Roasting Hot Dogs

Grandma and Grandpa have a fire pit, and Grandma taught the kids how to roast hot dogs on a stick for dinner one night. Nolan had way more fun waving his around and taking it in and out of the fire to see how it was cooking. Rylee was a good little cook with some help from Grandma, but she really did a good job by herself too. Eventually Nolan allowed Grandma to help him cook his dinner, and his hot dog turned out great. Every time we would have hot dogs Nolan insisted on cooking them on the fire, he didn't always win but it was a fun treat for them.

Cousin Birthday Party

Grandma wanted to have a birthday part for all of the June Birthdays at her house, so Sunday after we got there all the cousins came over and we had a great time. The kids swam and swam and swam, and took a small break for dinner, presents and cake. However, on that small break Rylee fell asleep on Daddy's lap and we had to wake her up for presents. She was so sweet trying to be excited and not grumpy, but really wanting to be back asleep. She got some cute stuff from her cousins and most of all had a great time playing with them.

The Eventful Drive to California

We left for California and had high hopes of making great time and getting in at a normal time, well that all changed at our first stop. We stopped exactly half way to Grandma's and Grandpa's house in a teeny tiny town called Battle Mountain, and ended up meeting the town doctor and spending an hour and a half in the ER. While we were making a potty stop Nolan's fingers got shut in a huge wooden door, in the hinge part of the door, and they were instantly swollen and purple. We tried to ice the fingers, bribe him with treats and nuggets, and distract him in any way but nothing stopped in from shaking and screaming. We figured we better get his fingers X-rayed so we found the town ER and took him in. This place was straight out of Doc Hollywood and we were even worned the doctor can't hear well and is a little crotchety, but has a heart of gold. Well after X-rays, it was determined he had a Tuft Fracture. They splinted his two fingers, gave him some Tylenol, a sucker and stickers, and we were back on our way. The poor guys fingers were so sore, but what 2 year old is really going to keep a splint on, so we made it 2 of the 10 days with the splint until he was over it. Both finger nails have fallen off and are trying to grow back, but they do not look so good yet. He is doing great and you would have never known his fingers were hurt until you looked at them, he is such a tough kid.

The Poor Fingers

Getting Bandaged

Showing Us How Sad He Is

Picture of a Tuft Fracture

What Rye Rye was doing while Nolan was

getting examined.

Jungle Jim's

Before we left for California we got to go to Jungle Jim's with the entire Cutrer family, we are sort of the adopted family members! Rylee and Nolan were so excited because they love all the kids and of course Grammy and Cass. Rylee and Hallie had so much fun playing with each other more before we had to leave to California, and Nolan had a blast on all the rides. We tried the roller coaster, but neither of the kids liked it very much, in fact Rylee screamed to get off so much they stopped the ride and let her off. We are so lucky to have friends that make us feel like family since we don't have any of our family close by!

Nolan and Cass in the plane!

(I love how scrunched up Cass is!)

Rylee and Hallie waiting for the swings to start

Opening Presents, Face Painting, and Friends

After everyone got to the party there was a non-stop line for the next 2 hours for the face painter. It was a last minute decision have the face painter, and I must say it was a great decision, she was amazing at painting faces. Everything she did was freehand and with extremely great detail and color. The funniest part about her was she was really rude or she had a really dry sense of humor that no one got, but oh well the face painting was amazing. In the two hours she was working she painting nearly 30 kids and teeangers faces, and one adults face! After about an hour of jumping non-stop we pulled the kids out of the bounce house, literally there were 10 boys who I think never left that thing, to start eating cupcakes and opening presents. Rylee was so lucky that so many of her friends were able to be at her party. She was spoiled with presents. She got new barbies and accessories, little ponies, little pet shops, new clothes, new coloring and sticker books, princess jewelry, candy, a new baby doll, and lots lots more.
We were able to keep the bounce house as long as we wanted so Rylee, a few friends and Nolan bounced for nearly 5 hours from the start to the end of the party, needless to say they were worn out. I absolutely love throwing my kids birthday parties, it is only once a year that I get to celebrate with everyone how special they are to us. I am so glad Rylee loved her party and so did her friends.

