Stori is FIVE

My little Astoria Rose is five years of age. She is such a sweet little angel girl, and she makes our lives exponentially better. She is quick to make people feel included, and is the best cuddle ever. she is always up for more hugs and kisses. While playing at parks, she is always on the look out for a new friend to play with, and sure enough, by the time we leave she has a new best friend. She is a good reader, a great learner, and excited to start kindergarten in just a couple weeks. One of her recent quotes that i love: All 3 of us girls were laying on the bottom bunk talking, when sylvie commented on some stickers that are on the bottom of the top bunk. Stori chimes in and says, "oh sylvie, those aren't actually stickers, those are stalagmites. If they were on the bottom of your bunk, then they would be stalagtites. Can you say stuh-lag-tites sylvie?" haha what 5 year old knows that. Pretty sure i was in the 5th grade when i first heard those words. 

Stori is the luckiest girl to have such amazing cousins! They made her birthday so much better than any present we could have ever given her.





^^That SMILE!

Stori really wanted to decorate her own cake, so we let her go wild with it. licorice, skittles, sprinkles, princesses, and candles! It's a masterpiece haha.









Astoria with one of her very favorite people. Also, she chose pork, watermelon, and corn on the cobb for her dinner. I love that little human.

bugging granny while she plays on her phone. they sure love that lady.

HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY MY SWEET, SWEET ASTORIA ROSE!

Fake Idaho summer

Turns out we were pretty much living an Idaho summer while living in Provo. We definitely made the most of our time here in Provo: hitting up the rec center for swimming and running 5 days a week, play dates with besties, and cafe rio on the regular.

Every summer my family does a month long reunion, and this was the first time we haven't lived there. So we drove down in June, I stayed there while Dan would drive back on Sunday night and come back Thursday or Friday. It was weird being away from him, but luckily 40 other people distracted me. The kids played from the moment they woke up, until about 11pm. And all of it outside because the weather in my moms backyard is about the most perfect temperature. Ahhhh, Idaho summers. 

We packed so much into our stay and made every day count. Took trips to Jackson for site-seeing, Palisades for boating, Darby for hiking, Rexburg for park playing, Idaho falls for back to school shopping with most of the girls, Idaho falls for zoo days, Rigby for caramel tree treats and parades, and Lewisville for the 11th annual CFFR run and reunion on the 4th of July. 

It's hard to beat the Menan parade and Menan fireworks. The parade this year had almost ZERO candy, but I don't think any of the kids really noticed. the adults noticed the lack of chocolate milk however.

^^Could they be any cuter? seriously. sitting in those chairs, sylvie crossed legs looking like an adult while making small talk with ryder.

^^not everyone... waiting for other runners so we can start our CFFR 5k and mile walk



^^Rigby fireworks the weekend before the 4th

Mama in Alaska on her cruise! 

Lewisville walks are a must.



Provo freedom festival

Idaho Falls zoo with fun cousins

Rigby parade in June

Cutest little sleepers!

^^Stori sleeping upstairs with the big kids for the first time!

Sylvie fell asleep on Nanny Fene's bed each night

excellent help. I didn't shuck a single husk of corn all summer.

^^^The greatest dad to those little girls. Fathers Day 2016 We all love him and think he's the best!

Hot air balloons from our front door. Provo, you amazing city you!

Jackson/Darby

We randomly decided to take a trip up to Jackson on one of the rare days that something wasn't already planned. It was such a good decision and we had SOOO MUCH fun! Also glad that my mom was able to get off work early that day so she could come too!

lunch at one of our favorite picnic sites!

Sylvie earned the nickname "pigpen" because of her always messy face. Literally after just washing her face, we would turn around and she was covered in dirt, cheetos, ore's, and had flies swarming around her. Well, there were no actual flies, but i don't know why they weren't.













Colter bay is a favorite! The water is a bit warmer, and it has amazing views!

^^Sylvie, or darth vador?

 ^^The cutest grizzly bear in the whole park!

I LOVE THIS PHOTO!^^ i love that you can see all the kids clothes on the ground because they decided to jump into the water even though we didn't have swimming suits, extra clothes, or sufficient towels. Stori ended up wearing dans jacket as a dress, and sylvie wore Stori's jacket as a dress haha. It was seriously so fun. The texas christensens found a gift shop and managed to find some cute change of clothes

We got a little rained out while at Momon row, so a few of us crowded in the small car to watch a show while the boys took pictures.

Another trip to square ice cream after hiking darby.

Granny with all the grandkids that hiked. Stori is such a little poser/ so are tommy and max ha.



This was super fun to hike down the mountain like this. Luckily dan took over and carried the sleeping, messy faced little girl.
Darby was fun to be with family, but we will never hike it on a saturday again. SO MANY PEOPLE! we have hiked this as a family probably 10 times, and never once  seen that many people combined. In fact, it was pretty rare to see anyone on the trail at all. I guess it's good that people are wanting to be outside hiking, but it sure made for a frustrating hike with all the kids. Still a day well spent with family.