Birthday fun

Grandma Judy had to have a birthday party for the girls while they were in SLC. The just loved their cakes!
Wait, is this Christmas or just a birthday party???? Peyton's gifts were all wrapped in the balloon paper on the left and Sydnie's were in Princess paper on the right. Wow, they sure are spoiled!

Opening presents!!

Peyton surrounded by all of her gifts. There were so many Pet Shops she didn't know where to begin. She loved the Meerkat Manor set since it is one of her favorite shows on Animal Planet!

Sydnie also got lots of Pet Shops, but she decided to start out by having a tea party. She is a definite princess!!!

A party just isn't complete without the little "blowers"..... The simplest things make kids so happy!

It's time for cake! Yummy, our favorite part is eating the cake. Ok, my girls actually love the frosting the best!

Sydnie's cake was topped with Giselle from the movie Enchanted. It was the only Disney princess she didn't have yet. She was so excited to complete her collection!

Peyton's cake was decorated with Littlest Pet Shops. She was so excited about the purple octopus! She just loved it!!!

Moon Lake

Ahhh, it was nice to be back in Utah with the green and the mountains. Dan and Dorothy took our girls camping a couple of days early, so Jeff and I enjoyed the drive up to the lake just the two of us.
The lake....

Relaxing at the beach.

Peyton and Sydnie going for a ride in Grandpa's rubber boat.

Here's a log raft some of the kids at the beach made. Peyton decided to go for a ride with them.

Here is Sydnie making "sugar" with an old sifter Dorothy brought. Sydnie spent hours on the beach making sand into sugar. It was her favorite thing to play with.

Nikki and Irena braving the cold water. BBBBRRRRR!!!!

Jake playing in the water. He never stopped. He is so full of energy and just so dang cute!

Sydnie going for a swim.

Who can resist playing in the sand.....

Peyton on the beach.

Going fishing!

Craft time with Kris and Sydnie. There were colored rocks, rocks with googly eyes and treasure boxes made out of popsicle sticks. I'm not sure who had more fun, Syd or Kris. :-)

Nap time. Don't forget the fuzzy, pink heart pillow.

One tired Grandpa.

Jeff the boy scout. He was actually pretty good at starting the fire, roasting marshmallows and hot dogs.

Happy Birthday Peyton!!!!! Our last day of the trip was Peyton's 8th birthday. She had a mini donut cake, complete with candles and the traditional Edwards rendition of Happy Birthday.

Make a wish and blow!

She got so many pet shops for her birthday. She was so excited and has played with them all!

What a great way to end our camping trip. We cleaned up and headed back to Grandpa Dan's and Grandma Dorothy's for much needed showers and baths. :-)

Fourth of July fun!!!!

Here is one of the fun things we did this 4th of July! Our Ward had a breakfast at 6:00 am, yes that's right, in the morning... And yes, we were the first family there (our girls came in to wake us up at 5:00, they didn't want to miss any of the fun!!). Why so early you may ask, well, it was already a nice 90 degrees outside and just a perfectly beautiful morning to go out, eat, be with friends and ride on a fire truck!

Peyton had to be right on top of the fire engine for every ride she took. And I think she went on five or six rides. I'm not sure this is the best moment in my parenting career, but she made it back safe and sound every time and will have such fun memories of this day.

Peyton and friends atop the fire engine.

Sydnie is a little more cautious (she takes after her mother) and she decided to sit safely on the back portion of the engine on top of the fire hoses. She also limited her number of rides to two, she wouldn't want to be too risky!

More of Peyton and friends......

Here comes the engine, returning from one of the many rides and yes, those are children on the top.

The kids thought it was so much fun to have the lights flashing and the horn blaring. No actual sirens, but they thought this was just as good!

Everybody off!

And here was the best part. After some of the rides, they turned on the hose and drenched the kids. It was like a giant sprinkler. I don't know who had more fun, the kids or Bishop Purtymun who had the honor of soaking them. :-)

Very wet kids. If you were in the field, you were soaked! Jeff and I hid under the safety of the pavilion.

And a summer activity here just wouldn't be complete without a snow cone! I think Sydnie has had more snow cones this summer than in her entire life put together.

Jeff had to have one too. :-)

It was a very early start to a long and fun 4th of July here in AZ! Hope you all had a happy and safe Independence Day!

A trip to the museum

I promised Sydnie on the day of her last school field trip that we would return to the Children's Museum on a hot day when we needed to be inside. Well, with the temps well over 100 degrees, Sydnie decided it was time to take me up on my promise. However, when we got to the museum, she wanted to head in one direction and Peyton wanted to go in the other. So, Jeff and Sydnie took off and Peyton and I stuck together. Since I had the camera and Peyton, all of the pictures are of her. :-)


Peyton testing out this fun exhibit. You put a piece of material in one slot and it gets sucked through the tubes and spit out in a different spot depending on how you switch the air currents. All the kids had so much fun with this one.

Peyton the drummer. ROCK ON!!!!

This was another exhibit that fascinated the kids. Balancing ping pong balls on the air current. This one just mesmerized her!

Peyton is my detail oriented, artistic girl, so she noticed all of the fun details in the kitchen area. Lights made out of over sized tea cups and a dragon fly made out of utensils.

Here is a bird made out of utensils. There were all sorts of fun creative things to see.

Peyton the biker babe!

Oh, wouldn't this make her daddy proud, look out Danica Patrick!

The Jungle of Noodles. Who knew those pool noodles could become a crazy jungle of fun.....

And here is my little artist painting the colorful house. It has received several coats of new paint since our last visit and is now this sickly yellowish color. I liked it better when Sydnie was there and it was pink and purple.