First time fishing for the summer

We have been wanting to go fishing, but between Dave's work, and school, and scouts, our free time has been very limited. We finally just decided for a family night to head into American Fork to a community fishing pond. Although its nothing like a real lake, we had fun and caught some fish.

Caden caught him a fish

Briggs wasn't really sure about it.

The kids probably had more fun playing in the water (we didn't notice the no swimming sign until later :)

Kaylee was teaching Caden how to gut the fish. It was funny, Kaylee was gutting her fish, being all gross like she usually is, playing with it, poking its eyes, and flinging around the guts, then Aspen wanted to gut one. She did really good, but she was "EWE, Gross, disgusting, eweee, blood touched me" Type stuff the whole time. A guy that was sitting kinda by us and could hear everything was laughing at how different they are. That explains their personalities. Love them both to pieces!!

The kids with their haul of fish.

Chris Cagel concert

Back in May we went to the Chris Cagel concert and fireworks in Eagle Mountain. The kids- especially the girls had a blast and loved it. Grandma Snyder and Jessica and Haze were nice enough to come with us.

Aspen holding Haze

Aspen and Caden laying with grandma Snyder

Even sometimes Caden can lay nice. (Although it was only for a few seconds. Most of the night he was running around like a mad man - I think he was trying to keep himself awake.)

Kaylee giving Briggs an airplane ride

Kaylee all cuddled in with her horse.

Charlie Jenkins was the opening act and Kaylee got him to sign her ponys halter.

Very handsome hubby!!

Cute apple slice smiles :)

Dad and his boys

All cuddled in- except Kaylee- she fell asleep out of reach.

Briggs finally crashed.

And Kaylee

And Aspen

They all woke up and saw the fireworks and liked them. It was a fun, but late night.

Kaylee jumping Twix

One Saturday Kaylee had watched a movie about a horse learning how to jump, and she got a wild idea to teach Twix how to jump. She found some tires and a piece of wood and made a jump. She started with just leading her over it in a walk, then a trot and after she was good at that she started riding her over it. First she mastered the walk, then a trot and got her jumping it pretty good. She was super excited and did a great job. She would start her clear over at the fence and kick as hard as she could to get her to a trot to jump good. It was super cute!

Not too bad for a little pony!!  :)

Briggs' surgery

Back in May Briggs had to go in for surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids. I took him to the Dr in March for something completely unrelated when they noticed his right tonsil was very enlarged. After a few rounds of antibiotics and seeing an ENT specialist it was decided they needed to be removed and biopsied to rule out any thing serious. We went in early on a Friday morning for the surgery then stayed 1 night so they could observe him and make sure everything went well since he is so young. We went home around noon on Saturday. He did super good and it was good to be able to have Dave there with me and spend time with our little guy.

All ready to be taken back to the OR.

Sorry, these pictures are out of order...

After the surgery, he was pretty sore, trying to get him to eat some yummy slushy.

Didn't take long for him to be back to his normal self.. teasing Dad and biting the spoon and not giving it back after his bites. :)

He LOVED, LOVED, LOVED his time with Dad!!

Being a tease again!

His poor little feet.. all hooked up. He hated them and kept trying to kick them off.

Finally by afternoon he was pretty restless and we went on some walks around the hospital, with IV in place in his foot.

Checking out the fountain.

Couldn't resist myself after a diaper change :)

The nurses were super nice and brought him some crayons and coloring books to keep him entertained.

By night time he was running around and climbing on the furniture, all the while we were chasing him around with his IV bag, trying to not let it get caught on something and ripped out.

Having a few bites of real food.

This was the day after the surgery, doing good at home, catching up on some time with his sister with his new favorite blankie an awesome friend made him and brought over with dinner. THANK YOU!!!

Ready to head back for surgery. He was playing with his dads hat and with the nurses so the scrub nurse went and got him a scrub cap for him to wear. He was pretty much the love of the OR that day. They all loved him. They said they have never seen a kid like him. He never cried. Even when the ornery old anesthesiologist came and took him from us. They had him on the OR table with all these strangers around him and never cried. They gave him the gas and he layed back on them and fell asleep. They were super impressed!

This was right after they brought him out of the OR room. He was a little disoriented and upset until he had his mom and blankies. This was the only time he wanted me. The rest of the whole day and a half stay at the hospital he only wanted dad.

We got the results the following week and everything came back great.He had some cells that showed there had been some infection in there, but they are gone now and he has a clean bill of health, which is a HUGE relief!!  He is such a sweet kid and love him so much!! So glad for all who helped take the other kids so me and dave could be there together for our little man. For peoples thought and prayers and being there for us. We seriously have the best friends and neighbors in the whole world.Thank you!!!

Its official....

It is official, our girls now have middle names legally..  I had been wishing I had given them middle names and Kaylee gave herself hers- telling everyone that she had one , and writing it on all her school work, so I decided to make it legal and stop wishing I did. Its now Kaylee Rae Snyder (my moms middle name is Rae, after her) And Aspen Sue Snyder ( after Daves mom Susan) Glad for my girls to carry on the names of the 2 most amazing women I know!!

Fathers and sons

In May our ward had Fathers and sons so Dave took Caden and Briggs.  They just went up to the basin peice that we always go camping at. It had rained most of the day so he was worried it would be too cold and muddy so they decided to not camp, but just go up for the evening because Dave had to give the fireside. But then the weather cleared and it was really nice so we threw their camping stuff together really quick and they stayed the night. He said the boys had a blast and loved it. Im sure they loved being with just their daddy and sleeping in a tent.  They all slept good and slept in.. when they woke up everyone was gone. no campers in sight. :) Im so glad my kids have such an awesome daddy!!! It was also fun to have a girls night with us at home. I should have taken some pictures, but didnt. We went and played some tennis, then got some treats and stayed up late watching horse movies. Fun night!!

Kaylee's Science project

Back in May Kaylee had to do a science experiment for school. Her and her dad came up with the "Glowing Pickle".  Of course it had to be something cool and  not safe, but I don't complain because I didn't have to do it. :) The science projects are for dad!  What they did was split the electrical cord in half and wrap each end around nails and stick them in opposite sides of a pickle then plug it in. The pickle would then glow and you could see the electricity traveling through it. The pickle would then start smoking and making an awful burnt pickle smell and they thought it was awesome! She just had to be careful the two nails didn't touch, and to get it all set up and back away to plug it in. Well when she was showing the class the teacher didn't read the detailed instructions and plugged the cord in with out Kaylee knowing and she went to stick them in the pickle and the nails got a little close and sparked, scaring her and the class and she dropped them. It would have been funny to see. So she had to explain to the teacher to not plug it in yet to avoid electrocution! She loved it and I'm sure her teacher and class enjoyed the burnt pickle smell all day! Thanks for being such and awesome dad hunny, and getting the 2nd grade class electrocuted!! :-)

Kaylee and dad working on her poster

The glowing pickle

Man, that is so interesting!!

Showing it off at school