We kicked off summer in Utah with 2 birthday parties. CD really wanted a Ninja party, so all his little friends came dressed in their best ninja garb and we started off with decorating and coloring dragon masks and origami ninja stars while we waited for everyone to show up.
Here is CD patiently waiting for his fellow ninja warriors.
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| Then we started our ninja training....first off, ninja star target practice. |
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| Next up, karate chopping boards (made of foam of course). |
Then we made nun-chuks together. I was busy helping finish this activity up when they started the obstacle course which I spent forever on, so I didn't get any pics of it!! The thing that took the longest to construct was a lazer (yarn) maze that they had to maneuver through, then they used their nun-chuks to fight bad ninjas (helium balloons with faces on them tied to pegs in the ground) and more bad guys in the trees (more balloons hanging down), then finish with a star to the target.
They all passed their training and got to hit the snack table next
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| Since CD is a serious fruit bat and would eat fruit for breakfast, lunch, dinner and every snack if I let him, we did fruit cones instead of ice cream per his request. |
and fortune cookies and cheese squares with ninja sword skewers.
CD is such an incredible kid. I absolutely love my new seven year old boy who is always thinking of his siblings. I found him on the morning of his birthday wrapping some of his toys so the twins would have something to open up too on his birthday. I love that he is such a rough and tumble boy but has such a gentle, nice, HELPFUL side to him. He truly seems the happiest when he's helping me work and I love it!!
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| Breakfast in bed. He requested chocolate milk, sausage, bacon, cantaloupe, and cucumbers. |
Fruit pizza instead of a cake.
And grape caterpillars for his birthday treat he took to school.
Tiny tots track meet at East High.
CD proved to be a natural at hucking the mini javelin.
apparently whatever they are watching is quite interesting
I take so many pictures of my kids sleeping.
It feels sooooo good to just have the kids home, sleep in, and plan fun stuff to do each day together. We had a few weeks in Utah before heading to Oregon for the rest of the summer, so we tried to squeeze in some fun day trips places. On this day we went to "This is the Place" and really had a fabulous time exploring that place without any crowds. They decided they want to live in this Native American hut.
Panning for gold........................................and swinging in the cherry tree.
Riding ponies........ and waiting for the school bell to ring
CD got to demonstrate what happens if you are naughty in school. And the proper way to stand and respond when called on.
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| Pioneer games |
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| Another place we visited was the Utah Natural History Museum, which we could have spent all day at. |
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I love when you can almost see the wheels in their brains turning.
CD talks all the time about wanting to be an engineer someday, so he loved putting his skills to work here in trying to build a structure that would withstand the effects of an earthquake. |
Unearthing dinosaur bones
And laying in a dinosaur footprint
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| We ate at their little café after and soaked in the good weather. Look at my handsome boys. |
Ha! I get told a lot that I look like Sara Jessica Parker. I don't really get it but whatever.
We took a Sunday walk to check out all the statues at the This is the Place monument.
And I made the kids do a little photo shoot with my iPhone. Dre always turns on the charm for the camera.
Grillin' up a bunch of Bushnell beef (to make room in the freezer for more)! Yum. It's the only beef I like anymore. My Mom gets 1-2 cows a year butchered, which we split up amongst us. It used to make me sad because they are kind of like our pets, but now I appreciate so much the access to delicious home grown, grass fed beef that I don't have to pay an arm and a leg for.
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| The very day after school let out, the kids started their summer school with teacher Rivers. This is one of my favorite things...they listen so well to her and want to "play" school every day with her. They may think it is just play but they learned most of their states. |
Reagan showed me this picture she painted and said "look Mom, I drew a heart....the blood goes out this way, around the body, and back to the top of the heart". And she now has decided she wants to be a heart doctor. Go for it girlfriend!
Oh yeah! Carlos got great tickets to see Lionel Ritchie and I have to admit, he has so many show stopper songs. My favorite though was when he belted out "We are the World" at the end. It was a beautiful night at the outdoor Usana amphitheatre.
Reagan's loooong legs look exceptionally long when she wears roller skates and mini-dresses.
For Rivers 12th birthday celebration she invited a few of her favorite friends to go to Red Mango for smoothies, then to the park to paint on canvas and have a picnic lunch. She always comes up with great parties. I am such a lucky lady to have her as a daughter and to have her leading our little pack of kids.
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| We also got tickets to watch Mary Poppins at the Hale Center theatre and it was totally incredible! I'm not a big play goer and I probably don't appreciate theatre and the performing arts like I should, but this performance kept us ALL entertained the whole 3 hours. |
At the threatre
To finish off our summer in Utah before heading to Oregon, Madison (Rivers bestie cousin) flew to town to go to BYU basketball camp with Rivers, and to say they had a good time is a huge understatement. They stayed in the dorms by themselves for the first time. CD, Dre, and Reagan also went to soccer and football day camps there and Carlos went and watched the whole thing every day. It's about his favorite thing on earth. At the end of their week, we picked them up at the dorms and headed off to California, taking the long route through Disneyland to get to Oregon.
These two cousins were both about 10 weeks premature....lucky little ladies to be so healthy. Lolo definitely didn't get the preemie shaped head :).
