Blessings

Hello dear friends and family! I know I'm extremely behind with my blogging, but I don't feel guilty! We've been playing our little hearts out this summer and posting does not make the top of the to do list, unfortunately :) I'm going to break this into several posts, starting with Kate's blessing day and a wonderful announcement at the end of this (that I'm sure 90% of you know, so maybe it won't be such a surprise) so read on.

A month ago...Tyler gave Kate a beautiful blessing, I am so proud of him for living such a worthy life that he is able to bless our children and me when I need it. I could feel the power that is in those words, making beautiful promises if she lives worthily. I'm so excited to see the wonderful person she'll grow into, I know this girl has big things in store for her, just like I feel for Cole as well. I'm sure every mother feels that way right :) Just thinking about them coming at this time when things in the world can seem so crazy and dark, they really are going to shine.

So it was a wonderful day for our little family, we were small in numbers but happy to be together, those of us that could :)

Kate was totally decked out in the family garb, she wore my blessing dress and had on mom's blessing booties which were adorable. What a sweetie! Cole still dotes on her and is extra careful around her. He's so great.

She also had on a bracelet I had made for her...I'm such a sentimental person and love traditional, family-passed-on things and I've been thinking about making something special for Kate to wear on her blessing day. Then I thought how cool would it be if she could wear it on her blessing day, baptism day, and then wedding day. And wouldn't it be even cooler if it had something to remind her of the women in her life that came before her, as in me, my mom, and my grandma Bliss (where she got her middle name from). SO...since I am not so talented in this area, I asked my teacher friend from school if she could make me something like this, and this is what she came up with.
The turquoise piece was my grandma Bliss', the heart is from mom, and the single diamond is from me. We just doubled it up for the blessing day and it fit her perfectly, I hope it's something special for her that represents love and reminds her of her heritage. She looked so beautiful! I am so grateful to know that our family can be together forever, not just in this life. I really hadn't felt pure joy and peace until I became a wife and mother, and it's hard to comprehend how it would feel to think I could only have them until death. Why would I want something so fulfilling and wonderful to end? I'm so glad it doesn't have to. Oh, and speaking of being a mom, we've decided I'm going to stay home and not go back to teaching this year! Or for a while. I'm so excited I can't even tell you. As a little girl growing up, this was my biggest dream to be a wife and a mom at home with my kids. It's a little scary financially, but we feel so at peace with this decision that we know we will be taken care of and things will come up to cover the expenses, it always does. I have loved loved loved being a teacher for these past 5 years, it truly was what I was meant to be doing. But I know where my true calling is, and it's at home being a teacher to my children and a wife to my sweetie :) What more could I really want??? I can't wait for this phase of my life, it's going to be the best yet :)

Hiking and swimming

Last summer it was all about going to Lagoon (season passes are the best!), but we've decided that our two main activites for this summer will be hiking and swimming. Tyler had the brilliant idea of hiking every trail in Farmington before summer is over, so we got right to work last weekend. Something really cool about Farmington is the great trail system they have, so many beautiful, secluded trails right in town or close by. I've been wanting to check this certain one out (the trailhead is in our ward boundaries) as I drive by it often so we decided to make it our first trip. Here we go :)
We threw Cole in the backpack and Kate in the front pack and took off. It was quite warm, but we had a blast! Here's a cool log we had to cross to get over a stream.

Cole LOVED it! "Me hiking mommy!"

Look at what we saw in the trail! Almost didn't see it laying out in the sun. It's pretty long, right?!

Check out this view at the top!! B-e-a-utiful!

This guys is talented! Look at his arm in our glasses.

Kate's hiking outfit, I was going for the pioneer look :) Actually I wanted a hat that would give her some shade and that's all that we had. How cute is she! And look how chubby she's getting.

Here's our second summer activity, swimming! I guess that's not too interesting, who doesn't go to the pool. But we've made it a daily event. The pool also has this cool splash park by it, so it's pretty fun. We go from the park, to the pool, to the park, to the pool. We go during Kate's nap so she sleeps in the shade the whole time we play :) Cole never wants to go home.

He's wondering if it's time to do the park or the pool. And I promise he does eat really good at home, he's sucking in air so that's why you can see his ribs :) The farmer tan however, we have no excuse for.

Looking forward to some more great summer!!

The best two years

We celebrated Cole's 2nd birthday last week! It really has been the best two years of my life in so many ways. Being a mom is everything that I wanted it to be and then some! And sharing it with Tyler makes it doubley-good. How can you not love opening the door and seeing this...
My two handsome dudes coming home from church! Cole is so tired he's about to fall off Tyler's shoulders, it's hard work kissing all those cute girls in nursery (really, it is).

Or what could beat sitting out on the deck at bedtime in the middle of a rainstorm and seeing THREE rainbows?

We had the BEST birthday party for Cole, we had mom, Christine, and Tegan in town and they made the party fun! We made some party hats...Cole likes his Tiger one.

Christine's party hat stayed on the WHOLE day!! She definitely knows how to party. Cole has such great aunts that play with and love him.

And amazing grandmas! Thanks for all your help mom.

He doesn't look like he's giving her up any time soon.

The only thing Cole talked about wanting, other than "messy" cake, was a pinata. He went to our neighbor's party and he loved swinging the bat to get the candy out.

Sorry for breaking you, horsey! But not too sorry, cause I'm still enjoying your candy :)

Now on to cake! It's not a party without Funfetti cake, and Cole was much more civilized this year as he wanted to use his fork to eat his piece. Yum!

Sorry Kate, you'll get cake next year. If you ever decide to wake up.

Christine started this fun tradition of making the nephews shirts for each birthday with their age and name on the back along with other fun stuff. Cole loves his "2T" shirt. He knows what size he wears!

It was a really fun day! Some other goings on...

Kate is more alert and awake now, although she LOVES sleeping. She is a great baby, we can't believe we got two in a row! Cole is still so cute with her and very helpful in bringing things she needs. He has been great lately about not touching her face or head, and I love how he reaches in her carseat in the car to hold her hand. He also likes showing her things or telling me what she's doing, like yesterday we saw some horses on the way to the library and Cole says, "Mommy, baby Kate looking at the horses too!!" or when baseball was on tv, "Baby Kate watching baseball players hit the ball hard!" It's cute how he wants to include her and pretend she can do things.

Kissing toes...

She really enjoys her baths! She even fell asleep for a few seconds during the last one :)

Cute Cole dressing up like daddy (Tyler's bandana he wears to scouts).

So life is good and I'm excited to see what the next two (or twenty) years bring! But for now I'm LOVING these two precious kids and feeling so blessed to get to hang out with them every day. What a great job I have.