{Little Miss Tumbler}

Can we say BEHIND?!? Again? I swear I just can't seem to keep up with this blog. The kids have been busy lately and that means this mama's been busy too. I thought about doing one big "Katchup" post, but I felt like some of the things deserved their own post, so I decided to do them all at once.... if you'd like to know what all we've been up too, keep reading after this post!

Last Saturday was spent at a little Tumbling competition in Spanish Fork with Miss Carlie. It was the first one we've taken her to and she'd been counting down and practicing for weeks!

Doesn't she look cute warming up with her fantastic teacher Miss JoAnn? She did a great job on her passes, so great that..... she took FIRST place out of the eight girls in her age group!

and of course she had to strike a pose with that medal!

{Preschool Craziness}

A day of craziness at Polka Dot Preschool.... well, crazy hair that is!

Carlie decided to go for little messy buns all over her cute little head!

(Check out that pose people! Do you think I may by any chance have a little DIVA on my hands?)Tylie opted for many tiny ponies! and I went for the flower garden look!

Fabulous, right? I know, it's awful and apparently I have no shame, throwing that picture out on the world wide web for all to see. But hey, my preschool kids thought it was great, and that's all that matters right?

By the way..... the rest of my cuties had some fantastic hair too, but I'm not sure if their parents would appreciate me sharing their cute faces with all y'all.

{Kiddie Fun}

My cute little preschool class got to go on a field trip a few weeks ago to the Fire station here in town. My friend Jo is one of our volunteer firefighters and she always makes it so fun for us when we come.

Each of the kids got to try on all the gear! They look so adorable and tiny in those big coats, pants, hats and boots!

They got to climb up on the big tanker truck! And we even all got to go for a ride around town in the big fire engine!
Don't I have the cutest little class (minus one)?

In other happenings.... it was crazy hair day at the middle school and Brock knew just what he wanted! A checkerboard of pony's with red and black elastics (gotta have U of U colors) and every other pony colored black! Crazy hair for a crazy kid.... it looked even more crazy when we took the elastics out!

{Catch Up #8- Carlie's Birthday}

Just a few weeks ago (see, I'm catchin' up....this may? be the last catch up post) my baby girl turned FIVE!!!

Isn't she just so stinkin' adorable?

She made it perfectly clear what she really wanted for her birthday....

#1- to go to Lake Powell. Sorry Baby, we did that 2 months ago.

#2- a Pillow Pet. But she couldn't decide which one, her mama may have steered her in the direction of an adorable black, white and pink zebra to match her room, it's gotta match ya know?

#3- a Snuggie! Which Aunt Lis got all crafty and just whipped up a darling, adorable and fantastic Snuggie for her, that I forgot to take a picture of??? But, trust me, it's cute!

(You'd think from her gift choices the child likes to sleep, but in all honesty she's the worst sleeper ever!)

Derrick and I also got her this Fisher Price digital camera. I think Carlie's calling in life is to be a Photographer. Seriously, every time I turn around she's stealing my camera and taking pictures. I find the most random pictures every time I turn it on, but that's a whole post on it's own, so stay tuned!

Honestly, I can't believe I even got any pictures of the present opening fiasco. I've NEVER seen a child tear through a pile of gifts like she did that night. So, thank you everyone for the gifts you brought, I'm not sure who brought what, but she loved it all...and we promise to work on gift manners before Christmas!
Aunt Lis got all the talent genes in our family, and once again made a fantastic cake for the occasion. Miss C changed her mind at least 20 times before she decided she wanted a Sleeping Beauty cake, but she had to have the pink dress, not the blue! Didn't it turn out super cute?

Some of the kiddo's enjoying cake on the back steps!
Happy Birthday Baby Doll!

Guess, what? I think this just may be my last catch up post! **Note to self- Don't ever neglect your blog for this long again... it takes way to long to catch up, Just sayin!

{Catch Up #4- Tea with the Queen

I seriously need to get these catch-up posts done, so I can blog about all the fun stuff that's currently going on!

In August, Carlie received the cutest, girlie, pink and purple invitation in the mail (if I don't say so myself) ? The front read- "Once Upon a Time"

the inside said (sorry for the sideways picture, I'm too lazy to go turn it and reload it)

Four Little Princesses were invited to a TEA PARTY with the Queen.

They were invited to dress up and time and date info followed.

The four cousins all met at my house and I got them all dressed in their pretty party dresses, and we headed out on a walk to the Queens house!

Tylie, Addie, Carlie, and Kamryn

for some reason, I have no pictures of the Princesses with the Queen? The Queen has one, but it's too much effort right now to walk the not even half a block to get it!

The Princesses enjoyed a story, totally rocked their crowns, ate finger sandwiches and cookies, and had a fun afternoon which they are still talking about with their Queen Gram!

{Catch Up #3- Mini Cheer Camp}

In August, Carlie got to go to Mini Cheer Camp! I can't even tell you how excited she was, and I'm pretty sure this is just the beginning of our Cheerleader days! She seems to be cheering all the time now, on four-wheeler rides, in the car, in her room, any where and everywhere! They had 3 days of practices, a little performance for the parents and then got to cheer at the first JV home game!

