Photoed Family

Ski and Swim MLK weekend

2012-01-16T17:30:00.000-07:00

Holden and Ridge gearing up for their first time skiing

Holden cruising down the hill

Ridge cruising

Gray cruising

catching a lift

from skiing to swimming the kids had a great time this weekend

Joel and I had some fun too although we chose to spectate in both events

kids

favorite

pool plunge

shower power

Gray ripping it up on her RipStik

after all the fun we chilled on the couch and watched Monty Python (the boys' glasses were worn almost everywhere and it never got old looking at them)

Bringing in the New Year

2012-01-01T00:51:00.000-07:00

Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T21:23:00.000-07:00

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T21:08:00.000-07:00

Christmas Card 2011

2011-12-23T18:47:00.001-07:00

Holiday Cheer in footed pj's

Be Merry

This is our version of a Christmas Card for 2011, for those who find this I hope you have had (and will continuing to have) a lovely holiday season that continues through the New Year. Lots of love from the Broadbent Family!

Reindeer Games

2011-12-23T18:05:00.002-07:00

Holiday Fun

2011-12-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

Gray makes her traditional Santa sugar cookies

sweet sweet Santa

Holden and Ridge sing "gettin nuttin" for their 1st Grade program

pj's and songs

Santa does a drive by and the boys chase him around the neighborhood collecting as much candy as they can

Gray in Spain

2011-11-04T09:02:00.001-06:00

The Gray in Spain stays mainly in the plain

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T18:02:00.000-06:00

Alice in Wonderland

Dead Guy

Mummy

Kansas City

2011-10-28T15:07:00.000-06:00

Joel and I had a great time in KC together. We experienced as much as we could in a short amount of time... for us that means food, food and more food. My favorite BBQ was Gate's, their yammer pie was seriously the best ever! I flew home and the woman in security in front of me had one and I was so bummed I didn't think of doing the same.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art was another major highlight. You totally feel that Art is a big player in this city... the fountains, murals, buildings etc blew me away and begged me to question why? Really WHY? is KC so arty and cool? Anyone know? Mom? Why?

Twins 7th Birthday

2011-10-13T19:33:00.000-06:00

Two cute boys are now 7

Nickel City Twins (I never let them play arcade games so this party was a dream come true for them)

How awesome is this? I love that Ridge has his on sideways.

Howard, Deeds, Sharon, corner Joel (he knows why), Mags, Sheridan, Simeon, Elicia, and Jords

Abbie, the boys, Aunt Mary Ann, Grandma Burk, Reggie and Joelly

Me, Sherd, Mags, Mom and half of Atman

You'll shoot your eye out (which happened within an hour of us being home Ridge shot himself in the eye)

Grandma and the Deans

Lauren and Kristy

Kaley rockin the hat

Redmond girls ready to party

Joel won the jackpot of a machine that happened to malfunction at the same time so he ended up with over 2400 tickets, thankfully he shared the love with the kiddos.

Best Birthday Gift ever... Missouri JOEL!! (Holden saw him and yelled "JOEL? Ridge it's JOEL!" and then he ran and jumped into his arms. Gray and Ridge were not far behind)

Sun filled weekend getaway

2011-10-09T22:38:00.000-06:00

Winter seemed to arrive this past week and I was not all that happy about it... thankfully we had a getaway planned to St George that brought a little sunshine back in our lives.

Pooling around at Papa's hotel where he was staying for the World Senior Games (yes he stays at a hotel while we stay at his house, could that be a message of some kind to me and the children?)

karate kids

life guard on duty... sort of

Gram giving Ridge a hand

Free Birds Gray and Nicole

Snowbirding Holden... this Benjamin Button like kid has the phrases, hours and eating habits of many a blue hair, too bad I couldn't convince the Coral Canyon Birds to let him in on their 6 am swim so we could get some extra shut eye (being gifted at "sleeping in" it would be nice to actually use that skill)

This kid was ticked off at me for forgetting his swim shirt, he was mortified you could see his belly button. Ridge spent a good while scurrying around covering up his tummy when he wasn't in the water but FINALLY warmed up to the idea that it is OK to show a little skin when at the pool.

