Cousins Come to Town

It has been a busy week for us! William's younger brother came to town from Texas and stayed with us for a few days.

They have three adorable kids, all of which we adored playing with. Perry was especially popular. We haven't been around a baby in  a really long time. 

While they were here they wanted to go visit the This is the Place Heritage Park.

The first thing to do when we go there was to go find the Great-great-great grandfather that little Perry is named for.

His name is listed on the monument as being in the first party of Saints to enter the valley. This was really neat for my kids. Plus it gave them something to identify the name Perry with besides a Platypus on the Disney channel.

Little cousins, big monument.

We practiced some pioneer chores. Glad we don't have to do laundry this way anymore.

Audrey was pretty good at it! Plus it helps to be this cute!

Nikolaus was excited for the pony but he was really holding out for the train.

Yeah for the train! Especially if you can get your dad to go too!  I think the kids favorite thing there though was the panning for gold. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures because I was overcome with gold fever and couldn't stop panning myself! It was such a fun day with cousins!

Women's Shelter in Park City

Last weekend my group of friends whom we call The Women's Shelter took our group on the road and ran away from home. We went up to Sarah's beautiful condo in Park City. I'm not sure I have ever stayed in a hotel that makes me feel as spoiled as her condo does. We talked for three days straight. We never turned on a radio or television. We rarely even cracked a book, which for this group is saying something. By Saturday night we were all getting hoarse from talking so much. It was awesome.

One of the few things we stopped for was to go to dinner one night and to go to the Deer Valley Summer Music series in which the Utah Symphony performed at salute to Michael Jackson. As children of the 80's it was perfect. Even if the singer was a bit cheesy. We had a great time. This is most of the group. Christine is behind Circe so you can't see her. I have a picture Jennie texted me of the whole group but I am too dumb to get it off my phone. Oh, and they are not making faces, a couple of them were singing along when I took the picture.

Luckily I have this one with Christine and Jennie to prove she and I were both there too.

It was a truly great weekend. These women strengthen and bless me in so many ways. We ate, laughed, cried, advised each other, attempted to solve all the world's problems and planned our old age. Circe posted some of our words of wisdom. These are the ones I emailed myself so I wouldn't forget them mixed with the ones that Circe posted on her blog.

You have three seconds to change your thought process-Christine
As fun as it to complain about things there are things that are more fun.Sarah

We teach our children to contribute more than we consume-Can't remember Tiffany?
 Remember to ask kids how they know I love them. What is their love language?Jen
We're having Shelter Time Warp -Michelle
There is such a thing as too much ABBA.  -Sarah
The atonement can change history.  -Tiffany
3 cups flour, half tsp yeast, tsp salt, 1.5 cups water.  Let sit overnight.  -Tiffany. 
Who I am is why your life works.  -Jennie
Put some paint on your brush and start!  -Tiffany
I can hardly wait for next year!

Parade of Homes 2012

William and I just finished up touring the local parade of homes last weekend. As usual there were some fun decorating ideas I don't want to forget so this post is mostly for me. Some of my favorite things were:

The return of wallpaper! Wish my husband would let me do this. He is afraid of the inevitable day when I would change my mind, cause let's face it, I do that. Love this color combo.

 Brittany is hoping for some bookshelves if we ever move her to the basement. They would be so pretty a little deeper.

 Who doesn't love a good owl pillow and I loved the embroidery on this one.

 Matthew has been drawing loads of cars and I am thinking I may have him do a series with a sharpie and then turn them into pillows for his room.

 Empty frames attacked by spray paint, how cute!

Last but not least for my sister and her hunter husband a whole wall painted as a mural then decked out in animal heads. William and I even offered to come paint this for and she still won't let Nate have it. She is so mean. I told her the rule had always been that she didn't want heads in the house and technically this was not in the house. She still wasn't buying it.

Hot Rocks 2012

I don't think I have mentioned it but at the beginning of the summer the kids and I made a big list of things we thought we could do this summer that would result in this being the most fun summer ever. It is about 60 items long and we are about half way through.  And it has been a lot of fun.

 One of the things on the list is hot rocks. We have done this one before but Josh wasn't old enough, it is a little dangerous for little kids. So we had to go at it again. Basically you clean your rocks, stick them in the oven at about 425 for about 15 minutes then take them out and touch them with crayons that you have peeled the wrappers off of.

 Fun! Fun! Fun! The crayons liquefy and really do become like paint. It is great activity for the rare rainy summer day!

Our Teenager!

It happened. We now have a teenager in the house. Over a week ago in fact.

 Her day started with gooey chocolatey bars for breakfast since we were saving the cake for the day we celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa.

 Here she is! Our newly minted teenager! Isn't she cute?  And so far no more obnoxious than a twelve year old.We did run out to Boondocks and play in the go-karts like Josh did but really it wasn't quite the big deal for her.

 That night we took some friends to see a play, 42nd Street. Obviously I sat somewhere else so the teenagers could maintain their cool. It was a great play and I think the girls enjoyed it.

 Then we went and got big ice cream cones and opened presents. Easy, fast and fun. Just my speed.

Then finally a few days later it was cake with Grandma  and Grandpa!

Since she is my kid through and through of course Brittany thinks decorating the cake is as much fun as eating it so the kid decorated her own cake. Isn't it cute?  It was a fun birthday celebration. Hopefully Brittany had as much fun as the rest of us. Love you Bug!

Fabulous Fourth 2012

I love the Fourth of July. For several reasons. It makes me nostalgic. It was the first date William asked me on 23 (seriously? how can this be?) years ago. We saw Dead Poets Society and then went to the same K town fireworks we take our kids to now. I love that it is a holiday that has such consistent traditions that are relatively easy to pull off. All that time I spend getting ready for Christmas? The shopping, crafting, baking, wrapping etc? It really doesn't create a better memory than the one I always hope for on the Fourth. The one were we all end up piled on a blanket together, safe and happy watching fireworks. 

