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June. Birthday, Beach, and Zoo

2015-12-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

In the middle of June we went on a weekend trip to the Oregon Coast and we stopped at the Zoo in Portland on our way home. My whole family went. Growing up we went to the Beach almost every summer. We have a lot of fun memories there.

Weston's first time touching the Ocean. Too bad its always freezing water there.

We had a fire on the beach one night and roasted marshmallows.

The little radio Raegan has on her hip was a big hit. We had them in the cars to communicate when we were traveling and Raegan had a trucker nickname for everyone. haha

We were lucky and had nice weather. We played in the water some, build sand castles, flew kits and we rented these large tricycle paddle boats!

When we were little we loved going to the Arcade and playing the games. We were reliving our childhood memories a bit.

The Portland Zoo we a little overrated. A quarter of the cages were empty and than a quarter of what was left was asleep back in the far corner of their cage so you could barely see anything. The kids loved it though. That was the first time going to the Zoo for my kids. The giraffes were the favorite of the day. I think it was mostly because they were the only ones really up and moving.

On the 22nd this handsome guy had a birthday. He really is an amazing dad and husband. We love his tons! We had pizza and cake and incited family and some friends over and played Volleyball in my parents back yard. Always a good time.

My parents took just us out to dinner for John's birthday. It's a new tradition they are starting. After we were stuffed full we saw the dessert menu and saw that they had Baked Alaska on their menu. If you haven't tried these before, you must! It's SO delicious!!! We had it on one of the cruises we've been on before and feel in love with how yummy it is! Glad there is somewhere in Tri Cities that makes it as well!

On the River

2015-10-08T16:30:00.004-06:00

We have spent a lot of time this summer on the River and I wouldn't change a thing. My parents live right next to the river we go jet skiing on. Their neighbors own a dock that they let us use. So it has been very convenient. Usually some one crashes before the party is over. It was almost 8pm in this picture. I seriously love how light it stays in the summer time. Bed time around here is optional in the summer!

One time while down along the river. Mylee (Luke and Alison's dog) scared up a deer and her fawn. The baby got left behind. She has to be a day old if that. Seriously the cutest thing ever! We wanted to take her home with us. ...but we didn't!

We've also done some fishing on the river this summer. Thanks to our friends (Mindy and Mikal) for inviting us along. We seem to enjoy it and when the fishing is bad, we just eat snacks and play! We have made some good memories on the river this summer!

Weston is an excellent sleeper. and Kynleigh loves the wind blowing through her hair. Silly girl! haha

Weston Strong

2015-10-08T16:15:00.000-06:00

5 Months 6.7.15

Weston's first time with baby food was a success! The kid lives to eat! At 5 1/2 months he still had no teeth, was starting to sit up and was sleeping 8 hours straight.

Weston is a belly sleeper. They are the cutest! As soon as he could roll over, he was on his belly.

Cool dude for sure! haha

John loves holding the kids like this. They make quite a team!

Weston is lucky he has two big sisters who love him!

6.28.15

He is the best baby I've had yet! He is always so smiley and laughing. He is very ticklish and has the cutest laugh. We are sure lucky to have in our family! He definitely helps make our home a Happy home!

Fishing

2015-08-14T17:40:00.004-06:00

Sometimes when we go fishing, we take our vicious taco dog! ha!

The girls seem to really love fishing. We've been able to go quite a bit this summer.

Morgan caught this picture of my little family out fishing.

So I copied and captured this one of John. I love these two pictures.

Morgan joins us sometimes too.

Raegan has "caught" fish before, but usually someone else hooks it and she will reel it in. But here, she cast her pole, hooked a fish and reeled it in all by herself. She even help take him off the hook. So proud of this little fisherman!

Rides

2015-08-14T17:19:00.000-06:00

Have I ever told anyone, I'm a thrill seeker?! Because I totally am! I love love love ridding bikes and doing anything that pushes the danger limit...John sometimes doesn't like it because I scare him. We have had such a hot summer that we haven't rode much at all, but earlier summer and spring we got to go and I'm excited for it to cool off so we can go some more!