Shaving Cream!

2011-09-16T08:08:00.000-06:00

View on ExposureRoom

Cowabunga kids

2011-09-14T17:05:00.002-06:00

A chilly farewell to summer from the Cowabunga kids.

School Day

2011-08-23T16:37:00.001-06:00

Groovy Gray

Reading Rainbow Ridge

Hip Hop Happening Holden

Goodfellow Gray's

2011-08-20T09:34:00.002-06:00

Gray's pooling around...

2011-08-07T20:42:00.000-06:00

Gray mandala's go round and round...

2011-07-31T21:13:00.000-06:00

Esplin Ranch 2011

2011-07-22T20:23:00.000-06:00

Ties

2011-07-22T19:32:00.000-06:00

Cute boys and their new ties. (they begged and begged for me to buy them ties and church clothes... are these really our children?)

Neighborhood Fireworks 2011

2011-07-04T21:33:00.002-06:00

Joel showing the boys how to safely light fireworks

Boys holding the "punk" trying not to be punks

Runaway!!

Me cozying up to Holden watching the show

Griffin, Camille, Grace and Olliver came to combine their fireworks and good times with ours

Ridge the light painter

Holden lighting up the night

We had a lovely Independence Day! Joel made some great food, we had friends over and even my dad showed up (Howard is not pictured due to his shy nature and short visit... he came he ate he left). Gray is gone this week camping so we missed her terribly and lit up some sparklers in her honor :)

Gazebo

2011-07-01T14:59:00.000-06:00

Gazebo finished and ready to be enjoyed

Joel hard at work paving and perfecting

Helping hands

My mother has wanted a gazebo for what seems like forever. This spring she talked Joel in to taking on the project of building her dream. With the good luck and hard work of many people involved her dreams have come true and she truly has a beautiful spot that we can all enjoy in her back yard.

Goblin Valley

2011-06-27T22:53:00.000-06:00

Memory lane

2011-06-27T22:41:00.000-06:00

Joel showed the kids the different camping sites and areas he used to frequent when he worked at Aspen Achievement Academy back in the day. They were amazed by his stories and had a great time exploring.

Bentonite Hills

2011-06-27T22:10:00.000-06:00

Capitol Reef

2011-06-27T18:17:00.001-06:00

Lucky 7 T-ball team

2011-06-27T17:52:00.001-06:00

Batter Ridge

Batter Holden

cheerleaders Gray and Joel (Joel after a 106 mile bike ride around the lake showed up to cheer on the boys and shade up)

One of my favorites...

2011-06-22T14:23:00.000-06:00

Father's Day BBQ at Jordan's

2011-06-19T17:52:00.001-06:00

Happy Father's Day Dad

2011-06-19T15:04:00.000-06:00

Howard in front of his first childhood home in Downey Idaho

My dad and I recently took a lovely drive up to Idaho to pick up the twins from my friends parents place in Inkom. We had a great drive and I got to hear all about his childhood memories of growing up in Downey Idaho. I learned a lot about my dad and his family that I didn't know before. It was an amazing trip and I am so grateful for the time I get to spend with this man. Happy Father's Day Dad! I love you and I always have :)

Happy Birthday Mom

2011-06-15T14:49:00.000-06:00

Wishing a Happy Happy Birthday to my wonderful Mother

Wade in the water...

2011-06-05T20:26:00.000-06:00

Cupcakes

2011-06-01T18:02:00.000-06:00

Ridge (dressed as Mario) sold cupcakes in front of our house. He quickly got "help" from his brother and friends.

Kindergarten Field Day

2011-06-01T17:54:00.000-06:00

Honors for Gray

2011-05-31T14:29:00.001-06:00

Gray was honored in an assembly today for being a 4.0 GPA Exemplary Student. She is a great student and a wonderful kid!

