MY SWEET 4 YEAR OLD

i have been meaning to do this post for the last 3 weeks.... yes it is a little late, but better late than never.

i can't believe my little boy is 4 now! i can't even imagine what life would be like without him. he is so special and i just love him so much. he is such a blessing in our lives, and we feel so lucky to have him our family.

WE LOVE YOU RYAN!!!!!!!

GONE DADDY GONE

ryan, emily, and i are still in slc. darrel left last monday. we miss him a lot, but i just don't feel ready to leave quite yet. ryan starts preschool next month, so we won't be able to come up here and stay as often as we've been used to. so these pics are mostly for darrel. we love the daddy, and miss you so much!

this is how i found emily one night at the cabin. she has to sleep with lots of "babies" and i thought it was cute how she put them right by her head.

she looks so grown up.

my two favorite guys in the whole wide world!

5 years later... really? where has the time gone?

grandma and ryan watching fireworks on the 24th

they have a parade down the street from my parents house on the 24th. ryan cracked me up because he stood there with his hand reaching out to catch all the candy.

at lagoon on the train with the 3 little girls. they play together so well.

ryan was so angry at lagoon because he couldn't go on any of the big rides. you have to be 46 inches compared to 40 inches at disney and lego land. it was so hard trying to explain that to one disappointed boy. we still had a good time. i had not been to lagoon in probably close to 20 years. not much has changed, but it seemed so much smaller than what i remember.

HIGH ON A MOUNTAIN TOP

on july 6th we left for our hager family reunion at my in-laws "cabin" (it's 6000 square feet it's really more like a lodge). we were there for 10 days. it was fun spending time with family and getting all of the cousins together. the cabin is in the la sal mountains, and they are in the middle of nowhere. and because they are in the middle of nowhere we had no electricity, and no running water yet. they do have a generator which we used in the morning and at night before bed. and, they have a 1000 gallon water tank that all 20 of us had to share to shower, do dishes, flush toilets, and everything else that requires water. it took over an hour to refill the tank, and it had to be done at least once or twice a day. this is really roughing it for me. i am so not a camper, and really quite enjoy all my conveniences of home (or hotel rooms). anyway, i made it through all the dirt, another 4 wheeler accident (darrel was dumb enough to ride it and it rolled on it's side and broke his shoulder), infected spider bites in my armpit, seeing 2 huge bears, and a flat tire on our car to name a few things. i don't think i will ever spend 10 days in a row there again. for some reason i feel very claustrophobic in the mountains with all the trees and being so far away from civilization. last week i met darrel in los angeles and we went to the beach. it was the first time in a long time that i have felt that relaxed. i am definitely more of a beach girl!