Summer Summary

I've fallen so behind on this blog that I never feel like I can blog anything until I catch up first.  So, for my own record, here's some of what we did this summer so I can catch up and move on!

This isn't the best picture, but Brandon and I celebrated out 10th Anniversary in May! It was a crazy busy month, so we took the one night we could get and left the kids with my parents while we went up to Park City.  Our hotel was awesome and we had a great time, even if it was short.

We met up with Grandma and Grandpa in Manti for their annual Scandinavian Days Parade.

The local dentist was giving out toothbrushes, Noah was thrilled.

I love that these two are best friends.

After the parade and a reunion, Grandma and Grandpa came home with us to visit for a few days.

 

Brandon got some cool pics of the solar eclipse at the end of May.

In July we headed to Moab for some camping!

Grandpa has to teach Erin all his tricks since she'll actually eat fish.

We took the big kids on a wild hike.  They were great and we hope to do a lot more hiking next summer.

We had a great campout. However, overnights with a 1-year-old are not my favorite thing! We're excited to do a lot more hiking and camping as the kids get a little bigger.

 We also celebrated the 4th of July in Moab.  Stephen put on a good fireworks show for the kids.

Erin was a bit worn out from our travels, but the boys enjoyed playing with fire, of course.

This was pretty cool.  The fireworks show was right over a full moon!

 

Some summer days are really fun, like this one.

This one, on the other hand, was not so great.  Don't throw toys inside the house!!!

Ben took swimming lessons for the first time and loved it!

Erin was pretty jealous, but is super excited to do it next year when she's 4.  She kept Noah and I entertained while we waited each day.

 Noah loves noisy things, like vacuums and lawn mowers.  He also likes to "yee-haw" on anything available.

 We had a super fun and exciting Pioneer Day with a parade and water park and celebrating Nana's birthday.  It was so exciting that we hardly took any pictures.  Here's one of the big kids at the carnival.

Up next, end of summer fun and the beginning of our first school year!  We will get caught up!!!

Aloha Grandma & Grandpa

After serving for 18 months at the Kona Hawaii Temple, Grandma and Grandpa are home!!!  We were able to see them quite a bit in May, yet somehow managed not to get any pictures of them besides these with Grandma in the background.  Nevertheless, we are super excited to have them home.  Since this was Noah's first time to meet them, and given that he's in that fun 'stranger danger' phase, it took him a few days to get comfortable with them.  By the end of the month, however, he would run right to them.

We were pretty excited about our new Hawaiian attire.

Grandma even gave Maddy and Erin a Hula lesson.

Zack, Amanda, and Bobby lovin' their T's.

We spent 4 days in Moab and the kids loved re-exploring the yard.

Brandon found this little guy under a trash can and he stuck around for quite a while.

He's pretty good at blending in, can you spot him with the kids?

Grandpa made getting the 4-wheeler going a top priority.  As you can see, it was appreciated.

I had this grand idea to take some pictures of the kids.  Problem was they were all sleep deprived and were sick with head colds.  So, basically I chased 3 snotty-nosed kids around a giant yard, aggravating them with a camera.  It was awesome.

Group pictures went really well, obviously.

Practicing ballet or about to give me the back-hand?

Tissue, STAT!

I'm not even going to look at you mom, this is so embarrasing.

Yes, that is my leg he's clinging to, which makes it awesome that I could take his picture at the same time.

This is when he figures out where daddy is and knows he can't go to him.  "DAAAAA'DEEEEEE!"

A little peek-a-boo cheers him up pretty quick.

Last effort at a group shot...at least they are all looking in the same direction, even if it's not at me.

We had to keep with tradition and go feed the ducks at the Old City Park.  We say 'feed the ducks' but more than anything you feed geese.  Occasionally something gets far enough out for a duck, turtle, or fish. 

The turtle decided to take his chances and go after some bread and oats.

There was a random dog running around while we were exploring the water features.  Noah LOVES dogs.  It made his day.

Erin, however, is terrified of dogs and was frozen, whimpering, when he came this close.

We're looking forward to spending lots more time with Grandma and Grandpa now that they're back.  It will be a busy summer and hopefully I can get some pics with Grandma and Grandpa in them.  The next challenge will be keeping my posts up to date...wish me luck!