Humpty Dumpty Ridge

2011-05-27T12:04:00.005-06:00

Ridge reciting Humpty Dumpty

Nursery Rhyme Time in Ridge's class

Humpty Holden

2011-05-26T14:23:00.000-06:00

Holden reciting Humpty Dumpty

Holden's class Nursery Rhyme Time

Ferocious Faces

2011-05-23T13:41:00.006-06:00

The boys had a great time at their school carnival! For being Wild Things they tamed pretty quickly.

Graduate Joel!!

2011-04-29T14:37:00.000-06:00

Graduation day for Joel is finally here!! I love this man so much and am soooo proud of him. Thanks for sharing your big day with us! We love you infinity!

Egg Hunt

2011-04-24T15:14:00.000-06:00

We had a great time at Michelle's Eggstravaganza! 3000 EGGS! Fun peeps and great food, can't ask for more :)

Thanksgiving Point with Sofia

2011-04-22T20:14:00.000-06:00

My little chickens

Ponyboy Holden

Ponyboy Ridge

Sofia's 1st pony ride

Look Ma! No Hands!

don't feed the animals

girl party with Aunt Mardi, Meeks and little Sofia

Spring Break

2011-04-19T15:52:00.001-06:00

Birthday Girls

2011-04-07T21:37:00.005-06:00

Gray is officially 13 now! (we have been celebrating for a week now so the big day has finally arrived)

Joel made her a whimsical cake that she loved

Elicia and Gray are birthday twins although born a few years apart :)

Gray's 13th Birthday Party

2011-04-04T14:54:00.000-06:00

Gray's 13th birthday party was a blast for her and her friends. They shopped till they dropped, swam until they were prunes, watched movies till the wee hours, and then did it again the next day.

VOSS Water was an ongoing joke and source of amusement

I was tasked with driving them around and being as invisible as possible. With the help of my book and ipod I will say I did a pretty good job. Happy Birthday to my lovely daughter!

Indoor Soccer Boys

2011-03-23T15:13:00.000-06:00

The boys just started indoor soccer and are having a lot of fun learning the rules (I use the term "learning" loosely of course). They both love to defend the goal and have a great time playing.

Baby Bear

2011-03-23T14:58:00.001-06:00

Ridge loves to be in costume and it varies from day to day who he transforms into. To my surprise instead of his usual cape, witch robe, star wars character or super hero he came from the basement with his baby bear costume from his second Halloween. I finally asked if he was in pain wearing the getup and he reluctantly admitted he was and took it off (not before I snapped a few photo's)

King of Kindergarten

2011-03-23T14:44:00.000-06:00

Ridge was the "king" of his class and among other honors he got to have his favorite book read to his classmates. He was very cute giggling with his class at this very funny and deceptively informative book.

Holden's first lost tooth

2011-01-23T14:10:00.001-07:00

Holden lost his first tooth today. I am pretty sure it wasn't all that ready on it's own but last week he knocked 3 teeth loose when wrestling his brother. This one stayed loose and he finally pulled it free with the help of dropping a towel that was tied to the floss that was tied to his tooth. He likes to tell people that "gravity" helped pull out his tooth.

New Years Eve

2010-12-31T22:06:00.000-07:00

sparklers

Yahtzee

mid Yahtzee Ridge mentioned his tooth was loose, Joel and I paused the game and went to work making it more loose

closer

Ridge has lost his 1st baby tooth

toast to the new year!

Christmas Morning

2010-12-25T20:25:00.002-07:00

Christmas Eve

2010-12-25T19:45:00.002-07:00

Temple Square Lights

2010-12-25T19:25:00.002-07:00

Dead Snowman & Snow dog

2010-12-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

Ridge & Gray post attack

Holden working on the snowman's faithful companion Snow Dog

our poor bloodied snowman... I don't know why my kids insist on blood and swords each year but they do and they think it is funny, I think it is twisted and am saving for their therapy.

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-19T10:57:00.000-07:00

Celebrate good times, c'mon

2010-12-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

School is out and Gray is no "angry elf". With her grape crush in hand she is ready to face the good times ahead.