Birthday Party Bounce House

Rylee wanted to have a bounce house party since Nolan had his for his second birthday, but we decided instead of going somewhere we would rent a big bounce house and have the party at the park by our house, and it was a great idea. Honestly, I don't know if Rylee will have a birthday party that was this fun again, even I had fun, it was a blast. She and I looked a couple different websites and this was the bounce house that she wanted the most. It was perfect for the girls and the boys because it had all of the Disney Characters on it, it also had different things to do inside the bounce house (slide, obstacle course, basketball hoop, and jumping area).

Rylee's Birthday Morning

Our little munchkin does not sleep in, ever, but of course on her birthday when I am all excited for her to wake up, she slept in until 8:45. Maybe her extra sleep was a present for herself. When she woke up we had her presents waiting for her on the fireplace and she was SO excited to open them up. She had two presents to open, one from Mom and Dad, and one from Nolan. She had told us she wanted another baby, so we got her another American Girl Doll, this time we got her one of the baby American Girl dolls, and she has slept with it every night since her party. Nolan got her Mickey Mouse nightgown, and I pretty much have to sneak it in the wash or else she cries because she won't be able to wear it to bed that night. The morning was a great start to what became an awesome birthday for our little girl.

Happy 5th Birthday Rylee

I am sure I say this every year, but really is she already 5, I cannot believe it. This year has been an amazing year for our sweet girl, and it has been so fun, stressful, exciting, and several other emotions all thrown in there. To review the year I'm just going to start right after her birthday.

Shortly after Rylee's 4th birthday we discovered Rylee had a 65% hearing loss, VPI of her soft palate, and an astigmatism in both eyes. It was like one thing after another, and it was very troublesome for us as parents. You always want a perfect and healthy child, and while she was healthy and perfect to us, there were things that needed to be fixed. After a few tests and surgery in June, October and December she is doing amazing.

She was fitted for hearing aids in November, and absolutely loves them. They are seriously the most amazing technology for our family. One of the most memorable experiences in the last year was watching Rylee's doctor put her hearing aids in her ear and turn them on for the very first time. She was crying and scared as the doctor put her hearing aids in, but as soon as they clicked on her face lit up and she was amazed. It was so fun to see the expression on her face every time she heard a new sound. From the train going by, to the garbage disposal, car horns, airplanes and helicopters passing over, the blinker in the car ticking, and hundreds of other daily sounds that we take for granted every day but she had never heard in her lifetime. She has adjusted so well to having them, and loves them so much it is often a struggle to get her to even take them out to go to bed. While the surgeries did not fix her hearing they are hopeful another surgery a few years from now, will fix the hearing loss.

Her soft palate was fixed in December and it dramatically improved her ability to say words and sounds. She worked so hard the last year with her two speech therapists, Miss Courtney and Miss Rikell, and she is now speaking as well and even better than a lot of kids her age. She is very comfortable with speaking to other people, and her therapists are so surprised and proud of how well she did. She reached a point a month ago where her therapists told us she is so good there is nothing else for them to work on at this point, we were so proud of her!

She kept us busy in other ways this year too, playing her first season of soccer and going to another year of preschool. Soccer was quite entertaining to watch, but about mid season she finally started trying to kick the ball instead of just play with her friends! She absolutely loved her preschool teacher, Miss Bessy, this year and asks about her all the time. She has started to read sight words and knows all her sounds and can count to 40 by herself and 100 with some help.

She is one of the best big sisters a parent could ask for. While we are home she tends to pester Nolan a bit, but when they are at a sitters or playing at the park she is extremely protective of him and makes sure he has everything he needs.

