Summer Lovin'



Went with the YW to Manti last week to see the Mormon Miracle Pageant.  We got to do baptisms there and then stuck around for the pageant.  It was super fun!  Love the Manti Temple. 




Just got back from girls camp.  I always dread it coming, but then always have a lot of fun when it's here.  We didn't get much sleep, got DIRTY!, and had a moose in our little tent area always trying to scare the girls....




Yesterday we went on a family hike (to conquer something on our summer bucket list) and headed up the canyon.
We got there and it was beautiful!

 


On the back side of Silver Lake

 


We decided to hike up to Twin Lakes since it was not that far away (about a mile from Silver Lake).  It was pretty steep the entire way and the kids grumbled and complained like crazy.  Except for Spencer, he loved it. 



We had almost made it to the Lake and ran into this little guy... okay not little at all.  He was huge and not very far away.  He was about 20 feet away from us and I got pretty nervous and snippy with the curious kids.  We passed him up and kept on hiking.  And I kept looking back to make sure we were safe.




Almost to the Lake and Parker had a little break down.  Here's Spencer helping him and trying to say comforting things to him.  What a good big brother.  These kids really were troopers though, because it was hard for me and they had to take twice as many steps as I did. 

 


Finally got there and it was beautiful! 

 


Beautiful! 




On our way back down, we were looking for our moose friend and he had laid down in the trees. 


And after our hike was all over, the kids kept saying how much fun they had...

 


Today we decided to go to the Hill Aerospace Museum, because we have never been.  The kids loved seeing all the cool airplanes. 



The kids were all a little bummed that we couldn't actually get in any airplanes, but still had fun.




Loved the huge helicopters! 



Wingardium Leviosa

Really quick, here's a pic of Parker the day before we got his stitches out of his face.  He looks SO good now! 
He still has a little cast on his hand, but he's doing great!

Okay, on to the party!

About a month ago we got a letter in the mail from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry inviting us to attend.  So we prepared as much as we could and the day finally arrived to go!  Bellatrix Lestrange was even excited!

Harry Potter was pretty excited as well.

And the Hungarian Horntailed dragon was not as excited at first, he was famished.  But as soon as he got some crackers from his muggle mother, he did much better.

The evening started with Hagrid showing the young wizards their way to Hogsmeade to buy their supplies.

We happened upon some of Hogwarts staff as they were on their way to the castle. (Really, don't they just look so awesome?  They are Kyle's cousins.  The 2 on the left were the main ones responsible for this amazing party.  Thank you Trisha and Jodi!!)

Parker showing Hagrid (Uncle Scott) his owl he just bought.

Buying his wand (from Great Grandma and Grandpa).  He was taking this all very seriously. 

He bought himself a butterbeer and loved it so much, he went and bought another one. 

Harry with his butterbeer mustache. 

Got Butterbeer?

We entered the Great Hall and was given instructions from Filch and Dumbledore.

Then Snape, Mcgonagall, and Trelawney filled us in on some more things.

Lily even made a visit.

Then it was time for classes.  Mcgonnagall taught some spells and we made some snitch necklaces. 

Then off to Potions class with Snape. 

Professor Sprout taught Herbology. 

And Trewlawney could barely see her students, but taught us how to see things because she IS a seer.

Trying on those crazy glasses.

And then we went and had a great feast.  It truly WAS a great feast!  I wish I would have gotten pictures of it as well!



Wish I took a picture BEFORE the students ransacked Honeydukes.  They spent all their galleons getting TONS of fun stuff at the store!  And this was just one of the rooms. 



We ended the night with watching Harry Potter on the big screen outside, eating all of our treats. 

The kids had such a great night and I just can't get over all the work and preparation that went into this fun
family party!

Whirlwind

I've been working on this post for a few days now, trying to add a little when I had a chance. Plus blogger has not been working right it seems.   So here's a jumble of things that have happened the past couple weeks.  Good and bad.





Spencer had a bike rodeo for cubscouts so I took all the kids and we had a fun time.

 






Here's Carly.  She did just as well as all the boys.

 






And Parker.  He was just happy to be there.  Cute kid.

 

   




Baseball finished up.  We had a sad finish to the tournament though.  They played the game that wound determine if they went to the championship game and they beat the other team 8-1.  We were all so excited!  Then the "people in charge" told our team that since one person didn't sit out when he was supposed to during the game, our team had to forfeit.  It was so sad.  The team (coaches and all) were in tears and it was just a sad, sad time.  I was proud of all the players and coaches for still being good sports though.  They had such a great team!  But we will be looking forward to not going to ball games every night for a while.

 





Last day of school fun!  The fire dept came and sprayed the whole school.  It was so crazy and fun!

 



The fun firefighters.

 




Carly and her cute friends getting soaked.

 


It took me forever to find my Spencer in the crowds!  Finally towards the end I spotted him and took a couple of pics.

 



Looks like he enjoyed himself!

 








The kids after getting soaked. 

Spencer and I had a few days to ourselves while the other two were visiting grandparents.  I bribed him into letting me take some pics of him.  It was so much fun to hang out with him!  I am so lucky to be the mom of this handsome guy!

    






Our baseball team had a really fun party instead of playing in the championship game.  :)   Here's Spencer getting his medal.  And his super great coaches! 

   





 






For the baseball party, we went to this mega fun house just down the street from us.  We all had such a great time! 

 



Another cute pic of this kid

 

And now for the sad... this poor kid.  He was at my mom and dad's house, bouncing on a ball and he fell
and went through the glass door of their entertainment center.  They took him to the ER in their town.  Then we realized that that hospital is not covered under our insurance, so Kyle and I drove down to meet them halfway and brought him
back up here to go to Primary Children's Hospital. 

We waited and waited to get all fixed up.  He had had a rough day and zonked for a little while around midnight. 

38 stitches later and many hours in the hospital, we finally finished and got home around 5:30 this morning.  This poor kid.  He was so brave!  We have a long recovery, but if anyone can bounce back after this, it's him!  Sure love him!!!