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we are really enjoying our summer

i love having all my kiddies home with me

here are some of the things we've been up to

 1. after we cleaned the church building noah and olive were holding hands

2. doing their things. it's fun to see how they occupy themselves now that we watch so much less tv

3. at the dentist. all the kids did great. only hazel has cavities and has to stop sucking her thumb (poor girl)

4. the other day eleanor folded her arms for the dinner prayer all on her own

5. hazel read hop on pop and noah sat patiently and helped her with the tough words

6. at the summer dollar movie with friends

7. me and noah waiting for lunch at city creek

8. hazel and clare matching for a playdate

9. olive is learning how to ride hazel's old bike and doing really well! not bad for an almost three year old

10. lots of pillow forts going on around here. it almost always involves noah covering olive. they both love it.

11. noah wrote me the sweetest note the other day, "Thank you for all you'r hard wrok"

12. i sported the skirt i recently scored at a yard sale for $1 to church today

mona reservoir

michael decided to hang out with us today

rather than go to school

so we went to story time at the library

and then wanted to find some water to play in

we tried utah lake first (yuck)

and then drove down to mona reservoir

(also pretty yuck)

the kids were having fun

but there were so many bugs

and the water was pretty mucky 

so we didn't stay for too long

and ended up at our local splash pad

but it was fun spending the day together

and exploring utah

we've heard there are some good reservoirs to play at

so we'll have to keep exploring

and hope we have better luck next time

sunday best

it hasn't happened very many times this year

that we've had extra time before church to snap a picture or two

since we have to be there by 9:00am

but today we did! huzzah!!

 i suppose it's not hard to see why people have asked if noah and hazel are twins so many times

 i can't remember why noah and olive got so grumpy

at least eleanor isn't crying and hazel looks super happy

 michael was trying pretty hard to crack them up

tough crowd

 pretty girl holding a pillow corner...always

matching and grumpy

also...noah went without socks to church despite me setting them out for him

ps. michael and i got new callings

michael was a primary teacher and i was the enrichment leader

now he is the executive secretary and i am the 2nd counselor in the primary presidency

my favorite part is getting to see noah and hazel in primary every week

hazel is really well behaved and noah is the best (and loudest) singer :) 

provo rec center

we haven't gone swimming the entire time we've lived in utah

until today...so it's been like a year 

(not counting splash pads) 

we stayed for like 4 hours

and the kids all had a great time

olive entertained herself so well
mostly just walking back and forth over and over again

 once hazel tried a water slide it was hard to convince her to do anything else

 eleanor was most concerned with eating chips

and finding little sticks to play with

but she had fun splashing a little

 noah is a little more nervous about water slides

but he went down a couple times
and looooved the lazy river 

we're excited to try a near by reservoir next

why are my babies getting so big?

these are just some pictures i've taken over the last couple of days

i can not believe how big our kids are getting

i wish they would just sloooooow down!

noah doesn't want a haircut 

and when he gets sweaty he just pushes his hair off his face :) 

 milk mustache hazel

 olive and eleanor love getting into this cupboard

 seriously this girl is getting way too big

i was looking back at the pictures of her birth

and i can't get over how big and grown up she is

i just love her so

 she is still as sweet as can be

and i threaten to eat her (or olive) up for dinner at least once a day

because they're so cute and delicious

look at this girl and her wild hair

and big blue eyes!

 michael moved the trampoline to mow and it's renewed it's mystique for the kids

hazel was sitting pretty underneath

 and then noah and olive copied her

...but really....why do they have to grow up?!

fathers day

michael has been a dad from almost the beginning of our relationship

i was noah's mom and he quickly became noah's dad

i have always known he would be an amazing father

because i got to see him be one before we got married

i couldn't have picked a better dad for my children

he is the best

noah and michael

hazel holding michael's thumb

 michael and olive

michael and eleanor

i don't know if these kids know just how lucky they are

but they have the best dad in the world

hazel's ballet recital

hazel had her ballet recital yesterday

 she looked so beautiful

 i tried a sock bun on her and it worked perfectly

 hazel's friend clare does ballet at a different time so they didn't perform together

but they loved being together backstage

 all the girls loved watching the big girls dance from the sidelines before they went on

 entering the stage

i realized i had a decent view of hazel dancing half way through her performance so i took a little video

she is on the far right when they're in the circle and then as they come off stage she's 2nd to last

taking a bow

 olive was a little heartbroken not to be performing for a second time like hazel

but she was happy to be the one giving her a rose afterward

 gorgeous girl

 we are so proud of hazel

she has now danced ballet for two years and she's excited to keep going

we're planning on olive starting ballet next year, too

hazel and olive's tap recital

hazel and olive had their first ever tap recital tonight! 

hazel has done ballet for a couple years now but never more than a summer in tap

and this is olive's first time taking any sort of class

it's a short class once a week for about 15 minutes 

but we were excited for them to get to perform together

here is a video i took during their dress rehearsal 

olive is so funny in it

she is the tiny one and hazel is on the right of her

sadly they didn't remember all the moves as well for the actual performance tonight

(none of the girls did)

 but that's just how it goes, right?

 here they are in their costumes

they are so funny and adorable

their dance was "hi ho" from snow white

 here they are backstage about to go on

 walking on the stage

 dancing

 yelling "hi ho"

michael didn't get a video of it tonight but we will get one from the studio soon

 michael and noah surprised the girls with roses

and they were so excited

i volunteered to be the class mom since i had two girls performing for tap

and it was fun to be with them backstage but kind of a bummer not to watch it from the audience

i am so proud of these girls 

they are great dancers and i love that they did it together