Summer...Gone, but not Forgotten

I made some promises to myself and others that I wouldn't just pass over all the fun we had this Summer without posting so, if you care to see, these are some of the fun times we had.

Hiking to Stewart Falls, with a 30-something pound toddler in a back-pack.

The Payson Grotto, a much more suitable hike for the toddler.

My beautiful little Flower Girls, a dream come true.

A Big Birthday for Josh - "He's 12!"

Oh Happy Day! - Brynna's 7th Birthday

Fun on the 4th of July

Also, find out what happens when I tell my daughter "No, you can't have any gerbils, even if they are free!"

And lastly, see what happens when you are in a hurry, getting a birthday present for a party that is about to start, and talking on the phone while getting in the car.  Not pretty.

That is it in a nutshell.  The last few months of our lives.  The good, the crazy and the ugly!

Hiking to Stewart Falls

I am not sure how I got talked into this hike, except that it isn't hard for Heather to talk me into anything.  I really do enjoy doing fun things with her and the kids.  Since she got me a backpack for Jonah I decided to go along.  I carried Jonah part of the way.  Did I mention he probably weighs almost 40 lbs?  Jonah is a big boy for his age. 92% for his height and 60% for his weight, last we checked anyway.  Heather might not be so quick to invite us next time since she carried him probably half of the time.  I quickly learned my hips will not tolerate another 40 lbs. and I don't think her knees will either.  Garrett got in on the action and carried him for a little while.  We let him walk at the end and it is a good thing we had the back pack because we NEVER would have made it to the falls without it.

The falls were beautiful.  A little less so, when our boys were up way up high next to them, but beautiful none the less. It was fun, but I think we will have to wait for Jonah to get a little bigger AND faster before we do much more hiking or I guess, take Don along. Ha Ha!

The Payson Grotto

With only a couple more days of freedom, (that is how the kids put it) Heather and I thought we better enjoy it and decided to get a little hiking in.  We hiked up to the Payson Grotto.  It was a nice day, but the water was freezing.  Garrett was by far the bravest and Josh the biggest wimp.  I think Jonah even got wetter than him.  Josh is still saying he didn't want to get his shorts wet.  Most of the kids enjoyed taking turns running in and out of the water.  It was a fun little hike!

Mike & Greta's Wedding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were so privileged to get to share in Mike and Greta's special day.  I was Greta's young women's leader and the girls have loved her ever since.  Of course why wouldn't you love someone who takes you swimming and to lunch.  So when Greta asked the girls to be her flower girls it was a dream come true.  The girls love weddings and have been waiting for Chris to get married because they THINK they get to be his flower girls, luckily Greta came through.

Mike & Greta got married in the Mount Timpanogos Temple.  When Greta walked into the room I had to hold back tears.  She looked so beautiful.  It is such a reward as a YW leader to see your girls find good young men and marry them in the temple.

After the temple there was LOTS of picture-taking.  The girls took their job very seriously and carried her train for her a number of times.  It was so cute.  I wish I had gotten a picture of that.  After grabbing something to eat, we went home to get ready for the reception.  Unfortunately Brynna fell asleep and woke up in a very bad mood.  She was done!  She wouldn't let me fix her hair and had had enough picture taking for one day.  I was trying to figure out how I was going to tell Greta her flower girl was MIA.  It was then that the bribery began.  I was offering sodas, chicken nuggets, whatever she needed to be ready for the reception.  After LOTS of crying and screaming she finally agreed to go IF she got a happy meal...small price, we were only a little late and still there in plenty of time to help setup.

The girls ate, danced and just enjoyed being with all the bridesmaids. (4 of them were also my YW)  They refused to leave until they saw Mike & Greta leave.  Now they are planning a trip to Arizona to visit the newlyweds, even though Maleah thought they kissed waaaay too much and that Mike was much too mushy!  I can't wait to remind her of that on her wedding day!

It was such a beautiful day and I was so glad that we got to be there for all of it!

Joshua's Big Birthday - He's 12!

Joshua is growing up on us.  He is now 12 and "supposedly" taller than I am.  For his birthday all he wanted was an IPOD touch, a DSI, or a new cell phone.  At least he is smart enough to know he won't get all three.  We got him a new cell phone with texting.  He was very happy!  He took a few of his favorite friends, Garrett, Hunter, Calvin, Daniel, and Zane to his favorite swimming pool.  I was planning on that being the party, but the boys kept talking me into more fun.  We went back to our house to barbeque hamburgers and then they talked me into letting them sleep out on the trampoline.  This is HUGE because we don't do sleep overs so this was BIG!  The girls were not happy, especially when I told them that they could not sleep out with the boys.  Now they are both counting down to their 12th birthdays when they get to have their friends sleep over :)  It feels like Josh has really grown up.  He started mowing lawns for the neighbors, going to young men's, passing the sacrament, and even bought himself a pocket bike.  He has been a big help to me this Summer and I am a little sad to see my babysitter go back to school.

