Oh the county fairs!

I love this time of year! Ok let me clarify, I hate the hot weather, but I love going to the fair! The Cache county fair is nice and its fun to get out and we did, but its not like the Cassia county fair, because that is home and what I grew up with.


Any way we went to the Cache County fair and it was SO hot! The girls did really well though. We walked around and bought a few things here and there. Than we took Bailey over to the pony rides. I was on a horse when I was about 3, not alone, but I have grown up with horses and I love riding. Anyway my dad has a couple horses and one of their names is Poco, Bailey calls him Gato, which is cat in Spanish! Anyway as soon as she saw the pony's she wanted to ride them and kept calling them Papa's Gato. So for $3.00 she got to sit on a horse and go in a circle three times. It was kind of a rip off, but she LOVED it! I can't wait until my dad gets back and can take her for all the rides she wants and do it for free! After the ride we went and got dinner and than headed home.


The next weekend we went home for the Cassia County Fair. I haven't missed a fair since my mission and even though it wasn't the same because hardly any of my family was there we didn't miss it. Usually all of my brothers and sisters come home for the fair, I go to the Fat Stock Sale with my dad, and we all go to the rodeo together on Saturday night. Not this year. Anyway we got into town on Friday night and, my sister-in-law, Brenda kept Hinkley while we took Bailey into the fair to see all the animals. When we got there a couple of Turkey's were getting washed, she was totally fascinated! She wouldn't touch the lambs, loved the goats, liked the bunnies, and had a great time! Ben and I also saw some friends, its always good to go home.


On Saturday Todd and Brenda took Bailey to the fat stock sale while Ben, Hinkley, and I finished getting ready. We met up with them and Brenda kept Hinkley again while Ben and I took Bailey and Shaydon (Scott and Sommers son) over to the carnival to ride on the rides. Talk about a rip off! It cost us $6.00 for the two of them to ride one single ride. They only got to ride a few rides because unfortunately neither one of them was tall enough to ride any of the others. But we bought them hats, they were together and they had a great time. We had lunch with Todd and Brenda and then traded Bailey for Hinkley and went to Twin to pick up Scott.

We had a great time the doughnuts and scones were amazing as usual and it is so fun to have Bailey old enough to have and enjoy new experiences. We missed the rest of the family that couldn't be there it wasn't the same with out you!

Tick Tock

Well, I'm another year older! My birthday was a couple of weeks ago and I can't believe how fast this last year went. I have been so blessed to have had another wonderful year with so many blessings. My biggest blessing is of course that I was able to carry Hinkley for a full 9 months, that she was born healthy, and that she is a beautiful baby! I'm so grateful to have spent another year of my life with Benjamin, he is everything to me. I'm so blessed to be Bailey's mother. She doesn't say "I love you" she says "you to" and I love it when she randomly says "you to" to me! And I'm so grateful to my family and for their support, love, and the example of my parents. My parents mission hasn't been easy for me, but my life from the very beginning was touched my missionary work and I have such a testimony of the gospel that even though I hate them being away I know that they are doing what the Lord wants and needs them to do.


Ok enough being emotional! So the day before my birthday Lyndsie and Brenda came to Logan. Lou had to take care of some arrangements for school and attend some classes so they were able to be here with me. Ben usually tries to take a half a day off for my birthday, but wasn't able to this year so it was really nice to have the company. Brenda helped me start to hang all of my decorations, I really struggle at decorating, so it was nice to have her help.


I got two cakes, like I really needed 2, because Brenda bought one and Ben bought one. Brenda's was a cute water melon cake with 2 plastic ants on it and Bailey about had a melt down. She kept saying "EWWW Bug" and they had her almost in tears! Of course Bailey had to help me blow out the candles and was a little excited we had a hard time lighting them because she kept blowing on our matches. We had pizza and both cakes and it was nice to be with family since the parental units are M.I.A.

Ben got me a gift certificate for a massage! I can hardly wait to use it! He tried to be here as much as he could, he also got me a mirror that I wanted, a movie, and chocolate, some itunes songs, and his cake was a Cold Stone cake, I get one once a year and love them.


Also Hinkley will be four months old this week! I'm really having stress that my baby is growing up so fast!!! She is sitting in her bumbo and enjoys it, she is taking and yelling more and more, she is starting to roll, and has grown out of her new born clothes! I still rock her to sleep and I just try not to cry about how fast she is changing! She is such a happy baby and such a blessing to me. Bailey tries to get Hinkley to play with her, hold toys, wear hats, etc. Bailey has been such a sweet heart with her and is still very possessive of her. In fact she and I argue about whose baby Hinkley is!


Thank you to everyone who has been apart of my life this past year! It has been a crazy year, but a good one.

Family Time!