So here is one of our traditions. Every year I take four bottles of paint, a paint brush, a water bottle and a paper towel and we paint faces while we wait for the parade. Rules are it has to be those colors and within my abilities. Preferably patriotic. Matthew's flag. 

 Brittany's fireworks. Oh, another part of the tradition includes the grandparents. They almost always come to the parade and fireworks with us. And if you are lucky Grandpa will leave his cowboy hat in your care like he did Brittany.

 Ah!  A rare picture of me on the blog! But when you have a boy this cute to take it with how can you resist. By the way, he is posed like that because he is trying to show his puppy to best advantage and look at the camera with just his eyes. Oh look! Another cute boy behind me! That would be William, really he is having fun.

 Okay, so our parade may have been a little too full of advertisements, and maybe political stuff for my tastes. Maybe my kids did risk their lives trying to get some precious taffy but the whole thing was perfect because of this entry. Several trucks bearing veterans. Awesome in and of itself but the reaction of the cheering crowd in addition almost made me cry. Such a great feeling!

 Hey, who doesn't want to go the parade with this Grandma? She will yell and scream until you do get that precious taffy, even if you aren't paying attention. After the parade I had to go home and take a nap. It was hot! And we did have fireworks to attend. Then Grandma and Grandpa came for a little BBQ which always makes any meal more fun.

Then we took Grandpa with us to the fireworks. No Grandma because she is recovering from cataract surgery and fireworks seemed a bad, bad idea. So on our way to the fireworks I called my friend Circe to see where she had told me they go every year thinking maybe we would try something new and hook up with them. When we got there the sprinklers were on so we went to plan B and tried  another spot. We had lots of room for fribee and playing catch.  We were a little worried when the Dopps came because some nearby sprinklers made us wonder if a shower would be part of our fireworks. My kids had so much more fun with friends. Hanging with the "little people" as Brittany put it. The girl loves some little kids to play with. And we had fun grown-ups to visit with. Turned out to be our best spot ever! Perfect view, we saw the ground fireworks we never get to see, had lots of room to play and were right by our car so we beat it out of there in record time. It was so good I will never tell exactly where it was in case it gets ruined, but we hope to see the Dopps there again next year!

Well, it is after midnight now. The Fourth is officially over for another year. But it really was as Matthew put it, "one of our best ones ever".  That is why I had to stay up late and write this down. Because today was practically perfect and let's face it not all days are. Someday I may need to remember this perfect day in detail. Because today I have it all. My family, who are all here and healthy. My home, community and friends. And this beautiful country. Yep, I am truly blessed.

Simple Things

 We have been having ridiculous problems with our irrigation water. The canal company is involved and it is a daily trial for poor William. At the suggestion of the canal people William let the water run for most of a Saturday in an attempt to flush the system. (It failed by the way). But man did my kids have fun. What is it about kids and water? They made dams. They squirted. They floated things.

 Josh played keep-away I guess.

Even Brittany got involved. They even put the rocks back when they were done. No electronic devices of any kind were used during the whole afternoon! And they didn't even bicker! Well not that I could hear anyway. I love when these simple pleasures occur!

Gone Fishin'

Anybody remember the time I went nuts and let my kids go fishing in the backyard? It was a long time ago, when we lived in California. I can't believe how little my kids look in that post. Josh was too little to get to participate last time. Time is going so, so fast. I hate it. So I guess we will make memories while we can!

Josh can't stop asking when we can do this again. I'm sure we will be doing it again, imagine the work I can get my kids to do with this as the reward! I do feel a little bad for the fish, they don't have a real long life expectancy. Really, wouldn't you rather be adored and played with to death instead of eaten? My kids have such a crazy mother!

A Day at Oma and Opa's Houses

This summer is flying so fast! Faster than I can blog it. A couple of weeks ago we went up to visit Oma and Opa so William could help them lay tile. I spent part of the day taking some pictures of the kids. I really like this one of them on Oma's hill.

Josh loves the cat. He would be such an animal kid if he didn't live with people with allergies.

I used William's old yellow truck that lives at Opa's to take some pictures.

Don't you love the big tires?

This is probably my favorite. That is my baby people! How did he get to be six?

At the end of the day Opa took the kids, including Noah and James who were also visiting for a ride. It was a great end to the day!

Let the Party Begin!

 Brittany's birthday isn't until Saturday but we have already begun the celebrating.  Today my sister and her girls came up to help us celebrate. This is hard to believe but they had never been to Cherry Hill, well at least not since Tiff and I were kids. I think it is fair to say the cousins all had a blast and had a fun day.

 Look! It is the birthday girl!

 Four cousins, desperately trying to cling to each other!

 Oh no! They lost one!

Well, now they found her and lost Matthew! It was such a fun day, thanks so much girls for starting the birthday party!

Chalk Festival 3012

 It was time for the annual chalk festival in Salt Lake last weekend. We love this and haven't missed since we came back from California.  Here is last year. This year though they had transformers and superheroes! Check out Josh with his new friends!

 There they are in the background. Josh is the only one in these pictures because the rest of my family is too cool.

 Amazing artwork right there at your feet!

 One of my favorite parts of the chalk festival is how inspired my kids always are afterwards. This year their dad put up the easy-up to save them from heat stroke and they stayed out there for most of the afternoon.  They keep asking me to find out how they can enter in the student section of the festival. I may have to check in to it soon.

 Matthew's Goofy.

Brittany's fairy in a tree. I just love my creative kids!