Happy Father's Day to the Greatest Dad!

These two babies adore their Daddy more than life itself! Seriously, they cry when he goes to work and get so excited when he walks in the door!

Yesterday was Father's Day and we had a great time! We started the day off cuddling in bed with our little ones while they gave Daddy all their presents! There were homemade pictures they made in preschool along with new work shoes, a Utah Utes shirt, a Playstation gift card, and don't forget the Snickers and beef jerky (which the kids ate most of right there and then hahaha)!

It's present time!!!

The best way to wake up in the morning!

I know I'm biased, but am I not the luckiest girl in the world?!!

Oh my gosh they're cute!

Then we got ready and headed to McDonalds to eat breakfast and let the kiddos play in the play place before we headed to the movies! We saw Cars 3 and the kids loved it! Josh and I loved watching them love it :). It was so fun! This was Evie's first movie theater experience and we were very impressed with her! They both got restless mid-movie but still did a really great job staying quiet and not interrupting everybody around us! It helped that it was a kiddie movie and we weren't the only ones dealing with short attention spans ;).

We got our popcorn and soda (and candy we snuck in Mom's purse hehe) and are ready to hit the movies!

My movie crew :).

After the movie, we headed home for naps and then spent our evening throwing water balloons in the front yard while we BBQ'd ribs and ate it with our caesar salad and watermelon! Strawberry cheesecake was on the menu for dessert and it was the perfect sweet topping to the perfect special day, which Josh totally deserved!

We love Daddy!

True to her nature, Evie was all about the ribs!

And true to Austin's nature, he was all about the salad! haha! I love their little quirks!

Filling up water balloons!

It's water balloon war time!!!

The introduction of water balloons to this summer's repertoire has become a new favorite! Like every day kind of favorite....

You see, Josh is the greatest Dad! He is kind, fun, and so helpful! He babysits on Saturdays while I am working and the kids love it! They love his playful banter and fun wrestling matches. He so easily slips into being a kid himself (sometimes to my dismay) and has no problem being a fun Daddy :).

Happy Father's Day Josh! We don't know what we would do without you and I don't even want to think about it because I immediately start crying! Thank you for how hard you work and for all that you do for us. You are the best and we love you!

7 Years and Counting!!

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!

We celebrated our 7 year anniversary at the beginning of the month! 7 years! It has gone by so fast! I can't believe that in 7 years we have both graduated from college (Josh from graduate school), found awesome careers, built a house, had two kids, suffered a miscarriage, dealt with the loss of Josh's Dad, invested in our future through stocks and our Rodizzio restaurant in Phoenix, and so much more!

We are a team. Best friends. We read each other's minds and finish each other's sentences. To make it cheezy, we are one! There is nobody I'd rather fall asleep next to at night and there is no one I'd rather plan out my future days with. He's my Romeo. And for the first time in probably my entire life, I feel content. I feel happy with what we've created together and I am at peace with our life. I can't tell you what an amazing feeling that is. Especially since we have so many friends getting divorced right now.... apparently they call it "the 7 year itch."

We celebrated our anniversary by taking the kids to my parent's house and spending the weekend in paradise. We spent day one at Mandalay Bay lounging in the sun, kissing in the wave pool, eating lots of yummy food, and learning to enjoy each other's company again without having kids around. I'm not gonna lie, at first it was hard! We didn't know what to talk about if it didn't involve our children and we didn't know what to do with ourselves if it wasn't serving somebody chicken nuggets or cleaning up the never ending messes. This is the hard part about parenthood and marriage. Finding the balance!

Oh my gosh, we ate the BEST sushi EVER on this trip!

The beautiful ring Josh bought me. I love it so much!

Our second day of paradise was spent getting a couples massage together and then heading over to the Green Valley Ranch Resort to lounge by another pool sipping on frozen drinks and talking the day away. It was bliss I tell ya!! We ate whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. We stayed up late and slept in late. Life was all about us for two straight days and we loved it!