A couple weeks ago my brother Scott blessed his baby, Slater. Slater was born a month after Hinkley and is such a cute little boy. We wanted to be there for the blessing and so we headed back to Idaho. We spent the first night at my brother Todd's house, we had to drop off the dogs and by the time we got there I had spent enough time in the car. My sister-in-law Brenda had made the girls the cutest skirts, hair accessories and bought them onezies to match. Thanks Brenda!

On Saturday my brother-in-law, Dave, ran, swam, and biked the Spud Man. Congratulations Dave for finishing the Spud Man! After he was done we all had an amazing breakfast at Todd's then we loaded up the girls and headed on to my brother Eric's house.


We hung out for awhile there and than we all got ready and went swimming. Wendy and her family were staying with Scott and they all came swimming too. Bailey was a little nervous about the water, but after awhile she was pushing Ben away. Thanks Yvonne for those amazing floaties!

On Sunday Scott blessed Slater and did a great job. All five of us were there and it was hard not to miss my parents when we are all together! After the blessing we went to Scott's house for an amazing luncheon. Sommers and Scott had worked hard to make it really nice. Mom called to say hello to everyone while we were together and it was great to hear from her.


We tried to leave soon after we ate and I was SO not looking forward to the 5 1/2 hour drive back to Logan. We had to stop midway and pick up the dogs and Todd and Brenda fed us and sent us on our way. It was a great weekend, I loved being with everyone and I loved getting out of the car after that long drive!

The Browns VS The Yard

So when we bought our old house 4 years ago we had to do all the landscaping, which we did. It wasn't easy, fun, or cheap! So afterwards Ben promised me that if we ever moved (because he told me that we were going to be in the last house for at least 10 years, and we weren't even in it 4) and the landscaping had to be done that we were going to pay to have it ALL done. Well he lied! This is a picture of what we had to deal with. The dirt was pushed back the legal amount from the house and we had to do the rest. We were told we would need a 7 foot retaining wall! If my kids were to fall off of that they would seriously injure themselves. We weren't told about our landscaping issues until the house was well underway so all we could do was deal with it!


In March my brother Todd came down with a semi hauling a loader to move dirt around to see what he could do for us. Thank heavens for Todd and that he loves my kids. He wasn't happy with the landscaping issue and knew that it wasn't kid friendly. He spent two days leveling and moving dirt and when he was done we only had to have a 3 foot retaining wall! He saved us a ton of money and I'm sure several trips to the ER.


So since we moved in, at the begining of May, we have been dealing with a LOT of dirt! We have worked with landscape people designing plans for sprinkler systems, curbing, fences, top soil, sod, and everything else that goes with a yard. For Memorial day we had some of Ben's family here helping to install the sprinkler system, which we later learned had been designed wrong! The guy had measured the yard wrong which totally screwed up everything! He admitted he had done it wrong, but said he didn't have time to fix it and we were basically on our own!


Ben worked on the yard constanly! We had a ton of help from our neighbors, especially Tyler. Tyler helped Ben in our yard every night even nights when Ben worked late Tyler came over and worked with out Ben even being here! We really appreciate Tyler paying a landscape company to do ALL of his yard so he could help us with ours!


So two weekends ago we were finally to the point of laying sod! Yea for us! So we called all of our family and anyone who was silly enough to say that they would help us. Ben had his older brother Daniel here with two of his boys, his brother Jacob, sister Suzy, and his sister Kat, to watch our girls. Ben learned from Tyler's landscape guy that we would need to install a pump to boost our water pressue that would cost us over $1000! So we bought one here and had Jacob install it and saved us a ton of money. Thanks Jacob. Jacob also worked on the sprinklers to make sure that all the grass would get water and so by the time we were done he was soaking wet!


I called my nephew Jason, who offered to help. He ended up coming from Sandy with my sister Wendy, her husband, Jason's wife, my nephew Logan, and my neice Lexie, who also helped watch the girls. It was a party! We laid over 13 thousand square feet of sod and were done before noon. We were a little short so we ordered some more and finished the sod last week.

A huge thank you to everyone! We couldn't have done it with out all of your help. I thought the sod would take us all day. Thanks again it took almost 3 months but we finally won the war against the yard!

Than they were gone...

Two weeks ago we had my mom's family reunion in Heber and Scott, Sommers and the Boys drove down to come to it. They made it to Logan on Thursday night at midnight. They put the boys to bed and we talked for a little bit and got up to play the next day. Bailey and Shaydon had fun playing, fighting and being together and the babies were good. We hung around the house for the morning and than went to Gossners. Sommers likes to go there and Scott likes to get the squeaky cheese. After that we took the kids to McDonald's for a gourmet lunch! We played there for awhile and than they took off. It was great to have them here and now Scott is on Bailey's top 10 favorite people list. She calls him "My Scott." We loved seeing them and hope they can come back soon!

