Alex's 7th Birthday

For Alex's 7th birthday party, Steve had the brilliant idea of having it at the pavilion at our church. Lots of room for the kids to run around, which was a good thing because Steve and Alex handed out invitations while I was at work, and a lot of kids were invited!

We had pizza, cupcakes and ice cream, and played a few games but really the kids seemed to have the most fun just running around going crazy. All the neighbors were probably wondering what all the racket was about!

This game involved some of the kids covering their face with shaving cream, and the rest of the kids throwing cheese puffs at them to see how many would stick. It was slightly messy as you can imagine. We also let the kids take turns with this water balloon launcher, which they loved. I felt like I filled a million water balloons but we still could have used more!

  

     

The whole crazy crew!

Alex has developed a liking for Michael Jackson. Not sure where it came from, but he is quite the fan. I wasn't too sure I'd be able to pull off a Michael Jackson cake, but I gave it my best shot. I think this looks a lot more like an hombre doing a Mexican Hat Dance than it does M.J. doing the moonwalk, but Alex was happy with it, so it's all good. Can't believe my baby is seven!

Summer Vacation

As we've done the past two years, we went to our family camping trip in California over the 4th of July, then spent some time in Napa. We missed not having Steph with us this year.

Adam and Grandma

 

 

 

Paul and Steve. Can I just say how devastated (not) I was when Steve's beautiful sun bonnet accidentally was ruined at a football practice later this summer? tee hee...

 

Mark, our master camping chef. He does some amazing cooking when he's camping. But hey, I can really roast a mean hot dog!

Some of the cousins playing cards.

Nate, Cessiley and Jessilyn

Little Aila. That face... there are no words.

Alex and his little buddy, Abram. Love those dirty faces.

Lorna and Lesley, sunbathing sisters.

Writing letters to our missionaries.

Not much water in the creek this year, but perfect for the little kids.

Aila loved sitting in the cold creek water and would get pretty testy with her mother if Kristin tried to move her!

The Kujanpaa Family, minus Erik and Jake (working summer jobs), but plus the newest family member, who most of us didn't know about yet. He/She is kind of hard to spot, they are hiding in Satu's belly. Can't wait to meet him/her in a few months!

Our beloved meadow. I don't have any pictures this year of our usual hike to the waterfall because, well, Steve, Alex and I didn't make it due to some intimidating circumstances. The three of us got a head start on the hike because it usually takes us longer to get up there. About a third of the way into the hike, Steve stopped dead in his tracks, told me and Alex to turn around and start walking "now!", he said calmly but quite emphatically. He didn't say why, but I was pretty sure I knew the reason, so I was trying my best to make up reasons for Alex as to why we were turning around so as not to scare him. We had probably briskly walked about a quarter mile before Steve was comfortable to slow down long enough to explain what happened. As we had been walking, all of a sudden he saw a bear. And the bear saw him as well, they apparently made eye contact and the bear stood up. Nothing further needed to be communicated to Steve from Mama Bear, he got the message loud and clear and we high tailed it outta there. When we met up with the rest of the family, most of them continued on the hike but us Lillys (except for Alex) thought we'd had enough excitement for the day. Nobody else saw the bear, so Steve (like it or not) currently wears the badge for "Closest Bear Encounter at Grovers".

A few months before we went to California, Alex and I were driving past a cemetery one day. Alex was asking me questions about my grandparents and where they were buried. He thought that it would be a good idea if we "paid our respects" sometime when we were visiting. So that's what we did. We first went to Grandpa and Grandma Jacobson's cemetery, then to where Grandma and Grandpa Eide and Judy are, and left fresh flowers. We also drove past Federal Terrace where my mom lived as a girl, then over to Del Mar Avenue where some of my best childhood memories are, to see both sets of grandparents homes.

Of course, one of the highlights of any trip to Napa is seeing this little blue eyed beauty.

Alex and Alexis. She really loved to follow Alex around and see what he was doing.

Our usual trip to Pier 39 in San Francisco.

We took Alex to the Napa River to go fishing. Not a single bite, but Alex still had fun.

Last summer we never tried going to the beach because the weather was really mild in Napa and we figured it'd be cold at the beach. This year it was still really mild in Napa, but I didn't want to skip the beach again, so we took our chances and went anyways. It ended up being a beautiful day! No wind, slightly overcast but the sun was peeking out just enough to be warm.

Sandy kisses are the best!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation...

One of the main ways I spent my summer vacation was by living vicariously through Stephenie as she traveled all over as part of her summer internship for Zagg. She was able to see many different parts of the country and visit many famous sites, as well as get the chance to visit different family members in those places. She typically spent about a week in each place, with a few exceptions. She worked in Southern California, the Bay Area, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Baltimore, Orlando, New Orleans, Houston, Washington DC, New York City, back to California, then to Phoenix, where they only worked for one day and spent the rest of the week at a 5 star resort... compliments of Zagg. She attended a handful of pro baseball games, went to Universal Studios Orlando, saw many of the major sites of New York City (where she impressively learned to navigate her way on the subway system all by herself), and most the major attractions of D.C. She loved being in the Bay Area, where she happily stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house most the week. She was also able to see her Grandpa Lilly who lives in Mississippi, a short distance from New Orleans. She became really close to some of the other interns and really wasn't all too anxious to come home. Alex really missed her while she was gone. I'm glad she was able to have this amazing once in a lifetime opportunity.

