Girls vs. Boy

Poor Kelton has two big sisters.  That means that no matter how hard I try, or how much I try telling them that he is a boy, he will inevitably end up with make-up on his face at least once or twice in his young life.  This was the scene after I sent them upstairs to get ready for bed.  McKenzie was applying mascara to his eyes, but he tried dodging it and just ended up with a messy face.  The girls are feeling pretty proud of themselves.  Poor, poor Kelton.

So in order to fight the girliness in the house, he is on a mission to be as boyish as possible.  He makes messes just because he can.  

And he crushes big crickets with his bare hands.  Jeremy was particularly proud as he watched Kelton chase down a cricket on our front porch, squeeze it, throw it, then pick it up and throw it again.  

Luckily for everyone, there are some games they can play together which are both girl and boy-friendly, like building forts in the living room.

Dancing with umbrellas

Just because I love watching kids play in the rain!

Because my sister is a princess!

Because my sister is a princess we had a fabulous week in Utah.  She was chosen as 2nd attendant in the Days of '47 royalty.  Just in case you didn't grow up in Utah and wonder, "What is the Days of '47?"  I will tell you.  In Utah we celebrate the day that the pioneers entered Salt Lake Valley which was July 24, 1847.  This means that in Utah you get fireworks twice during the month of July, and an entire week of extra celebrations that include parades, rodeos, concerts, and festivals all dedicated to the pioneers.  In order to be selected for the royalty you have to have pioneer ancestors and compete in a pageant during the spring.  They are judged on interview questions, decorum, service opportunities, and a speech about the theme of the year which was "Pioneers Pushing Toward Our Future."  Camille competed last year and made it to the top ten and it was no surprise that she was chosen as royalty this year.  I was so proud of my little sister!  (Personally I think she should have been queen, but I may be a little bit biased.)  

She has been crazy busy this entire summer speaking in sacrament meetings, girls' camps, firesides, participating in parades, appearing at rodeos, attending luncheons, being honored at DUP activities, and anything else even remotely pioneer related.  This last week has been even crazier and she can add television interviews to that list.  I don't know how she had a chance to even breathe!  However, her crazy life meant we had the chance to go out and see her shine all over the place.  I think my favorite memory is screaming at her on her float.  She was so embarrassed by us.  We were loud!  

Because of her we attended the float preview party for the first time.  My girls had their picture taken with all of the royalty...pink and green sugar-coated teeth and all.  

Seeing the floats was pretty neat.  If Kelton could have voted, I'm sure he would have chose this moving, growling T-Rex.  

McKenzie loved the bubbles but her favorite float had a working swing that she wanted to climb up to.

We also were given free tickets to the rodeo.  Cambrie wanted to come with Jeremy and I, while McKenzie opted to stay home with Nana and Papa.  

After the rodeo Cambrie got another picture taken with the royalty and this time her teeth are sparkling clean.

It was pretty cool to see Camille up on the jumbo tron waving to her adoring fans.  She even managed to come back and sit with us once her apprentice was over.  She said the rodeo was really neat because she got to meet a lot of the general authorities, including President Monson.  During the course of the week she said she met seven of the twelve, but the First Presidency.  I am very jealous.

Our rodeo crew

  
Rodeo Princess Ryan everyone!

The climax of Camille's week for us was the parade.  My dad and Ryan were able to save a good sized area for us and we settled in to watch for Camille.  We met up with a group of Higham folks and Cambrie got to hang out with Bethany.  

We didn't have to wait long as she was the first float in the parade.  But while we waited, McKenzie entertained us with her parade entry.  

Here is my sister on her float!

After she passed the rest of us kind of us simply hung out.  

Great job little sis!

This is the Place

In honor of Pioneer Day we decided to take all the kids up to This is the Place Park in Salt Lake.  Living in Colorado, my girls don't get a constant pioneer education like I did growing up in Utah.  I feel like there are a lot of holes in their knowledge and I hoped that this would help.  We met Hannah and Faye, packed some lunches and thought we'd do all we could in a few short hours before the kids wore out.  Little did we know that they kids would last six hours!  Here's a taste of what we did in those six hours.  

We practiced milking cows.

We pet chickens, goats, sheep, and rode ponies.

We toured pioneer cabins and I found myself feeling very grateful for separate bedrooms.

We splashed in the splash pad.

We watched Native American dancers.  Kelton was laughing during the turkey dance, and I was drooling over the donuts I could smell wafting through the windows.  Faye didn't really want her picture taken with the dancers, but here is proof that she was there!

