Fun in the Mountains

Friday, July 9th I decided to take the kids up to visit Kamille and her family that were up camping in the Uintah's by Trial Lake. There are times when I brave doing things on my own and there are times when I don't. I love being able to take the kids to do things, but oh boy, is it tiresome to do it on my own. I wish Casey could have come. If only we could all be independently wealthy and not have to work.

It was a pretty good day...it only rained for about a half hour. I love camp fires, but having 2 little ones makes it a little nerve racking.

Here is Sarah with her little one Luke. I tried to get him to look at the camera but it was a no go!

This is Kamille's little girl Lily. Her brother Haiden wasn't feeling well.

This is Kamille with her husband Michael and Sarah's husband Doug.

Since there was still a little light on the way back down, I decided to stop by Provo River Falls to get a picture. I have always loved these falls. Maizy kept asking me why it was so noisy.
My kids were filthy by the end of the day. They even got wiped down a few times. With dirt surrounding you, what is the point.

I attempted to get all 4 of us in the picture, but it didn't work too well.

This was in the van very shortly after we left the falls. I think they had a fun and exhausting day...I know their mom did!

Random Shots

The other day the kids were goofing off and I had to get a few pictures. They were being so cute, which is quite unusual for my children.

Maizy has also recently became obsessed with the camera and her getting to take the pictures. It is funny what she chooses to take pictures of. Most of them get erased as they are pictures of the wall or the TV, etc, but I have also kept some of the ones that she has taken of one of the family or of herself-they are hilarious.

Swim Lessons

Since the beginning of June, we have had the girls in swim lessons. This is Maizy's 2nd year and Zoey's 1st. They progressed so much this year. I am so proud of them.
Maizy is starting to be able to swim briefly on her own with no life jacket. She thinks she can do more than she really can, so in a sense it scares me. She is fearless and little miss independent when she has a life jacket on. Their lessons were over and all the kids and most teachers were out of the pool. Maizy all of a sudden went running off the diving board into the 10 foot section all by herself. What a little turd!

Zoey is fearless even without her jacket on. We are going to have to keep a close eye on this one. A little over a year ago Zoey wasn't a big fan of water. Now, she is a fish. She even lets her instructor dunk her and she doesn't even cry. She goes down the big slide all by herself and even jumps off the diving board as well.

I am excited to get Zander into lessons next year. They said they could take him this year, but we decided against it since Zander cried the entire time we were in a pool last time. Hopefully he gets over that quickly as his mom and 2 sisters love the pool.

July 4th Festivities

Henefer city always does festivities for the 4th. It is nice to be able to go somewhere close especially since Casey was sleeping and working and I had to go by myself. They started at 10am and thank goodness it was a cooler day.

They had bounce houses and slides for the kids. My girls had a blast on them. Zander is still a little to unsteady when people are bouncing around, plus he didn't like how hot the vinyl was on his feet so he got to hang out with mom and let me know just how unpleasant that was-just look at the picture above!

My sister-in-law Amy had a booth for her exchangeable watch bands there, so we went to say hi. The kids had fun playing with her and my niece Alexxis. They also got to have 10 cent ice cream cones-yum! We spent 5 hours outside between the park and parade and then came home to eat dinner and visit with their daddy before he had to go to work.

Once Casey left, I packed the kids up in their pajamas and we headed back to Henefer to my father-in-law's to watch the fireworks. Maizy had some entertainment trying to hoola hoop. I attempted and failed miserably!

Zoey REALLY couldn't do it.

Notice the cut on Zander's face? He lost a match with a door. After 5 hours of being outside, we went to my father-in-law's for a short period of time. I had gone out to the van and was coming back inside. I am always careful to not plow through the door, but the door needs a little push in the beginning to get it open. Well, Zander happened to be running toward the door full speed ahead just as I opened it. The locking mechanism hit him square in the head and he bled everywhere. Got to love head wounds for that! It took 3 of us to hold him down to put some super glue on it. He is one strong boy. I am very happy to report that he is just fine!

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First Boating of the Year

Last week my parents decided to take me and my kids out on the boat on Echo. I was just planning on having them go for a ride in the boat and fish a little, but my dad and daughter had different plans. They decided they just HAD to go out on the tube. Zoey couldn't let Maizy have all the fun and started to cry that she wasn't going. Talk about a nervous wreck having my 2 little girls out in the middle of the reservoir with just my dad on a water toy. Maizy's new life jacket doesn't have straps between her legs and Zoey still didn't have good control of herself in water in a life jacket. All turned out well and my girls were safe and sound after 2 different rides. My sanity returned after they were safely back in the boat-especially after the 2nd time when Maizy wanted to get out and swim. We told her the water was just too cold and to just get in the boat. Well, she bailed out anyway by herself when we were pulling them in. She got a little shock and had a hard time catching her breath in the 67 degree water! Too bad I didn't have a picture of this, but I was tending to Zander and missed the opportunity! :(

Crazy Brother

My brother has always wanted to go skydiving. Well, he decided that he wanted to do it for his birthday. We decided to take the kids since we thought they would like to see their uncle flying through the air. For as long as we had to wait, my kids were pretty good. He was suppose to jump at lunchtime, so we stopped to get the kids lunch prior, but the power had gone out and no one had food. Waiting for over 2 hours with no food was hard, but they did it.

When it was finally his turn, they got his all dressed in his gear.

Here he is getting loaded on the plane.

I took this picture from Ryan's stock that he paid for by a professional that jumped with him.

Here he is coming safely down to the ground. He looked a little shell shocked when he landed, but he said it was a rush and would like to do it again...CRAZY!!!

Mom and Dad's Surprise Parties

Both of my parents turned 50 this year, so we decided to plan surprise parties. My dad's birthday was first, so we had a party all planned for the week after his birthday. Unfortunately we couldn't keep it a surprise as my dad's father passed away and we were having his funeral that same week. My mom decided to tell my dad to make sure he still wanted to have it. It was a great party and we had a fabulous turn out. I am a sucky host and forgot to get my camera out that day. I guess I will forgive myself since we had just buried my grandpa that morning.

Next was mom's birthday. We tried to keep it a secret, but mom somehow guessed the day we were having it. Oh well, it was still fun to have a get together with everyone. My nephews attacked both of my parents with silly string the moment they came home.

We got my mom a cute crown and necklace to wear.

I think they enjoyed the parties. They were able to visit and enjoy the company.

I am so thankful for my parents. They have been so supportive to me my entire life. I don't think they ever missed a ball game my entire high school career. They have always been there for me when I have had ups and downs. They have helped watch my kids numerous times, I couldn't even begin to count. My kids love living next door-although I'm sure my parents love having breaks away from them.
Happy 50th Birthdays!
We Love You!