212/365

211/365

We finally did it! We finally bought a mini-van and I couldn't be more excited. We've been looking since November (I'm a little picky when it comes to buying cars)! We chose this 2011 Toyota Sienna and I think it's safe to say that I'm in love!

(picture taken with iPhone)

210/365

We have an old ice-cream parlor/soda shoppe in our downtown area. I took the kids there for the first time today to get a treat. 

209/365

Superhero!

208/365

Today was my soon-to-be sister-in-laws bridal shower! It was a beautiful shower!

Here's a picture of Alexis, myself, my mom, Adele and her mom.

I can't wait for the wedding! 2 more months!

207/365

His new bedroom set was delivered today. I got it all set up while he was napping. When he woke up and walked into his room he had the biggest smile on his face and kept saying "tank ew mommy!" He loves his "rawr" room!

His first night went surprisingly well! He only got out of bed twice, but once he finally fell asleep he was out for the entire night. The next morning he grabbed my hand and took me into his room and said "LOOK MOMMY! RAWR BED!" 

My BIG boy!

206/365

Alexis had an art class today, it was called Collage on Canvas. Here she is with her masterpiece! 

205/365

Paxton's LAST night in his crib. Tomorrow we'll be taking it down and sending it to storage.

204/365

Summer joy.

203/365

Playing trucks in the garage. All boy.

202/365

The cutest chef I've ever seen =)

201/365

Today we went to Water World with my parents, brother and his fiance. 

We were there the whole entire day. Literally from the moment the park opened to after the park closed. We rode almost every ride and had a blast on all of them. It was a perfect day spent with my family, can't get much better than that!

200/365

DAY 200!!!

I've read on other 365'ers blogs who have done this for several years say that July is the hardest month to stick with it, and boy are they right! So far this month has been the hardest for me and I find myself not trying or caring as much. I need to snap myself out of it.

My picture for today is a selfie for 2 reasons. 1- I just got my hair colored and cut today! It needed it badly! 2- I'm down 53 LBS! I figured a nice progress picture would be good. =)

199/365

Alexis did a Children's Theater class this summer and the kids did the play The Lorax. Alexis played the part of the Lorax.

Today was the show for the parents, I was so excited. It was inside one of the classrooms and the parents had to stand on the other side of the room. I had a couple of really tall dads right in front of me and this was the only picture I got. (taken with a point and shoot). It was an adorable play and the kids blew me away with how well they all memorized their lines and actually "acted" the parts. 

198/365

Alexis loves sitting in my chair starring at herself in the mirror and pretending to put her make-up on and do her hair.

197/365

Paxton getting ready for bed.

196/365

Alexis with her "kiki"

When she was 20 monthes old we went to dinner in Downtown Denver in the winter and totally forgot to bring a coat for her (parenting fail!) So we walked into the first store we saw and bought her this blanket. It has Spongebob on it (she had no idea who that was at the time). We wrapped her up and went to dinner and had a great night. What we didn't know is that it would be THIS blanket that she would be so attached to. She named it "kiki" and it went with us everywhere. She could never be without it. Now at 4 1/2 years old she still needs that kiki. She only needs it at bed time now, but it still means so much to her. I realized that I don't have very many pictures of her with kiki and so I really wanted to get one, a more recent one.

195/365

Today we painted Paxton's bedroom!

We put him down for a nap in our bedroom and we knew we only had 2 hours to get his entire room done before he woke up. So here is a really quick picture of the day, I had to get back to painting!

194/365

We celebrated our 4 year anniversary today! We dropped the kids off with my parents and made a trip to Lowe's to pick out paint for Paxton's bedroom. Then we went and saw the movie The Heat, absolutely hilarious! And we ended our day eating dinner at BJ's Brewery. It was a low-key anniversary celebration and it was exactly what we needed!

The kids had a great day with my parents. They took them to the park and then to Chuck E. Cheese. When we picked them up they were exhausted and passed out the moment we got home. Thanks mom and dad!

(quick picture taken with my iPhone)

193/365

My husband plays on an adult slow-pitch softball team and every Friday night he has a game. The kids and I have really enjoyed going out to all the games and cheering him on. I had planned the whole day that I would bring the camera out to tonights game and take pictures of him playing. But as we were getting ready to get in the car he informed me that it was supposed to rain, so i took this quick snapshot of Alexis holding one of daddy's softballs instead and left the camera home. It was a good thing too, beacause it down poured on us!