I love that my sisters, sister in laws and my awesome friend Aubrey all love to go riding too! It always better when there is other girls there! #dirtygirls for life! hahaha I've always wanted to be in a gang ;) well now I can say I am. Its a long story, but that is our biker name!

Luke Bryan Concert

2015-08-14T17:11:00.002-06:00

Talk about the BEST concert EVER! Luke Bryan is such a great entertainer and he is definitely easy on the eyes! ha! Going to concerts with my mom and sisters in our new thing! and I LOVE it! We always have a good time. The concerts we've gone to are normally up in Spokane, so we go up early that day, shop, eat out and than go to the concert! Fun girls trip for sure!

Pretty sure he was shaking it for me in this picture...just don't tell John! ;) haha Glad we brought the binoculars so we could glass him! ha!

Spring time thus far....

2015-05-13T16:59:00.000-06:00

I love the springs in Washington! They are the perfect weather. Occasionally we will get a nasty wind or rain storm but for the most part its sunny and enjoyable to be outside.

Our spring thus far have consisted of.....

-Visiting dad at work, taking him lunch or lending a hand whenever he needs

-Helping Papa around the farm

-walks, lots and lots of walks! Have I ever mentioned that Washington has the prettiest sunsets.

-Pedal bike rides. She loves her new bike. (She outgrew the old handy-me down one, so we had to upgrade)

-Jeep rides

-Baby Animals...Meet our ducks; Apple, Pearl, Quacker and Jingle bell, sadly Jingle bell is no longer with us. ha! Raegan had a tough time coming to terms with his death. I think it was her first real experience and was so confused about it.

-Playing with the ducks (They only came inside once, when we first got them. They fit perfectly in the horse barn and fence. haha)

-Crafting. (new shelf)

-Sunglasses, because the sun is out! Hooray!

Kynleigh chooses to wear her glasses upside down-not sure why!

-nature hikes by the River at Grandma's.

-Golfing

-exploring Ringold

-helping with Karigan's wedding. I never got a picture of the Candy buffet with the jars filled.

-Fishing trips

-playing with worms and dads neat hooks since the fishing was bad.

-Swimming at the Woodward's pool. Weston's First swim

-Game nights with friends

-Camping. Weston's first camping trip, I think he loved it ;)

.... I know they did

-Campfire and s'mores

-Exploring the Mountains

-More fishing

-Smiles

-Lots and lots of smiles!

-Sprinklers under the tramp

-Prom. The girls loved helping Morgan get ready for her Prom date! They look up to her a lot!

-Eating out with grandpa

-More walks + Sleeping baby = Happy Mom!

-Playing at Grandma and Papa's

-Pedal bike rides on all that concrete dad and uncle Luke poured

-Visiting our neighbors new pony

-Pony rides

We have had one fun, busy spring and we are still enjoying every minute of it!

Easter

2015-05-13T14:01:00.000-06:00

Easter this year was really fun with this crazy bunch! We made our traditional Easter Nest the night before and when the girls woke up they were so excited to see what was inside. Raegan was especially excited to see what was in-store for her!

We dyed Easter eggs, which I don't know if it's more of a hassle or more fun but the girls sure loved it. It's all about the memories, right?! At least that is what I keep telling myself. haha! Some how John and Raegan end up eating more than we save.

Reese and Crystal threw the Edler Easter egg hunt this year. It was a cold day, but we made the best of it. We had great food, great company and tons of candy! The kids were in Heaven! Raegan knew exactly what to do this year and didn't skip an egg...as for Kynleigh she picked up a couple and opened them up, ate the candy than picked a couple more, shoved more candy in here mouth and continued getting faster and faster with the process as she was stuffing and grabbing! Weston's First Easter! He enjoyed being bundled up and past around as every oohed over him! Such a cutie!

Easter feel on General Conference Sunday so we never got to wear our Easter outfits, so the following Sunday all I wanted was one adorable family picture... Well life with 3 kids happened and I don't get much of what I want anymore ;) John had a church meeting that morning he had to be too and so I was left to try and get a picture. What might seem like success, is merely luck.

