Jordan 5 Years Old!

Happy Birthday Jordan! I asked him to smile for this picture with his birthday cake and this is what he did. Needless to say he is really into ninjas right now. What a funny, adventurous, and sweet boy. 

Here are all the kiddos after singing Happy Birthday to Jordan. What a bunch of cuties we have. 

I love the goofy faces this boy makes. We can't help but laugh when he laughs. Every day is him saving the world from some "bad guys." He never tires of using "all his strength" to save the day. He's the hero of our home. 

Jordan loves Legos and over the past year he has become a "Master Builder." He can easily build things that are way cooler than anything I can build. It's neat to see his imagination grow and develop in what he comes up with to build. He can and has made anything out of Legos. One of his favorite things is to build Legos with his Dad. Just look at that hug genuine smile on his face. It's adorable watching them build together.

Jordan also really likes dinosaurs right now. So for his birthday he wanted to go to the Dinosaur Museum in Ogden. It was fun to see his excitement in seeing these life size dinosaurs outside. (He didn't want to turn around for this picture, but the rest of us smiled anyway.)

The T-Rex is definitely the coolest dinosaur in Jordan's book. Check out those claws. 

Here's a picture of the little babe. She such a cutie. 

Here Jordan is teaching us about the Triceratops. It's amazing to look back to 5 years ago when Jordan made Preston and I parents. What a blessing, adventure, roller coaster, and light in our lives that we can not imagine being without. We love you J Man!!!

The Cabin

Here is a view of Jack's Canyon in Sunridge. This picture was taken looking down the canyon from Moose lake, a little lake full of fish for the kids. Preston's grandparents built a cabin in Sunridge when his dad was on his mission and Preston went and stayed at the cabin multiple times each summer every year. He has many fond memories of this wonderful place.

This summer his grandma sold the cabin and we were able to go up there for one last trip as a family. It was fun, but extremely sad since we will never be able to go back to that cabin.

Daddy and Natalie having a blast on the four wheeler. Our kids really love going for rides on theses things. 

Hill, Cam, and our cute babies Katelyn and Aubrielle. It is so fun that they are only a month apart in age. We plan for them to be great friends. 

Grandpa, Preston, and Jordan going on a canoe ride. Fun times all around. 

We wanted to hike down the canyon just for fun. Nick and Cam were hard core and brought Aubrielle. I on the other hand left the kiddos with Preston. As we hiked down I realized that we were not going to be going down anything even closely resembling a trail. We were what you call "bush waking it." We saw a moose and dear on our hike, which was fun. The scenery was very beautiful. But when we had made it down the canyon I was ready for a trail again. 

Aubrielle took the hike like a champ. Nick even did some fatherly heroics and protected her when he fell off a log. It's always fun and exciting to be around the O'Neals. 

Cute kiddos taking every opportunity to jump on the four wheeler and a view from the upstairs part of the cabin taken from the deck. I can remember sleeping on the bed by the sliding glass door and looking at the starry night sky. It is really impressive to see the night sky when you are away from the city. 

Dinner on the deck. An all American meal here of a tin foil dinner, chips, and cream soda. 

Preston loves scouting for animals as the sun is going down. He has a good eye for finding those critters. 

We all went up to the meadow for some horse riding. The kids loved it!

Here are Jordan and Natalie walking through the meadow of flowers together. So sweet. I'm glad they are such buddies. 

Four wheeling with the kids. As they get older it is so fun to experience these fun big kids things with them. Katelyn was taking a nap at the time and will have to enjoy this fun experience when she's a bit bigger. 

Lunch time. Everyone taking a break, enjoying the food, and enjoying the great outdoors. The weather was so perfect for this trip. We packed in as much as we could since it would be the last time we could come here.

 

Here is Preston's Grandpa Jo Murray's cabin that he built many years ago. The Murray family has had tons of wonderful family experiences here. Preston and I have a special memory her as well. It was in the upstairs part of the cabin that we both said "I love you" to each other for the first time. This place will be greatly missed by all. 

(left to right) Preston, Russell, Marissa, and Cambria taking in the view before we head out. As we cleaned up to head out; there were many tears shed. We will have to begin our own family traditions now to replace what is lost here. Fair well Cabin... now onto our next adventure.

The House The New Hobby

So we are living in our home now! Hooray! We love it and we are learning how (like my Dad always used to say) your house is your hobby. And there is a lot of work to be done. Here is a picture of Preston and Jordan standing in the weeds that are growing out of control. 

Hanging out in the back yard. This place has a lot of great potential. It will just take time, work, money, and keeping that vision to get there. We are excited to keep making it our own. 

Here are a bunch of before pictures that we will be able to look back on someday and remember what kind of a yard we started with. 

It's a bit of a jungle.

The previous owners weren't really into keeping things up. Which worked out in our favor, because we were able to buy it when others passed it by seeing the amount of work it needs. Good thing we like yard work.

Here's Preston mowing the grass... it's been a while.

We love that we have space out here in Hooper. Lots of room for the kids to play and explore.

One of our next door neighbors is a wheat field. It's a beautiful sight to see.

4th of July 2015

Here is a photo of our three cuties dressed in their red, white, and blue! Happy 4th of July all!

We had a great time at the Layton Park with Nick, Cam, and Aubrielle. Jordan and Natalie loved the inflatable toys!

Here the manly men decided they'd try the mechanical bull ride. They both did a great job as far as I'm concerned. I think the guy in charge of the machine had a lot of fun throwing them off.

Then it was Cam and my turn. We raced through an inflatable toy together. I struggled to keep up with Cambria because I was laughing so hard. 

Yummy food at the park. There were a bunch of vendors selling great food. The kiddos had shaved ice with the flavor of their choice. Of course Natalie's got all over her white outfit... had to see that coming. But it did miraculously wash out. Oh, the dipped corn dogs were good too. 

It is always a blast hanging out with the O'Neals! We love them!

Cousin time. Aubrielle and Katelyn  relaxing on the blanket together. 

Hey everyone I'm 4 months old!

Oh... and I found my belly button. 

Happy silly times!