Kindergarten Christmas Parties

2010-12-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

Holden making a snowman

Ridge opening a gift with mittens on

Today Holden and Ridge had their class parties for Christmas. I jumped between both classes to capture the action. They had a great time with all the Christmas themed activities and are now ready to begin the holiday break from school.

Gingerbread Houses 2010

2010-12-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

Marin hosted the gingerbread house making extravaganza this year. We had a lot of fun and made some awesome houses... OK not so awesome for the ones I helped with but Gray's was really cool. I may have suffered some minor burns putting the twins structures together with a hot glue gun but with the healing help of a bag of twizzlers I was able to soldier through.

Birthday Joel

2010-12-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

Gray & Birthday Joel

Joel made the best pumpkin cheesecake for his birthday. Happy Birthday Joel! We love you :)

Super fan? ... guilty

2010-12-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

Joel surprised me with a trip to Seattle to see Joni for my birthday. With little notice I was on a plane and shocked with delight. Joni planned a trip we always joked about (I was serious she would joke), of going to Forks Washington and seeing first hand places that had captured my imagination and heart while reading the Twilight series.

Joni and I at Crescent Lake WA. I was in awe of the beauty and magic of this piece of heaven on earth.

Joni collecting rocks, I wish I had brought my better camera and tripod to really capture the beauty of this lake.

I don't consider myself a Super fan of Twilight... but I think this post makes a pretty compelling case that I am exactly that.

Forks was fun for the Twilight reasons, but it was interesting to see the real town and learn about their history. There was a lot of pain due to the scrutiny and controversy over their industry of logging. I had no idea about Forks as a real town and I found it compelling and fascinating to hear their stories.

That's right, this is the dream. Why hadn't I thought of decorating my room like this!?

Joni and Jacob, sitting in a tree. I won't throw Joni under the super fan bus, she and I had fun but I know she did this for me.

The Forks Hospital has a parking space for Carlisle, and why shouldn't they?

La Push was my favorite Twilight stop. It was worth the trip to experience this beautiful spot all on it's own.

Joni made me get in this picture and the pain of my shame is so obviously plastered all over my face.

34 years and counting

2010-11-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

some awesome cards from the kiddos

gifts o-plenty

and a big thank you to the two that made it all possible

Dr Seuss tree

2010-11-28T22:52:00.001-07:00

We decorated our Dr Seuss inspired tree, this is a magical time of year.

Tree Adventure

2010-11-27T18:34:00.003-07:00

sledding & dogs... not to be confused with sled dogs

headed for the hills

the fire starter

coco kid

taking a snow time out

the rare moment that these four kids weren't four wheeling

the best of both worlds sliding and riding

cool kids warming up by the fire

look out for flying snow

when dads attack you better put the pedal to the metal

wall of snow and no where to go!

safety first

Hanson family tree

Broadbent family tree

Ewe wouldn't believe the fun we had

Thankful

2010-11-25T22:23:00.001-07:00

I am thankful for my family

I am thankful for my many years of marriage to this lovely man who always makes me laugh

I am not thankful for Chuck teaching the boys today how to make fire

Thanksgiving dinner

2010-11-25T22:15:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving dinner with Grandma Burk, Mary Ann & Reggie, Spencer, Eli & Lauren, Charlie and our family. It was a lovely meal and day with the family.

Indians & Pilgrims enjoying the feast

Gray making a sweet little turkey craft

sweet turkey boys crafting their hearts out

candy turkey craft that Aunt Mary Ann provided as a fun family activity

Gray getting out of control with the crafting and icing

Holden following his sisters lead

Uncle Chuck decorating Holden

Ridge is the icing on the cake, or the turkey cookie

Fairies, a Vampire & a Killer Dolphin

2010-10-27T21:01:00.001-06:00

Birthday Holden

2010-10-13T13:06:00.000-06:00

Birthday Ridge

2010-10-13T13:02:00.000-06:00

Cornbelly's

2010-10-08T20:59:00.004-06:00

Birthday Howard

2010-10-05T18:28:00.003-06:00

My dad is 66 yrs young today. He is a pretty hip cat for being such an old man.

