4th of July
Every 4th of July we head to main street for the parade. Kids love it but mostly for the candy. As you can tell from the picture above, they got better this year at raising their hands to get more candy thrown their way. (To bad the parade has turned into a whole lot of trucks and a lot less floats.) After the parade we always head to the park for some games and then of course some fireworks at night. Braxton got to light some fireworks for the first year, (I can't believe he is getting so old!) Braxton even did a bunch of jobs around the house so he could earn money for some extra fireworks. He thought that was soooo awesome.
Braxton's 1/2 birthday
Braxton turned 9 1/2 years old in July and we love to celebrate 1/2 birthdays! (I just usually forget to write about them-oops.) On our half birthday we get a dollar present- (it's cheap but lots of fun). Anyways, if you know Braxton you know that he loves fruit. (I mean- he really loves fruit. A choice between candy or fruit- it would be fruit hands down.) So he received a couple cans of fruit cocktail. He was pretty excited!
Boy meets duct tape
Yep, Braxton discovered that duct tape is super sticky and it really does take your hair out when pulling the tape out. Who would have thought? (No, I don't remember what he was exactly thinking but it was pretty funny)
24th of July Parade
This is Alie's face when she found out that I wasn't going to stay next to her during the parade. Yep, she didn't take it to well. (Sorry, had to include that picture- it describes Alie very well and one of the few pictures that I have taken of her personality. It's hard for her to be left at the beginning.) However, as you can see from the picture below she had a great time and McKailey was with her the whole time. McKailey is an awesome big sister and very patient with Alie. She will always talk to Alie and calm her down.
Braxton was at the scout triathlon during the parade on a team with Uncle Tony. (I can't find the picture right now.) Braxton ran the 5k for his part. But he actually ran much farther because he didn't see the turn around point so someone had to get his attention to have him turn around. (He would have just kept on running.) They all did awesome!
On the actual 24th of July we had to do something to celebrate (the parade was a couple days before) so we went ice blocking. Brandon was there with us as we were lucky enough to have him at our house for a couple of days. It was pretty fun!
Then that night Braxton and Brandon lit so more fireworks for us.
Bird Reunion
We had an awesome time this summer up in Heber canyon for the Bird Reunion. We stayed in a big cabin with the Day family and went on a zip-line and did team building games during the day. It was beautiful.
Happy 11th Anniversary to us!
This is the only picture we took while on our vacation, so it will have to do. But for our anniversary we went to Park City. We went down the big zip-line (way awesome!), and went mountain biking (Alex's favorite part), we toured Park City (which we really haven't done before) and actually relaxed. It was wonderful! Thanks to Mom and Dad for watching the kids so we could go!
The Dishwasher
Funny story here- Braxton was in charge of loading the dishwasher and the the dish-washing soap was all out. So instead of telling parents, he decided to add the normal dish soap. Lots of it. It didn't take very long before bubbles were coming out of the dishwasher. (Just like what you see on TV!) It sure took awhile for Braxton to scoop the bubbles out and rinse it. Poor kid! I hate it when you have to learn the hard way.
McKailey's Mornings
This is my McKailey almost every morning while I am still in bed. Reading. She loves to read! I have to go to the library once every week or two to get her another pile of books. Her favorites are
Junie B Jones,
Ivy and Bean, and
Ramona from Beverly Cleary. She loves to read whenever she has a minute and will read while in the car. She is funny. So, in the mornings she is reading. Until mom has to tell her piano first and then reading :)
Kid's Triathlon
In the middle of August Braxton and McKailey participated in the Stansburry Kid's Triathlon. Braxton's goal was to get a trophy. He missed getting a trophy last year by 11 second so he was pretty determined this year. He practiced during the summer and he won 3rd place! This was McKailey's 1st Triathlon and her goal was to just finish. (That would be my goal too if I was her.) She actually just learned to ride her bike this spring without training wheels. She did awesome! They had to swim 1 lap, bike a 5k, and run 1 mile. Braxton and McKailey had a big cheering section for them too!
1st Day of School
School started on August 21st this year. Braxton started 4th grade, McKailey started 2nd grade and Alie started her 2nd year of preschool. I can't believe they are getting so old! Braxton has Mrs. Stanley, McKailey has Mrs. Mellor, and Alie has Mrs. Debbie and Ms. Miranda (her same teachers from last year).
Brigham City Temple Open House
What a beautiful Temple! Just a bad idea to go on Labor Day. Everybody else thought that would be a good idea as well. Our appointment was at 11:30 so I thought we would be done fairly fast and then we could eat lunch- bad idea. It took us till 3:30 to be done. So it took 4 hours to go through and we hadn't eatten lunch. But despite that, the kids were so good! They were bored but they were good and respectful in line. I was proud. Of course it totally because Grandma and Grandpa with Squeakers and Brandon came with us. I was so very grateful they did, otherwise it wouldn't have turned out that way.
Then a couple of weeks later Braxton, Mom and Dad went to the dedication while the girls were at Aleah's house. It was beautiful and I was so grateful Braxton was old enough to go with us.
