The Circus has come to town!

The Culpepper and Merriweather Circus came to Lovell, so we took our kids. It was cute and the kids thought it was great. It was pretty hot and they both got a little too overstimulated, but I think the meltdowns equaled the good times, so we'll count it as coming out on top! :) One act was a girl with A LOT of hula hoops...Bailey was trying to do what the girl was doing.

Grandpa, Grandma, Quinn, Aunt Lindsay and Celeste

They had a pretty good clown...Taysum was really excited to see clowns!

Mr. Stiltz was pretty good, too!

There was a family troupe of unicyclists who were pretty impressive; including juggling fire while on a unicycle!

This was probably the most exciting and frustrating! It was $2 to go down 5 times...yeah...tell that to a 5 and 2 year old! I couldn't really see when I was taking this, so I got B from the shoulders down and T's head!

This was just so sweet! I love my husband so much and I am so thankful for the incredible Daddy he is!

Mustang Days

After our vacation, we came home to the middle of Mustang Days! It's always a great time of year with lots of family-friendly things to do in the community! It's always the last full week in June. We got home on Wednesday and Thursday night, we went to the Follies. They always have the Dollies of the Follies and the Mustang Band play out front of the Hyart Theatre. Bailey loved the music and had a great time dancing in the street. We encouraged Taysum to dance, too, but this is the response we got! So different from last year when he and Carissa were dancing like crazy!

Uncle Tyler carried the American Flag with the Eagle scouts in the community.

He was also in a little skit about hunting mosquitoes...it was pretty funny! (He's on the far left)

The kids really enjoyed the show!

The kids were really excited to see Aunt Lindsay perform with the Zumba group, too! After she was done, they kept saying they wanted Aunt Lindsay back!

On Friday, Bailey was worn out before we could even get started! This is how she fell asleep...on top of the chair! That evening was the Family Fun Night. It was on the grass field of the Elementary School. We had our expected amount of fits, but a pretty good time over all! (Bailey has a REALLY hard time having to wait in lines for the games...and having her turn over!)

The nice thing about having it at the Elementary School, was the playground equipment was free! :)

Saturday morning, the Lindsays came over and we had a BIG breakfast together, then decorated our bikes and strollers for the Kiddie Parade! We went with the American theme! You can't really tell from the pictures, but the Kiddie Parade was COLD and WINDY and RAINY! It was so ridiculous that you just had to laugh...and run! :) The kids had a blast, though!

The best part for Taysum and Bailey was getting a hug from Mickey Mouse! Each of the kids received a gold coin and a Mr. Freeze for being in the parade. We went home, warmed up, dried off, bundled up and headed back for the Rose Parade. The weather was just perfect for the big parade! We sat with Lindsay and her sisters-in-law, Jodi and Tammy and her family: Steve, Aaron, and Alissa (sorry if I spelled the names wrong!)

Taysum was pretty anxious about the candy; he was worried that he wouldn't get very much, but Lovell is famous for the TONS of candy they throw in the parade...everyone ended up with more than enough! :)

A few years ago, they started throwing Pop Ice (Mr. Freeze, Otter Pops...whatever you call them) during the parade...which is SO smart! It cools you down and if it melts, you can take it home and freeze it again! Celeste was in heaven!

The great thing about living in a small farming community...you always get cool tractors in the parade! Last year, we planted a wildflower mix in the barrels in front of our house and this year, a bunch of these flowers came back! This was the first one. Ken has a client in Basin who he's been working pretty closely with for the past couple years. Recently, his wife visited New York and brought this cute onesie back for Hayden and a super cute blanket, too. Taysum had this shirt as a hand-me-down from Quinn. (My mom got this shirt for Quinn when she went to NY)...so we just had to get a picture of them together!

And of course, Bailey wanted in on the action, too! That afternoon, we went swimming at the wading pool and I also got to go to the Quilt Show. It was their 10th Annual show and they had some really great quilts this year. This was one of my favorites and it won first place in the large quilt category. I really loved this one too! I thought this one was really clever! Lindsay's sister-in-law, Jodi made these quilts for Lindsay's boys and they are just amazing! The Sonic one is Quinn's and the Finis and Ferb one is CJ's.

CJ even entered a quilt this year! Jodi taught him how and helped him with it...it turned out really cute! Jodi helped Alissa do one as well and it won first place in the youth category! She was SO excited! That night we went to the fireworks! We went later and were in a different spot this year, but it worked out pretty well. Every year, it's so hot in the day time, I think there is no way we'll be cold, but every year I'm wrong! It gets cold out at the lake at night!! Just by pure chance, I saw my parents driving by, so we were able to be all together!

Mustang Days is always such a good time! I love that we live in such an involved community with so many good people and to be near family as well! We are so blessed to live in such a wonderful part of the world!

Trip to the Pool

One of the highlights of the summer has been going to the pool! We have a little wading pool for kids under 8 in our park. It's free and the kids just love it! It's been such a cool summer, we haven't been too many times, but the kids sure enjoy it when we do! These are some pictures from our first trip. The Whale Slide

Taysum loves laying on the warm cement

Bailey's Future....

I subbed in Nursery the other day and it was fun to see Bailey in Nursery mode. She LOVES Nursery and can hardly sit through Sacrament Meeting because she wants to go! The way she says it is more like "mystery" so it's kind of funny. Well, something very interesting happened that made me think we may be in trouble in the future! There were three little boys driving trucks and cars around the table. Well, our little girl jumped right in the middle and stopped everyone in their tracks. When all three boys were behind her and waiting, she started driving again. Then, she would yell, "STOP!" and look back and make sure they all stopped, then she'd laugh and say, "GO!" The boys didn't really know what to think about it at first, but they caught on and thought it was a great game and followed her lead. So, this continued for a while. I looked across the room and there are all the girls sitting quietly playing "Tea Set." I thought, well, maybe it's because she has an older brother, but no, one of the girls playing tea set has an older brother as well! *SIGH* Eventually, all the boys became interested in what the girls were doing and headed over to be with them...and Bailey? Yep, she was still playing trucks!! (In her defence, there was a little toy girl driving the truck!) Eventually, she did end up at the tea party as well! So...tomboy? diva? flirt? princess? or some wonderful mix of all the above that makes our beautiful little Bailey Grace!!