July Happenings

Music Camp

In early July, Emma and Rebekah had their summer music camp, they met in the mornings for a week. they made instruments and learned to play them in ensembles they also learned some dances from other cultures. They presented these at a Family music night at the end of the week.

Hoop dance





Playing in ensemble


Yellowstone Vacation

Then we were off to Yellowstone for a week of fun with the Nilson family. We stayed in West Yellowstone Montana at a nice resort right next to the west entrance to Yellowstone. The kids went swimming every single day we were there and loved it. We enjoyed drives through Yellowstone and also went up to earthquake lake north of where we were staying. We also enjoyed days spent at the condo relaxing with family and going to some of the things in West Yellowstone... IMAX, Bears and Wolves exhibit, Shopping, and eating out.

Grandma bought the kids all matching shirts and we gathered them all up for some pictures:

The sights in Yellowstone....

Petrified Tree

Canyon Falls, the grand canyon of Yellowstone

"Serious Joe"... some days that kid won't smile for nothin'!

Mammoth hot springs

a "cone" geyser

and the highlight of the trip, Old Faithful

Buffalo next to the trail (there were buffalo everywhere)

Sarah at the Canyon falls area

...at the Bear and wolf Exhibit

Pretty much the only visible bear we saw on the trip

At the Condo, Grandma had all the kids set for fun and crafts, the kids got bug jars, bags, sunglasses, glow sticks and flashlights.

the Nilson Men

Gathering the babies for a photo is harder than it looks

Okay Grandma, get in there and hold those boys still.

Trip to the Dentist

The day after we got back, we had Sarah and Bekah in for some dental work, Sarah had some cavities filled and Bekah had the underside of her tongue cut (she has been a bit tongue tied since birth)

Sarah did great, Bekah no so great.... as you can tell from the pictures I took off my phone.

Off to Snowbird....

Last week, the Colton Family had a get together up at Snowbird ski resort and enjoyed the Summer activities they have there. My parents have a condo for a week there in the summer time, just like they did when we were all young kids. We went on Monday and again on Friday to swim and play. The kids loved the alpine slide and zip line.

Bouncy house

(sorry for poor quality, these came off my phone)

Dinner at the park

we didn't see a single Moose while in Yellowstone, but one found us at Snowbird.

And finally....

I took the kids for a play day at Gateway discovery center. We used some gift passes given to Zack from a co-worker

I took a couple snapshots with my phone.. Sarah playing in the water and Leah in the little toy cars they have there

So it's been pretty busy around here. Summer has been fun, but I think we are all getting ready for the routine of school to start back up again. Only 3 more weeks of Summer and 2 of those weeks we will have swimming lessons to help pass the time, it will be here before we know it.

Summer is happenin'!

Well I blinked and a whole month went by. Here's a little update to our happenings here. I haven't had my camera with me as much as I should have as we have been doing a lot of fun stuff, so I don't have pictures of everything.

The first week we were out of school we went to Grandma Colton's house and helped her clean a little to earn some spending money for our summer activities. Then we went swimming at the So Jordan Rec center while Joey took a nap at Grandma's house. They had a lot of fun there and had a hard time leaving.

We also took one last trip to the Zoo before our membership expired. We packed a lunch and stayed for hours and saw every last thing and caught all the shows. The day we went was very nice, it was still mid 70s and was great, all the animals were pretty active. We didn't have the camera with us that day, so sorry no pictures.

I can't recount everything we've done but between working in Grandma's garden and swimming in the backyard and at bigger pools, sleep overs with cousins, trips to the library and grocery store, picnics in the park and Farmington pond, and playing with the neighborhood crew of kids we have managed to keep ourselves quite busy.

Music Camp:

Sarah and Leah had Musikgarten summer camp the 3rd week in June. They went 4 days from 9 to 11:30. They had all kinds of crafts, painting, singing, water play, etc. They had a great time. On Thursday, we had Family music night where they could show off everything they did.

Here's some fun Bath time photos of Sarah Leah and Joey

...and here's Jo Jo after discovering Mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies... can we say yummy?!

