24th of July in Utah

For the 24th of July, we were able to be in Utah and have a quick, spur of the moment celebration with my family.  Of course, my mom was out of town with Emily (who had just had a baby) but we had fun without her...but not as much fun as we would have had WITH her...right mom??

Aspen and Steve and my dad threw together a fun evening with games, and yummy food!

We started out by blowing up a whole bunch of balloons....and then we made the mistake of handing the balloons to the 3 year olds to hold. They got the strings MAJORLY tangled up.  It almost required cutting them and retying them all.  But we worked our de-tangling magic and fixed it.

After that, we played balloon tag, or stomp on the balloon, or whatever you might want to call it.  You basically tie a balloon to each of your ankles, and then run around trying to pop other people's balloons while keeping yours from being popped.  It was GREAT fun.  The kids could hardly even handle their joy that all the adults were playing too!

We played a couple more fun games, including capture the flag - where my dad and I almost killed ourselves trying to act like we were kids again.  He tried to run past me to get our flag, and I sprinted after him and happened to pinch his side while trying to snag him...while hilarious, it was painful.  Needless to say, he was OK being in jail for a little while to rest up.  We ultimately won by deceiving the other team to come over for ice cream sandwiches while someone else on our team ran behind them and got the flag. It was epic!  The kids keep talking about how much fun it was and how they want to play again.

And some pictures of the kids in front of the ladders that were set up for another game.
We loved spending time with the cousins!

 Brody wasn't as excited about it all though.

We did a few fireworks after all the games, and then called it a night! 

It was the perfect way to celebrate the day!

More Summer FUN!

Here are some more pictures of our summer!

This is the park right down the street from us...well, it's actually a picture of the sky, because I couldn't get over how pretty the sky was while I was sitting at the park with the kids!

Brody and I...hanging out together while the big kids played. 

But he got sick of that, and wanted in on the action. 

The kids LOVE Albertson's (and so do I - hello guacamole and mint chocolate chip ice cream!) and the shopping carts there.  This was Brody's first time trying out the cart...he was a little worried about Molly's driving skills though.

Addison and Molly, rocking some sweet outfits!

 Quiet lazy mornings, usually revolving around Brody. 

Summer wouldn't be complete without a visit to Krispy Kreme!

 Just playing in the backyard. 

 I was called to be in the Young Women's presidency a couple weeks after moving here...talk about baptism by fire!  What a shock that was.  Girls camp was scheduled for a couple weeks after we got our callings.  LUCKILY it was all planned and ready to go, and the previous leaders were already going anyway.  But I was able to go up for the first couple days, thanks to my WONDERFUL mom who braved coming up here and taking care of my kids.  She's a saint!  We were all given these bandanas...my name was Red Pearl.

For Father's Day, we got Marty a hammock.  The girls were SO excited to help him be comfortable and push him in it.

 And then they wanted to try it out for themselves.

We did some backyard swimming...although this picture was with just about an inch of water in the pool until Brody got out.  But that didn't stop them from having fun.

Addison and Molly got ready for bed a little unusually....yes, they're clean.

Brielle and I escaped one night for a late movie...we went and saw Inside Out, just the two of us...at 9:30 at night!!  It was a ton of fun!

The girls got all glammed up like 80's rockers to make a birthday video for their Aunt Sara.  It was so funny!

You can watch that video here...if you would like.

Sprinklers on the trampoline...always as good time!

I found the kids playing with a box in the living room.  Addison said it was their "boater-home" and they were "sailing to Arizona".

Claire and I with our new twinner glasses!

Brody discovered the window markers left behind by his sisters after they drew a masterpiece ALL OVER the sliding glass door.  He didn't actually open any markers...he just sucked on the window.

I think that should cover the random hodge podge of pictures from the summer!