Late Nights

We had a lot of late nights and not very many set bedtimes while we were gone - this is how poor Emma fell asleep this night - it was a long but great day!
We all went to church at John's parents' ward, followed by a potluck picnic at the park, followed by a fantastic family fireside by John's dad at their church building. I love to hear him speak/tell stories - he is a great speaker and really knows how to captivate his audience.
This was to serve as the closing of the reunion and there were many tears shed at the end. It even started pouring rain as we were all trying to leave the building. Literally pouring. It was as if buckets were falling from the sky. What great timing that was!

This has definitely been a reunion to remember - thanks to Joseph, Angela and Esther for all of your work in planning it!

LOVED IT!

Lagoon

We had a ton of fun at Lagoon and discovered some things:
1. Emma does not like to ride and kind of ride that goes fast or sudden.
2. Riya LOVES roller coasters and any other "scary" ride her little 38" could ride.
3. Jayden does not like roller coasters after his first try - it was a little scary of a choice for this first time though. He wouldn't go on any other after it.
4. A family of nearly 70 people that all have the same shirts on (each individual family had it's own color of shirt) will be recognized time and time again at the park.
5. Just looking at some of the rides (even the kiddie rides) made me sick to my stomach.
6. All 3 kids LOVED the sky ride.
7. If sandals are not properly secured on Emma's feet, she will lose it while on the sky ride.
8. Carrying around a hideous gorgeous paper mache cow will make people stare quite a bit - or at least do double shots in our direction. :)
9. John looks forward to the day that Riya is 48" and can go on all of the roller coasters with him!
10. We will be one of the last to win anything at the family raffle but it was worth the wait - we got the one thing we really had our eyes on!
11. A suggestion to go on the river rapids ride will result in 3 adults with enough kids that we had to divide in to three different rafts!
12. Watch out for sticker attacks and mascot kidnapping!
13. Riya DOES NOT like Dracula's castle or any kind of that kind of "scary" - only the thrill seeking rides. She buried her head through the whole castle!
14. Lagoon employees will dig through the trash to get a thrown away mascot to keep in their office.
15. One Lagoon employee will express her LOVE of cows to us as we are getting ready to leave in an attempt to keep Molly for her self. Sorry girlie, we are keeping her. :)

One of our tasks was to take a picture of our mascot (named Molly Moo Cow or Molly for short) riding a ride. This was our best attempt. Emma looks so confused about why I handed Molly to her. Emma hated this ride. It was just a spaceship that went up and down and around in circles. She wanted off almost immediately. Poor girl!

Such a fun day!

The Official Kick-off

Today was the Official Kick Off of the reunion and it started at a park. There, we got our team mascots, team shirts and got to make our team banners along with a team cheer. There were bubbles and balloons, pizza and cookies, Red Rover, freeze tag, story time with Grandpa x2 and lots of bug spray! It was a ton of fun!
We also got our agenda for our trip to Lagoon tomorrow and what we had to accomplish in order to get tickets for the awesome raffle that would be held under our Pavilion!
It was so much fun!!

Family Time

Today was kind of downtime day. Everyone kind of did their own thing - some went to the lake, some when boating, some stayed at the cabin...
This is a great shot I got of some who stayed back at the cabin - everyone was just sitting around visiting and playing games. Riya is on the couch with Grandma  and John is on the floor... picking at his toes?... while talking with his brother Mark (headless in this pic) and his dad. Emma is just behind John looking at one of her cousins. I am not sure where Jayden was at this time - probably downstairs in the rec room with his cousin Miriam. They were pretty much glued together the whole time - as usual. :)
We had a great time spending time with family!
Shortly after this picture was taken, I showed my sis-in-law Karen (on the recliner) my FatBooth App on my phone and that created all sorts of excitement and laughter. Everyone wanted to see what they'd look like in a fat suit - who wouldn't want to see THAT?! :)