Candy Corn Wreath

2010-09-21T20:44:00.004-06:00

My candy corn wreath

inspiration wreath

I saw this wreath in a magazine the other day I fell in love. So much in love that I decided to head to the dollar store for supplies and to break out the glue gun (it hasn't been used since we were in Florida) and give it a go. The inspiration wreath is so much better I know, but I am pretty proud of mine, skeleton and all.

Fall leaves

2010-09-21T20:17:00.002-06:00

We spent a lovely day hiking among the colorful leaves on Sunday, ok "day" is a bit of an exaggeration, we spent a few hours and then we went to my parents where the kids could play in the hose and wash off the dirt from our hike. I would think kids would love being outside and spend as long as they could wandering the wilderness, but not our wussy bunch (it could be that I let them wear flip flops and shorts and we walked through some gnarly brush that may or may not have drawn blood). Well at least Joel and I had a good time torturing our kids with the great outdoors and we had awesome food of course, you can count on Joel for that.

LotoJoel

2010-09-11T15:49:00.001-06:00

Joel did LOTOJA again this year, riding 206 miles from Logan Utah to Jackson Wyoming in one day. He finished the race despite being super sick and tired. Joel is amazing and I can't think of why this would even be something he would want to do... but he did and he made it through and I am so impressed with his tenacity and strength. Gray did an awesome job supporting him with food and his water bottles (I helped but she ran the operation).

Gray getting Joel loaded with his fresh food and water for the next leg of the race

Joel climbing up King of the Mountain

Joel seconds away from the finish line

the woman greeting some lucky rider with beer and a smile

The women Joel had waiting for him... no beer no costumes, but big smiles and a trip to Wendy's to reward his hard work.

My Kindergarten Babies

2010-09-01T09:54:00.006-06:00

The boys started Kindergarten today! They were so cute walking to school with their friends. My babies are huge and officially not babies anymore (they tell me all the time "we are not babies!"). I have been dreaming of this day since before they were born. Walking home I had to fight away the tears (my tears can be counted on the first day of school no matter how much I try to avoid it... I am a sentimental fool), it is a bitter sweet day. I can't stop thinking about Gray's first day of Kindergarten and how quickly time has gone since. We are excited for this next chapter in our lives.

7th Grade Gray

2010-08-24T08:01:00.004-06:00

Gray started 7th Grade today! I have to admit I had tears in my eyes as I watched her get on the bus (thankfully I can spy from my house and she didn't start the day embarrassed that her mother A. walked her to the bus stop and B. was crying like a fool). Gray is so amazing and I am so proud of her. Lalu Gray :)

Jelly Belly Factory

2010-08-18T16:15:00.000-06:00

Of course we had to go to the Jelly Belly Factory, how can you not? Gray tricked Holden in to eating the earwax jelly bean and his face was so horrified and disgusted! Joel willingly tried the barf one and I thought he was going to wreck the car once the taste hit him. Gray tried the baby wipes one and I think that was the least offensive of the three. Ridge and I (not being one for adventure sports) stayed out of the taste testing.

Visiting GG

2010-08-18T16:14:00.001-06:00

GG (Great Grandma Valerie) and the kids

While visiting GG the kiddos had fun at Crab Cove playing in the sand and checking out the visitors center. Thankfully the sun came out while we were there so it was a warm(ish) and beautiful visit.

Fisherman's Wharf

2010-08-17T17:31:00.000-06:00

Fisherman Ridge

what the what? Holden was enthralled by the street performers and naked protesters

Converse

Gray watching the SF Bay swimmers, that water is so unappealing... swimming caps off to the people that brave it

sandy boy

there's no other love like the love for a brother... so they say

Rain Forest Cafe with Brian, Judi & Inna

Holden's secret handshake with Thomas

Gray & Inna pre-bungee

bungee Inna

bungee Gray

mac daddy of macaroni on Pier 39, Holden's favorite

Chinatown SF

2010-08-17T15:09:00.000-06:00

Chinatown was the destination the kids picked to spend money that GG gave them. We spent hours going from store to store looking at everything. We stopped and had dim sum for lunch and made it through the language barrier. No surprise that the boys opted for white rice only... maybe next time they will be more adventurous, Gray was a good sport although I think she would have loved to eat Panda Express orange chicken instead.