...5 minutes later all 3 were crying for NO reason what so ever! AHH!! I almost turned around and stayed home from church! But we all survived and they looked adorable!

Weston

2015-05-07T10:19:00.001-06:00

Weston has just been such a joy to have! He is my best baby yet! He is just so cuddly and content to just hang out. There was probably 3 weeks within the first 6 weeks of his life that he was super fussy, but he out grew it and has been such a good boy since!

Here are some proud grandparents. Weston is the first Grandson on the Anderson side and his is like grandchild number #38 on the Strong side.

John just adores him. Weston as 1 week.

Here he is exactly one month old! They grow so fast. So when he was born he had a bit of a kinked neck (must of been too squished in my tummy) and because of it every time he did tummy time, he would roll over. So since about 4 weeks old, he has been rolling over. At 3 months his neck started getting more relaxed and the rolling over has slowed down. He will still occasionally roll over though.

His first Sunday to Church. 4 weeks!

Weston started smiling at about 5 weeks and hasn't stopped since! This is one of his first smiles caught on camera!

We blessed Weston on March 1, 2015. John did a fantastic job. I just love baby blessing and the spirit and love that comes with them. I'm so proud of John! Weston was a champ too, he slept through it all and the rest of sacrament meeting as well. Double bonus!

I was so nervous that his blessing outfit wasn't going to fit him. I bought the newborn size thinking he would be smaller than he was, like the girls. At two months he was already 12.6 lbs and growing. Good thing this outfit was stretchy. The little sweater outfit is to die for! He looked so handsome in it!

I'm pretty sure I have the cutest baby boy ever! ;) I just love those squishy checks!

Here is our attempt at a family photo for that day. It was cold outside so we had to resort to our next best spot in the house. I can't believe there are 5 of us now!

January & February

2015-05-06T20:28:00.002-06:00

At the beginning of January we got our only snowfall for the year. Pretty sad, but we took advantage of it! Our family loves the snow and all the activities it brings. It was a Sunday when it snowed so when we got home from church, the snow was starting to melt. We played in it for as long as we could that day. The girls made a snowman and we played on the little sleds and than John got the bright idea to pull the girls with the lawn mower! hahaha We didn't have the 4 wheeler at our house so we went to our next best thing. They seemed to enjoy it!

Here is Raegan. It's a flash back to the early 1990's. The was my Polaris snowmobile coat from when I was a little girl. Her and I joined in on a 4 wheeler/dirt bike ride and it was freezing out. I think the ride helped with Weston being born two days later. ;)

The girls LOVE bathing in grandma's new bath tub. I think they use it the most!

Oh Kynleigh girl! She is our little daredevil who is always trying to make us laugh. She can hold the most funniest faces for the longest time trying to get us to crack! She is a hoot! I told Kynleigh it was time to go run errands and she came out of the house with butterfly wings, a pedal bike helmet and a leash, ready to go! ....She kepts it on for almost an hour till I made her take it off.

For some reason this girl loves the bouncer and Weston's binky. The little stinker never took a binky when she was a baby, now she thinks it's funny to suck on it and pretend she is the baby again.

Kynleigh has become quiete the artist. She learned a while ago to draw hearts. Well, she found some lipstick and away she went with her art! I walked into the room and she was so proud, "MOM, Look hearts!" How could I not be proud of her! ;)

John helped level Mom and Dads new yard. The girls enjoyed riding along with him.

Weston's first tractor ride! I'm pretty sure he loved it...He slept the whole time. haha

Raegan has really matured since Weston has joined our family. She is a good big sister and helps out a lot. She is a very tough and a stubborn little girl, she is also sensitive at the same time. She loves her animals just as much as she loves her thumb ;)

Her and Kynleigh play really well together probably 85% of the time. I'm glad they have each other.

Here is Eleanor and Weston. I'm so happy they are the same age. They will be good little buddies. She is 2 and a half month older than Weston. I think he is about 2 weeks old in this picture.

We are totally guilty of jumping on the Seahawk band wagon...how could we not! We had a fun Super bowl, even though they lost.

Grandpa got a little excited with the kids attire. :)

He just look like a cute little dude! I love this little boy!