192/365

Happy Anniversary to my sweet husband! The past 4 years have been nothing less than wonderful! Here's to many more happy years together, I love you!

191/365

The kids had their half-day camp again this morning. I sat under a tree and read a book, it was a peaceful morning, I don't get that very often. 

We spent the afternoon baking brownies! They were great at eating the batter. 

=)

190/365

I signed Alexis up for ice-skating lessons. She was really looking forward to it and could hardly contain her excitment when we arrived at the ice rink....until.....she had her first fall.... then she was over it, cried throughout the rest of the lesson and told me "I never want to do that again!" when she was finished. She has 2 lessons a week for the next month, I already paid for it and can't get my money back, so we'll continue to go. It's going to be like pulling teeth to try and get her to do it again.

189/365

(Cory's 10th and last day off work!)

I signed the kids up for a half-day camp. Alexis is in the 4-5 year old group and Paxton is in the 2 year old group. Cory and I had the morning all to ourselves. We ran lots of errands. Paxton's class gets over 1 hour before Alexis' so we had an hour to kill and decided to walk across the street to the mall and let Pax play at the play area. 

My handsome boys. =)

188/365

(hubby's 9th day off work!)

Cory and I got a date day today! Wahoo! We got tickets to go to the Demolition Derby. Nothing says romance like watching cars crash into each other, right?

It was a great day!

(took this picture with my iPhone and an Instagram filter)

187/365

(hubby's 8th day off work!)

We spent the entire day deep cleaning the house. It needed it. 

I took this picture real quick while we breaked for lunch.

186/365

(hubby's 7th day off work!)

We spent the day furniture shopping. We ordered Paxton a bedroom set. It will be in at the end of the month and we'll be taking down his crib and packing up his nursery. It will be one emotional day. I ordered him a super cute comforter set from PB Kids and once I get it we'll be painting his room and decorating his "big boy" room.

I forgot to bring my camera furniture shopping which I was so bummed about! But after we got home I had one very large glass of water with an orange slice in it...so there's my picture for the day. =)

185/365

(hubby's 6th day off work!)

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

The kids were in a bike parade in the morning with our neighborhood kids. They got to decorate their bikes patriotic and parade around the streets in our neighborhood. The fire department even showed up and let the kids check out their truck and climb inside. (Another reason I love living in a small town!)

We went to lunch with my whole family - parents, brother, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...everyone. It was nice.

We went to a BBQ that evening at a friends house. Lots and lots and lots of yummy food (diet? what diet?)

Then we headed out to the lake to watch the fireworks.

I know there are so many articles out there on how to photograph fireworks and I had every intention of reading every single one of them. But I forgot. So I just winged it and I'm pretty happy with my results. Next year I'll make sure I'm more prepared.

184/365

(Hubby's 5th day off work!)

In the morning we went to the opening show of Despicable Me 2! My dad joined us which made the kids super excited, they love their Papa. After the movie we went to BJ's Brewery for lunch and met Cory's grandma, aunt and uncle there. We always enjoy spending time and visiting with them. 

Months ago I drove past this nature area and wanted to come back and take some pictures there. Tonight turned out to be the perfect night for that with the beautiful lighting. Here's one of my favorites! =)

183/365

(Hubby's 4th day off work!)

We took a 2 hour drive to Heritage Square - home of the famous Alpine Slides!

We started our day out by letting the kids go on all the rides. Then we went down the Alpine Slides. There's only 4 in the whole country and I'm so happy we have 1 in our state. We all went down twice and had a blast! Before we left we stopped by the ice-cream parlor. This picture was my favorite from the whole day (Pax pointing out that he has something on his face) It makes me smile.

182/365

(Hubby's 3rd day off work)

I signed the kids up way back when for the "kids bowl free" so we decided to take them and get in our 2 free games! The kids have never bowled before. They both enjoyed it but waiting for everyone to have their turn got tiring for them and they started to have melt-downs. The second game we just had the kids go and Cory and I just helped the kids with their turns. No more melt-downs! =) Alexis cracked us up because after she'd roll her ball she'd have to watch from this angle.

Later that night we headed out to our city fair and saw the Rodeo. Alexis liked dancing to all the music and Paxton loved pointing out every single "moo" (cow)