The beginning of Summer and all the craziness

(New matching bed spreads for the girls!)

The end of the school year and beginning of summer were a whirlwind for me (and our family!) Tyson was leaving his job and starting at a new company, Taryn was completing Kindergarten which meant lots of end of the year activities, I took on WAY TOO MANY cakes during the first few weeks of our "Summer Break," and Taryn lost her first tooth, to name just a few things :)

Tyson helped pull out Taryn's tooth. We waited until it was hanging by a thread and Tyson just yanked it out super fast. Taryn doesn't believe in the tooth fairy, Santa, the Easter Bunny etc... anymore. She asked us straight last Christmas whether Santa was real (she had been concerned for awhile) and we just had to tell her. 

So we forgot to put money under her pillow. How could we forget?!!! Seriously- this is the first time ever we get to be the tooth fairy to our daughter and we totally forget?! 

Thankfully we were fast thinking and played it off and Taryn was a happy camper. 

(Old bedspreads)

Just reading. A little quiet time for herself after baths. 

I helped arrange all the flowers the Kindergarten kids brought in for Taryn's teacher. They were the most beautiful bouquets filled with every kind of flower. It was a fun job! Also, end of the year activities are no joke. It kept us running around and we didn't even go into the class room eery day to volunteer. 

Rainy days and purple umbrellas

During out night time routines, it's not uncommon for one of the girls to find my phone and use it to take photos. Even though I have a password entry on my phone, the girls use my short cut to take quick videos and photos. Sometimes, they catch the every day scenes that I love. 

After bath hair brushing. 

These girly girls and all their pink!

When they get together, there is nothing but twirling.

Another everyday scene caught by one of the girls. Me going over calendaring. 

I really love these photos. When I photographing a cake, the girls are always super interested in the cake stand I choose, helping me hold my backdrops and also taking their turn to snap their own pictures. I love that they enjoy taking photos and don't mind them practicing on my digital camera. 

Twins!

This never happens. I've bought a few matching outfits and the girls won't wear them. Once in a blue moon, the girls will agree on the same dress to wear and it's the best day for me!!! Always calls for a photo.

Crazy hair day at school for Taryn. She picked all the bows she wanted inside. It was pouring rain so I had her quickly jump in the front seat after we got in the slow crawl of school kiss and ride so she wouldn't have to climb over Haddie and wouldn't get soaking wet when she left the car (trying to pull her backpack over her sister etc...)

These cutie girls and all the princess dresses!

My slumbering princess. 

From soccer to scootering home. Nothing stops this girl from constantly moving. 

While I painted a cake, the girls painted their beautiful pictures. I often have to find ways to distract the girls while I'm making my cakes because the want to help me decorate my cakes in every way. 

Grandma Jackie and Grandpa Scott gave the girls this big National Geographic book to read recently. The girls LOVE it so much. Especially Taryn who wants to know all the info about every living creature. 

Our little helper on Saturday morning while cleaning the church building. 

Brittany and I snuck away on a little sisters' brunch outing. It was great to sit and chat and not have to worry about anything besides what to order. I love living next to one of my sisters. 

Best friends and sprinkle donuts. Just the best! 

Cousin time! We watched Braden and Cora for a bit and they joined us for school pick up. The kids are all smiling and looking at the camera. It's a miracle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Loading a mini van with 4 or more kids should be an olympic event. I was sweating after this! And it wasn't like the kids were fighting back or anything. They were being easy so I can't imagine what it would be like if the kids were all melting down at the same time. :l

Taryn begs me to ride the bus almost every day but walking her to school is so easy (and a great way to make sure I get my exercise in everyday. So towards the end of the year, I gave in a little, in a way, because I said yes to her riding her bike to school. It was a bit complicated and not very easy at some points due to the massive hills we have to climb up before hitting a flat portion of the road. But Taryn rocked it. She was a trooper and took care of her bike, watched the road and made sure to stay without eye sight of me (it's a crazy busy stretch of road we walk along in the mornings. )

We joined our friends in the beginning of June to celebrate the life of Nathan Graham, our friend and previous bishop in our congregation. We love his sweet little family and his amazing wife. Melanie thought it would be great to come together and eat ice cream (one of Nathan's favorite treats) and every year I'm amazed by home man good friends show up to give their love and support to Melanie and her 4 little boys. We're lucky to have known Nathan Graham and our lives have been blessed because of him. 

Summer days with friends. It's been hot and humid, but not nearly as bad as last year. 

One of Taryn's drawings she did while on our walk to school one morning. " Today is Rainbow Day." I want to be a singer when I grow up"

Playgroup to new places. There is so much to explore!