A trip to our other Home!

2015-04-23T15:28:00.002-06:00

For valentines weekend we went down to Driggs for about a week. We had a blast! I think it has been my favorite trip back to visit yet! We really enjoy it there and wish it wasn’t so far away. This was Weston's first trip to Idaho. He is almost 6 weeks here.

We got there late at night and the next morning my girls ran outside to play in the snow. Kynleigh layed down and started making a snow angel. Funny girl. The snow was awful for this time of year there. Usually there is 2 feet, but as you can see it was pretty spotty. Lots had melted. This is was not normal for a February there.

Luckily the mountains still had lots of snow to enjoy cause we spend a lot of time there! My awesome friend Jessica taught Raegan to ski. She was a natural and loved it!

Here is Raegan, Whitley and Craig Calderwood. The reason I think Raegan did so good was the fact that her best friend (Whitley) ski's and Raegan wanted to keep up with her. It was so much fun watching them ski together.

Kynleigh was itching to learn but we didn't let her the first day we went up. I so wish I would of taken more advantage of the ski hill when we lived in Driggs. It is so close and I only went a few times a year. I'm pretty sure if I lived there I would try to go every week :) Kynleigh wanted to run off the magic carpet instead of stay still and ride it up the bunny hill. (notice Weston in the sling I am wearing)

Weston got to join in on the action too. The weather was so nice. it was in the 40's but since the sun was out it felt like 60 degrees... perfect ski weather!

These pictures were from the second day we went up. Raegan still was loving it, we forgot her snow pants down at Grandma's so she went without since it was a warmer day. Kynleigh finally got a turn at the hill. She was surprisingly good. We never let her go down by her self like Raegan, but she sure enjoyed it!

Look at that face! Pure joy and excitement. Little daredevil!

It wouldn't be a fun time in Idaho with out a sledding party.

This picture brings back so many old but good memories of snowmobiling in College with these two. (John and Chantz) Those were the days!

I'm glad that we are able to keep our sledding party tradition alive with Scott and Crystal.

Weston enjoyed sledding too.

Did I mention that I got to go snowboarding one day and John took care of the kids. (what a great husband) I loved every second of it. I was so worried I wouldn't remember how to snowboard, since it had been a couple years, but luckily it came back to me! Jessica and I took ski bus in college together. We have an exact picture like this from back in 2008

John spotted a herd of Elk next to the airport in Driggs. There were so many.

Grandma Strong was loving on Weston. We were glad we got to go visit.

This little kiddos (minus Craig) played so much. They all got along really well too. We also got to go swimming over in Jackson with Calderwood's and Hansen's.

We also got to visit the Lemieux's. Paige had just had her little guy a week before we came to visit. Here is a picture of Weston and Steele together. John will often say randomly, it's too bad we don't live in Idaho,Steele and Weston would be best friends. haha! They are 4 weeks apart. They can still be best buds and not live in the same state! :)

Here is London, Scarlette, Raegan and Kynleigh.

We hope to go back and visit soon!

