Happy Birthday Nyah!

Nyah is 10 years old! Wow!!

It's hard to believe she's growing up so fast!

Hula Hooping Queen

Jinxed myself :(

Naturally, I should know better. I mean I really should know better. Remember a few days ago when Crazy Sophie was jumping off the table? And I said, "More stitches in our future? Sigh, I hope not!" What was I thinking putting that out in the big, bad world?

Well, Sophie did end up twisting her ankle a couple days later - painfully limping around for a couple days AND Jolie ended up getting stitches yesterday and today. Yup. Twice.

It was a dark and gloomy day, with thunderstorms and rain and hail, and Olivia & Jolie had to go out to the garage and dig around and dump out all our winter stuff in search of coats and boots and umbrellas and scarves.

Jolie was coming up the 2 stairs into the house and tripped, hitting her chin on the steps when she fell. Being the un-attentive mom I am when I'm reading a book, I told her to buck up and stop screaming, yes it hurt now, but it will start feeling better soon.

About 10 minutes later Olivia and a friend yelled out to me, "Jolie's bleeding!!" with all the hysterics of 5 year old girls.

Oh no. Oh yes, here is Jo's chin-

I sent the picture to Kurt to see if I needed to take her in, already knowing I'd need to take her in - look at it gaping open! Loaded up all my kids and their friends and took them to the friend's house, and Jo and I headed to the hospital.

Thankfully, my kids are awesome in medical situations (if only we didn't have so many!). No crying or fussing from Jo- she only needed 2 stitches and off we went. She wanted to run and jump and play right away- nothing keeps her down..........

Fast forward to the next morning - she's fighting over a t-shirt with Olivia (the clothing wars begin!), loses, slips off the arm of the couch (because they couldn't possibly fight on the ground), hitting her chin on the way down, splitting the stitches. Please no, come here and let me look. Yep, stitches broken, blood gushing. I pulled out the stitches, gave the older kids instructions, and took Jo and Soph back to instacare.

I was hopeful that because we were there early (8:30am) we'd be in and out, but no such luck. Luckily, we entertain ourselves pretty well.

 This is why these types of accidents happen to Jolie- waiting to get stitches for one injury and she's dancing around on chairs.

 Spinning on the doctor's stool.

She ended up with 3 stitches and this is how I've spent my day: No, we're not doing to the playground. No, you can't go out and jump with your friends. No Jo, get off the counter. Jo, get off the table. Jo, stop climbing on that. Jo, stop bouncing on the couch. Jo, get out of the sink. Jo. Jolie! JOLIE MADSEN RICHARDS, get down NOW, sit on the couch, and watch cartoons, and if I catch you doing that one more time I'm going to tie you up!!

Moo! Moo! Moo!

Dress like a cow and get free food at our favorite fast food place?

Moo!!

They had all kinds of contests and games going on. Nyah just had to join the hula hoop contest. She totally rocked it!

Hula Hoop Champion!!!



Happy Birthday Sophie!

Sophie had her birthday a couple weeks ago. She's 2 years old now! Thank you to everyone who sent her a card or present. She had a great day.

We love our goofy girl! Here are some more pictures of Sophie-

Crazy Sophie

Her first jump was without the couch cushions - she cried because her legs hurt and we were freaked out. So we laid down the law - no jumping unless you have cushions!

More stitches in our future? Sigh, I hope not!

Bike Parade

Our neighborhood had our 2nd annual bike parade. We had trouble before it even started when Olivia's training wheel came off on our way to the fire station where we were meeting {and the back wheel came off when Kurt was fixing it}, but we were soon on our way!

We were going to have the firefighteres there for a bike rodeo afterwards, but they were busy fighting a fire a few miles away - Rose Canyon Fire

Hot Hot Hot

We're cooling off at the pool and reservoir - how about you?

Happy Birthday to Me!

We don't have pictures of my birthday. Sorry.

One of the things I wanted to do before my birthday was run a half-marathon, so I did -

AF Canyon Half Marathon - I think this will take you to a page with pictures of me, but if it doesn't work you can search my bib # - 958 - and it should bring up beautiful shots of my bright red face. I finished just under 2h 26m. I think the worst part was having to get up at 3:30am to get there in time to catch a bus to the start line. I like my sleep.

I had so much fun, I'm doing another one in a few weeks. Woo! Woo!

Farm Fun

We went on an adventure to one of our favorite places - Farm Country.

Cranes & Rainbow

While we were on one of our adventures we saw this flock of cranes and rainbow in the sky. There was a fire not far away (Saratoga Springs fire - see first picture) so I think the smoke and clouds and heat created the rainbow. We identified the birds as cranes because of their wing color and size, but it's really hard to tell in these pictures.

Backyard Fun

Snack time - always better when it's outside!

Lots and lots of water = lots and lots of fun!

Austin & Sophie are good buddies.  I love watching them play together. Sophie was blowing bubbles and Austin was popping them - Sophie was delighted!!

Zoo with Grandma

While Karla was here we went to Hogle Zoo. We were excited to see the new exhibits they opened - so excited I forgot to take pictures while we were there! Here are some other areas we love: