Riding: The art of keeping a horse between you and the ground.

...that is what I am hoping Jocelyn remembers every Saturday morning while she's taking horseback riding lessons! I am so excited for her. We decided to switch things up a bit this year and take a break from dance. Anyone who has ever met this girl knows how much she LOVES animals, especially horses! We finally found a small, family-owned ranch that we really like and it's less than ten minutes away from our house! Perfect! I can't wait to see how she much she learns and how she progresses over time. She'll be a pro before we know it! :)

(Jocelyn on her Grandma's horse, two years ago)

No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle.

~Winston Churchill

TU vs UNM game

Last weekend, Tulsa played UNM and MiMi and Grandpa got us all tickets. Unfortunately Graham had to work OT, so he didn't get to go. Anyway, this was Jocelyn's first football game! She was excited...until she realized how long the game really was. hahaha. Let's just say, UNM had a rough night. The only touchdown they had was from their defense. Not so great. The good news...my Mom and I were cheering for Tulsa and they had a pretty good night. The final score was 44 - 10. It was a fun game! (Except next time we won't sit by the student section. Jocelyn learned a lot of lovely new words. Thankfully she hasn't repeated any of them!!)

The next few pictures are from when I gave Jocelyn the camera when she had enough football. The game was on tv, so we had lots of long commercial breaks which made it longer, so she was losing patience. Hahaha. I think I deleted over a hundred pictures that she took, but she had fun and was cracking herself up!

Finally...Vacation pictures!

We stopped in Ogden to see John, Myrica and Aiden first. We always have fun with them and wish we lived closer! I love this picture of Jocelyn, Aiden and Uncle John. So cute. We were walking into the children's museum.

Of course, this was Jocelyn's favorite part!

My adorable nephew! When he had the hat on, you couldn't see his face at all. So funny.

This didn't last long, but aren't they cute cousins?!?

Camping out

The music room.

Daddy and Uncle John have skills. Look at that arch they built. This is why we keep them around. :)

We had SO much fun with them! Thanks guys for letting us stay with you in your beautiful home! We played A LOT of the new Wii Resort Sports game and I kicked John's behind in basketball....oh yeah!!! Aiden has changed so much since we saw him last. He has such a fun personality and loves kissing and tackling his big cousin. It was hilarious. Jocelyn adores him and unless it was late at night, had a lot of fun playing with him and making him laugh in his high chair. They are too cute!

Next we headed to the lake. I can't tell you how much I love this place! It's gorgeous. The first couple days we were there, we had rain on and off. We still managed to get beach time in and enjoyed having stress free family time!

Jocelyn was upset because she worked hard to get a sand castle started and it crumbled. If you click and make the picture big, you can see her sad little face. We helped her make one and it all worked out.

A very determined little girl. She LOVED playing in the sand.

The one picture I took at Pickleville Playhouse. The new show was HILARIOUS! I wish we could have gone twice. If you go to Garden City, you HAVE to go to one of the plays. We always look forward to it.

A zoomed in view from the deck of the lake house.

Right off the deck is the third hole of the golf course. The last night we were there, we saw a mommy dear and two babies running through the golf course. Jocelyn was so excited. Too bad she doesn't remember our Virginia house. We had tons of deer hanging out in our yard.

Jocelyn posing in front of our sunshade.

Waiting for Daddy to come back with the jet ski. This girl LOVES riding the jet ski now!! She became very daring wanting to go over big waves.

"Okay, I'm ready! Let go now!" hahaha. She was so funny. When I took her out on the jet ski with me, she said, "Okay Mom. This is what you do. I know ALL about jet ski's, so you just listen to me. okay?"

On Friday, my college roomie, Kim, and her family came up to visit. We had a blast hanging out and meeting her cute family! They live in Jackson, which is only three hours away. Thank you guys for coming to visit!!! We spent time at the lake, had the best pizza, stayed up late chatting and playing Elfer Raus. What a fantastic time!! Are we meeting up again next year?!?! :)

Miss Ava. She is so adorable! Jocelyn and I both wanted to take her home with us. :) (Just to give you a break, Kim. Of course!) haha.

Ethan and Jocelyn finding "sticks". They had a blast chasing the waves and laughing at themselves. So funny!

Can you tell she's excited? Second day on one, so she's feeling like a pro.

The first day they were there, it was mostly cloudy, so I was happy when we woke up and finally saw the blue water again!

We took the kids down to the resort to run and burn off some energy at the playground.

Until next year!!!!! We miss you already, Bear Lake!!!

We survived our first day of preschool!!!

We had a very busy first day of preschool. (One of the little boys said I should JUST call it school b/c it sounds cooler. hahaha) I worry that Jocelyn will get tired of being with me all week long for preschool, but hopefully horseback riding lessons will make up for it. Anyway, I am definitely going to bed early tonight, but it was a fun day! The kids had a blast and I think it'll be a great class. Tomorrow I have all girls in class so I'm excited to see how that will go! I'll post more pictures of the preschool room later. I changed/added some things. It looks cute!

This picture makes me laugh so hard. I don't think she was actually annoyed with anything, but wow....what a look.

Note to self: HIDE THE TIMER!!! hahaha. The kids LOVE the dress up. (Thank you, Mom!!) The chef was a very popular one today. It came with this timer that is basically a real one...TICK, TICK, TICK, TICK....... DING! haha. Of course, it's Jocelyn's favorite part of all the dress up.

Growing up...

One night at the lake house, we were hanging out and all of a sudden Jocelyn said,

Jocelyn: "Why can't we all grow up at the same time? I want to be the same age as you and Mommy."

Graham said something to her about all of us are born at different times, so we aren't all going to be the same age.

Jocelyn: "Well I wish we could all be the same age. I want to be a grown up."

I asked her why she wanted to be a grown up and told her that being a child is so fun. She replied by saying..."BUT I'VE BEEN A CHILD FOR YEARS!!!!"

Back to reality!

I will post lots of pictures when I'm not so overwhelmed with preschool stuff! We had a fabulous vacation and are so grateful we had family time without any stress! Here are a couple cute pictures of Miss Jocelyn. As always, most of our pictures are of her!! :)