Summer Musts

 Summer must do:  lots of independent play.  Check!!!  My kids play so happily together.  Don't get me wrong, there is fighting, but they've worked out some really great, imaginative play.  Childhood at it's best, right here!  Another photo of dolls and Bumblebee:

My poor boy.

Summer must do:  roast hot dogs in the canyon.  Check!  My brother's family invited us to join them for an impromptu FHE dinner.  Fun time!  The kids loved getting good and dirty.  It's healthy for them.  And, there is nothing as satisfying to me as washing my kids in the tub at the end of a great summer day and watching little streams of dirt heading down the drain.  It makes me feel like my kids are living to the fullest.

 The part I love best about that photo is that her shirt is completely clean.  :)  It didn't stay that way.

Cute girlies:

Summer must do:  swim lessons.  Check!  We are in the middle of this one.  For the first time, I have ALL my kids in lessons!  I can not believe how fast my world is changing.  The first day, I admit, I shed a little tear and felt lonely without a little buddy (or two) to keep me company.  The second day, I put my feet up and enjoyed my half hour immensely.  Always something to miss, always something to enjoy, wherever you are in life.  Deep thoughts by me.

Goggles crack me up.

Daisy loves being one of the big kids and is so excited to go to her swim class each day.

Summer must do:  feed baby goats.  Check!  Haha, I'm funny.  :)  Our friends have baby goats they feed by bottle, and my kids thought it was pretty awesome and would've loved to take them home!  I have to admit, those babies are pretty cute.  Adult goats?  Hmmm, not so much.

Summer must do:  shaved ice.  Check and check!  We got to play with cousins at a new splash pad and then, how do you top that besides with sugar and ice?!

Summer must do:  boats with the B's.  Check!  We had a great time with our good friends playing in the water.  This has got to be the best way to spend a summer day.  We had a blast.

Daisy, admiring her good buddy:

Summer must do:  MoTab concert (sure, why not?).  Check.  Thanks to my brother's tickets, we got to spend the evening with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the King's Singers.  I don't think anything stirs my soul and reaches the very core of my heart like beautiful music does.  Which basically means that it made me cry.  If you want to see it yourself (although nothing beats being there in person), you can go here.  I especially loved the song at 1:02.  I'm not the only one, either, as this song received a standing ovation and cat calls from the audience.  Powerful stuff.

Besides my soul being stirred, I enjoyed a fantastic night out on the town with my honey!  Love you!!

A Whole Lot of Daisy

Summer is more than half over.  :(  We've reached the point where most of my good intentions at the beginning of the summer have worn down to not much of anything.  Which means my kids are taking serious advantage of this lazy momma.  However, they play the day away, using their imaginations and playing together.  In my world, that is a win.

Here is a photo of my kids playing together.  My poor boy, surrounded by all these girlie girls.  He does the best he can, and tries to convince (bribe, whatever) his sisters to play his way.  Sometimes a compromise is made, like this:

 He's got his Bumblebee transformer, Lu has a princess.  Yep, they are kissing.  :)  So funny.

We loved celebrating Daisy on her special day!  I love it that my kids really get into it, they were up early in the morning so they could decorate and surprise Daisy when she woke up.  Ellie even made her a #3 pancake!

 Oh, and my house is messy.  Summer house, remember?  You can come clean it if you want.

For part of Daisy's celebration, we took a picnic dinner up the canyon.  This is how Everett felt about that:

We played in the water and took photos and got really dirty.

 Nothing makes a momma's heart happier than seeing her kids love each other.

Oh, and a photo of me!

 My eyes, where are they?

Cake (pink, of course):

And presents:

My princess, all glammed up:

I took my sweet Daisy babe to take her 3 year old photos.

We love our girl!

Baby's 3

My Darling Daisy Baby,

Today you are 3!  As of about 12:12 am, actually.  From the moment we knew you were on your way you've brought joy to our family.  We are so happy to have you!  You are not a baby any more, you are one of the big kids now, doing what they do.  Actually, in the last couple weeks you've acted very much "3", declaring your independence and letting us all know (loudly) what your wishes are.  Fun for us all!  :)

You are such a girlie girl.  You love anything pink.  You love to dress up and get into makeup.  You often will disappear for long times on your own and then you'll emerge all fancied up.  Your sisters don't love you getting into their stuff, but we all get a good laugh from the lipstick smeared all over the bottom half of your face and the eye shadow on the top half.  You love to play Barbies and babies and house and whatever else the other kids are into.  You dance and sing.  You play happily with your siblings all day long.  Lu is especially a good playmate.  The two of you are good pals and I love to hear the conversations your dolls have when you play together.