Weston John Strong

2015-04-15T16:31:00.000-06:00

Weston John Strong was born January 7, 2015

The afternoon before he was born (Jan. 6^th) I had a doctor’s appointment and I asked my Doctor to strip my membrane. She told me she couldn’t because I was not yet 39 weeks. I explained to her that I had been having contractions for a few hours a time that was 10 to 15 minutes between each contraction…nothing ever got closer than that. At this appointment I was dilated to a 4cm and was 80% effaced. Since I was going to be 39 weeks in just a few days and already so far dilated, she gave in and striped my membranes. After that appointment I went home and my mom said she was going to keep the kids that night, just in case! It was a good thing she did! That evening I went into this deep cleaning frenzying. I pulled out couched and vacuumed behind them and also the window sills. I then got on the treadmill and walked a mile and half. After I got off the treadmill my contractions started. There were 5 minutes apart. I made dinner for John and I, we had Waffles and bacon (yummy). After dinner I told John my contractions were 5 minutes apart. He was convinced the baby was coming out right that minute! HA! I told him it wasn’t going to happen that fast. I wait about an hour than we headed to the hospital. We decided not to tell me family or anyone that we were headed to the hospital. It was 9pm at this point. We got to the hospital, they hooked me to their machines to count my contractions. They made me wait for 2 hours with contractions ever 4-5 minutes apart. They were stronger at this point. The reason they told me they couldn’t admit me was due to the fact that I wasn’t 39 weeks yet and that this was their procedure. LAME! (Idaho falls hospital never did this) Finally, after what seemed like forever, they admitted me and I had them give me an epidural right away. I didn’t want the same thing to happen like it did with Kynleigh. If you’re paying for an epidural, might as well get to enjoy the benefits of it. The nurse came in at one point and I was only at 7cm. She had me roll to my other side and before she left the room and I told her I felt like I needed to push…The baby was coming… So she came back and checked me and I was at a 10cm. She told me not to push as she went to call for the doctor. Luckily he was in the Hospital still. The Doctor came in and after 3 short painful pushes, Weston was born! He came out healthy and strong and with some good lungs. He was born at 2:39am weighing 7lbs. 9oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. My heart was so happy. It was an instant love for this baby! There is no greater feeling than bringing a child into this life and we feel so truly blessed that we have been able to experience this 3 times. I sure love my little children! They make my heart so full!

Raegan and Kynleigh's first time seeing their brother. They both were SO happy

Papa and Grandma's first visit.

For the first couple months after having Weston, Raegan insisted on bringing her baby and carrier EVERYWHERE we went. It was really sweet. She is a great big sister.

Probably won't be his last time playing babies with his sisters. haha

This picture makes me SO happy!

About ready to leave the hospital and go home for the first time as a family of 5!

This picture is my favorite. Caught right in the middle of a yawn. He is oh so sweet!

Christmas 2014

2015-04-15T14:01:00.000-06:00

Remember when its April and I'm just barely catching up on the blog, once again! :/

Christmas was very quite this year. No big trips, no

huge family planned activities, just a peaceful morning with our little family celebrating the birth of our Savior.

The Girls were good help this year when it came to decorating the tree. A majority of the ornaments were on the bottom half!

Raegan thought it was pretty neat that she was able to put the star on this year!

We had our traditional "Edler girls" candy making party! I look forward to this every year! Thanks for starting this tradition Aunt Janet. I've learn lots of new things and the candies are always SO yummy

I wish Bree lived closer to us. Her and Kynleigh would be best-est of friends. Maybe one day they will! :)

Gingerbread making was a success. But note to self; when Kynleigh leaves and is unusually quite, that means she has found my make up, my poor "Naked" pallet (eye shadow) will never be the same! She sure is cute though!

The girls loved painting homemade ornaments too.

Raegan wouldn't even get close to Santa at our ward Christmas party, so to think Kynleigh would, was a shot in the dark! haha Santa Fail! (These are the best pictures though!)

This somehow is the only picture I have of the girls on Christmas (I have video). I don't know if I forgot to take pictures of them opening presents or I accidentally deleted them off my camera before saving them...I think I deleted them. Which makes me SO sad to think about! But at least we have one from my phone! Love these two little stinkers!

Playing games at the farm house on Christmas night!

Here is our Strong Family scrapbook page that we mail to everyone each year for Christmas!

December

2015-04-08T21:01:00.001-06:00

December is always a good month! Here are a few highlights from our month of December.

Going on drives, looking at Christmas lights has become a new tradition. The girls really enjoy it, especially when they get to stick their heads out of the sun roof.

Raegan and Kynleigh got invited to a fun Christmas party! look at all these kids, they are all too cute! It was a good time

On December 20th we had our Annual Edler family Christmas Bowling party! It was a good turn out and great company as usual. It feel on my birthday this year, the big 27. I feel really old. 27....how did that happen! I remember being 17 still like it was yesterday.

Oh ya...I was super prego during the whole month of December. 36 weeks here! I'm just glad the snow was awful this year so I didn't miss out on too much snowmobiling.

We did ride bikes and 4 wheelers a lot to make up for the lack of snow/snowmobiling. The girls love riding around the Farm.

