100% Complete

Three years ago, we tore down our deck and started rebuilding it. Two years ago, Josh finished the top part and we put a railing around the entire thing because we didn't have the money to do the stairs and wanted to be able to safely use it. Then last year we did the stairs. And this year we finally opened up the top and completed the deck with the railing down the stairs. And although we learned a lot from the whole experience and have the satisfaction of knowing we did it ourselves, if we had to do it all over again, we'd just pay someone to do it. I don't think we saved any money by doing it ourselves and we definitely didn't save any time. It was such a long process and Josh ran into so many difficulties along the way.

We are, however, more than pleased with the outcome. It turned out beautiful and I love having access to my backyard from the back side of my house finally (as do the girls).

Challenges & Picnics

Josh has been really good about challenging the girls to learn some fun things during the summer and each time they've been rewarded with a picnic. First it was to memorize the names of the latter-day prophets. Then it was to memorize the books in The Book of Mormon. And now they're on to memorizing the Thirteen Articles of Faith. They've done such a good job. Kali was so motivated on the first two challenges that they both took her only about two days to memorize. Sadie took a little longer, but with Kali's help, stuck with it and successfully memorized them in a couple of weeks.

A Princess Party

Grandma Parry turned 75 today and was thrown a princess party. It turned out so much fun. The girls dressed up in their prettiest princess dresses and insisted I put makeup on them. They played fun games, got their nails painted, and danced to fun music with disco balls. Grandma seemed to be enjoying herself too. She got to wear a crown and dress in pink (her favorite color).

Sadie

Our little Sadie is five now.

She has been looking forward to this day for quite some time now. Probably not for the usual reasons you may think of. She's a little random that way, and is excited that I will now let her brush her teeth by herself one time a day (which is such a Sadie kind-of-thing to be excited about). Not only do random little things mean a lot to her, but she enjoys random little toys. I really struggled knowing what to get her for her birthday, but thankfully she seemed to be happy with everything.

Here are some of the things that we love about Sadie. She is such a good girl. Any time she gets in trouble, it's a one-time-thing and done. She knows what her boundaries are and follows them. She's also good at making sure her sisters are doing what they're supposed to and lets us know when they're not, but not in a tattle-tale sort of way. She loves to be a helper, particularly with folding laundry. And whenever I ask one of the other girls to go do something or get something for me, Sadie quickly jumps up and tries to beat them to it. We also love her laugh. It is so genuine and infectious. She's usually the last one sitting at the dinner table every night because she doesn't want to eat her vegetables, but does as she's told and slowly but surely eats them. She's also usually the last one at the breakfast table because she always eats a bowl of cereal with no milk in it. I think it's because she doesn't like soggy cereal, but instead of eating smaller portions or less milk, she just eats plain cereal. She's also our little poser. In almost every picture she's doing a fun little pose and it actually makes her quite photogenic.

And lastly, she's very kind, smart and beautiful and we love her very much.

Candy Land Birthday Party

Thanks to a friend, I got the wonderful idea of throwing a Candy Land themed birthday party for Sadie. She's our little sweet tooth so it was perfect for her. A lot of time and preparation went into a short two hours of fun, but I think it ended up turning out pretty cute.

The kids started off by creating their own large characters to use while playing a large version of the game. All of them turned out so unique and so cute and they had so much fun making them.

Then they played the game. I simply made large squares that instructed the kids to do fun little things to keep them laughing and playing with each other. Unfortunately the kids got a little distracted toward the end and became more interested in playing with the toys in the toy room. It would have worked a lot better outside, but it had become quite windy and we were worried the game would just blow away. Oh well, you live and learn.

The path led to a huge golden castle and the winner got a gigantic lollipop.

Then we moved on to more candy!!! I made a pinata that looked like a big piece of candy (which was way too much work) and filled it over half full of candy. The sad thing is that the candy ended up being too heavy and after two kids hit it, it broke in half. Thankfully the kids didn't mind. They were excited to fill their bags full of candy and then beat the broken pinata on the ground.

And last of all, the kids got to enjoy some brightly frosted cupcakes with fun candies on top. Needless to say, I sent a bunch of little kids home on sugar highs with bags full of candy. They couldn't have been more excited. And what a way to celebrate a birthday.

Swim

The girls just finished their swim lessons for the summer. Kali started out a little rusty but was very good at listening and following her teacher's instructions. He mainly focused on their side breathing with the freestyle. They also worked on their backstroke and then on the last day, the got to jump off the diving board and dive over their teacher's arm from the side of the pool. That really got Kali excited. Maybe we need to focus her efforts on diving. She'd probably be very good at it.

