Pumpkin Patch

I took the girls to a pumpkin patch this year and my friend Ashley took some cute pictures while we were there. I'm so in love with them that I had to post them. Thanks Ash!

New Blogs

A while back (a LONG while back) I took a break from posting on my craft blog. I've started the blog up again but with a new angle and a new name. It's called "The Best Me". The link is http://thebestmethaticanbe.blogspot.com/. (*If you were an author or followed along with "not so crafty crafts" please note that that blog doesn't exist anymore. But I may be coming to you asking for you to guest post on this one. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the old blog. I hope you like the new one too.*)

It's for the women out there who are mothers, wives, and homemakers that want to be the best they can be at all three. I want to show you that you don't have to be perfect to be the best you. All you can do is accept you as you and try everyday to improve.


Also, my cousin has started a blog all about cooking and meal planning. I think you'll find it helpful and I know you'll find amazing recipes. Go HERE to start planning!

New Water Park In Town

A new park just opened up in Rifle. I'm not sure what the correct terminology is for parks like this one so I'll just call it a splash park. It's the kind with the water that shoots out of the ground. Pretty big stuff for Rifle. We're movin' up in the world! It was pretty hot last week so I took the girls for some free entertainment. Ava, as much as she loves water and swimming, is not a fan of being splashed so she didn't love the park like I hoped she would. Maybe by next year she'll be ready for it.

There was supposed to be a picture of Sadie with a little boy in his undies next but it didn't post for some reason and I'm too lazy to try and fix it. But just so you know it was cute!

And on a personal note my Father-in-Law, the best Father-in-Law in the world (seriously it's true), is getting a Kidney transplant tomorrow (Tuesday). We are praying for him and for Charlene (his amazing donor!) and hope that everything goes well.

Isn't he the cutest cowboy?!!

Catch A Wave And You're Sitting On Top Of The World

Do you know that song?

Beach Boys.

The song really has nothing to do with my post, I'm just annoyed that I can't stop singing it in my head. We went to a birthday party last night for the girls's cousin and one the the amusement area's was called Catch A Wave. I haven't stopped singing that song in my head since.

I was so proud of Ava for going down this slide without any hesitation at all so I had to put some pictures for you all to see. The stairs up to the top were really steep and quit high. They continue up under the sign even.

When Ava got to the bottom of the slide the first time she said " Whoa. I want to do that again!"

The also had a smaller bounce area for kids so that's where Sadie spent most of her time.

Of course, tokens came with the birthday party so there were rides too.

And although Sadie never went down the slide, she had plenty of fun playing at the bottom. Happy Birthday Roman. Thanks for the awesome birthday party!

**As a side note. I frequent a blog called "Adopt A 'Do" hairstyles for girls. I get some of my cutest and best ideas from this site. I've been wanting to get a topsytail (remember those contraptions) for a while now but haven't so I've just been doing it by hand. Not as easy, and not as pretty. This website though gave a brilliant idea. Make your own out of wire or a pipe cleaner. So I did. And it works perfect. **

Monday Night = Family Night

It's FHE night!

For all you non-mormon bloggers out there this is our Family Home Evening night. One day a week (usually monday) set aside for families to be at home spending time together without interruption from phones, computers, sports, etc. This is what we did for our family night:

We sang "I am a child of God", talked about how we are all His children, and then had a s'more party! If you can't have a s'more party in your backyard around a campfire, why live in the country? Right?
Ava loves the marshmallows and the roasting part, but never really eats more than a bite or two of the actual s'more.

Sadie was more than happy to eat Ava's leftovers. And they were both happy to give their s'mores to the dog.

Happy Family Night!

Giveaway

One of my favorite Seamstresses is having a giveaway on her blog. Check it out and leave a comment to enter here: modernmyrtle.blogspot.com

Girls & Dolls

It never ceases to amaze me how naturally girls come by the "mothering instinct." Ava is no expection to that rule. From the first doll she ever got (thanks Sally) she has loved and nurtured her dolls just like a mom would. We have TONS!
Anyway, we've also had a lot of pregnancies and babies in our family and among our friends. There have been a lot of times where I've said to Ava "Remember how "such and such" had a baby in her tummy? Well now the baby is out."
So the other day Ava hikes up her stretch pants and says to me "Mom, I have a baby in my tummy!" Of course I respond with the appropriate "you do!" And then she reaches in her pants, pulls her hand out and says "Here's my baby!" Oh, if only it were that easy! She then preceeded to hand me her the baby ever so carefully telling me "she's so tiny". I of course had to ask if the baby had a name. And she did. "Charlie" she says to me. (The name of her second newest cousin.) I love how these kids think and play and use their imaginations. Someday when Ava is old enough to understand the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?", I hope she responds exactly like I always did: "A mommy."

PJ's and Hair

I gave Sadie a haircut yesterday. She was getting to an awkward length and I thought a little bob might be cute. Turns out I was right.

With the guidance of my sister Sally I was even able to fix her horrible bang problem.....at least I kind of fixed it. They are better than they were. Before they were straight across and now they kind of angle down to blend in with her hair.

And just for fun here's a picture of Ava's crazy long hair. And she's had a few cuts along the way.

And this is how much shorter it looks dry because of the natural curl. So cute! I wish it was my hair.

This is before the bang fix so you can kind of see how her bangs cut straight across her head. And just as a side note, because I think their jammies are so cute, I just want to say that The Children's Place has the cutest one piece PJ's for kids. My girls have several pairs each and I highly recommend them.

Baby Ezra & More

For those of you who know my brother Keith, he and his wife Natalie just had their baby a few days ago. To see pictures of baby Ezra (named after my dad) click on KEITH'S BLOG. He's had a few health issues but he's recovering well and should be going home at the end of the week.

And just for fun here are som cute pictures of the girls playing on the trampoline. Sadie can't jump yet but she is finally good enough at walking to run around on it with Ava and they have a blast.

Island Park, ID

A few weeks ago we took a Shideler Family Vacation in Island Park. Several of Chris's brothers and his sister were there along with his parents. It was a week long vacation and I'm happy to say that as fas as I know, no one wanted to kill anyone by the end! We stayed in a a really great place right on a reservoir with our own private boat dock. Here's a few pictures from the vacation. The boat was borrowed and not fully functioning but we still got in a few fun rides for some of the kids.

There were a few rafts there as well. I took Ava out with me in one and was lucky to make it back to the dock. I am NOT good at rowing!

Chris behind the boat. Unfortunately it didn't go fast enough to be too crazy, but the few who rode on the tube still had fun.

Because the boat wouldn't go fast, Chris tried standing up to make it more exciting.

Ava and I after I finally made it back to shore. Funny story: about two minutes after this picture was taken as I was getting out of the raft, it started drifting away without me knowing and when I stepped out I stepped into the lake instead of the dock.....that was fun. :)

Sadie playing on the shore. She didn't have a life jacket so I didn't ever take her on the lake. She had plenty of fun playing in the dirt and rocks.

We went on a four wheeler ride one day with a big group of us. We drove to the top of a mtn called Sawtelle (something like that).

This is most of the group.

Halfway up the mountain it stated to get cold and windy. Ava got so cold that Chris took his shirt off and gave it to Ava so she wouldn't freeze. Also, check out my hair! That's how windy it was.

We took one day to go to Yellowstone and of course the main event was Old Faithful.

I just like this picture of me and my sweetie. We were waiting for the geyser to go off.

And there it is. Lasted about a minute (more or less) and was done.

The day before we left we got a chance to visit with our friends the Roberts. We see them about once a year but it's always fun.

And this is how the trip ended. Pooped girls and a LONG ride home!

The End.