Raegan was feeling a little left out that she didn't get curly hair like her sister and mom. So we invested in some Curl formers and she LOVES the outcome. She is growing up way too fast!

Here are my cute girls and handsome hubby in their spiffy Christmas attire.

Here are all the cousins before the little guy arrived. We sure love little Eleanor!

Girls Weekend

2015-03-02T17:11:00.001-07:00

For my Mom's birthday, my mom, sisters and I made a road trip down to Utah to stay with my Aunt Linda (my mom's sister) for a few days! She was being pinned for graduating nursing school! My mom was the one who pinned her at the ceremony! We had such a great weekend spending time with all our family down there. We did way more shopping than we knew possible! Shopping in Utah is the best! SO many fun stores! We meet two new cousins, Audrey and Crew. We went down to Temple square one night and saw the lights. I had not down that since I was little! We had such a great time that I hope we turn this girls weekend into an annual event! Everyone needs some retail therapy in their life! haha

Silver Mountain

2015-03-02T14:41:00.002-07:00

Morgan had a Cheer competition in Spokane at the beginning of December. Randy and Jody, Alison and Luke and us, went up the night before and stayed in a condo at the Silver Mountain resort! They have a fun indoor water park there and the girls loved it!

On our way back to Spokane from the Condo, we stopped at Cabelas. The girls found some stick horses and rode them around the whole time we were there; they got some energy out, that's for sure.

Than, we stopped at the Valley Mall, did some shopping, rode the train, ate at Buffalo Wild Wings than headed to the competition. The Connell Cheer squad did a great job!

Thanksgiving 2014

2015-01-20T12:06:00.001-07:00

We spent Thanksgiving this year in Washington. We have spent most our married Thanksgivings down in Idaho, so it was a big change for us. (We sure missed all our Idaho family). Alison and Luke hosted it. It was a quiet, but good time. Thanksgiving fell on Alison's birthday this year, the 27th, so instead of celebrating Thanksgiving we just celebrated her birthday. We had crab and lobster for dinner and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. It was nice, no one felt like the spent all day slaving away in the kitchen.
We normally go hunting Thanksgiving morning, but this year the boys decided to go riding on Basin City hill. It was way too cold of a morning for us girls to want to go. So instead we hoped in the pick up with a nice warm heater and watched them climb the hills.

Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving. We all look a little tired. Thanksgiving is definitely a lazy day. To be honest I don't really care much for the holiday, but we get to be with family on that day so that is the bonus of it. After dinner we played some games than people kind of went their separate ways. We went over to my parents afterwards and watched the football game.

Disney on Ice

2015-01-20T11:46:00.003-07:00

The 1st of November my whole family went to the Disney on Ice at the Toyota Center. We took Raegan last year to it and she loved it! Kynleigh was old enough this year that we figured she would love it too and she did! She sat and watched the whole thing. It's our tradition now for the girls to get new princess dresses to wear and attend the Disney on Ice. I think its a fun tradition!

Halloween and Fall festivities!

2014-12-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

Halloween was a crazy day for us! John worked part of the day, than we had to hurried and got ready to take the girls trick or treating to some old favorites! That is where they loaded their buckets. We only went to 5 house, but had plenty of candy to spare. Its all about quality not quantity on Halloween night! After that we rushed to my parents because I was hoping to have a quick little photo shoot of the girls....well that didn't work out so well! The best picture was of our dog. haha! Raegan had to bring Taco along cause he was her cow dog for the night-since she was a Rodeo queen and all! And our course you can't have a cowboy (cowgirl) without an Indian! The girls looked adorable and I think they had fun!

After stopping in at my parents we than rushed to Connell for the football game, It was senior night and Morgan is a senior so we had to go!

We sure love going to the Country Mercantile! Especially in the fall! Raegan and Kynleigh had alot of fun riding the rides and petting the animals in the petting zoo!

