The Fire

On Thursday, a lawnmower near Eastlawn Cemetary hit a rock and let off some sparks which caused a huge forest fire on Provo's East Mountain bench. Because it's so hot and dry right now, it really spread up the mountain. Thankfully not into our neighborhood, although, it was pretty close!

You can see Mom and Dad's house in the picture.

Because the fire was so hot, it really started to spread up the mountain. Here is a plane spraying fire retardant chemicals to prevent the fire from coming to the houses.

Chucky Cheese

We've been struggling getting Daniel to sleep lately, so we made a sticker chart where Daniel could earn a trip to Chucky Cheese with a friend. It took him several weeks to finally go to sleep 3 nights in a row without a tantrum or a million excuses, but he finally earned his trip to Chucky Cheese. He was excited to have Cousin Barrett come along.

Aunt Carina and cousin Austin

Daniel had been dreaming for weeks about riding this big truck. Before we started the sticker chart, I walked him through Chucky Cheese and showed him all of the rides, so he would know what he was working towards.

The highlight for Nathan at Chucky Cheese was looking for plates with leftover pizza crusts from other patrons and digging in!

It was a great afternoon.

Cousin Claire's 1st Birthday Party

We had a great time at Cousin Claire's party. The water slide was a hit with the kids.

Crazy cousin Brooke. She's fearless and is a little acrobat!

Cousin Blake

Daniel had the time of his life on the water slide. He probably went down it 100 times!

Sherry's twins Kate and Noah (1 yr old)

Nate had a fun time getting in and out of the baby pool

Not so much fun on the waterslide. Nice try Paka!

Paka didn't know what he was getting himself into when he started sharing birthday cake with Nathan. He throughly LOVES to eat.

The birthday girl Claire

Aunt Linda made ladybug cupcakes

And, boy did Nate enjoy his!

Uncle Jason multi-tasking-- cooking while soothing cousin Jack

The party was a bit more geared towards little kids... but Brooke and Matt were good sports.

Uncle Dane

Uncle Dane came to visit!

A Visit to the Farm at Thanksgiving Point

Daniel was really excited at the idea of riding the ponies, but once he got on, he wasn't so sure he liked it!

They had the cutest little baby foal at the farm which Nate LOVED. Below he kept pointing to it and it was hard to pull him away. He really gets excited about animals.

Daniel had a lot of fun pretending that he was in jail

Slip n' Slide

Daniel had a great time on Mimi's slip n' slide

Utah has been having some really hot weather so this was the perfect way to spend the morning.

Cousin Barrett

Dave's 35th Birthday (June 11th)

Dave opening his big present from Ashley

Clarks Sandals!

Daniel was a big helper

A Daddy Squeeze

Dave's little mini Coldstone cake

Trip to Napa Valley

Mayacamas Ranch in Calastoga. This is where the wedding dinner took place.

Dave and Ashley went to Napa Valley for Dave's friend Michael Mitton's wedding. It took place on a remote hilltop ranch in Calastoga.

The Bride and Groom

The wedding was a mostly traditional jewish wedding, so Dave and Ashley had fun watching all of the traditions.

Where the wedding took place on a hilltop overlooking Napa Valley

A very typical view of Napa Valley

Summer at Memorial Pool

Daniel with his best friend Jonny. They are inseparable these days and he seems to go everywhere we go!

The boys love going to Provo's Memorial Pool. They built this kid pool a few years ago and it is perfect for Daniel and Nathan. It's shallow and they love to run in the fountains and go down the slides. Plus, there's lots of lifeguards to help Ashley watch the kids!

Nate really enjoys walking around the pool and checking out the scenery. Just after we took this picture, Nate lost one of his shoes, so we spend the rest of the day walking around the pool until we found it.

Daniel

Hike to Bridal Veil Falls

We've been having beautiful weather lately in Utah so Ashley decided to take the boys on a little hike in Provo Canyon.

The Provo River

Nathan wanted to walk along to trail too. Ashley had to bribe him with treats to keep him in his stroller (at least part of the time). He is one active little boy!

The boys had so much run throwing pebbles into a stream, looking at creatures like dragon flies caterpillars and red spiders in HUGE webs.

Memorial Day

Nate loves playing with balls and had a great time at Grandma Jensen's & Paka's house

Dave's older sister Linda with her 1 yr. old baby Claire

Daniel's cousins Jack and Blake giving their baby sister a kiss

"Daddy Dave" as Daniel calls him these days

Daniel

Cousin Brooke almost 3 yrs. old

Cousin Blake 6 yrs.

Daniel was enjoying taunting Nate by sitting on the ball, instead of giving it to him. Don't you just love big brothers!

An attempt at taking a picture of Ashley with the boys. This picture kind of illustrates our life right now-- the boys don't sit still and Ashley is always chasing after them.

Daniel just loves playing with his cousins.