Cupcake Catastrophe

My family destroys all cake that every enters our house and has even been know to damage a few cakes other places as well.  This round of birthdays was no different.  Brynna's primary teacher made her some beautiful blue (her favorite color) cupcakes for her birthday.  Fortunately she brought plenty extra because when Brynna helped her carry them into the house some tipped over and some slid off the tray.  Her poor teacher was trying to hide the pain on her face as she watched her precious master pieces get destroyed.  I guess I should have warned her before she brought them over.  It wasn't but a few hours later that Jonah managed to dump one whole tray on the floor. (I really should have seen that coming.) 

My family has some history with destroying cakes, maybe I doomed myself when Don and I smashed each other with the cake on our wedding day, but someone is always doing something to the cake.  Joshua climbed on the fridge and dug through the saran wrap right into the middle of Maleah's 1st birthday cake.  Joshua also ran his finger down the side of Dan's wedding cake.  Apparently he just can't resist.  So if you ever need to put a cake somewhere for safe keeping don't bring to our house or anywhere near any of my children!

Oh Happy Day! Brynna's 7th Birthday

Brynna was so happy on her birthday.  As you can see from all the smiles.  I think she smiled from the moment she got up until she went to sleep.  She had a busy, fun-filled day.  She had swimming lessons first thing, so her first gift was a new swim bag, sunglasses, and swim suit cover-up.  She rides her bike to swim lessons so she had to have that first thing.  Don had carefully hidden it in the garage for her to find.  After swimming she had a neighborhood dance class where the girls planned her a surprise party.  She got new dance clothes and a Michael Jackson CD (She is a huge fan!  I think I may have created a monster!)  At the party they had ice cream cone cupcakes, so cute, painted nails and of course, danced!  Big thanks to her dance teachers for doing all that for her!  Then we took one of her favorite friends, GG, and went to the pool.  We finished up the evening with dinner, cupcakes (thanks, Angie Lemon) and fireworks!  Brynna wants fireworks every year for her birthday and since it is the day before the 24th she can have them.  She also gets to celebrate with her Grammie at a family party every year, non-stop fun for Brynna!

Fun on the 4th

We had our usual fun on the 4th of July.  We started out with the parade in Mt. Pleasant.  It is a great small town parade.  The kids love it because they throw plenty of candy.  We love it because it starts a little later and we don't have to park very far away or fight the crowds.  After the parade we had a picnic and went swimming at the pool just down from the cabin.  Then we went up to the cabin to relax and barbeque for dinner.  After the drive home we usually like to do some fireworks, but this year everyone was too tired to do much of anything.  Lots of fun!

Dog for Sale?

My kids are in a horrible habit of looking at things online on KSL classifieds and for some reason don't seem to understand that just because an animal is FREE doesn't mean they get to have it.  Imagine Maleah's dismay when she called on 10 FREE gerbils and was told NO, even though all we had to do was go to Provo to pick them up.  Why wouldn't a mother do that?  Well, the poor dog got the blame.  So Maleah promptly got him on his leash and took pictures of him so that she could post him on KSL for sale.  Fortunately she is not QUITE that computer-savvy, so our poor, innocent (ok, naughty, stinker of a dog) was saved.  At least for now!

Not pretty.

 

And, just in case you were wondering, it is NOT socially acceptable for a grown woman to go around with a black eye.  My Grandma said what everyone else was thinking, "Who did that to you? " She said rather accusingly.  I'm not sure she believed me when I said, "I did!"  If you don't believe me, just go try opening your driver's side door, quickly, with your right hand, while talking on the phone and holding said phone on your left shoulder.

Farm Country

Since all the other kids are now in school Jonah and I are hoping to do some fun & educational things of our own.  Last week we went to farm country on $2 Tuesday.  Probably not the best idea, but we had fun. (It was very crowded.) 

I learned I need a much faster camera in order to catch this busy little two year old in action.  He loved everything, feeding the big white horse, the baby goats, riding in the wagon with his buddy Sky and was even willing to wait in a very long line for 45 minutes for a pony ride.  We did have an embarrassing moment or two along the way, which has led me to wonder if it is better to be with friends or alone when your child does something embarrassing.  I still haven't decided, but if there is anyone else who would like to get out and do something fun with their less than perfectly behaved toddler, let me know.