Michael and Brittany's Baby shower

2014-12-30T12:55:00.001-07:00

We were able to throw a baby shower for my Brother Michael and sister in law Brittany, back in September! It was a couples shower, and it was a blast! Who made the rule boys can't come to baby showers anyways? Oh course we had to play those dumb baby shower games-cause with the men folk there-they would be funny!! ...and they were!!! I think its safe to say that everyone had a great time and enjoyed some yummy sweet pork nachos!

Their little Eleanor Olivia made her arrival on Oct. 23, 2014! and she is Perfect! These pictures are of the girls first meeting Eleanor! We were in California when she came, we were all so sad we missed it. We got to see here for the first time when she was 4 days old! Still as good! :) These three little girls are going to have so much fun growing up together! I think cousins are one of the best things in the world!

California Trip

2014-12-24T11:35:00.002-07:00

We finally had the opportunity to go visit John's brother James. They live in Chico California. It was James's son, Tyler, mission farewell! We were glad we got to spend the weekend with them on such a special event! On our drive down we made a bathroom stop at this really steep cliff. We thought the sign was a little funny...and sad! haha! It was a really pretty river at the bottom of the step cliff.

James works for the Church walnut farm, so we got VIP tours of everything. It was amazing to see how the operation works. They were right at the end of harvest when we went down to visit.

This is a sweeper that will go through the orchard and blow the nuts into rows right after the nuts have been shaken off the trees. I thought it looked a lot like the Bat mobile, I had to get a picture!

We were able to tour the Nut packing shed! That is quite the operation as well! We were in awe at how man nuts cycle through and how clean they become through the process.

(we have coats on under these fancy white coats, that's why we look overly large! haha)

There girls had a lot of fun while we were down there! Raegan taught us a thing or two about horse shoes- she is pretty good at that game.

They also had pomegranate bushes down there! That was our first time ever seeing one. We got to pick a pomegranate and it was delicious! I wish they would grow here!

I think the girls enjoyed this huge tire swing they had in their back yard the most! We spend a lot of time pushing the kids on it!

Raegan was very brave and would go on really high rides with these crazy cousins of hers! She loves a good Thrill-I think she gets that from me! :)

While we were busy pushing kids and taking pictures, I found miss Kynleigh hiding behind a tree chugging someones soda pop! haha little fart!

I think John became the favorite uncle while we were down there, they kids loved that he would play with them!

I didn't even get a good picture of Tyler on the day of his Farewell talk! But here is an after picture with Grandma Strong in the middle and some of her grand kids that were able to be there!

We had a great time visiting family and were sad to leave!

CHS Cheer Clinic

2014-12-24T10:51:00.001-07:00

Raegan participated in the Connell High cheer clinic again this year. This year they performed during a footaball game! My sister Morgan was in charge of it for her senior project, she did a great job! Raegan got to be in the same group as her favorite little cousin Emily and Morgan was their instructor! She had a blast and did a great job performing. She wasn't shy at all!She looked too stinking cute! The cheer clinic was at the beginning of October and October is breast Cancer awareness month, hence the pink shirts and hair bows!

Summer

2014-12-18T09:04:00.003-07:00

We are always sad to see summer go, but because it was a HOT one, the change in temperatures has been nice. Here our some more activities to capture our summer!

A major benefit of living in a huge farming community is you have endless fruits and veggies! Weather it be our garden, an orchard or field, we seemed to always be stocked up!

Raegan grew this carrot in her very own garden! She was so proud!

We picked lots of Apples and than made applesauce. I love homemade applesauce.

Corn picking at its finest! Those two little stinkers were actually really good help with picking corn. We would load their arms full than load ours and walk back to the pick up! I like to think I'm teaching them hard work at a young age! ;) Our freezer is now stocked full of freezer corn, and lots of freezer jam! YUM!

If we weren't ridding the 4-wheelers around, we were usually on the mini bikes and 3 wheeler. This is us having Nerf wars on the minis...brought us back to our childhood! haha

We spent a good amount of time down at the river, Jet skiing and playing in the sand! Morgan and I got sick of waiting for our brothers/husband to get off work to go, so we got good at going our selves!

Doc McStuffins sure has taught these girls a thing or two! ;) Playing check up on our dog, Taco.

