June Round-up

It's always nice to have a relaxing summer morning with these cuties in bed!

 She's multi-tasking!

 The kids get a kick out of playing Sardines. They fit themselves in the tub just like a puzzle!

 I didn't realize Evelyn had more teeth coming until Jen mentioned that Layla was getting some molars. On one of Evelyn's cranky days I checked her mouth and she had three coming in at once! Poor girl! Luckily they came in pretty quickly and she was back to her cheerful self. 

Our first fruits (well, veggies!) of our garden-- kale chips and homemade pesto. Yum! 

 Evelyn was being naughty and I threatened to put her in time out. Then she went and sat in the corner all on her own. But she didn't want me to take a picture, she's trying to hit me here and getting up so I can't catch the moment. Two-year-olds are still learning so much about the world and themselves!

 Cora got to go to her first activity days! It was the day before her birthday, but they let her go early since they take the month of July off. She really liked it! And I love that the leaders are two of my friends who really enjoy the girls and their callings. 

 The kids though up this pose and wanted their picture taken. So cute! 

Week of fun #3

Week of fun #3 didn't have as many activities, because Kevin went to San Fran for Google IO and Keyton and Liz took time to see other friends and family. But our activities we did have were huge and wonderful! 

Cowabunga Extravaganza with Kissie and Pata is such a special treat! This is our 3rd year, and it's a fun tradition. We are there from opening to close, Kissie rents a cabana, and there is plenty of food. The kids are usually too busy to eat much or for long, but they stop in to refuel and then are off and running again! 

The lazy river is always a big hit, and an easy place to get pictures too (thanks Jen!).

 

 

Evelyn was a trooper and thoroughly enjoyed herself. She didn't even take a nap, but was on the go the whole time. She liked going on the two big slides with me that she could go on, loved the kiddie area with the bigger slide and the little ones too, and really liked the two smaller slides over in the big kids area as well. Slides, slides, and more slides! She cried when I pulled her off the slides at 6:50 to get ready to go home. 

 

Evelyn didn't like this yellow slide at first-- it does spray a lot of water in your face. But she wanted to go again and again and again. Later on she and Luke went on it side by side at the same time holding hands. Evelyn couldn't get enough! Luke was freezing and violently shivering, but every time Evelyn said "again, again!" he took a deep breath and replied "Sure, Evelyn, I'd love to!". So sweet! We rescued him after a few times and convinced Evelyn to do something else so he could warm up. 

 

Violet took quite a bit of convincing to try the fast tunnel slides, but she ended up loving them. It was fun to watch these three big kids run around the park together!

Fun family times-- it was a great day!

Last year Luke didn't realize he was hungry until we were leaving the park-- he played so hard he didn't take any breaks to eat! This year he at least got a hot dog a little bit before closing! 

Saturday was Silver Lake day! Last summer when we went camping we discovered the best ever breakfast at a lodge up the canyon. So we planned our Silver Lake hike after a yummy brunch at the lodge, and certainly lived up to memory! Here we are post-breakfast.

Luke was a bit sick with a yucky cough, so Kevin stayed home with Luke and Evelyn. It was fun to hike and not worry about the littles, but as we opted for a side hike to Twin Lakes that was all uphill, it was probably better they weren't there anyway. 

 The reservoir was really pretty, and it was windy and cool up there-- refreshing!

Cora in her mermaid pose

 

The hike around the rest of the lake was fun too. It's always a little more crowded on a Saturday, but it wasn't too bad. 

 

 

 Crazy faces from Cora and Violet; Keyton's family pic

  

 Afterward, Cora, Violet, Emeline, Liz, and I did a little shopping and hung out at Kissie and Pata's house. It was a great day!

Happy 8th Birthday Cora!

Happy happy birthday Cora dear! Cora has been so excited for her birthday! She couldn't wait to open her presents-- Kevin joined us over speaker phone since he was out of town. 

Here's Cora opening her big present-- a tablet! 

She also received an umbrella, sketch book, gymnastics outfit, and a board game. She might have been most excited for her coupon present though-- an hour of sewing time with mom, a homemade Anna cape (Frozen), and three apps. She took her money from G.G. and loved shopping at the Quilted Bear for another special birthday treat! And Grandma and Grandpa gave her a bicycle basket that her siblings are coveting! Lucky girl! 

Cora chose her favorite foods for her birthday meals: breakfast burritos, watermelon, chocolate milk; Happy Meals at a park with a friend; Hawaiian pizza, snap peas, raspberries, lemonade, and sugar cookies. 

