my own!

Cardston trip

I took sooo many pix from our trip so I decided collages would be best, so you can click on them to see them bigger. On Saturday June 28th we drove to Salt Lake City, Utah. We were able to stay 2 nights and a day with my brother Travis' cute family. The kids had fun together, it was great seeing them! Thanks for having us guys and being in such a great location. :) We also went to the This is the Place monument, temple, and conference center. And no, the kids didn't sleep all together like that, I guess they're still too young for sleepovers, they had fun trying tho.

We drove to Cardston, Alberta, Canada on Monday (another 12 hour drive) and stayed with Jonas' parents for 9 days. Tuesday afternoon we went to Glacier National Park and had a picnic. We found a beautiful lake just outside the park, the kids would have been happy for hours just throwing rocks in the water, it was quite relaxing and beautiful!

Wednesday was Canada day so we headed out to Wateron Lakes. We had a picnic and the kids played in the lake. The water was freezing but they didn't seem to mind too much. Jonas' sister Tonya's family came the same week, it was great to see them, and great for the cousins to get to play together.

We went canoeing at Cameron Lake. Jonas and I were feeling quite adventurous and decided to go across the whole thing, kids and all. Luckily we dropped Jaxon off with Grandma after a short spin. We got all the way across and found that there wasn't much of a place to dock, it was all snow and iceberg. So we headed back. Our canoe was leaking and Jonas' dad and little brother Levi came out to save us because they were all a little worried about us. They took Maelie in their dry canoe back to shore. We were pretty soaked by the time we got back but it was fun!

We went to Red Rock Canyon so the kids could play in the water. That night we went to the fireworks for Canada Day, the reason we came that week. I love it because you just show up right when it starts and you can get a great spot and the fireworks are right there above you. Fun stuff!!!

We played in the creek in Cardston where the water is a lot warmer than in Waterton.
Over the weekend Jonas' brother Tim's family came down from Calgary, it was great to see them, Kyla and Alyssa had fun together! The kids also had fun swimming in the huge jet tub that Grandpa put in. And Maelie lost her first tooth while we were there, she got a tooney (Canadian $2 coin) from the tooth fairy!

Sunday evening we enjoyed the awesome weather and walked down to the temple. Monday was a rainy day so the girls made cookies with Grandpa and played in the rain.

On Tuesday, after Jonas and I went to the temple, we went to Waterton again. We went inside the Prince of Wales hotel and hiked down the mountain and had a picnic.

It was a windy and chilly day, but we were soaking it in!!!
On Thursday we drove to Rexburg, Idaho so we could see the temple and walk around campus. It was soooo great to be back there, so many wonderful memories in that awesome little city.

That night we stayed at Tonya's house in Pocatello and then Friday we drove home, it was a long drive but we made it... and now back to reality :)

cords

homemade ice cream, recycling bins, and other fun stuff

We emailed this to my little brother Trevon for his happy hump day

We made some yummy mint chip icecream!!

Jaxon was crazy with excitement and threw a fit if he didn't have stirrer in his hand

Reduce, Reuse, RECYCLE!!

probably dangerous, but this is how we know Jaxon is all done!

We are thinking of turning this hallway into a bowling alley :)

Maelie also gave another talk on Sunday and insisted we video it after church so she could watch it, but it's too big to upload. She loves giving talks, she went into primary and announced, I'm giving the talk today! She was also the spotlight on Sunday and was feeling pretty special! I love being in primary with her!

Let Us Be Men

Let Us Be Men

I just watched this and cried, it is amazing! I am grateful for all the men in my life!

Dancin' 4 Decades

This weekend was Maelie and Kyla's dance recital and the 40th Anniversary for Campbell's Dance Studio, where I danced for 16 years! Maelie and Kyla both did awesome! I was so happy for them, I seriously laughed and cried! It was so great to watch them up there, totally enjoyed it! And the girls had fun, too.

cousins Kailin and Anna with Maelie and Kyla after the show, good job girls!

Maelie, Kyla, and Anna before the show

curlers the night before

Maelie and Kyla right before the show


and after the show with their rose

the cute group shot

with their teach Emily

Maelie Lin Sweetie

I love this girl Maelie to pieces and I am so gonna miss her when she's at school all day next year!! She is such an awesome big sister, she is so kind and fun to play with! Last night Maelie took Kyla and Jaxon into their secret hideout and shut the door and were in there for a quite a while!

She loves doing the dishes! It's amazing and I probably better enjoy it all I can while it lasts. I say "chores" and she comes running all excited. I love having someone help me with the dishes. She usually unloads the whole thing and then loads the silverware.

She hasn't been excited about riding a bike at all and last night she finally did it! I was so happy for her! This morning she told Jonas she was going to ride her bike to his work so she could see him. haha :)

a birthday and other stuff

First off, Jonas came home with this last week and it has been giving me the change I needed to keep exercising! It is wayyy better than the wii fit! I am really liking it!
These shoes entertained Jaxon for about a half hour.. it was pretty cute to watch him walking around in them and just a diaper! Is this where I say he loves shoes and is ALL BOY??

Kyla hardly ever sleeps during the day. Maelie still falls asleep during the day but never Kyla. This can be a good thing because she is always ready for bed at 7:30 pm. Even if we delay bedtime a little, she asks us to put her to bed. The other night she was playing and this is how we found her when we got around to putting the kids to bed...

And here's an example of little Jaxon getting into everything. I seriously can't leave this kid alone for very long. The other day while I was on the elliptical, he took about 8 keys off the computer keyboard. And another time he got the dishwasher open, broke a glass and had 2 knives in his hand. After making oceans in a bottle at Kailin's birthday party, he opened the bottle and dumped the blue and oil mess all over the playroom carpet. I could go on and on...

Jonas and I have a calling together in our new ward as the ward reps for Helping Hands, Caring Hearts. It's a tri-stake service project to give school clothes to needy children in the school district. It's a pretty cool calling so far and only lasts a couple months. I am also the CTR 6 teacher which I am excited about but have never done by myself so it is actually challenging, but challenge is good, right? :)

And last but definitely not least! Jonas had his 28th birthday yesterday!!! Happy Birthday Jonas! We love you!!!