On my way back from McDonald's I got a call from Ben's mom and they were just about to Logan. We had invited them to stay with us Friday night and they were almost here! Ben's brother Daniel was having the two boys they adopted sealed to them in Ogden on Saturday morning. Ann, Grandma Snow, and Kat did some shopping while the girls napped. Then we were all supposed to meet in town for dinner. Ben was working on the yard and helping our neighbors lay their sod so just the girls and I went. We had a great dinner at Olive Garden and than came back and chatted. I put the girls to bed and went and helped a little with the laying of the sod while Grandma and Ann napped and Kat watched a movie and listened for the girls monitors. After that Kat and I went to get everyone a treat and we talked and hung out for awhile.


The next morning everyone got up and ready to go. Ann, Grandma, and Kat headed for Ogden, Ben went to lay sod again and I got the girls ready to go to the reunion. My parents were able to leave the MTC to come to the reunion to see everyone and say goodbye. It was great to see the extended family and spend some time with my parents. Bailey and Shaydon were so cute when they saw my dad. They saw him at the same time because they are hardly apart they both yelled "Papa" and ran to him and didn't let go until we left the reunion.


After the reunion we headed to my sisters house. She only lives about an hour away and it gave us more time to be with mom and dad. They and Scott all stayed with her Saturday night. We talked, had supper and than around 10 pm Ben and I decided it was time to head home. It was really hard to say goodbye. Of course the girls didn't know what was going on and it was probably better that way. I didn't have my camera So these pictures are from my niece Lexie. We will really miss you mom and dad and our so proud of you for going when it isn't easy to say goodbye and leave your grand kids.

The 4th

The week between my parents farewell and the 4th of July the girls and I stayed in Burley. We helped my parents get ready to go and just hung out. Then on Friday my brother Scott and his family came to Burley to hang out and see some of Sommers' family that was coming into town.

Bailey and Shaydon of course had a ton of fun together! They played, fought, wrestled, bathed, ate, went to the farm, saw baby cows, and kept Grandpa very busy! They are 4 months apart, but in this picture Shaydon insisted on holding Bailey. I found them in the hall and Shaydon was trying to pick her up, we decided it was safer if he held her on the couch!


On the 3rd my brother Todd got out his boat and offered to take the kids for a ride. Bailey has only ever been on Uncle Todd's boat and had a great time. She and Shaydon of course had a little issue over who got to help Uncle Todd drive so Todd got them both on his lap to help him. The babies slept most of time we were on our ride. It was kind of a cold day that's why we aren't in our swim suites.


Afterwards Todd and Brenda invited us all back to have a bbq and to watch some fireworks. Bailey had never really seen any fireworks, we always put her to bed before they started. She thought they were pretty and knew that they were hot so she tried to blow them out like a candle when she saw them in the sky. We had a great time, the food was great and I loved being with everyone. I especailly loved when Bailey got Uncle Todd to jump on the tramp with her.

We had a great weekend and I loved spending time with family and having the girls spend time with Scott, Sommers and thier boys. This is all four of the babies from my family. Bailey wasn't to thrilled to sit and play nice while we took the pictures if you can't tell. Gotta love those terrible two's!

A Blessing & A Farewell

My parents got their mission call to Frankfurt Germany and had their farewell on June 27th. It has been hard to think of them gone for that long and to see them get ready to go. I know that I was gone for 18 months on my own mission but that was me leaving them not them leaving me. They both did a great job on their talks of course. Dad talked on temples and mom talked on prayer. We had a lot of friends and family show up to support them which is always great to know that so many people care about your family. We had the luncheon at my brother Todd's house, one less thing for my mom to worry about. We had so much fun and great food! The food was so good and we were all so full, but couldn't stop eating. Thank you to everyone who came to support my parents and who helped with the food.


Because my family would all be together that Sunday we made arrangements to bless Hinkley that same day in their ward. Ben did an amazing job and it was great to have all my brothers and brother in laws there to bless her. She was an angel and didn't cry once. Like Bailey she was blessed with her plug in her mouth! Hinkley's did fall out but she still didn't cry! Thanks Lou for letting me borrow your shirt and for taking the picture.


It was also the first time that we had all been together since Hinkley was born so she got to meet a lot of the family for the first time. Everyone is so cute with her and the girls had so much fun being with family. Hinkley and Slater are only a month apart. Slater is as long or longer than Hinkley but Hinkley is more chubby!


My brother Eric's kids are so cute with Bailey and Shaydon! They play with them and love to be with them which is so awesome since they are older. Lily is especailly cute with Bailey and will be her closest girl cousin, Lily is about 3 years older than Bailey but is a great cousin and friend and I really hope that they will always have fun together.


We are kind of worried about how Bailey will handle going to Papa and Grammy's for the first time and find that they are not there. Bailey worships her Papa and can get him to play dolls, kitchen, cars, horsey and about anything else she can think of. I also feel bad that Hinkley won't have that relationship with my parents, but they won't be gone forever. Its really hard not to be selfish and not want my parents to go. I know what they are doing is important and way, way, WAY, deep down some where I am excited for them to be going on this adventure and know that they will love it. We will miss you Mom and Dad, a.k.a Papa and Grammy