The Cabin

I am really wishing that I had taken more pictures during our trip but especially of this cabin we stayed in while at Bear Lake. There were seven of the ten Roylance kids with their families that stayed here - it was massive!
It is hard to tell from the outside but it was three-stories with a gorgeous view of the mountains and lake behind it. The garage held 6 cars (I think) and then a pretty big driveway to hold even more. The first floor had a great master bedroom with a private bath, a kitchen/eating area, a living area, a smaller bedroom and a laundry room. The second floor (down) had more bedrooms (not sure how many) and bathrooms, a living area and a nice view of the recreation room downstairs. Yes, I said recreation room. The third floor (very bottom) had a rec room with a small basketball court, a trampoline, a "putting green" and a playground! It also had more bedrooms and bathrooms, another living area and a movie theater room!! We were loving this place! We just let the kids play and hardly had to worry about them - with all the cousins that were there we very rarely saw them while we were at the cabin!
It was 9000 sq ft of fun!

Today, we spent time at the lake for the bulk of the day and then we had our fun girls' party that night. These parties are always so much fun and it always feels like Christmas because we leave with so much great stuff! I love it when I can be around for them!

The Foot Game

I realize this shot is extremely blurry but it was an action shot so I couldn't really help it. :)

This is John (in back) and his brother Joseph trying to step on each others feet while being the last two in the Foot Game. I have never played this game until tonight. It is a Roylance family classic game and pretty fun to play but even more fun to watch!

We made it to Bear Lake today for the start of the Roylance family reunion (although, this part is not officially part of the reunion) and we were shocked with how gorgeous our "cabin" was when we arrived. We had no idea what to expect so we were definitely surprised!

I will post a picture tomorrow...

Sparklers with the Birds!

We always find fun things to do with the Birds!

Aimee had the idea to do sparklers and glow sticks in the dark with the kids and they had a blast! I think this may have been Riya's first experience with sparklers and she wasn't scared at all! Emma kept trying to grab the sparkling part so I got to help her not get burned. :)

Fun idea and even more fun to share it with cousins!

Vacation Time!

Today we left for our vacation to Utah/Wyoming to visit family - some of which we haven't seen for 2 years!

One thing that is always awesome about our trips out west is the very entertaining view on the GPS.

Once we get on I-80, this is pretty much what it looks like the whole way - just a straight, boring line....

At the end of the boring line is always a ton of fun so it makes it more bearable. :)

He's BACK!

Today was such a happy day because we got to pick Jayden up from the airport after being gone for 6 weeks!! It was a LONG 6 weeks without my Jay-man!!
I took advantage of the trip to Indianapolis and decided to check out one of the malls - it was pretty fancy and it had some great stores. One of my new favs is Forever21 so, naturally, I had to make a stop. Jayden and Riya decided to be mannequins while I was shopping. The angle of the picture might be bad but if you can't tell, they both have purses on their shoulders and Jayden is purposely not looking at the camera because he was posing. :) Riya was a little more shy but still wanted to participate.
What goofy kids I have!!

Sleeping Beauty

This picture is dark but I couldn't turn a light on and disturb the sleeping beauty. John and I think it is so funny that Emma sleeps like this. She usually starts out on her back but once she's asleep, she almost always ends up on her tummy with her legs tucked under her and her bottom in the air while sucking on her fingers.
This picture is pretty funny because it looks like her baby is trying to sleep like her too. :)

(Excuse the lack of clothing - I promise I do dress my children.)

Movie Night

With Jayden being gone and John going to one of his monthly LAN parties, we had a Girls' Movie Night tonight instead of our usual Family Movie Night. We have a coffee table (John thinks we should call it a "hot chocolate table" but it doesn't flow quite as well. :) ) in our living room now so we put towels over the top, our usual blanket on the floor behind the girls and ate pizza while watching our movie.

Riya was very in to the movie at this point and she just looked cute trying to keep her greasy fingers from touching anything. :)

Fun night with my girls!