Oh but wait...we had to play check up on the neighbors horses too! On our walks we usually walked down to our neighbors horses and Raegan will ride her pedal bike. This particular time she begged to take her Doc Mobile, I gave in. :)

We got to have some play dates too! Aren't those some cute little boys mixed in with my girls! They are Jill Gibbs and Kendra Lybberts boys! These girls will have a good selection of boys to choose from once they are older ;)

This is Raegan and Grandpa....being silly as always!

This picture wraps up our summer in a nutshell! We played so hard, but slept even harder! She feel asleep during the middle of her dinner, it was so funny to watch, it happened in slow motion and we saw it coming and than, Bam! She was out! haha

Kynleigh turns 2! 9/17/14

2014-12-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

Kynleigh Jane Strong turned two on the 17th of September!

She is such a sweet, loving little girl! She loves to get dirty and play outside. She love Raegan and tries to do everything that she does. By the age of two Kynleigh had all her teeth, including her two year molars. She started teething at 4 months and never slowed down, they just came in one after the other. I believe she had them all by 16 months. (including her 2 year molars). She was potty trained the first week in August. She caught on to peeing in the potty in the first day and half and the other was a few days longer, mostly cause she was afraid of her poop. ha! silly girl! She has only had 1 accident at night and that was mostly my fault because we were away from home and I gave her way to many liquids and forgot to have her go potty before bed. She is a very smart little girl and talks very well! She is so cute and we love that she has curl hair.

I walked into the bathroom to find this. Who says you can't play dress up with last years Halloween costume that was 2 sizes too small! Love this picture!

Kynleigh loves to eat fruit like her daddy! oh and Rock out too! ;)

Life at our house consist of these stick horses. She occasionally likes to give her baby and stuff animal rides too!

She loves physical contact and is the snuggler of the family. She usually sleeps with this stuffed animal puppy she has but when I walked into her room one night to see her snuggling to her baby, I had to take a picture.

These two and their love for Horses and anything cowgirl is adorable!

She loves her Olives too! and being silly!

After going the first year of her life we hardly any hair, its growing rather quickly and is so blonde and curly! When she wakes up in the morning she looks like Einstein cause her hair is kinky and everywhere. I usually have to wet it down everything morning and add a little bit of gel to it to control the craziness. Her and brushes don't get along very well though so keeping its under control is rather hard, at least I have the advantage of knowing what to do because I have curly hair as well! :)

Kynleigh is going to be a good little artist. She loves drawing, painting and coloring. Whenever we do art activities, she definitely last longer and had more patients than her sister. She currently is obsessed with hearts. She has been drawing circles for awhile now (she calls them circle rounds) but recently has drawn a few heart shapes. I couldn't believe my eyes the first time she did it! She might be my best crafting buddy one day! :)

We love our little Kyn'ers and are SO glad she is part of our family!

It's a BOY!

2014-12-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

I'm getting closer at catching up on this whole blog thing! Thank heavens for nesting mode that has kicked me back into gear! My goal for next year is so stay caught up, so I'm not blogging about events months later.

At the beginning of September we found out we are having a BOY. Our expected due date is January 15th 2015. We went in for an ultra sound and I just had a feeling that it was going to be a boy, even though I mentally prepared for another girl just in case it was, I didn't want to have any disappointments. ;) This pregnancy has been a breeze. I'm really lucky and don't get sick or anything. At the begining of the pregnancy I had really dry eyes and was tired a lot but that was it!

This is how we announced our new addition. John takes all the credit here. I've never been the type of person to want decals on my vehicles, but John thought of this deer family and well....here it is! :)

Here I am at 21 weeks.(this was when we found out the gender) This 3rd pregnancy popped out SO fast! After our ultra sound appointment we had to go shopping for a few cute outfits! We told the girls by wrapping up the two outfits in gift bags and letting them pull them out and realizing they were for a Boy. Raegan seemed pretty excited about it. John ordered the Cabelas sweatshirt off line. He is overly excited about having a boy join our family!

The girls and I have taken a few trips to the fabric store to find cute material for little brother. They are my little shopping buddies! We have made a couple cute blankets since and are anxiously awaiting his arrival!