Summertime 2011

These pictures aren't in order. We had a fun-filled summer and we're sad to see it coming to a close. Ryley starts 1st grade tomorrow morning! We met her teacher and think she's pretty nice.

Here's a picture of Ryley in her beautiful Ballet outfit before her ballet performance in the spring.



We made some fun crafts this summer. One of our favorite was the flying tissue-paper fish.


I had a birthday and now I'm older, Yeah!! I got to pick my own bouquet of flowers at a pick-your-own farm. We found some pretty exotic looking ones. Ammon made me my brownie birthday cake.


The slip-n-slide at Grandma and Grandpa Jensen's house in WV!







Kayaking in WV










Jensen turned 4 years old! He wanted a Chick Hicks birthday cake. I don't know why he likes the bad guy in the Cars movie? We had a fun pool party with some of his little buddies.




This is at the Inner Harbor area in downtown Baltimore. The fountains are so much fun!









We took a day trip to Ocean City. We love the beach!













Jensen's favorite thing these days is swinging on a rope swing! We seem to keep finding them on our adventures too! How convenient. This one is on a little sandy beach on Cheat Lake. My mom and dad took us out on their boat to waterski and then we had a little cookout on the shore.






Goofy Grandparents!



We did a lot of fruit picking again this year. Yummy peaches! We also got cherries, blueberries, raspberries, plums and we can't wait until the apples are ready.











We did a lot of hiking and fishing. We decided to invest in some trail maps and we've found lots of new places to explore.















We even caught a couple of fish worth keeping and eating! Yummy.




Some of our fishing places we rode our bikes to.







We even found a little waterfall.


We caught lots of other wildlife too, including frogs and crawfish.


Of course Ryley had to check and make sure it wasn't a prince.




Ryley wanted Evelyn to kiss it too. Evelyn willingly complied.


This little girl loves to get dirty.


The only downside to all the hiking has been the bee stings. The bees seem to be attracted to Jensen and he's gotten 5 so far this summer. I don't know why they like him. No one else has gotten stung. Luckily he's not allergic!


Evelyn meets a crawfish. So excited!



The pool has been the main attraction since it's been a hot summer. Ryley and Jensen can swim like little fishies and even Evelyn loves to kick her legs like crazy.







We still haven't ventured to try catching our own crabs yet, but we found some at a roadside stand. They were tasty!


We also had an earthquake this past week that was pretty exciting. We're on the second floor of our building so we were swaying a little bit when it happened. The kids were kind of scared, but thankfully everything was ok.

Easter

Thank you Grandma Jensen for the beautiful dresses!




Jensen caught the "singing pox" in primary today because he was singing so good.



This year, we did all of our Easter Bunny stuff on Saturday so that we could separate it from celebrating the Savior's resurrection. Wow, what a difference it made. We're definitely going to do that every year now.



Slow down Jensen. Eat one at a time!


Nice blue lips Evelyn.

Spring

The entire state of Maryland is literally in bloom.
The white tree below looks exactly the same as when it was covered in snow.
The tree above, as you can see, is making pink snow.



Tree climbing is the kids favorite activity these days. They're little monkeys. Can you see Ryley way up in that tree?


Here's a couple of projects that we've been working on that are finally complete. The towel rack/shelf my dad made. I got the idea from someone else's blog. Love it.


Ammon's been fixing up an old road bike for me! We painted it bright yellow. My favorite. It works great- very smooth. But, it's a "single speed," so I'm going to have to get used to that. Now, if it would just stop raining out here maybe I'd get a chance to ride it.





We went to a little fair at Ammon's school. Evelyn surprisingly sat pretty still for the face painting and Jensen got a COOKIE MONSTER hat!!



Our Daffodils and Tulips came up beautifully!! Very Nice.


Evelyn's kissy face.


She just learned how to fold her arms for prayers. Very reverent.

Ryley, getting creative, as usual. She's a turtle.

Miscellaneous

Pile on Daddy!


Jensen really does like to help me clean.


We had one really nice day a couple of weeks ago that made us think that spring was really here. But alas, it's been cold and rainy ever since.


Evelyn is really good at peek-a-boo!


She has this thing about needing one for each hand... ALWAYS.


Jensen, picking Evelyn's belly button for her. He still has a habit of picking at his belly button, especially when he's tired. Better than sucking his thumb I guess.


Ryley lost one of her front teeth awhile ago. She's still hoping to lose her other front tooth.


We never had time to make a gingerbread house during Christmas, so we decided to make one just for the fun of it.


Ryley is an expert hot-pad maker now.


And Jensen can practically make bread all by himself too. What talented children we have.


Jensen and his buddy Carson. They like to play "bad guys" and they wear swim suits and goggles. I'm not sure why? But they have a lot of fun.