Her personality develops more and more every day, and more and more she is becoming silly, sassy, independent, playful, and a little bossy! She has a nickname around here of Napoleon sometimes, but really she is a great little girls. She loves to tease Daddy and I, loves to be tickled, and ask questions!

Right now she loves Selena Gomez (we have tickets to her concert in September), playing outside and riding her bike, going to soccer practice, playing baby dolls, watching Good Luck Charlie, getting tickled by her Daddy, taking baths in the big tub, jumping off of things to show how big she is, wearing tutu skirts and dresses, flip flops, chocolate milk, playing with friends, and the list could go on and on, but those are the top things I can think of right now.

Rylee you mean the world to us. We are so proud of you over this last year. It has been amazing to watch you transform into a little girl and become so independent and strong. You are truly an amazing little girl and we love you so much! I cannot even remember what life was like without my silly little girl, I am so happy that she is a part of our family, and cannot wait to see what this year has in store for her and us!

Baby Rylee

1st Birthday

2 Years Old

3 Years Old

4 Years Old

Proofs of the pics we just did

Looking so grown up

A little bit of sass!

Sick Boy

This morning when Nolan woke up he was not quite his happy self, and I figured it was because he hadn't gotten enough sleep. After snuggling with him for a bit I noticed he was really warm and checked his temperature. His fever was at 101.2 this morning and went up all day from their. I tried advil to help lower it, but his fever was back to a 102.8 after nap time. I did more advil and in about 45 minutes it seemed to be working. The babysitter showed up and I told her he would probably just want to rest and hang out, so she was fine with that. When I got home she informed me he had thrown up all over the couch and himself, and I felt so bad for both Nolan and my teenage babysitter! Needless to say he is back in bed and his fever is back up, so hopefully he will be better in the morning, I hate seeing him so lethargic.

So tired he just wanted to lay anywhere all day long, and he was so hot

he liked laying on the cool floor, poor guy.

Showing me his sad Nolan face :(

A Hike With Daddy

One afternoon while I had soccer games, Daddy took the kids on a hike to a waterfall. They had to walk about a mile each way and they both did great. The water was obviously freezing, so they spent their time throwing rocks in the water and building castles out of the rocks!! It looks like they had a great time, I will have to get an invite on the next hike!

Caity's Birthday

We celebrated Caity's birthday a few weeks ago, and the kids had so much fun because they love Caity. I have no idea what I am going to do for Christmas for Caity, so far I think we have spoiled her pretty good, but I am running out of ideas, good thing I have 6 months to plan. For her birthday I made her this quilt. Caity loves bright and fun colors, so I tried really hard to make it really fun, but still a "grown up" quilt as she and I called it. She seemed to really like it, so that is good. We are so lucky to have Caity living in Utah with us and be a part of our extended family in here in Utah. The kids adore her and she is a great friend to me as well. We love Aunt Caity!!!

Preschool Graduation

Preschool Graduation was about a month ago, and Rylee has been so sad ever since it got over. She absolutely loved preschool and it was fun to see her really start to learn. She can read a lot of sight words and is learning to sound out words, and really liking it. She did such a great job at the graduation performance, she knew all the songs and sang along. She has one more year of preschool before kindergarten, and she is already excited for her new school. This year I let her pick out her own outfit for the graduation, and she picked out this tutu, she loves tutus. Every time I turn around she is trying to get me to buy her another one, and I am a real sucker b/c they are so cheap at Costco! I am so proud of her and well she did in preschool this year.

Rylee all ready to go

Don't forget a picture of Nolan :)

Rylee and Miss Bessy

(Rylee absolutely loved her teacher this year and it was really hard

to know that she was not going to have her again and see her as much)

Practicing Some Putts

The kids love our new backyard and so do we. I love that it is completely fenced and completely safe for them to just play and play all day long in it. Last night after dinner they wanted to play a little bit more, so they headed out to putt and play together!!