Birthday Girl

Hallee has been so excited for her birthday.  She had her singing class on her birthday and she wanted to take a treat in to share. 

While she was at her class me, Wyatt and Caitlyn decorated the front room for her. 

Keith only worked a half day.  We were hoping we would all be home at the same time for a couple of hours.  We played Code Names while we waited for Jonah to get home from boating.

She loved all of her presents.  She got so excited about each one.

Jonah wasn't home before Caitlyn had to go to work so we did presents without him.

He gave Hallee his present when he got home.

She picked Cafe Rio for dinner.

We couldn't fit ten candles in that little cupcake.

After dinner Keith took Hallee and Wyatt to Lowes to jump. They had a great time.

After showers we had ice cream cones. 

She wanted to stay up late to make bracelets and play games.  I helped her make a couple of bracelets and then Caitlyn was home from work and played games with us. 

Hallee loves her new stuffed animal and slept with it that night.  I think we wore her out!

Birthday Celebrations

Hallee was so excited to celebrate her birthday at grandma's house. 

She loved all of her presents. 

And she loved spending time with Tessa.

Wyatt was pretty excited too. He has been asking if he can open his presents for a month now, he hates waiting!

He loves his new Lego set.  He came right home and started working on it.  It is a great set because he can build three different things with it.  He is really into Legos lately. 

We celebrated Amarie's birthday too.  

Wyatt doesn't like that I call him and Hallee "the littles." I guess they really aren't the littles anymore.

It's so fun that the kids get to celebrate their birthday at grandma's every year!

10-years-old

I didn't take birthday pictures this year because we like the pictures we have up and it is too hot! I like having them for this post, but I decided it wasn't worth the trouble and I think Hallee agrees! 

Hallee is officially in double digits.  She has changed and grown so much over the years, but one thing has stayed the same, her enthusiasm.  She loves to have fun and she gets so excited about things.  She planned a birthday outfit, from the shirt and skirt down to the bracelets, necklace and crown.  I love how she goes all in on things.  She gets so excited about everything and always thanks me for everything, including dinner every night and doing her laundry.  She is beyond her years in gratitude and thoughtfulness.  She always asks all of us how we slept and how our days were and remembers to ask about anything important we have going on.  

Hallee loves arts and crafts and is so happy that I finally let her have slime! Hallee loves to sing and dance.  She is loving her singing class this summer and wants to take it again in the Fall.  She has a beautiful voice and I'm glad she knows that and is willing to share and develop that talent. 

Hallee loves stuffed animals. Her room is literally full of them.  She loves to sleep with them and play pretend with them. She loves to play make believe and has a great imagination. 

Hallee is looking so grown up.  These past ten years have just flown by with her.  She loves to see baby pictures and watch videos of herself, I love it too. She has always been so fun and animated with a side of sass!

Hallee is a hard worker.  She loves school and works so hard on all of her school work.  She likes to write stories and make slideshows on the computer. She gets frustrated when she doesn't understand something, but she will stick with it until she figures it out.  We take turns doing the scripture lessons each day and she always works so hard on hers and is very prepared.

Hallee is kind, funny, compassionate, loyal, smart, determined and confident.  I hope she always knows how wonderful she is and how much we love her. 

Young Men's Camp

Keith and Wyatt went to young men's camp a couple of weeks ago.  It was a stake camp and they asked Keith to help with the cooking. Wyatt was glad Keith was coming.  They used one of wards big tents.  They enjoyed having the tent all to themselves. Wyatt enjoyed watching Keith fall off his cot when he tried to turn sideways on the air mattress that was on top of the cot.  Luckily he was fine and they just got a good laugh. 

Camp started on Thursday and they stayed around here and did a ropes course, archery and rock climbing.  Wyatt was not excited about the ropes course, but he gave it a shot.  He said he climbed up high to one of the obstacles and after a few steps out he decided that was enough for him.  I'm proud of him for trying it. Wyatt enjoyed the rock climbing and archery.  Keith was with the priests so he didn't get to see Wyatt or get any pictures. 

After they ate lunch at the church they drove up to camp.  The camp was near Kamas, about an hour and a half away. Wyatt loved starting fires at camp, so much that he may have done it without permission once.  I love his dirty face! I'm so glad he got this opportunity to go camping. 

Friday, Wyatt went on a hike with the boys.  He is not a fan of hiking right now, so that wasn't his favorite. Keith kept busy cooking every meal. He said it was really hot and a lot of work! He spent three hours cutting potatoes for one of the meals.  They ate really good, they had steak and potatoes, tacos and big breakfasts every day.  Every night they had a spiritual thought around the campfire.  Keith said Wyatt shared a great comment and talked about how he felt the Spirit for the first time recently.  He said it was the first time he prayed really hard and just sat there and listened for answers.  He said he asked if the Book of Mormon was true and is Heavenly Father is real and he said he felt a warm feeling.  I'm so grateful that he was willing to share that and that he had that experience. 

Keith enjoyed visiting with all of the leaders and the other young men. The leaders had fun playing a joke on Briton.  Briton zip tied a bunch of tents so the men hung his tent from a tree. 

Tyler Grunander was recently put in the bishopric, so he is over the deacons.  He is a great guy so we are excited that he is Wyatt's leader.  Wyatt loves him.

  Keith loved being there with Wyatt.  He was a little nervous about camping and sleeping well, but he is really glad he got this time with Wyatt. Keith said the last night while they were trying to go to sleep Wyatt said, "Thanks for coming with me to camp dad." And that made it all worth it.

What is a horses hoe?

Wyatt asked this question when we were playing Code Names, we helped him see that it was horseshoe, ha!

Here are a few more pictures I loved from the family reunion. 

Wyatt said Jackson loves going for rides in the laundry basket.

Hallee had an obedience school for all of her dogs.  Jackson was in it for the cheerios.

Hallee gets pretty creative with her stuffed animals.  Her bear stole something so she tied him up and put "cameras" all around the room to watch him.

We went to Airborne with Tiff and Katie.

Wyatt hangs out with Eddie almost every day.  He went to Airborne and out to ice cream with them one night.  

Hallee loved going over to Tessa's while everyone was hiking.  Paul was so nice to have her over all afternoon.

They had fun doing yoga poses in the hot tub.

Hallee was excited to have Kenzie over for the afternoon and evening.  They played nonstop and had a great time. 

Hallee had Amanda over the next day and they thought it was so funny to draw mustaches on themselves.

Wyatt likes to ride the moped around the neighborhood.

One night I found Wyatt asleep on his floor.  He doesn't remember getting on the floor and he said he woke up in his bed.

Deon had a barbecue for Tarzan's birthday and invited us.  Wyatt was excited to go.

You know there is going to be dancing at this party.

Keith took Wyatt and they had a lot of fun.

Wyatt wanted to grill hot dogs for dinner.

Jonah has been having a great time with friends this summer.  Christian and Kyle had their birthday parties.  Jonah is so jealous that they have their license now. 

The bishop took the priests boating yesterday.  Jonah loved it! His job has been great, he has never had a problem having his shift picked up so he doesn't have to miss out on things.