Summer 2015

We have had such a great summer! I've been terrible about updating our family blog but life has been busy so I'm giving myself a break.

Anyway, I wanted to post about our latest happenings. June and Aspen have some great little friends that they've been playing with this summer and one of them is Luke (shown below) who actually just had a baby brother! We are so excited to have another friend to play with!

Aspen turned three in June and the next day we left for a trip to California to visit my side of the family. Aspen didn't want to pose for the pictures but she got a princess dress and a fun birthday hat. So cute!

Yikes. That's a grumpy face if I ever saw one.

June-June wanted a turn with the hat!

Billie fulfilled a lifelong dream of owning a dog. Boone joined our family on Father's Day and he has been THE BEST doggie ever. We love him and are so glad to have such a mellow, kid-friendly, and gentle furry friend in our life.

We have been super lucky to have some great friends in our neighborhood with kids around Aspen's age who have been having regular play dates together. Aspen absolutely craves social time and loves having friends to play with. Here she is with Jet (who has a twin named Jude) who are crazy and fun boys!

We had a fun Henry family reunion at This is the Place Park and Aspen couldn't get enough of the cow she could milk. She had an absolute meltdown when we had to leave. Going to bed at 10pm for 3-4 days in a row could have been part of the meltdown...can you blame the girl?

Grandma Henry is too cute! She is so important to Billie and I and we love her so much.

Some more neighbor friend love.

Little buggy girl. Can't even handle her cuteness and spunk. She doesn't say much yet but is still a great communicator despite it all. She loves Boone (especially illegally feeding him), getting out all the Tupperware in the kitchen, feeding herself, and eating absolutely anything and everything she shouldn't eat including but not limited to: dirt, rocks, toilet water, dog food, and more.

Spring Time!

Life is crazy but so beautiful. We love our sweet little girls and are so grateful for all the wonderful things going on. I mean, look at Aspen's face. How could you not be in love?

As for me, I've been knitting quite a bit and I've been really enjoying getting better at it. Here's a hat I made for June bug that she wore most of the winter.

Let's just spend a minute and talk about this Junie girl. She is a ray of sunshine and so much fun. She was quite the easy going baby but as soon as she started crawling, she started to get a liiittle crazy (in a good way). She definitely has opinions and she doesn't mind letting you know what she thinks. She has quite the fun sense of humor and loves to laugh at her sissy.

Her favorite things to do are: crawling with something under each hand so she can slide across the floor, throwing books off the book shelf, eating anything and everything, screeching, standing up, gulping down tons of water, and eating. We love her and just can't get enough of this sweet babe who is about to turn ONE!

And then there's our Aspen girl. She is such a sweet big sister and a super fun and playful girl. Her favorite things to do lately are: playing with neighbor friends, learning to ride a bike (!!!), playing with her babies, singing, and pretending to be an animal. She is super spunky and fun and always keeps us on our toes. We love you, Aspen!

As always, Aspen loves her daddy. They went on a daddy daughter date a few days ago and she came home feeling like the most special girl in the world. We are all so blessed to have such a great daddy in our lives!

We went on a family trip to Saint George recently with some friends and had a blast exploring Southern Utah and all its glory. We got to see the top of an old volcano on our trip and it was so much fun. Billie taught us all about the geology of the place and all of us were glad we had him around to teach us about the beautiful state we live in.

Gotta include a bath time pic because these baby bodies are too much!

 Today was Easter and we got to dye eggs the night before and then we had a hunt this morning. I love seeing the joy in a small child's eyes celebrating holidays like this. It makes me feel so lucky to be a part of their lives and to be able to see the world through their eyes. I'm one lucky mama.

2014 in Review

I'm so very grateful for the amazing year that 2014 was! It was very busy and very event-filled (which is why the blog has fallen on the back burner). I thought I'd just write down the highlights from our amazing year!

In January, we bought a new car and we have loved our Outback so much! 

Just before June was born in April, I decided to quit my job with Intermountain and start my own business. It has been a huge learning experience and very fulfilling for me! I love the balance I can have between work and home and it's fun to be able to help and serve others.

Of course, the best part of 2014 was welcoming our sweet baby June into the world. She is truly a joy and just so much fun. 

Here she is just hours after being born.

We tried to get out and go on hikes during the summer. We camped a few times, went fishing, and hiked quite a bit. Our girlies are troopers!

Aspen is definitely a huge Daddy's girl. This was a day that Billie was going to go on a long hike to train for his Teton trip and wanted to go on his own. While he was getting ready to go Aspen was sad that she wasn't going to be able to go too. Billie left with her crying and then 2 minutes later came right back in because he forgot sunscreen. The next thing I knew he was getting her dressed and ready for her to join him on the hike because it made him too sad to leave her. She had just been potty trained so I was really nervous she would pee her pants on the hike but Billie said she did awesome. She chatted with him the whole way up Mount Olympus and was a perfect hiking buddy. I love this story and want to remember it always because it perfectly illustrates how much these two love each other. Billie is an amazing dad. Here they are on the saddle of Mount Olympus.

Billie on the summit of The Grand Teton. So cool!

We moved into our first home at the end of September! Here's a little picture of our toes at the Twin Pines apartments where we lived for 3+ years and made some of the best friends in the world. We love our new home and are so grateful for it but definitely miss all the friends we left behind. Luckily we are still very close and are able to visit them quite a bit still.

Remember when I said amazing dad? Yeah. Proof right here.

I finally got some cross country skis and we have been taking family trips up East Canyon to ski. I wear June on my back and Billie wears Aspen in the hike hike (the blue backpack shown here). We ski a few miles and then head home. It's SO MUCH FUN! Such fun exercise and family time and I just love it.

Christmas was very fun with a 2 1/2 year old this year especially since it was in our new home. Aspen got a lot of very fun presents and her favorites were: a Elsa backpack, Elsa slippers, Little People farm house, basketball hoop and....HER VERY OWN SKIS!

Here she is shredding the gnar pow pow for the very first time! She was great.

2014 was truly an amazing year. We are so filled with gratitude for our sweet little family, our health, and the fact that we have all the things that are important in this world. Here's to 2015!

First Family Camping Trip

We finally got brave enough to take the babes up Big Cottonwood Canyon for their very first camping trip. Aspen was, in her own words, "a little cited(excited)" if you can't tell from the pictures.

It was a little chilly. It affected our two babes quite differently. June decided the best way to deal with the cold was to sleep for the entire trip. She occasionally poked an eye out to see if she was still camping. Once that was confirmed she quickly closed her eyes and escaped to the world of sleep again (don't worry she was plenty warm and her sleeping was not a sign of mild hypothermia).

Aspen on the other hand, was not slowed down a bit by the cold. We could barely keep her in her sleeping bag through the night. When asked in the morning if she was cold she stated "No, I'm sweaty."

We did a little hiking in the morning. Aspen was quite pleased to find snow along the way and was asking for her snowsuit and requested that we build a snowman at each snowbank we came upon. Coming back down the trail we came upon a few people from Houston posing with one of her snowmen we built for a picture.

This is Aspen enjoying the views of the surrounding peaks and posing for a few pics atop a small peak we hiked to.