Lounging...... PERFECTION!

Sipping on drinks while lounging in a cabana. Yeah, I could get used to that life!

How awesome is this unicorn?!!

When we went to pick up our kids after our weekend of bliss, we found two extremely happy kids who didn't want to come home. Grandma couldn't say no to Austin's little pleas so she kept him a couple days longer and to Evie's dismay, we brought her home with us. She's just a little too young to be away from Mama for that long. At least that's what I tell myself :). So while Austin was busy at Grandma's digging in the dirt with the dogs, playing in the kiddie pool with Grandma, and going 4-wheeling with Grandpa, Evie and Mommy had time with just us girls! It was so fun! We did our nails, went shopping at Ulta for hair and makeup supplies, played with the animals on our little date to Petco, and had so much fun bonding as girls :). I loved every minute of it!! Austin cried the day Grandma brought him home and she ended up having to stay with us most of the day; which was just fine with me! We ate Roberto's for breakfast, played at the splash pad, and did lots of talking! And then Austin cried the rest of the day when Grandma left...... poor boy :(. He might not have been happy to be home, but I was happy to have him back in my arms! I spent the entire night before crying because I missed him so much! My kids are my whole world. They drive me crazy on a daily basis but I don't know what I'd do without them.

My baby girl's first manicure/pedicure! This is a moment that definitely needing to be documented!

She felt so special with her pretty nails and was acting like such a little princess! I loved seeing her feel special :).

A Little Catch Up....

I have been trying to catch up on blog posts for weeks now because wonderful, fun, and sometimes not so fun things keep happening and I want to document IT ALL!!! However, being a working Mom with a two and three year old seems to steal all my time. When I am home I want to spend every waking second making memories with my kiddos. Whether it's cooking, playing outside, play dates, pool days, gardening, sunny days at the Wet 'n Wild water park, yoga lessons with Mama, and don't forget those post workout snuggles....

 .....or in today's case, Austin's great attempt at potty training his sister (hahaha!), grocery shopping, and a giant water balloon war on the front porch.....

For some reason Austin decided today was the day Evie would be potty trained and HE was going to be the guy to do it! I laughed so hard when she politely told him, "No thank you" and walked away, leaving him totally frustrated! hehe!

These mini shopping carts are a must have when you have two toddlers! It actually works out really well and they have so much fun! Now, I just need to help Evie learn how to be a better driver haha! She took out a whole wall of cookies today.....

WATER BALLOON WAR!!!!!!

My half naked babies on the front porch + water = happiness!

Such a goof ball :).

Eve took the whole situation VERY seriously.

Oh, and this week I started remodeling our kitchen! The first big step was to paint the cabinets and HOLY COW was it a painful process! I could barely walk for two straight days from painting layer after layer in the garage (I had removed the cabinet doors to paint them in the garage) but it is done and I am SOOOO happy with how it turned out! Next up is the tile backsplash and the floors! Austin was a big helper throughout the whole ordeal and he loved carrying the cabinet doors into the garage after I took them off the hinges. At one point he told me, "Mama, you are really lucky Heavenly Father sent me to you because I'm the strongest boy in the whole world!!" I couldn't agree more :).

My biggest helper!

BEFORE

AFTER

Anyways, some fun things happened a little while ago and I wanted to make sure I document it before I completely forget!

Austin got to work on our cars with Grandpa Nathan and he had THE BEST time! He was in little boy heaven for three straight days! We needed to change out the shocks in both of our cars and the guy at the shop was going to charge $1000 which was ridiculous so off to Grandpa's we went! I am so glad we did because it was an amazing moment for Austin to get to work side by side with his Grandpa and feel so big! Austin is very mechanically minded so this was right up his alley! I was in heaven watching them and listening to their adorable conversations. Nathan basically let Austin do everything and just guided him! and the amazing part is he did so well!! Definitely a future engineering degree for this kid!