We wandered into the barber shop and McKenzie volunteered for a shave.  Now her face is as smooth as....it was before!

After lunch the pioneer performers came to the bowery and we had an impromptu square dance with the kids.  I think it was the girls' favorite activity of the entire day.

We were able to tour Brigham Young's house.  It was huge compared to pioneer standards and even today I think it would be a comfortable home (with additional bathrooms of course).  In the upstairs room where they would hold dances we found some old wedding dresses.  Cambrie could almost fit in them!  And we thought that maybe Camille could use them as inspiration for her own.

After the tour the kids were able to play porch dag.  Two teams set off in opposite directions and the goal was to see who could get around the porch first.  Truly I have no idea who won but they all had smiles on their faces!

Yes, pink was a manly color.

Up in the Native America village we toured hogans, teepees, and made arrowhead necklaces.  

They girls heard a rumor of panning for gold and they were both very anxious to be rich.  We picked up some pans and started panning.  It would have taken a lot of patience for a miner to find what he was looking for, but I found it strangely relaxing after all of the commotion of the day.  Each girl came away with a handful of nuggets and a muddy bottom.

The last activity we did was a leather stamping activity.  It was my favorite smelling shop of the day and I was a little disappointed that the girls were so pooped and were ready to go home.  They did a great job on their leather squares though.

As we walked out of the park we stumbled across some stilts and everyone had to give them a try.  Hannah's dad used to make some for his kids and she really wanted Faye to master them.  

I can't believe everything we were able to see and do in those six hours.  What a blast!

The Cabin

I love that we can still visit my Grandma Stratford's cabin up Ogden Canyon.  I remember spending a lot of time there as a girl and I want my kids to make fond memories up there too.  Even though it felt like we had tons of time to enjoy and explore, it seems like it went way too fast.  The girls practiced a little bit of badmitten, and Kelton practiced chasing the birdies when they fell.  

They went exploring down to the stream with Grandma and Grandpa and sent little boats sailing through the culvert.  Inside everyone loved climbing on the furniture.  Kelton thought it was so funny that the little coffee table was a perfect size for him.  

And the girls could not get enough of the bunk beds.  They each only fell off and hurt themselves once, so I figure that's pretty good.  We had so much fun up there!

Grandpa's back porch

My parents are in the process of finishing their backyard.  No grass means my kids get to play up on their back porch instead.  My kids don't complain, after all they have the Big Toy to play with.  

A hammock to eat ice-cream cones in.  

And the neighbor's cat always comes to visit when we're outside.  So while we are super excited for their future grass, the back porch isn't a bad alternative.

Happy 1st Birthday Kelton!

Wow!  One-year-old already?  I truly can't believe it has gone so fast.  I don't know if he still seems like my little guy because he is still toothless, still nursing, not yet talking, because he prefers crawling to walking, or if it is just because I'm not ready for him to be a toddler yet.  He is one amazing little guy.  He still is super smiley, but has learned how to squeal from his sisters.  He is handsome in just about everything he wears.  Maybe I'm bias, but I don't think so :)  

Because we had a dual party it was chaos all around.  After Cambrie was done opening her presents, Jacob was very anxious for Kelton to open his.  In fact, he was so anxious that he "helped" Kelton open every single one of his presents.  I was laughing so hard because Jacob just couldn't understand why Kelton was being so slow.  

The problem was that Kelton opened his car first, and then he didn't need anything else.  He was very happy with his car.  It's a perfect size for him to push around, and when shaken it shoots ahead.  Luckily dropping it also gives it enough gas to zoom away and he loves chasing it.  

His other favorite toy was a new set of balls.  He loves throwing balls down the stairs as well as throwing them at people.  He has been using golf balls and I was worried about the very possible collateral damage, which is why we picked up softer balls.  He chases those all over the house too.  

And this sweet ride is his bike.  He feels like a big boy riding it around the house.  Even though he hasn't figured out how to keep from tipping over, he gets right back up to try again.

When it was time for cake, he had to first try eating his space ship as it flew around his head.  It made attacking it difficult, but he did manage to snag a glowing tail light and pop that in his mouth. 

 We tried again while he was sitting in his highchair and the longer we left him alone, the more he enjoyed destroying that cake.  

He didn't care much for the cake, but the marshmallow fondant was a huge hit.  

Happy birthday my handsome little man!