Sadie was like a fish in water until her teacher would ask her to put her head in. She would always do what her teacher asked but was obviously not doing it correctly. I think she was swallowing a lot of water because she forgets to blow her bubbles like she's supposed to. Then on the last day, Sadie asked me to put her goggles on. Her teacher said that it made all the difference. Now we know the key to her success and will definitely be using her goggles in the future.

Ashlyn was so disappointed on the first day of swim when she found out that Kali and Sadie would be getting in the water and she wouldn't, but that quickly wore off. She found plenty of other ways to entertain herself, including playing in the water. Thankfully she didn't find this spot until the last day. I had my hands full just trying to keep her from falling in.

Camping

The Bohman Family camping trip on Monroe Mountain finally arrived. The girls and I really look forward to it every year. And the exciting thing about this year is that we bought a springbar tent that fits our entire family. It was so nice to have a good big dependable tent.

We had plenty of room and the girls giggled until we finally had to be the mean guys and make them go to sleep. We didn't get to stay on the mountain as long as I would have liked to, but we did get to spend two days and two nights and we packed pretty much everything you can imagine into that amount of time.

To start off with, my cousins made this awesome teepee. I wasn't there when they made it, but I thought it was so cool. Hopefully it's still there next year.

At first the kids didn't play much in it, but once they started, it was hard to get them to stop.

They kept looking for new sticks and branches to add to the outside of it and even made some sort of door.

Then there was fishing. Sadie did it for a little bit, but quickly got bored. Kali, on the other hand, stuck it out and really seemed to enjoy it.

And her patience paid off because she caught her first fish. It was about 8 or 9 inches long and she was so excited. Josh caught one just before we left and we had a good laugh about it because it was only about 2 inches long.

Ashlyn spent her time throwing rocks into the reservoir or making birthday cakes or other "food" with her stick in the mud.

Then the girls got to play games.

And Uncle Steven taught Kali how to use a bow and arrow.

Ashlyn got to go on a wagon ride...

which wasn't nearly as fun as the Barbie jeep. She wanted to play on that thing all day long every day. It became quite a fight at times because she wouldn't let anyone else enjoy it.

Tara taught Kali how to make some cool bracelets.

And then they got to enjoy painting.

Grandma had little wooden figures to paint, but they quickly disappeared. Thankfully the mountains have plenty of rocks because the girls thought painting them was just as good.

Then there were the four wheelers.

Josh took each of the girls on a ride and my favorite was the next day when Ashlyn walked up to Sara and asked her if she would take her for a "beautiful ride". I don't know that she cared as much for the beauty of what she would be seeing as she did for the idea of getting on the four wheeler.

And of course there was plenty of flower picking.

Emma and I spent a lot of time together and she did a very good job. She obviously was enjoying herself too.

I also got to play a game of Boggle which made my camping experience. I can't go camping without playing that game at least once. It was a very memorable trip and I'm already looking forward to next year.

Four Months Old

Emma is now 4 months old and getting cuter and cuter every day. She is her own little person and it's fun to see her personality coming out. She's not the best sleeper and has become a little more fussy, but I think she just wants to be involved in what we're doing. She likes to sit at the dinner table with us and when I'm holding her she has to be facing what I'm doing otherwise she's twisting and turning in my arms. She's quick to smile and turns her head away almost like she's being shy but then looks back again so that she can smile at you again. Every once in a while she crinkles her nose too. It's very cute. She also wants to talk so badly but can't get much out. Instead she spits and blows bubbles and sometimes her eyes even water she's trying so hard.

Provo Freedom Run

Josh and I signed up for the Provo freedom run this year, partly because we thought it would count for his work's fitness goals this quarter. But we ended up finding out that it wouldn't count unless it was a half marathon, and it's not. Josh did the 5K and I did the 10K.

It still worked out fine because my goal this year is to do the Provo half marathon in October and this was a good mid-progress goal to work toward. I've jogged more than a 10K plenty of times on my own, but it was nerve racking to actually participate in a race. I was so nervous that I was practically drenched in sweat before the race even began. Thankfully I was pleased with my outcome. I finished in 61 minutes which means I ran just under a 10 minute mile. Josh obviously finished first and did awesome. Last year he had to walk during part of his run and this year he ran the whole way. And because he finished first, he was able to get a picture of me crossing the finish line. Now it's time to focus on my October goal. Wish me luck!

4th of July

Today was such a fun day. After Josh and I ran our race, his mom took us to the movie theater to watch Brave and then out to eat at Leatherby's. We didn't have any other plans for the day, but the girls really wanted to watch some fireworks. So when it got dark, we moseyed on outside and down the street to see what we could see. We get a pretty good show in our neighborhood now that so many of the fireworks that used to be illegal are no longer illegal.

And then some friends in our ward were just finishing up their fireworks and gave the girls some sparklers to play with.