 

Alex took swimming lessons, twice. The first time was at the Taylorsville pool. I had signed him up for the very first session, and of course there were a few days that were too cold for the kids to get in the pool. Plus, the first week of lessons he had a slug for a teacher and he learned nothing. The girl in this picture taught the second week and was really good, but that was the week where they lost a lot of instructional time. In July, we were so fortunate to have a second shot at lessons in a completely different environment. One of Steve's football players at Woods Cross High offered to give Alex swimming lessons. His family runs a swim school at their family pool. He said that he would do it free of cost to thank Steve for all his help, and they were private lessons! I had to drive 20 minutes to get there each day but it was totally worth it. I wish I had a picture but I can't get it to transfer from my phone.

Alex and I met up with my sister Lorna, bro-in-law Paul and nephew Adam for our annual day at Herriman Beach. It was a perfect day and it was so nice to visit and spend time playing.

Our neighbors who moved out of state didn't want to take their little fire pit so they gave it to us. We had fun one night roasting marshmallows. Notice that I said "one" night? Yes, we only used it once, the perfect example of the frustration I feel that the summers pass so, so quickly and you don't get to do so many things you dreamed of doing all winter long.

Alex had come so far in the 1st grade with his reading skills, and I really wanted to make sure he kept up on them thru the summer. The library's summer reading program was good incentive. In August, he had filled up his chart and took it in to the library and in return got to pick a brand new book to keep, and received many free tickets to restaurants and events, it was really cool.

The Granite School District had a fun summer program called "Unplugged", which encouraged kids to get out and do things all summer instead of sitting in front of all their electronics. There was a huge list of things for the kids to do, and when they had done them, they went to various local businesses to pick up one of these cool badges. Some of the things Alex did was do an art project, write an adventure story, go swimming, jump rope, go camping, wash a car, play ball, go hiking, just to name a few. I don't want to know how much gas money I spent driving all over the valley to the different businesses, but it was fun to go get each badge and see his collection get bigger.

I did my usual summertime races, first the Taylorsville Dayzz 5k in June, and this one, the Deseret News 10k on Pioneer Day in July. Both races I improved greatly on my previous times so I was really excited.

A few other things we did this summer, (besides our California trip, more on that later) was in June when Alex spent a week going to day camp at the rec center. They played lots of games and went swimming at the pool. Also, we had Pass of All Passes this year and Alex and I had a blast going to Seven Peaks waterslides. It was fun to see him become progressively braver about going on the slides.

As usual, I always hate to see the summer end and wish I had just a little more time to fit in more fun, but we definitely did make some great memories in 2014.

Big May Happenings

May was a big month for our family. We had just sent off two missionaries, Daniel to Taiwan and Weston to Florida, then Jake came home from Ohio. (Don't be confused by the Happy Birthday balloon, Jake had just had a birthday.)

I imagine there can't be any much better experience as a mother than moments like this.

Jake left on his mission while Erik was on a mission in Indonesia, so they hadn't seen each other since Erik left in early 2011.

We are always glad when Mom and Dad can come out to Utah for big family events.

My niece Elizabeth graduated from Timpanogos High and will be attending BYU in the fall. She is one of the sweetest and most loving girls. I have lots of funny memories of her as a little girl, she has grown up way too fast.

This is the epitome of true and lasting love. At the graduation, my dad was carrying my mom's purse for her. He needed to make a pit stop, and we all started to chuckle when we realized that he was in the men's bathroom with her purse on his arm. I couldn't resist capturing the moment as he walked out!

First Grade is a Wrap!

I'm so grateful that Alex had such a great year in the 1st grade. His teacher, Mrs. Beecher was great, his class size was superb, and he learned so much. Since Alex has a summer birthday, he was able to celebrate it in class in May. He did a spotlight of himself and brought treats for the class. The kids formed a circle around him and sang Happy Birthday, it was super cute.

You know your child had a happy school year when they shed tears at the end of the year and say that they are going to miss their teacher. Wonderful teachers are such a blessing. I hope that we will be just as blessed in the 2nd grade!

My Easter Beauties

I think my favorite thing about Easter is getting new outfits for Easter Sunday. I thought both Steph and Alex looked really cute.

One of my all time favorite pictures of these two!!

First Little League Game

Alex was sooo excited for baseball season to start. He enjoyed tee ball last year, but has moved on to bigger and better things... coach pitch. Even better when that coach is your dad! Considering that Steve has been coaching for all these years, you'd think coaching these little kids would be a piece of cake, but he says he has a hard time because he's used to the teenagers who listen and do what you tell them to do. With these little cuties, that's not always the case!

Last weekend was our first game, and things actually went quite smooth for the first game. Forgive the overload of pictures, but they were all so cute I couldn't narrow it down to just a few!

Alex got out on first base, but I think he was so excited that he hit it, he didn't mind at all!

I love the look of intensity on his face. Truth be told, he was probably playing in the dirt just moments before. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season and seeing how much Alex improves.