You are the "baby" of the family, always will be (fingers crossed), and thus have a special place in all of our hearts.  We all pamper you and you eat up the attention.  You love for mom to snuggle you after naps, and you still hang on like a monkey, wrapping arms and legs tightly around me for a tight squeeze.  I love it!  You are still attached to your favorite blanket, and demand it at bedtime and any other time you want comforted - the same blanket that I had when I was a babe.  You are oh, so fun!  You still let me smother you with loves and kisses and tickles.

Daisy, we love you so much!

Love,
your Momma

Summer Week ?: Reunion

 Right now, my children are completely running amok.  I should probably attend to them and put them back in line and make sure they are doing their chores and such.  Yep, that's what a good intentional parent would do.  Apparently, I'm not that "good mom".  I'll ignore them a bit longer.  :)

We got to spend a few days with family at East Canyon State Park.  We splurged and stayed in a yurt.  Splurging gets you a quite roomy, but still incredibly hot tent on a frame.  It was actually worth it!  I felt much more secure and thus slept just a tad bit better. The one photo I got of the inside:

And a photo of the outside:

We spent all day at and in the water with cousins on Friday.  We really had a blast!

Baby discovering selfies:

My beautiful Beach Babe:

Kind of looking all Baywatch.  That was not intentional.

And another one:

Rocks, lake dirt and cousins make some good entertainment:

So much fun makes for tired kids (and Daddy):

I didn't include any photos of kids in the water, but trust me, they were.  Like, for hours at a time.  Lots of kayaking, paddle boarding, swimming, and general playing in the water.  Nick and I even got in and acted like little kids.  So much fun.

That evening we gathered for dinner (Salmon all the way from Alaska, thanks to my bro!), games, crafts, service, a fire, and just enjoying being together.

 I love the look of adoration on Daisy's face in that photo.

Bingo!

In the morning, we built boats out of cardboard and duct tape.  Three different teams made three different boats.  Here's ours:

 We went for a canoe shape, while the other 2 stayed with the box shape and then duct taped the heck out of it.  We won, big time!  In fact, our canoe went two laps in the same time the others made one!  We were all impressed, though, that all stayed afloat, and all stayed fairly dry on the inside.  That is a feat in and of itself!  That was a fun time.  A little family competition is a good thing, right?

Our canoe (on the second lap) coming in to shore with 2nd place:

Ellie wanted to give our boat a go:

The car ride home was very quiet: 

I love my family!

Ok.  I should probably go do something about those kids now.

Summer: Week 5

 Our week started at my sister's farm.  We had a swim in her pool and then helped feed calves.

My baby's (and my) shadow:

 Oh the memories!  Feeding baby calves was my job growing up on our family farm.  I'm glad my kids can see a piece of it.

We spent the night at Grandma's.  It makes my heart happy to go "home."  We were treated to a hot dog roast.

 Nice, M.

My kids, loving on the baby kitties:

 Daddy, just look at those kids and tell me they don't need a pet!

Kids making kool-aid is quite the production:

Our apricot tree gave us yummy fruit!

I have a big box full sitting on my counter at this very moment.  Hmmm... now what to do with them?

We got to spend some time with Nick's extended family.  Good times!  I'm grateful to them for accepting me and our kids so whole-heartedly and being such a support for our family!  I wish we could see each other more often.

Shindig up the canyon was beautiful. 

The best part of my weekend was a date with this guy:

The look that Nick is pulling totally cracks me up.  :)  We went for a hike, which was just what we needed to catch up with each other after a long year of classes.  He's on an 8 week break right now, and we need it so bad.  I love my honey!  Thanks for working so hard for our family!

July Fourth started early.  We got out to see the hot air balloons, but it was a bust.  They never lifted off due to weather conditions.  We headed to stake out a good spot for the parade instead:

 My kids were pretty wiped, but fun waits for no one!

Daisy entertained herself with hats while Mom took photos:

 Golly, that face.  So stinkin' cute.

We enjoyed the parade and embraced the heat.

Butt shot:

That afternoon we enforced mandatory naps for all.  That evening, more fun with my parents, sister and brother and their families.  BBQ and fireworks:

 Wow.  Those kids are thrilled!  ;)

Fun day.  I am so grateful for this country we live in!