Beach

2010-08-16T14:19:00.000-06:00

Driving up Hwy 1 we stopped at Scott Creek Beach to play in the ocean. We saw a pod of dolphins and a seal having fun in the waves. The pictures look warmer than it was, the kids were braving cold gusts of wind that had me wrapped up in blankets. Joel ended up having to take frozen blue lipped Holden back to the car moments after he was levelled by a wave. "The coldest winter I ever spent was the summer in San Francisco" quote came to mind while my blanket and the kids towels got soaked by a big sleeper wave... note to self don't take your eye off the waves when trying to keep dry.

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

2010-08-16T13:04:00.000-06:00

Joel promised 6 yr old Gray that he would take her to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk if she let him pull out one of her loose front teeth... 6 yrs later he made good on that promise :)

Gray and Ridge posing in front of the 85 yr old roller coaster, that thing was a brutal ride for my old bones

Holdy taking in the aerial view of it all

Joel and the kids coming out of the scary ride, look at Holden's face! Classic!

Ridge was allowed to ride solo although he really was just shy of being tall enough.

Sleepover at Sam's

2010-08-13T16:37:00.002-06:00

On our way in and out of the Bay area we were lucky enough to stay with our old friends Cari, Matt and Sam. The sleepover thing is still a novelty for our little guys so they had a blast rolling out the sleeping bags. Sam's cockroach went missing and I am pretty sure I snuggled up to it in the middle of the night, creeeepy.

Auburn Bridge

2010-08-13T12:49:00.000-06:00

Rumor has it that people jump off this bridge with parachutes, thankfully there is a call box for those tempted to jump without a parachute... we were not tempted although I can't speak for Joel he might have been. We trekked to the bottom and played in the American River Confluence, what a great way to kick off our week in Nor Cal.

2010-08-11T16:52:00.003-06:00

Park City Art's Festival

My mother's western hat fetish wore off on Sheridan and I as we cruised the shops at the festival, we ended up being the cowgirl hat triplets (well quadruplets if you count Marty Moose and I think we should)

Sheridan, Me, Gray and Elicia posing as artists... okay maybe one of us really is an artist, next year you better have your own booth Elicia

Me patiently waiting for my mother to shop for her western wear

Gray donning her fetching butterfly bouffant

Sheridan taking a bite out of the best caramel apple on the planet, seriously that thing alone is worth the trip up the canyon (you are welcome Sherd for posting this pic... I wouldn't have done it if I thought you ever looked at my blog) :)

Crazy storms

2010-08-05T21:26:00.005-06:00

We have had some crazy storms lately which have made for some beautiful skies. The kids found themselves rolling in mud after one of the storms... not so easy to clean up but they had a lot of fun so I went with it.

Cari's visit

2010-08-05T21:18:00.003-06:00

Cari, Matt and Sam came to visit and we visited Thanksgiving Point with them and hiked Stewart Falls (Joel and Matt biked the Alpine loop and were done well before we were done with our hike). The kids did so well on the hike I was impressed and so happy because their was no way I was going to be able to haul them down the mountain. I will admit I had the brilliant parenting skills to let my brood hike in their water shoes... they made it and it was fine but not my finest moment :)

Aus & Em's

2010-08-05T21:09:00.005-06:00

While we were East we made the trip to VT to see Austin, Emily, Lucy and Gavin. It was great seeing them and spending time in their world. Austin's office bear was very welcoming, we played on the Dog River in their canoe, enjoyed blackberry syrup & pie made by Emily and watched the kids play with our iPods every chance they could (I think Santa knows what to bring those two).

