Riding Horses

So my birthday is July 6th & my sweet little niece, Brinley's birthday is July 5th.  Well, July 5th fell on a Sunday this year & since we don't do things on Sundays, we decided to have a double birthday party & ride horses since that's Brinley's favorite thing in the whole wide world.

I think my kids had the time of their lives.  We don't get to be around horses much.

#1: because in the military we can't have horses & we're never close to any

#2: because Cadence is deathly allergic to horses for some reason.  One touch of a horse will put her in the hospital unable to breathe & swallow.

So Cadence went with my mom & grandma to get pedicures, while the rest of us went to ride horses. They had fun & we had even more fun.

Branley's friends from their own neighborhood own a little farm & they were sweet enough to let all of us come play & ride their beautiful horse.  The birthday girl was SO excited.

My little niece Kylie preferred swinging.  She is SO stinkin adorable.

Canyon LOVES trampolines, so he spent most of his time jumping on the trampoline.

Korbyn is my favoritest nephew

(he's almost my only nephew until November when Trek's brother's wife is finally adding a boy to their family of girls.)

Since Brinley was the birthday girl, she got to start out the horse riding so show the rest of us how it's done.

Then one by one, the kids got to ride with her.

Lorien was a total natural on a horse.  She took Canyon on a ride & he loved it.

Taya was also a little miss natural horse rider.  She LOVES horses & this was her first time on a horse.  It was SO sweet watching her.

Lorien rode several times & she even got to the point where she didn't have the cowboy leading the horse at all, she was controlling the horse all by herself with the reins.

Cari rode with little Kylie

And when our devil child ran out into the paddock before we could grab him, the cowboy picked him right up & walked around with him.  He was a really sweet man.

After riding the horse, Brinley got to help take the saddle off & brushed the horses fur.

Then all the kids played on the rafter swing in the barn.  I think Trek had more fun doing that than the kids did.  ha ha ha.

It was the perfect end to mine & Brinley's birthdays.  I loved that I got to share that with her this year.  I love her so much.

Happy Birthday To Me - Jordan River Temple

I don't like making a big deal out of my birthday.  I don't like getting older & I don't need any pomp or circumstance.  So when my family asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I shouted from the rooftops - 

"I WANT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE!"

We live SO far away from the nearest temple.  We always have.  With the military, we live in places that aren't close to temples so it's hard to go very often.  But here we were in the MIDDLE of UTAH which happens to be the temple capital of the world.  

I wanted to visit a few temples while on vacation. . . temples we hadn't been to yet so we can hang them up on our temple wall.  So for my birthday I chose the Jordan River Temple.

We woke up bright & early & chose to do sealings for a few hours, just Trek & I.

It was the BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT EVER.

The Jordan River Temple is SO beautiful.  All temples are, but it was SO pretty.  I can't wait to hang a picture of it up on my wall at home.

4th of July Parade

I love the 4th of July.  I've always loved the 4th of July.

#1: There's always an amazing parade.

#2: It's when we celebrate my birthday.

#3: We're a military family so celebrating America brings tears to my eyes

#4: Fireworks!!!!!!

Oh how I've missed the Provo, UT Freedom Festival parade.  There just aren't parades like that where we've lived in the military.  Provo knows how to celebrate America.  Trek & Justin woke up at the crack of dawn & went downtown to find us a perfect spot for the parade.  They sat for several hours & waited for us to show up.  They were troopers.

The parade started at 9 & the kids were SO excited.  This was the first time Canyon & Craiger have ever been to a parade so it was quite magical for them.

The kids loved all the free hats, shirts, candy, & stuff everyone kept throwing at them.  ha ha ha.

Every year after the parade, we celebrate my birthday.  I don't know why that is, but we've done it ever since I was a little kid.  When I was younger I thought all the 4th of July celebrations were for me.  (Talk about a spoiled kid. ha ha ha)  

We have always gone to Los Hermanos for my birthday dinner.  It's a cute little Mexcian food restaurant there in Provo & it's been around forever.  We love it & it's tradition.  Even when I'm not in UT over the 4th, my family goes there to celebrate my birthday without me.  It's the best.

I even got to wear a birthday sombrero & eat fried ice cream which is my favorite.

After all the many festivities, we walked around the craft booths for a while, then went home & took long naps.  That sunshine will wear you out.  Then once it got dark we lit up the sky with some crazy fun fireworks.  The 4th of July is the best.

The Candy Bomber & Colonial Fair

The first day we were in UT, we had the opportunity to go to Scera Park in Orem, UT to see the candy bomber fly over & drop candy for the kids.  The candy bomber was a pilot in WWII who would drop candy to the kids in war zones to help lighten their spirits in such horrible times.  He's 92 years old now & still flies his "Spirit of America" plane all over the country dropping candy to kids everywhere.  It was REALLY cool.  The candy was attached to little parachutes & they drifted down from the sky to all the kids waiting below.  I'm SO glad we went.

Also at the park was the Colonial Fair.  Trek & I were laughing because they had people there from Jamestown, VA to teach everyone about Colonial America.  We joked with them that they followed us to UT since we are literally at Jamestown ALL THE TIME.  It was really fun sharing that part of American history with my brother & his family & my Uncle Brent who flew in from AZ to see us.

They had built a replica of the Mayflower (completely to scale) & my Uncle Brent thought that was the coolest thing he's ever seen before.

The kids had fun playing on the playground, hanging out in the stocks, & drinking the freshly made lemonade.

There were SO many cool things at the fair.  I wish I had taken more photos.  There was one booth where they were hand-carving fiddles & boy oh boy I would have LOVED to take one of those bad boys home with me.  They were BEAUTIFUL.

It was a SUPER fun day with family.