It was even more fun that she got to go with her cousins Tylie (who wouldn't let me take a picture of them together) and Addie, and her Aunt Sydney!

{Here Comes the Bride}

This is me, at my wedding, with the most adorable flower girl.....my sweet girl, Skyler (not literally, but to me, she's just always been my girl). Really, it seems like just yesterday Derrick and I were getting married. Well, obviously it wasn't because this last weekend......SKYLER got married! And, it was beautiful. And I'm happy for her, because she is so happy. And well, Maben is a pretty great guy. And they make a perfect couple. But darn it, now I feel old!
We had a shower for her a few months ago, and since it was the day after Kaleb's baptism, I just never got around to blogging about it. So, I thought I'd throw it in here. It was nice, the food was yummy, and she got some great gifts. Now, back to the real post!

A few months ago, Sky asked me if I would put together some pages for the guest to sign. Well, I procrastinated (for the first time ever?!?, ok, like I always do) and finally finished them late Wednesday night, or actually it was more like early Thursday morning. Hey, the wedding was on Friday, I still had plenty of time! I'm so glad she asked me to do them. I've taken a bit of a break from stamping and crafting and I really missed it, so this was really a good motivator.
Lisa made the cake and of course that meant I got to go help, which I'm really not sure how much help I really am? Anyhow, that was a full day project for Friday. For some reason, this cake just didn't go smooth, from start to finish it was just one thing after another, including fingers in the cake not long after we got it set up! In the end it all worked out and was one of my favorite cakes she's done. A friend had let them use this whiskey barrel they had, but they didn't really know where they were going to put it,... I think it turned out to be the perfect cake stand! My sister-in-law Julia did most of the decorating, and it turned out really nice, but in all the running I didn't end up getting any pictures of it all.
Maben & Skyler Larsen
This is one of the only pictures I actually took at the reception! Carlie sure loves Skyler, and the "marrying" is all she has been talking about all week. At the end of the reception they had dancing and Sky and Maben along with some others did some swing dancing. On the way home that night Carlie, told us all about it. "Skyler danced with Maben and it was SO cool. And he lifted her up and it was just awesome"(you have to imagine it in her little diva voice to get the full effect).
I just had to add this one in. Sky gave Carlie a little kiss and left lipstick on her cheek. I tried to wipe it off, but she wouldn't let me! Derrick and the boys popped in for just a second, between a baseball game and fathers and sons campout, so it was a crazy day for them as well.

{Budding Artists}

Art.... compliments of Miss Carlie and Tylie! WHAT??? I love that they love to draw. But really, I do wish they would perfect their talent somewhere else, like PAPER, instead of C's new shoes and my leather seats!?!

{FOUR!?!}

My baby turned FOUR today.....how did that happen?

We started two new traditions this year, and I think we'll keep them both. First, I made a "It's Your Special Day" bucket and filled it with some of Carlie's favorite things. Of course we had to have coloring books and crayons (she's a colorin' fool), Skittles, "Taffy Taffy's" or Airheads as the rest of us call them, a Tinkerbell Pez and a few other things. I also filled our picture ladder in our family room with pictures of Carlie. I thought it was a fun way to remember the past few years!
As you can see I went all out on the cake this year...or not! Star cupcakes on a two tired cake stand, Carlie thought it was great and it was super easy. I also made our favorite ice cream dessert for the grown ups.

All Carlie has been asking for was a "fishing cole" and Princess Polly Pockets. Of course she got both, and wouldn't you know they were the last things that she wanted opened up....isn't that the way it always works? Uncle Shad made her the cute balloon hat, that was a hidden talent we didn't know about.

What an adorable little gal she is, we sure love her!

Happy Birthday Carlie Girl!

{Randomness}

I can't believe the summer is half over already. Is it just me or is time going faster? The boys finished summer school last week and we've been trying to adjust to our new schedule (or lack there-of, if I'm being honest). We enjoyed a fun Fourth of July weekend. I love the Fourth in our little community. Carlie and I enjoyed watching the parade with our families, while Derrick, our boys and Sydney represented Dearden Equipment. After the parade we spent some time in the park. We ate yummy Navajo Taco's, visited with some friends and waited in long lines. I have to say we had the most generous (and cutest) candy throwers. I think they dumped almost half a box of taffy on the road in front of us!
For a small town we have a pretty great fireworks show, and this year was no exception! After the big show, we had a little one in our back yard, but the rain cut it short.
Carlie finally got her cast off on the 6th. I was proud of her she was super brave!
Saturday the kids came running in the house yelling, SNAKE! Sure enough there was a big blow snake on the patio. I swear it was almost 3 feet long! Somehow, it ended up in the window well, with Obi our cat. He kept batting at it, but the snake got him a few times too. The kids ran downstairs to look through the window for ring side seats.
Poor Obi, can you see his fur-less chin? When he finally got out of the window well and we were looking at the snake, we could see fur in that sneaky snakes mouth. Poor kitty.

Last night was Bunko at Sheri's house. The food was yummy, the company was great, and the prizes were fantastic. Isn't that the funnest, funky, darling apron! It's the one I got and I L.O.V.E. it! Bunko Rocks!

What fun things have you been up to?