Ryan's 38th Birthday

Ryan had his 38th birthday on August 27th. He wanted Banana Cream Pie instead of a cake, so that is what I made. The kids and I made party hats, wrapped his gifts and made him a birthday card. Then we invited people over to eat pie, and watch him unwrap his gifts. We had a great time. Zach came over with his family and since he shares the same birthday, we sang to him as well.


Ryan reading the kids' card that they made.

Ryan opening his gift from me and the kids.


Here are my pies that I made from scratch (sorry it's blurry, we are just learning to use our new camera). Yes, he wanted the real stuff (not instant pudding), and real whip cream. If you know Ryan, he only likes the real stuff. Everyone said the pies were good, so I'm glad the turned out for my first try.

Lazy Summer Days

This week has been a slow and lazy one. After going and going on our vacation, I took it easy this week. Working around the house and just reading a book or two. So I am posting a few of my favorite pictures from our trip. They are different than the ones posted before (I think) so enjoy.


This is Joshua at Bear Lake. He had a great time in the water. Even though we have a beach 15 minutes away, we don't go as often as we would like. He spent most of the day at Bear lake laying in the water and stomping around. What a cutie.



Here is Morgan (sorry it's sideways) playing in the water at the base of the waterfall. Here she just finished trying to throw the rock by her feet. She spent a lot of her energy that day trying to splash people by dropping rocks near them. She is our little Dennis the Menace.



Here is Rachel eating birthday cake at the Triplet's party. She was determined to eat it her self and do what the big kids were doing. Please don't try to tell her she is only 23 months, because she thinks she is 3 or 4 just like the big kids.


This picture captures the fun that the kids had on Rob's slide. They are still asking to go to Uncle Rob's and go swimming. They just don't understand how far away that really is.

Here is Jaxen waiting to start his birthday party. He loved the cake Grandma Jean Ann got for him. Look at the excitement in his eyes. Love ya Jaxen.

Utah Trip

We had a great time in Utah visiting family. Ryan drove out with his nephew Jordan and crew, then drove back with Grandma and Grandpa Macpherson driving behind him. I flew with Rachel and had a few extra days with my family. We were busy everyday from almost sun up to sun down. The kids were happy to be home with there toys when we were done, but they had a great time and are still talking about it. Here are the highlights. I downloaded 475 pictures, and couldn't share all of them, so hopefully I picked the best to tell our story. Oh, and the uploaded backwards, so you will see the end of the trip first. There were also some things we did that I forgot to get pictures of. We went to my brother Bryan's to visit and go swimming, I attended the Biggs family reunion and saw cousins that I haven't seen in many years, we went to my neice Bailey's 15th birthday dinner, and we saw all my brothers and sisters as well as a couple of Ryan's brothers while we were there. It was a wonderful vacation, but I was ready to sleep in my own bed. It was just soooo nice when were finally home.


Ryan driving home with the boys in his car and the girls in Grandma and Grandpa's car.


Kids getting on the Heber Express at the Heber Railway Depot. This was a fun activity for the kids, but I recommend going only one way and then playing in the park. We did round trip and it was a little long.



Ryan and the kids behind the engine as we traveled along.

We went to Bear lake with Jay and Tauna's family (Ryan's brother). Here are the girls in the hole they had Jordan dig for them.

Ryan and Jaxen with the Jet Ski.

Jordan and Jaxen on the 4 wheeler. The kids loved riding these to the bathroom, so they were more than happy to use the toilet.

One of the days we went up to Payson Canyon where my brother Larry and his family were camping. The kids had a blast. Here is the best picture I could find of how dirty they got.

My brother has two horses and the kids enjoyed the horse rides. Uncle Larry kept reminding them that he is the cool uncle who gives horse rides. Here is Ryan and Gracie on one of the horses.

Here is Jennifer and Rachel riding a horse.

We also hiked up to a water fall while spending the day with Larry's family. Here is a picture of all of us with the waterfall behind us.

We went to the Payson Pool where Kris Ann (my sister-in-law) was working, so we could visit with her family and spend time with my brother Randy and his kids. Here is a picture of my mom, Randy, Holland, and Brinton in the Splash pad.

