Hayden is two years old!!!

Our little man turned two years old today! He was getting birthday hugs from his Grandma Loni. Hayden has been so excited for his birthday. We have been talking about it for the last couple of weeks. I have been showing him how to hold up his two fingers and say I am two.

He was all smiles as Grandpa tossed him into the air. We love to see this little guy smile!

Hayden got his own set of wheels. He was very happy to drive his new car and was cruising around the house for the rest of the party.

I made him a sailboat cake this year. He spotted the cake as we were eating dinner and pointed to it. He wanted to eat cake instead of his dinner.

He was very happy to finally get that cake in his mouth. He even used his fork.

We went outside to try out his new lawn mower. He was really impressed when he figured out that it blows bubbles. He was very protective of his new toys. He got really upset when Halle tried to take off in his new car.

Hayden worked really hard to mow the lawn. We had fun cheering him on. We are so glad that he is a part of our family. He has such a fun personality that is beginning to shine through. He loves to talk and will talk to anyone that will listen. A lot of the time we have no clue what he is saying. He has become more independent and has big ideas of his own. He comes into the bathroom and tells me mohawk as he points to his hair. He loves to sneak up and hug me around my legs. He knows that I will pick him up and hug him back. We love you Hayden!

Family reunion at Reid Ranch!!

We enjoyed another year of being at Reid Ranch with the Grant side of the family. The kids were excited because we had two sets of bunk beds in our room. Parker and Halle were pretending to hold up the roof.

Spencer has been working at the Ranch this summer. Here he is hanging out with Hayden on one of his breaks.

Three white guys and a whole lot of kids in the hot tub. It was great catching up with the cousins. It is fun that we all have kids that are close to the same age. There are actually five of us that are due in the next few months. Alisha is due in August, Melanie is due in September, I am due in October, and Ruth is due in December. We are all having girls. My sister in law Heather announced that she is also expecting while we were at the Ranch. She is due in February. We will just have to wait and see if she is having a girl. It is fun being pregnant at the same time as so many of the cousins. We will have all these cute baby girls next year at the Ranch.

Mckenna soaking cousin Mark. It looks like she is winning in this picture. We always have fun cooling off in the pool.

The boys dog piling on cousin Kyle. The kids just seem to flock to him. He is always is so great with all the kids. He entertains them for hours on end which is nice for all of us parents.

We had fun mini golfing until we got caught in a downpour. It rained a lot while we were there. Luckily, we were able to finish our game when the rain let up.

The store is the latest addition to the Ranch. We ate our treats out on the porch together.

There was a beautiful sunset our last night there. We had fun roasting marshmallows and watching the big volleyball game.

Mckenna was in charge of the kids show this year. Here she is instructing all the kids on how to "move it".

We took our huge family picture on the last day we were there. There were only seven who couldn't make it to the reunion this year.

Our American roots!!!

It wouldn't be a proper fourth of July without a visit to the cabin. Halle was really excited to ride the horses.

She is our little cowgirl. She wanted to ride alone this year with Dad leading the horse. Kev even taught her how to hold the reins to guide the horse.

Mckenna has been riding the horses for years and always seems to enjoy it. She went for a horse ride on Duchess.

Grandpa took the Grandsons on lots of gator rides. Hayden was always happy as long as he could sit in the drivers seat and help steer.

My handsome Parker boy hanging out in the back of the Gator.

Hayden was really excited to ride the horses. He like to say yee haw every time he sees a horse. He wasn't really riding by himself. We put him up there by himself for a picture.

It was Hayden's first experience at the Oakley Rodeo. He was mesmerised almost the whole show. He loved wearing his new cowboy hat too.

Parker and I at the rodeo. It is always a good show and we enjoy the fireworks at the end as well.

We took some pics of the kids all dressed up in their red, white, and blue.

We spent most of the day just hanging out at home. The kids always enjoy playing in our backyard.

We had a neighborhood BBQ later that night. We ate lots of yummy food. I really enjoyed the chicken that one of our friends had cooked in his dutch oven.

We came back to our street to do some fireworks. The kids had fun dancing in the smoke bomb fumes. We had an awesome firework show this year since most of the aerial fireworks our now legal in our state. We had a perfect up close view from our house. There were fireworks behind us, to the side, and in front. We couldn't have had better seats. Kev bought a big one called the Circle of Fire. It fired 260 shots up into the air about 150 feet. It was impressive!

Foster Family vacation!!

We headed down to St. George for a vacation with the Foster side of the family. The house we stayed at was really nice. It had plenty of room for all of us and our kiddos. The kids had a lot of fun with their cousins! They were really happy chillin on the bean bag chair together.

Spencer showed us a fun place with waterfalls that was about thirty minutes outside of St. George. Kev had a great time jumping off the falls with his brothers, sisters, and even Mom.

Hayden and I went for a swim to cool off. The water was freezing but it felt great on such a hot day. It was above a hundred degrees almost every day we were there.

Here is a typical photo of Kev's Dad. He could always be found with the video cam documenting our trip.

It was great catching up with some of our friends who live in St. George. Aaron and Bonnie were nice enough to let us use one of their work demo boats. It was really great of them to let us borrow it for the day. We had such a fun day. It was the highlight of the trip for most of us. I love that Kev is giving directions in this picture. He really enjoyed being in charge of the boat. It only fueled the fire to get one of our own in the future.

The kids had a lot of fun riding in the tube behind the boat. Hayden even went for a ride too!

A few of the adults went out early to get in some water skiing time. Kev's sister Lisa took this cool picture of him. Looking good Kev!!

Kev also showed off his wake surfing skills.

Hayden had his nap on the boat that day. The boat just rocked him to sleep. His cheeks look so chubby with his life vest on.

The cousins having fun on the back of the boat. It had this good area for all of them to sit and dangle their feet in the water.

Mckenna spent a good part of the afternoon digging out her own pool. It looked more like a mud bath. The kids had fun splashing and eventually throwing mud on each other.

The third day we went to Zions national park to do some hiking. We hiked up to the gateway to the narrows. It was nice because the canyon walls gave us some shade as we hiked along.

We stopped at the gateway to cool off in the water and have a snack. Halle was happy to be there with her Grandma Sue.

Tucker was checking out the map to see where we should go next.

The hike back was a little hot but everyone did well. You can see my round pregnant belly just behind Halle's head. I was worried about my feet swelling and overheating but I was fine. We took it at a nice slow pace and I drank as much water as I could to keep cool.

Our next adventure was to the weeping rock. You can't really see the water that is behind us. We have been there before in the spring when there is more run off.

On our last day there we went to see the St. George temple. Here is a picture of some of the cousins by the doors.

We walked around the grounds and also went on a tour of the visitor center. It was a good Sunday activity. We had a fun trip! It was nice to getaway and spend some time with the Foster family! Thanks Ken and Sue for making this trip so memorable for all of us!