Under the car with Grandpa while Evie hung out with the dogs :).

Taking off the old shocks.

We were both so proud of this boy! He was so strong, and did so well! Seriously. AMAZING!

He learned all the names for the tools and remembered all of them! I know I'm his Mom and am therefore biased, but my boy is so freaking smart!

Austin's happy place :).

To add to all that fun, I also have to write down how we went to Utah for my Cousin Jayson's wedding! The wedding was the reason we went, but we spent an extra week there just hanging out in Layton and having fun every day with Grandma and Grandpa Ronnenkamp! We did something different every day and didn't let the rain and snow stop us! The wedding was in May. Seriously Utah?? Josh had to work, so I drove by myself with the kids. It was extremely nerve wracking as I drove through a blizzard in Beaver pass but we survived!

I brought Austin with me to the temple ceremony so he could get another special temple experience and learn for himself what a temple wedding is like! Of course he had to wait in the lounge while the actual sealing went on (my Mom waited with him so I could attend) but it was so special for him (and I) nonetheless! I love getting to share my love and testimony of the gospel with this special boy! I especially loved how he understood the reverence of the temple and how he was so worried that his clothes weren't nice enough for Heavenly Father's house. Of course he was dressed in his Sunday best so this just showed me how sweet and innocent he is!

Hanging out with family outside of the temple after the sealing. We love Great Grandma Wiegel!

It was so nice to see Grandma Diana looking healthy again after Grandpa's funeral. It was also nice to see my parents enjoying time together since the rehab fiasco....

Austin and Grandpa Nathan

4 generations photo! I feel so lucky to be raising my children so close to family and these wonderful women!

Dancing at the reception! We had fun listening to Grandma Wiegel's stories about her dancing days and having her show us some moves!

Evie dancing with Grandma Jill while Austin blew bubbles :).

So in love with my girl!

This moment of dancing with Austin must have left an imprint on his little mind because just last night he asked me to dance with him just like this in Evie's bedroom (while we were getting them ready for bed and listening to music) and then told Daddy to dance with Evie :). I am so grateful for those sweet moments that our children bring into our lives!

Bubbles in Grandma Ronnenkamp's back yard!

As you can see, bubbles are ALWAYS a good idea :).

Attacking Grandma!!!!!

Baking with Grandma and having a grand ol' time!

The final product with LOTS of sprinkles! Yummy!!

There was of course and Arctic Circle date for hamburgers, the indoor playground, and ice cream :).

My handsome boy got to visit Grandpa Steve's childhood farm! He loved the cows but was even more interested in the cat that was hanging around :).

We also visited the Ogden Dinosaur Museum!

Digging for Dinosaur bones.

This was seriously so fun! Even I got down there and dug with them!

Austin loved this petrified tree/slide! He went down it more times than we could count!

Austin also got to visit the Hill Air Force Base Airplane Museum with Grandpa! Yet another "in awe" moment!

Although the planes and helicopters were right up his alley, Austin still says he wants to be a Fireman :).

Oh and we went to the Sea Quest Aquarium!

We got to touch and feel all sorts of sea animals and had an amazing time! Austin's favorite was putting his hand in the aquarium full of trout and Evie liked the star fish!

Meeting this giant tortoise was so cool! Can you believe this guy is only a baby?!

We also got to go inside a giant bird cage with containers of bird seed and feed the birds! Within seconds they all swooped down on us and Evie obviously wasn't impressed hahaha! That poor bird, it looks like she's squeezing it to death!

Staying true to his nature, Austin was cautious but interested.

Grandma and Austin enjoying a little toe nibbling :).

Of course Evie had to try it too!

Petting a sting ray!

The kids slept the entire 6 hour car ride home (minus the stop in St. George to stretch our legs and visit with Great Grandma Wiegel). I couldn't believe it! We must have seriously worn them out! They were sad to leave Utah and all that fun, but they sure were happy to be home playing in the water on the front porch again!