Happy 4th of July!

We managed to jam-pack this 4th of July weekend with activities. We had such a good time!

On Saturday we had a BBQ with Rachel and Hannah. It was delish. Then we made our way to the Provo Freedom Festival where we all lost about 5 pounds by sweating to death in the hot sun. They had bounce houses/slides set up and Harrison was so bummed to find out you had to pay to go on them, but then this little girl (maybe 12 years old?) came over and gave him her leftover tickets because her family was leaving. Who does that?! It was so nice, and Harrison was thrilled! Sorry, no pictures of these events. You'll have to trust me, it was a good time.

We then made our way to the mall because we couldn't stand the heat anymore and needed a little AC in our lives. That and the fact that we forgot to put sunscreen on. How our kids managed to end that day without sunburns is beyond me, but I'm so glad they did!

Next up, fireworks. We always head to the Provo Temple grounds to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks show.

Here's our happy Bridget:


She passed the time like this:




Bridget loves her daddy.


Harrison passed the time playing Boggle, one of his new favorite games. You tell him a word and he likes to sound it out and point to the letters that spell it. He thinks he is so smart. And really... he is pretty darn smart, if I do say so myself.




We're glad you came Hannie.


You too, Rachel!


I tried to take a picture of my cute kids in their cute red, white, and blue outfits.


Sigh.


You get the idea,


right?


Finally, fireworks started! Bridget slept through them and Harrison made it through the whole show without crying!!! (he doesn't do loud noises very well) HUGE SUCCESS. He even had good things to say about them the next day. Shocking. And awesome. I can't say enough good things about that.







Monday we went to the parade in Provo. You should know that this group got the loudest cheers by the crowd:


And this group got a close second:
(the missionaries)


Only in Provo, Utah. :)

I shouldn't wonder why it's so hard to get a good picture of my kids. When I take pictures like this, it really explains it all:

In the 4 pictures I took, not only are my kids not looking in a single one of them, but Peter isn't looking either. Peter, if you are reading this, shame on you. Next time be a good example, will ya?!??

Harrison LOVED the parade. He was all smiles the whole time.


He plugged his ears for all the loud parts. :)


And waved at everyone and everything that came by.


So cute.

He especially liked the stunts by Cosmo the Cougar.


How awesome is Cosmo? BYU has an awesome mascot.

Bridget loved the parade too. She got the most excited when the llamas passed by. :)






A lost balloon equals a good chance to take a photo:


After a quick lunch we went home for movie/nap time and then ended the day with swimming at the Spanish Fork pool. Phew! So many fun things.

Happy 4th to you and your family! Hope it was as fun as ours!

Did you know that Harrison turned 4??

Remember this little guy?


Yeah, I don't really either. Somehow I blinked and he turned 4. FOUR! Did he really use to be that little?! He's still just as cute, just a LOT bigger. :)

This year Harrison's birthday was all about Transformers. His party became a TransFOURmer party because, of course, he was turning four. Anytime he would tell someone that his birthday was coming up it would sound something like, "I'm almost four and I'm having a TransFOURmer birthday party!!!!" (emphasis on the FOUR) So funny.

Harrison only had two wishes for his birthday. An Optimus Prime Transformer,


and something to "screw and take apart and screw back together again."


Success.



Next on the agenda: birthday party.

This was Harrison's first 'friend' birthday party. Usually we just have Eric and Rachel and/or Kate and Brock over for some cake and ice cream. This year we invited all of our preschool friends and a handful of other friends over for our incredible...

BOUNCE HOUSE BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!


We LOVE our Grammie for getting us this totally awesome bounce house as Harrison's present this year. It was SO fun. We picked it up the night before the party, blew it up first thing in the morning and bounced all morning long, bounced all afternoon at the party, bounced all night after all our friends left, and then blew it up again the next day and bounced all morning again before taking it back to the rental place. Grammie, that was money well spent. At one point Harrison was running around from the slide to the side where you get into bounce and he yelled, "This is the best day EVER!!!!" It was SUCH a good time.

At the party there was bouncing,




goodie bags,


pin the autobot sign on Bumblebee game,


(I don't know if you can tell in this picture, Harrison is peeking :))


and cotton candy! Rachel was in charge of our cotton candy machine.


She was way more professional than Peter. Good thing you were there, Rachie.



Cotton candy was a big hit. As soon as Rachel started making it the kids suddenly appeared out of nowhere and started forming a line.


Here's the birthday boy with his Transformer cake. He wanted a cake that was Bumblebee (the yellow car) in car form that transformed into Bumblebee in robot form. Yeah... sorry, buddy. I'm just not that good! I had to convince him that a cake with TWO Transformers on it was way better than an actual transforming cake. Luckily he was thrilled with his Bumblebee and Optimus Prime cake in the end. PHEW!







Hooray for our TransFOURmer birthday party!!




Once all of the kids left, it was the adults turn to bounce. Good times. Bridget also had a turn.


She loved it.

(and can I just say that I didn't take these pictures; who was in charge here and why does my baby only have one shoe on?)


Later Aunt Hannah came to play.




This is when the real party got started. Aunt Hannah and Aunt Rachel are the definition of fun.
















This one is my favorite picture of the day. Harrison was in HEAVEN.







Happy birthday, Harrison!

An oldie but goodie...

I found this little gem on my phone while waiting for Harrison's birthday pictures to download. (that post coming next)

This is back when Bridget was an itty-bitty little thing, fresh from the hospital. Harrison was a good "helper" and sat by the swing to put Bridget's binky in again and again and again... (it didn't matter that it never fell out, he was there to "help" anyways) He didn't know I was filming him until the very end when he runs over to see what I'm doing.

Love, love, LOVE this. It makes my heart happy. :)




(translation help: He is singing "I just love my baby sister"

All dressed up for Easter

Better late than never, here are our two cuties on Easter Sunday.





For those that don't know, a dress just isn't a dress unless it bubbles when you sit. :)






Most of the shots we got of Bridget were of her trying to crawl away...






A typical Harrison pose...


Hope your Easter was lovely as ours!

Well it was fun while it lasted...

Brutus was oh so cute and oh so cuddly, but he left Bridget looking like this:





These pictures don't even do it justice. Her poor face is way more red and rashy in person.

Oddly enough, she is just fine in the same room as the dog but if she touches him or he touches her... Poor baby is left all red and itchy. Seeing as allergies run on both sides of the family, I guess we weren't too surprised. The doctor seems to think she'll grow out of, but he doesn't know if it will be a matter of months or a matter of years...

So even though Bridget drools way more than Brutus ever did, and even though Bridget laughs at the phrase "NO" and Brutus obeyed it, and even though Bridget puts more in her mouth to chew on than Brutus ever did... We love Bridget way more and we don't want her to be miserable all the time, so we found Brutus a new home.

So I guess it was fun while it lasted... We'll miss you, Brutus!



(Harrison didn't handle Brutus leaving very well. This morning, however, he asked me if Bridget was allergic to turtles, and (since she's not) told me that we should probably get one of those instead. Nice.)

Our home has grown...

by four feet!





Meet Brutus, the newest member of our family.




We love him.


a LOT.