Mall Rides

Riya finally got to go on the rides at the mall today. We went to the grocery store to pick up some things and the mall just happens to be right across the street so she and Emma got to ride THREE rides. She was in heaven - until it was over and she wanted more. She took it like a big girl though and didn't fuss. This was the final ride so Emma got to drive and this is the kind of driver she is - she saw me taking pictures so she stood up. Awesome. :)

Notice the person standing in the background looking oh-so-cool? That would be my brother Steve. He stopped by for a few days on his way back up to Canada. Riya could hardly stand that she got 2 visits from 2 uncles this week!

What a good sport he is to come along while I indulged my girls.

He was just sad he couldn't fit on the rides. :)

Flies

Part of this "country" living that we are having to grow accustomed to is the increase of bugs. Before we moved here, Riya was terrified of any kind of bug - now, she still doesn't like them but she'll deal with them better. It seems that whenever we open an outside door, a fly will come in. We had several a few days ago just flying and buzzing around - driving us CRAZY!

This little guy (look closely on the stem of the lamp) was buzzing around and knocking himself into the light. Then he'd take a break on the stem and go at it again. What a weird-o. :)

In the words of Riya, "Shoo fly, don't bother me 'cause I belong to somebody!"
(That's what you have to say to make them go away, or so she tells us... let the singing continue!)

Wal-Mart to the Rescue

Riya brought out her piggy bank and emptied it out, put the money in a sock and asked if we could go to the mall. Huh? Then she elaborated that she wanted to go for the electronic rides. I didn't see this in our day today so I kept telling her that we might go after we go get groceries. I kept putting emphasis on the MIGHT.
Well - we never got around to getting groceries and she was heartbroken. I told her we'd go tomorrow. Nope - she wasn't having it. I even offered her all sorts of other awesome deals - she wouldn't have those either. So, I got the idea that we could run to Wal-Mart and I could grab milk (to last until tomorrow) and she and Ems could ride on the rides in their play zone (which she always begs to do but I always say no). She was so stinkin' excited, her tears instantly turned to giggles!
Here she is driving the fire engine with Emma in the back pushing buttons and checking out the dog that was stuck to the truck. I took lots of pics but this was the only decent one - they were moving so they turned out blurry. Boo to my camera for that.

In other news - John's sister Sarah and her family are officially moved out here! Well, sort of. Her husband came down with his brother and all of their possessions and they got here last night. After unloading the truck, they realized the air conditioner in the house wasn't working so we got some over night visitors. We love to have company so it was great! Riya loved that her "uncle" (as she kept referring to him - not by his name) and "his brother" were coming and staying with us.

Our Silly Girls

Lately, Emma thinks it's hilarious to lick John and I on the cheek. She also likes to nibble on my cheekbone or my jaw when I'm not expecting it. I will usually say, "Nooooo!" in a high pitched voice and act like I can't get her to stop and she giggles and keeps trying. She's so silly sometimes!

Today, during one of these very wet attacks on my cheek, Riya decided to try it on my other cheek. I decided to grab my camera and snap some action shots with my free hand (Emma lost interest once Riya joined in). I love this picture because it captures how hard she was laughing and she had no idea that I was taking her picture until after she heard the click. Perfect, candid moment. Look at that giant smile!

A Sunday Walk

After dinner today, we decided to go for a walk on the shoulder-less road that we live on. We walked down to our new church building and then turned back for home. When we got to the church, this is what the girls looked like. Perfect. John and I got some good talking in on the way back - the kind like when we were engaged/first married. We love it when we get to talk like that - just endless conversations. We almost always learn fun little tidbits of things we didn't know about each other. It's funny how you can think you know someone so well but then you find out there is so much you don't know.
I love it. I love him. I love those cute little sleeping girls.
I love (and miss terribly) my little Jayden. 10 days left (we hope)!

Fun Playtime

Today we got to have Riya's favorite little boy from church come over to play! She likes Dallin so much that she is often really sad when we have to leave after church and she has to tell him bye. It is really cute!
We had so much fun with him! Emma and Dallin played in the pirate ship for quite awhile together while Riya and I kicked their new giant bouncy ball around in the backyard. There were lots of smiles and giggles today - and some cute little dances!