We took the kids hiking one day to Cascade Springs and Bridal Veil Falls. They had a great time and were excited to see all water. Here is Ryan and the kids sitting by a trail at Cascade Springs.

One night Ryan and I had a date night, but the kids stayed behind at Uncle Rob's (Ryan's brother) house for swimming, popcorn and a movie. Here is Joshua, Rachel and Tyler eating popcorn and watching a movie.

While the younger kids took a short nap, Ryan took Morgan to see BYU campus and they decided to hike up to the Y. Morgan loved it and was so proud of herself for making it to the Y with her dad's help. For the rest of the trip she kept saying: "Mom, look it's the F that we hiked up to." or "Mom, look it's another number on the mountain." It was just too cute.

On the last day of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house, we decided to go with Bryan, Becca and my Mom. We then went up to temple square in Salt Lake and walked around. Here are the kids standing by the Salt Lake Temple posing for pictures.

We were able to meet up with our good friend Christy Smedley and crew. We dined and visited at Arctic Circle while the kids played together. We really miss them. They were always ready to help out when the triplets were babies.

We spent a couple of days at Rob's house just to swim in their pool. The kids loved going down the slide and jumping in. Here is a picture of Josh who is so worn out he couldn't stay awake during dinner.

Here is Rachel and Ashley playing in the pool.

Here are the kids after going down the slide and getting ready to do it again.

The Triplets turned three while we were on our trip, so we had a small birthday party at my Mom's house. Here they are opening their gifts.

Ryan drove to his brother Jay's house they day they arrived. They spent some time with them and then drove down to see me and more family in Springville. Here they are visiting Jay's turtle.

Here they are posing in their new outfits from Aunt Tauna.

Here is day 1 of the trip. Ryan left at 4 am Eastern Time to get passed Chicago traffic. The kids were very good and they made better time than they had planned.

Ward Garden and Grandpa MacPherson's Birthday (and Uncle Kevin's)

This last week was full of fun and adventure, but unfortunatly I didn't catch it all on camera. On Monday we went and helped weed the Ward Garden. It is one of Ryan's things he likes to do and the kids have fun in the dirt. On Friday, we went to the concert in the park. Here they have someone perform music while people sit and listen on blankets. We went for a walk, ate popcorn and snow cones and played in the grass and fountain at the park. On Saturday, we went to the temple and while Ryan and I went through a session, the kids had a primary activity next door. Then on Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa Macpherson, Uncle Kevin and Great-Grandma MacPherson came over for dinner, cake and ice cream for Grandpa and Uncle Kevin's birthdays. We had a great time and kept busy all while working on potty training.


Happy Birthday Grandpa who is 29 and holding.

Standing on the fence at the ward garden while getting ready to leave.

Potty Week 3

I think we got it!!!! Except for a few accidents here and there the kids are now potty trained. They occasionally get too busy to come inside, or are having too much fun at the playground to take a break, but for the most part our days are usually accident free. They are growing so big it's hard to believe that potty training is here, but I am so happy to not have as many diapers to change. The triplets are their own cheering section and have gone to Chuck E. Cheese twice for going #2 in the potty. Now our goal is 5 consecutive days without an accident. Will it happen? Tune in on another day and find out.

Potty week # 2 here we come.

Potty Training week #1 is over. The kids are doing pretty well. They are all going #1 in the potty, but still are struggling with #2. Hopefully this next week will be the week they catch on and we won't worry about too many accidents. We started sticker charts for motivation and Gracie loves to put hers on the poster when she's done, as well as singing: "Gracie went potty. Gracie went potty." Gotta love it.

Fourth of July

We had a great 4th of July weekend. On Friday we went to the Muskegon River and played, had a BBQ and played by a camp fire. Later, we went and saw the fireworks above the Lake Macatawa. Saturday, we went swimming and had another BBQ with family and friends. Then later, we did some of our own fireworks. Here are some pictures (I will add more, but my computer or the internet stopped letting me download tonight).


Gracie by the campfire.


Jaxen and Joshua sitting by the fire.



Morgan playing in the river.

The kids playing in the river with cousins and daddy.

Kids playing in the river.