One her birthday she got to go visiting teaching with me (at her friends' house!), go to the park, and pick out a toy at the Quilted Bear (a soft stuffed owl and a BYU cheerleader bear because she missed Kevin). Her big treat though, was a date with me to the rodeo! The other kids stayed at home with a sitter and we met Keyton and his family at the Lehi rodeo. It was a bit drizzly, but a lot of fun. I was glad we had blankets... but we could have used warmer clothes. Funny June weather!

I'm so happy I got such a beautiful picture of cute rodeo princess Cora! 

 Friday was an extra day of birthday celebrating! We met up with cousins at Jump Around Utah. Then it was party time at our house with everyone from my side of the family. It was pretty low-key, but the kids ran around and had a lot of fun. Cora chose more of her favorite foods for dinner-- fried chicken, cucumbers, creamy fruit salad, Doritos, rootbeer, and macaroni and cheese. I experimenting with an icecream cake and it was a major success! We will definitely be having it again!  

 

 Evelyn is always eager to help with unwrapping presents!

  

 Happy happy birthday sweet Cora!

Week of fun, #2

Moab was super, but the fun wasn't over after that trip! Keyton and Liz stuck around Salt Lake for 3.5 more weeks. Lots of family fun-- kind of like a week long staycation for us. I told the kids it would be a month of working hard and playing hard. We had so many great activities, that on the off-days we really had to work to keep up with our church callings, garden, house, yard, and other responsibilities. I really loved it though. It was fun to be busy and have lots of family time. It's a pretty unique situation, and may not ever happen again, so I was soooo happy to take advantage of it! 

We had a fun afternoon at the planetarium with Pata and cousins. The exhibits there are free and pretty cool. This day was a special treat though because the kids got a watch a movie in the dome theater too! It was a cute movie geared toward kids, and Evelyn even did really well, just needed a few smarties for the last half of the show (it was her first movie theater experience). Violet got pretty scared at the beginning when it looked like we were flying through space. Luckily Pata was sitting by her and was able to calm her down and she stopped whimpering, and she really liked it all together. 

 The kids on the moon

 and on Mars. 

 Kissie made us a wonderful dinner, and then the guys stayed back to watch a World Cup game while the girls and kids went to the Church History Museum. The exhibits there are so fun! It is closing soon for a major renovation, so it was good to stop by and play again. 

 Evelyn Chase and Evelyn got in on the dancing action a little bit!

Wednesday we went to the aquarium. It was a little crazy with quite a few people! But still a lot of fun. With the dim lights, I got a lot of blurry pictures with my phone. Still cute! 

We also watched both movies! Our passes came with free movie tickets, and the kids liked the first one so much, we stayed for the second one too. They were in 4D, so we got to wear these cool glasses.  

 

 Evelyn and Layla checking out the tree frogs! 

 

Kissie treated the big girls to three private tumbling lessons. It was great practice for Cora and Violet, and they loved their teacher and taking lessons with Emeline. They also had a lot of fun with the trampolines, foam pits, and trying out the bars. Violet is in orange, Cora in black and yellow, Emeline in black and gold with a white stripe in the middle.  

 

  

 

We were lucky to have Emeline and Wes come over after tumbling one day and stay the afternoon. 6 kids! They are all so good though, it was so fun. Just a little crazy at meal time. 

 They played inside, crafted,

 squished into our van, 

 and we played at the splash pad for 2 hours!

 We had movie night and watched the Pirate Fairy. And then Kevin and I took Emeline and Wes back on our way to date night dinner with Keyton and Liz. Ethiopian food- yum! It was fun to talk without our 8 kids contributing to the conversation. 

 Friday we had family pictures done at Memorial Grove. Here's a little preview, Kissie and Pata with their 11 grandchildren. Everyone did really well, and I'm excited to see how they turn out. 

 Afterward we raced to the Brigham Young park for the outdoor concert. It's my favorite one of the summer-- the patriotic concert put on by the Utah National Guard band. It was fantastic! 

This funny picture caught almost all of our group... it's just a little ironic though because Luke was the one who needed to be shushed the most during the concert!  

  Saturday we met up in Heber to ride the Heber Creeper! I've had this on my list of activities to try for a few years now. It was relaxing, and fun to see the boat and kite surfers on the reservoir out the window. 

  

 The kids especially liked when the robbers came through and gave them gold coins (??).

 And they had fun sticking their heads out the window while we were waiting for the engine to move from one end of the train to the other. 

  

 All the kids are in here-- they just didn't show up in the shadows! But by this time everyone was pretty hot and tired, so I didn't press for more faces in the picture. 

We ended our day with dinner and shakes from Granny's in Heber. Delicious!