Braids

I often find myself mindlessly braiding my hair while John and I watch a movie or show (currently, our obsession is LOST). I found a cute way to braid on a blog and I decided to try it without brushing my hair or using a mirror (translation = very sloppily done) and this is how it turned out.
Ideally, the braids (especially the top one) would be more sideways and more even and the bun would be more messy.
Oh well - not bad for having my concentration on the plane wrecked survivors trying to stay alive on a crazy island. :)

Fire Pit in Action

Tonight, we decided to try out our fire pit by roasting some marshmallows and making s'mores! YUM! We had a lot of fun and while this isn't the best picture, it gives the general idea of the night. John constantly working on the fire, Emma wanting to get off the chair and get closer to the fire or on the deck and Riya being mostly hypnotized by the fire (as was I).
We loved it!
The s'mores were yummy, too! :)

Fire Pit

I have wanted a fire pit for so long and now we actually have a great place for it so I've been looking for good prices on them. Today, while at Target, I found a ton of great deals and this was one of them! It was 50% off because it was the floor model and it was the last one in the store. Um - we'll take it!

This is the picture I took to ask John if he thought we should get it. Technology makes shopping so much easier when I need John's opinion. :)

Garage Progress

I was super motivated today to get into the garage and just put things in the rooms where they belonged. We have just been getting things out as we need them but this wasn't working for me anymore. Too bad there isn't a before picture but let's just say that we couldn't see much of the garage floor before today. We can ALMOST fit John's car in there now. My goal before we leave for vacation is to have his car in there.

Sigh.

How long can I use the excuse that "we just moved"?

The Fourth of July

(Sorry, John - I had to use this picture.)

We had a great time this year celebrating Independence Day! I forgot to mention that we went to a fun Ward activity on Saturday, fireworks yesterday (Sunday) and then today we had a great cookout with more friends!

We were too busy talking and eating to get very many pictures (dang it!) but I managed to get three pictures of the whole day. John thinks he looks funny here but I think it's fine. This picture captures the day better than the other two do.

This is about how excited Emma was about the fireworks. They scare her a bit. She plopped down on John's lap and got her hands in their usual positions and cautiously looked up as they were going off - ever so slightly flinching from the sound. John is squinting a little too because it was still pretty light outside during the fireworks. Too bad the sun decides to become a night owl in the summer - it makes for really late firework shows!

We drove home to the sounds and sights of fireworks going off everywhere around us - it was great!

I hope you had a great time celebrating our independence as well! Happy 4th!

Scary!

We were invited to come watch some fireworks with some friends tonight and they were so great! The girls were not wanting to settle down for bed when we got back so John decided to tell a silly/scary story. We turned off the lights in their room and he got a tiny flashlight and Riya thought it was awesome! She really liked how the light could light up our noses! :)

How's this for a final image before you fall asleep?

Almost Finished!

These curtains are really driving me crazy. They aren't difficult to do but because I am being so particular in how I want them - they are taking forever.

Somehow, I ended up with enough fabric to do 3.5 panels instead of the 2 that I wanted. I am so very confused about how this happened. I calculated it and then had the lady at the fabric store help me to make sure I did it right and she came to the same number of yards. Oh well - good thing it was clearance fabric with an additional 50% off. Seriously, I paid only $3 a yard for this cute upholstery fabric - I was so excited!

Besides the thin stripes (I wanted them a bit thicker), it was pretty much what I was looking for and the colors look great against the wall color!

Almost finished...

Fireflies

AKA - Lightening Bugs.

Every night, we can look outside and see the magical flickering of these little bugs and it makes us so giddy. John and I feel like kids again while we look around (probably with huge eyes and opened mouths) at these thousands and thousands of Christmas-lights in the fields around our house. That is really what they remind us of - flickering Christmas lights!

Tonight, I tried to capture some on film and they wouldn't show up on the camera from my phone. Bummer. However, I thought some of the images turned out very pretty anyway. Here is a view from our front porch looking northwest.

I really love this "country" living!