Lots of Summer Pictures

This is just a mish mesh of pictures from this summer. One of Anika's favorite things to do is catch cute, little frogs. They are all over the place out here! This one she named after Grandpa Kivett - Stanley the frog. 

Fun visits from Granana and Papa! We always like to have a movie party. =) 

Here are the girls with their swim instructors. I can't remember their names but they were super nice!

One last park day before Emily and the boys took off for Florida

Brenan and Gavin are such good buddies.

Matthew and Anika 

We should have taken the pictures at the beginning...haha!

Waiting ever so patiently for the cookies. 

Fun hangouts at Mandi's house

Dinner with Nathan's Aunt and Uncle - Allen and Julene and his cousin Adam. It was my first time to meet them and I thought they were great! We had a great time and wished it had been longer. 

More pictures from our Seaworld trip:

Keeping her mama cooled off. Thanks Anika!

I sure love my little buddy. 

Sawyer loves him a lot too. 

We had a little garden snake come for a visit. It fell from above and almost landed on Nathan. You should have seen him high tail it out of there! SO funny!! 

Sawyer's first time standing in her crib was not pleasant. She was GRUMPY because she couldn't figure out how to sit down! 

I love how she's just looking in and grinning!

Our new area has awesome tag sales! I had told my poor children that maybe it was time to give up on their dream of having a power wheels. But I found this beauty for $5 and then I bought a new battery for $25. SWEET! 

Then, the very next Saturday, Keslie and I found this one on the side of the road with a big FREE sign on it. We giddily loaded it into the back of the van. I thought for sure it wouldn't work or wouldn't come with a battery but I was wrong on both accounts! Now we have two working power wheels and the kids have a blast driving around! I'm living vicariously through them. I always dreamed of driving one of these bad boys to school when I was a kid. =)

This is kind of a blurry picture but it's a scene from the drive to our house. Every time I drive home I feel so happy to be where we are. I just think it's beautiful! 

Mandi blowing out her candles on the "cake". Haha! 

Kes and I went and got our nails done. =) 

Dad cruising around on Nathan's new wheels!

It was such a great summer - hot, but great. I was very sad to see it end. =(

Lindsay's Party

***Dad - maybe don't read this post....***

My friend Lindsay was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of last year and she has been such a champ throughout everything. She has such a great attitude and I know that her daughter Emma is going to be so blessed because of the example she's been. She wanted to have a "ta-ta to her ta-tas" party before her surgery and Emily and I don't like to disappoint! I realize that this type of party isn't for everyone with breast cancer, but it's what Miss Lindsay wanted!

Emily and Lindsay

Emily made a shirt for her to wear that said "Shhhh! Don't say anything...they don't know yet!" Lindsay and Emily were always coming up with crazy t-shirt ideas on our girl's nights!

 We played the "saggy boob" relay which had me belly laughing. 

We enjoyed the chocolate fountain and bruschetta and other delicious snacks. 

Shannon made this awesome cake. I about died laughing when I saw it. 

*Dad - did you ignore me and read anyway? Sorry...*

 

Janet, Lindsay, and Rachel

A couple group shots! Fun times! Love you Lindsay! 

Group Dates & Double Dates

We love hanging out with friends and all of the kids but sometimes it's extra fun to go on "adults only" dates. We've gotten to hang with Steve and Mandi a lot since we are living the dream of being neighbors (sort of!).

Here we are for her big 3-0 birthday dinner! 

Cheesy?? A little - but honestly and truly - this girl is a gift to the world. Love her. 

And I'm so glad she has Steve who is so good to her.

I sure love this guy. 

We had some pretty epic dates with Emily and Matt before they so rudely left us for Florida. We miss them. 

 Here we are on our last date - we saw The Dark Knight rises and then laughed and laughed while eating sonic blasts in the car. =) 

WAY WAY WAY back in February we played laser tag with some super cool people.

Sydney and Steven (Rey) never fail to make us laugh! They are hilarious! They've since left us for Georgia. Hmmmm. Are we scaring people away?! 

I love this one of Matt and Emily!

I'm so grateful that I'm so photogenic otherwise I might never post pictures of myself! *snort*! Haha!

And we've got a creeper. 

Sydney is trying her darndest to find us but we blend into everything with our camo. Where are we?! 

Catelin and Micajah made it in time for our awesome group pics. 

BJ's pizookies afterwards. YUM!

We like to go out with Carol and Gary when they come to visit. One of our favorite places with them is Texas Roadhouse. 

Keslie's Ballet Recital

Here is my little dancer! She has all the right moves and is just so beautiful. I sure love my Bodess. This time around they got to wear super cute outfits!! 

I love this picture because Papa kept telling her all weekend that he was practicing his maraca shaking so that he could hop up on the stage with her. Keslie would dissolve into giggles at the thought of it but I think she was a teensy bit nervous that he was actually going to do it! Haha!

She was so happy that Granana and Papa were there to see her dance. 

And us - looking awesome, as usual. =)

We Bought a House!

 It's true! We have finally graduated from the renting phase of our lives! Here is the front of our new home:

We love it so much and are having so much fun working on projects to make it "ours". I am painting my way around the house - the builders painted everything - trim, walls, moldings, and ceiling the same flat color. So, I've started with the floorboards and the moldings and will get to the walls next! I HATE painting doors. Haha! We are on 3/4 of an acre which is actually on the small side for where we are but still HUGE if you are trying to use a push mower. It took Nathan 4 hours to mow the front and back lawns so we quickly decided that a riding mower was a necessity. Nathan loves it. He likes to drive it around the yard even when it doesn't need to be mowed! =) He's been studying 24/7 since July for his upcoming oral boards but is looking forward to tackling our lawn! I have to admit - I will be sad to hand over the keys. It's pretty fun to mow the yard now! I bet I look goofy riding around with a big grin on my face! 

Anyway, we feel very blessed to be where we are. It's such a beautiful area, we got an awesome deal on the house, we love our neighborhood and new ward at church, the girls go to an excellent school, we've met so many wonderful people...we couldn't ask for more. =)

A Trip to the Zoo!

I was able to go with Keslie on her end of the year field trip and she was pretty darn excited about it! I loved that they just let me take her and do our own thing. It's a good thing I wasn't having to hang around with anyone else - I had my worst allergy attack since living in TX. It was horrible and super embarrassing! I was mopping up my snot with Sawyer's burp rag and my eyes were all wonkified. I'll have to go again when it's not smack in the middle of spring! It sure was cute seeing Kes and Bren get excited about all the animals though! We loved the gorillas and the elephants.