4th of July fun:

The 4th was a busy day we started out with the Kaysville parade in the morning then we went back home and set up the wading pools to play in the water. Nick and Natalee's family came and we had a BBQ and played, followed by fireworks at Davis High. By the end of the day, the kids were pretty worn out.

Joey gets a haircut!

It was really odd to cut his hair so short, I almost went into a panic after the first swipe of the buzzer. I had to remind myself that he's a boy and it's OKAY to have short hair...not a freak out moment like it would be if I did it to one of my girl's hair.

BEFORE

AFTER

DURRING: Those little rubber bands ended up everywhere but they kept him occupied :)

...and one last entry before I switch to my gardening blog and get it updated....

by special request from Emma, she wanted me to post pic of her creation of blocks :)

I'm sure I'll be on again in a couple weeks with a giant update again. Emma and Bekah have Summer camp next week and the week after that we are off to Yellowstone for the Nilson family vacation.

School is out!

Yay! the biggest news this week is that school is out... Emma and Bekah could hardly wait to get out of school, in fact they were so excited to be home that the first thing they did was "play School"... I know , it's weird.

Here's the kids out playing in the water last week when it was so hot... We didn't have our air on so I almost felt like climbing in with them... it was quite hot.

Sarah Finished up Kindergarten with a smile. We still need to work lots this summer to keep her up to task, but I think she will do great in 1st grade next year. She had a little kindergarten program that I attended. It was really cute.

Joey has also learned new feats... the girls know how to grab the camera and take pictures of him when I'm not around. Emma thought it would be great to teach him how to climb the stairs. Hmmm Gee thanks, Emma.... just what I needed him to know.

Let the torture begin... yes, the girls took this picture too....

Unlike last Summer, when I was bloomin' pregnant, I am really looking forward to having some fun with the kids this summer. We have scheduled out our days to include some homework time and housework time. I have dinner helpers everyday and they all have "zones" they are in charge of to keep clean each week.

I'm even paying Emma $.50 a day to make all the lunches for us all and pack them in the cooler at breakfast time. She's in charge of making a shopping list of things needed for lunches and cleaning up after herself... that way, where ever we are (at home or away) lunch will be ready and I won't have the huge temptation to just stop for fast food and drain the wallet. Today we relaxed at the park for a bit and had lunch.

Time for an update

Once again it is time for another update! Yay, I know you're excited...

We have been busy with this and that. The biggest change lately has been the mobility of "Mr. Joe" as I have begun to call since he seems to think he is so grown up and can go anywhere in the house he wants to and get into anything he wants.


We've had to start blocking things off, putting things up...oh the joys.

2nd Grade Program

Bekah had her 2nd grade patriotic program last week as well, it was really cute. They all practiced so hard and did so well. Bekah was dressed as a nurse for the program.

Sarah turns 6!!

Sarah had her birthday this week, she was so cute. All she wanted was a butterfly cake. She got a giant butterfly balloon also. Mostly all she needed and got for her birthday this year was clothes. But she was still excited. We took her out to lunch and let her pick any toy she wanted (within reason of course) of course she picked out another doll (I think that makes about 300 she owns now haha!) she got some craft stamps and toy computer as well.


Memorial day weekend highlights that don't have pictures :(

Saturday we went on a small hike with some friends. I think the kids all had fun. We borrowed a child backpack from them and put Leah in it on Zack's back and I carried Joey in the Moby wrap. It was fun and I promised the older kids I would take them again sometime and go a little farther, since they wanted to keep going when we turned around. We came back to the house afterward and hung out and had dinner together and let the kids play out in the water.

Then Monday we went to a BBQ at the Colton's. It was also Grandpa Colton's birthday. The kids played and the adults sat out on the lawn and enjoyed the evening.

We are back to counting down again... the kids with anticipation and me with intrepidation 2 more weeks until school gets out... yipes! I hope summer goes well this year. I'm actually not dreading it as much as I did last year, of course I'm going NOT to be pregnant this summer either... whew!