This cat LOVED Haddie. He followed her, rubbed against her and just loved being pet by Haddie. It was amazing. Haddie was sad to say goodbye.

We say goodbye to Tyson out of back window now that he has a new job which keeps him a 10 minute walk away. The girls say the funniest things to him while he is walking away. I love this special time they have with their dad. 

Another round of gymnastics for Haddie! (and our friend Olivia!) Emerson joined us too this round (though he isn't pictured)

We had great neighbors for the past year and we were so sad to see them leave for another job. It was always great to pet their dog (that's for the girls, not me!), scooter around with them outside, chalk, bubbles etc... These kids were great!

It's not every day your strawberry waves at you :)

And some of our carrots the girls planted from our little garden. They were super bitter but I"m still proud of them!

Going to the Zoo with my sister

Having a sister close by is really really nice! Brittany wanted to take her kids to the zoo for the first time (during the day!) and she invited us to join. We love our National Zoo so much! It helps that admission is free so we don't have to feel guilty about leaving when there is nap times to be had. 

I've mastered the art of the zoo now that we've been going for the past 5 years (next month!) several times a year. 

We have 5 animals that are the most entertaining, that we can hit in one trip- no problem. Tigers & lions (in that same zone), elephants, pandas, seals and the Great ape house. 

Sometimes we make special zoo trips to see a specific animal that we haven't seen yet. On those occasions, we switched around what we are going to see based on where we are at. 

Cora and Braden loved the tigers & lions and the seals. It was so much fun to go and see the zoo through their eyes. Everything was so new for them. It's like seeing a movie you have seen before  with someone whom has never seen it. So entertaining. 

One of my pet peeves is sweating in normal clothes. I can sweat all day long in work out clothes or grubby clothes but I always feel super gross in normal clothes when I'm sweating a lot. 

So every time I go to the Zoo, I wear work out clothes. Mostly because I end up doing a huge workout because the zoo is positioned on a gigantic hill. Pushing  (one or more) kids in a stroller up that hill is a killer workout. Taryn usually gets wiped out walking up it (i.e. lots of complaining) so we now take her scooter along and I pull it up when she's not scootering up the hill. We get up the big hill so much faster now and the kids don't complain.

So, unless it's winter, you'll see me in my work out clothes at the zoo, not sweating in my nice clothes. 

Braden and Brittany

We had a fun day showing our little cousins the ropes of how to do the zoo, free parking for a few hours, and what animals to see.

I love that Cora and Braden are starting to say my name "Nana" and they run to me to pick them up or carry them now. Stranger danger is (almost) fully gone and I'm loving it. I'm working hard to secure my position as favorite aunt.

The butterflies at Brookside Gardens with friends!

We drove up to Maryland to visit the Brookside Gardens "Wings of Fancy" exhibit in May. The weather was still very cool and perfect for exploring a new outdoors area. 

The butterflies were beautiful and everyone loved it. Taryn wanted so badly for a butterfly to land on her. She tried several times to remain super still so a butterfly would land on her. It took about an hour, but it finally happened right before we had to leave. This was the best butterfly exhibit we've ever been to. 

Haddie would say "I have good luck!" Every time a butterfly would fly in front of her, just like Grandma Smith taught her. 

Love my girls!

This place was enclosed but big enough for us to stay inside for an hour and wander around, watching the butterflies. 

So many different butterflies I've never seen before!

I love these pictures of the girls holding butterflies. But I do have to say that these butterflies were dead. They were apart of the "please touch" section. The girls got to hold these sanitized butterflies and really study them. They loved this.

Tyson and I had butterflies land on us :)

Took a picture of this one for Grandma Smith. This is her favorite butterfly.

Love her poses!

We met up with our friends, Jenny, Eric and Miles Smith, who just moved up to Maryland. Taryn is the sweetest with Miles. I love seeing them together. Actually, Taryn is super good with all small kids. She knows how to make them laugh, she watches out for them, and loves them so much. 

She is so special. 

Staying as still as possible. She was getting frustrated that not one butterfly landed on her. We were worried it might not happen. 5 minutes after this picture, one kissed her head. It was perfect!

The outside of Brookside Gardens, which is gigantic, was amazing. It felt like we were on the grounds of an England castle. There was so much green, turtles, unique birds and more. 

This was Haddie's reaction to a "funny pose." That face is all an act, too. She really was having fun and right after this they went running off laughing. Silly girls. 

We hope to go back to Brookside gardens and enjoy more time exploring the grounds. It started raining so we had to go, but no before using our selfie stick for a family photo ;)