Craig & Hanna's Wedding

2010-08-05T20:56:00.004-06:00

Joel and I were in NY for Craig and Hanna's wedding (I wish I had pics of them to share it was a beautiful wedding!... I will work on pirating some from Facebook). We stayed our first night in NYC at the Waldorf Astoria and went to see Avenue Q (grown up Sesame Street which was hilariously funny). Then we were off to the Rhinecliff Hotel in Rhinebeck NY. We had such a lovely time spending time with everyone.

Lamb Day 2010

2010-07-20T13:57:00.003-06:00

Fountain Green Lamb Day with the Johnson's is one of my favorite times of year, we were late this year and missed the parade (due to T Ball picture day) but we still managed to enjoy the festivities and get our yearly fix.

Linda, Me, Shelly, Michelle & Annie shading up at Lamb Day! The kettle corn popcorn Michelle is holding was sooo good!

Joel and Meek's at the Johnson's tent. He was pretty exhausted after two days of racing his road bike in Capitol Reef. Nothing like a little R&R in Sanpete County.

Gray watching the mutton busting (mutton busting involves little children riding lambs... a sport that will be offered in many more cities soon I suspect).

Holden fell in love with the puppets and talked Joel into buying him one that looks very similar to Meek's (our dog). Ridge got one also that I think is supposed to be a bull dog but looks more like an angry alpaca.

Ridge had more fun at the park then anywhere else. He saved his tickets for the bounce houses and used them on snow cones instead.

Weekend at the DeSpain's

2010-07-20T13:23:00.006-06:00

onion flower

Gray

Ridge, Ila, Emma & Holden

Emma, Ila & Gray having a swinging good time

no photo's please

After Lamb Day festivities we headed over to Jessica and Steve's place. We had a huge fire (Steve is the fire pit master and it was a doozey) where we roasted weenies, marshmallows and my face. We went swimming at Camper World (which was a 70's flash back for Joel) and basically hung out and had a good time catching up while the kiddo's played.

Gray is home!!

2010-07-13T16:46:00.005-06:00

Gray and Sarah

Ridge and Sofie

Sofie and Holdy

Uncle Mike with a sack full of twins

After a few weeks in Arizona Gray is home!! We met Sarah, Mike and Sofie in ST George to make the Gray hand off. It was a fun filled weekend of grilling, pooling, and playing in Southern Utah sun.

Missing Gray

2010-07-06T14:00:00.002-06:00

Gray has been a nanny for our niece Sofie for the last few weeks in AZ and we have really missed her cute face around here! This weekend she is coming home and I can't wait. Love you Gray, see you soon!!!

Boys of Independence

2010-07-04T19:48:00.002-06:00

fireworks mountain

2010-07-04T12:17:00.003-06:00

Last night we hiked up behind our house to watch the fireworks before we set off our own. Joel had some fun with the camera.

Frogs

2010-06-30T14:23:00.002-06:00

It is frog season again. I feel for these little guys and the abuse they take from the boys.

Falls and Fishing

2010-06-28T16:04:00.004-06:00

Bridal Veil Falls

Fishing the Weber River

They had fun casting but had no luck.

How excited do I look? My dog Meeks was covered in cockle burrs and I was not pleased... lapdogs and the great outdoors don't seem to mix, but she doesn't seem to know that. It was a fun day though and we got to see where Joel had raced his bike the week before.

T Ball Twins

2010-06-26T13:25:00.006-06:00

Holden

Ridge

posing and listening to a pre-game pep talk from Joel

Holden at 3rd (Joel standing by) Ridge in the middle with the ball headed right for him

going for the ball

high fives to the other team

This is the twins first go at an organized sport and they had a great time. "Go Green" is the name of the team, they are a very eco friendly group of kids :)

Tweaked bike

2010-06-18T12:55:00.004-06:00

Less than 24 hrs in Holdy needs Joel's mad bike skills, thankfully Holden fared better than the bike in the wreck.

Holden's training wheel free

2010-06-17T18:27:00.004-06:00

Holden said goodbye to his training wheels today! Yay Ho Ho

Face off

2010-06-15T22:35:00.006-06:00

pictures by Luke Hansen http://plukehansen.blogspot.com

Springville Children's Art Fair

2010-06-12T15:30:00.005-06:00