4th of July

4th of July was great! We celebrated at the Birch's with Mom and Lyle. The kids played on the slip and slide that Grandma Nancy brought. Then Grandpa Lyle helped them fill up the water balloons and launch them. We had a BBQ and celebrated Tate's birthday. That night we did sparklers and then watched the fireworks from Wendi's backyard. It was a great day spent with family and the perfect ending to our trip.

It's always so hard to say goodbye. I don't like living so far away. If I had it my way Wendi and I would be next door neighbors. Maybe someday...... I feel so lucky to have such a great family and even luckier that my sister is my best friend. She is so amazing and is such a great host. It was such a wonderful trip because of all of them. We made lots of really great memories this summer.

Show time

Wendi and I redid her table and chairs while I was there. It was a big job. We definitely put our sweat, blood, and yes tears into this table. (tears, because we ran into a few bumps along the way) But the end result is absolutely beautiful and it was so worth it. I love it.

Another one of the coupons said something about putting on a show. We thought this one was brilliant since it would require a lot of time. Which worked out as we planned. We were able to work hard on the table and chairs while the kids were entertaining each other. They did a great job and had us laughing hard. I tried to upload the video but it isn't letting me, I'll keep trying.

Pulling taffy

When I was a little girl one of my very favorite memories with my Grandma Steel was to pull taffy. She would make homemade taffy and then we would pull it until we couldn't pull anymore. It was always so yummy and of course fun because we got to be part of it. While we were in Utah we took my Aunt Linda out to lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square. Afterwards we were walking around and came upon a little sweet shoppe that had taffy starters. I was so excited remembering all those times with my Grandma. So of course we had to buy some. The kids pulled and pulled until they were so sticky and tired. It never did harden up like I remember but the kids all seemed to think it tasted fabulous.

Alaina, Kiegan, Ellie, and Jonah

The finished product!

Fun with Grandma Nancy

The day everyone went to Lagoon and me to the E.R. Jace and Tate got to be spoiled by Grandma Nancy. She pulled out all the fun stuff with no stops. They loved spending the day with Grandma and getting her complete and full attention.


They loved playing with the water guns and pretending restaurant with

her.

Lagoon and the swine flu

The one major thing we planned to do on this trip was to go to Lagoon. We all were so excited to go and to do it with cousins. It was Kiegan and Jonah's first time at a "real" amusement park. It was suppose to be so much fun...... The day before I woke up with my throat on fire and my uvula was so huge I could barely swallow and talk. I took some medicine and it seemed to help for a little while. Unfortunately that night was horrible. So bad that I admit I was in tears and just wanted to go home. I haven't been that sick since high school....seriously. I had to choose not to go to Lagoon with everyone. I was so bummed out. Mom was already planning on staying home with Jace, Tate, and Belle, so she had me to take care of also. I forgot how nice it is to have my mom take care of me. Wendi's church and all activities including girls camp had been cancelled because of so many out breaks of the swine flu. I think she said there was 15 cases just in her church/stake. So of course we were all worried when I had all the same symptoms. I was so miserable and couldn't take it anymore that I drove myself to the E.R. The minute I told the guy my symptoms he slapped a mask on me and banished me to a corner. I sat there all by myself, everybody else on the other side of the room, no masks. I felt pretty cool. I think they were pretty concerned because they whisked me right in. They immediately tested me for strep and the swine flu. Not a test I suggest to anyone. It was horrible. They put this "swab" up your nose as far as they can and scrape it around. They don't tell you before that the "swab" part isn't really a swab it is a pointy, scratchy part that feels like they are trying to pop your brain with. Horrible!!! After what felt like forever sitting there by myself they came in and gave me a huge shot and told me I only had a bad case of Strep. UGH! I haven't had strep since before I got my tonsils out in high school. I had forgotten how completely miserable you get with it and for a good week. I was so thankful for the good pain medicine the doctor perscribed. While I was at the E.R. the heavens above decided to pour like crazy as well as thunder. A huge storm that washed my family out of Lagoon. They were able to be there for 4 hours and had a blast, but sad they had to cut it short. I of course forgot to send the camera so no pictures of Lagoon, darn it!

More Cousin Pictures

Nicole, Raven, and Me. I love my sister-in-laws.

Belle with her Aunties

Love this picture of Claire and Belle

Sweet baby feet.

We have a picture of the babies feet when Calder was only a week old and his feet were already bigger than Belle's when she was 5 months. So we had to get a recent one. So sweet!

Cousins

We were so lucky to be in town at the same time that Nicole and Claire were visiting to. Raven was so nice to host all of us and our crazy kids (my crazy kids). We had lunch and then went to the park where we thought we were going to die in the hot dry desert. When we couldn't take it any longer we went back to Raven's and hung out for a bit more. The visit was way way to short but so so nice to see everyone. Kiegan and Claire took off just like they hadn't ever been separated. We miss all of them all ready. :(

Kiegan, Belle, Claire, and Calder


Claire, Belle, and Amelie

The boys with Calder

Buddies

I feel so lucky that my kids have such great cousins on both sides of the family. It's even better that they all get along so well. Mason was Belle's other best friend this trip. It was so sweet to see him play with her and love on her. She loves to be held by Mason. I love this picture of them together because you can see how much they really like each other.

I think this trip was especially fun for Tate. He is finally at the stage where he can really just play, no holding back, no being shy, totally himself. He really bonded with Jace and Josh this summer. It will be so fun to see them grow up together.

Tate & Jace

Tate & Josh

A Day at the Track

Pictures from Lincoln's races:

Lincoln and his cart

Grandpa Lyle and Belle chillin'

When Tony got back into town he took Kiegan and Jonah back out to the race track and met up with the Steel's. They all were able to jump in carts and race. The boys had a blast and loved the feeling of racing. The only thing I heard for the next few days was when do they get to do it again and can they be racers like Lincoln.

My birthday!

I had a great birthday! My whole family spoiled me. Tammy made me my favorite hash brown quiche for breakfast and also surprised me with birthday decorations. She sure knows how to make someone feel special. Mom and Linda took me out to lunch. It was so nice to hang with my ladies. Then I spent the day at the race track watching Lincoln race his go cart. This is not the kind of go cart you would typically think of, it actually looks like a mini race car. The weather was perfect and we all had a blast. My stomach would turn in knots every time he went speeding around one of the tight corners and his tires would lift off the pavement. He did an awesome job and took 2nd place. I'm so proud of him. To top the day off Shawn made me burgers for dinner. It was fabulous. I felt very loved. Tammy and Shawn gave me and Belle matching aprons. Tammy made them and they are oh so so cute! I absolutely love them. Wendi and Mom gave me a beautiful writing board and my wonderful husband gave me $$$$ to go shopping at my favorite store Thai Pan. I had many birthday wishes from family and friends. It was so nice. Wendi and I made a pact in January to go a full year without sugar. We decided since our birthdays are so close that we would celebrate them and eat sugar together. The plan was Wendi would have something little on her birthday, half way in between we would have chocolate cake together, and then I would have something little on my birthday to. The chocolate cake was fabulous but we were so sick. I wanted to die. It was horrible. I was so afraid to have more sugar that I didn't even have any on my actual birthday. Dustin did bring home some Divine donuts that I had a couple bites of later. Lesson learned: don't eat an enormous piece of chocolate cake with tons of frosting when you haven't had any sugar for six months. UGGH!!!

My birthday party!

Wendi, Tammy, Belle, and I in our oh so cute aprons!

My adorable board that I love so much!

Happy Un-Birthday!!!!

Another one of the coupons was to have an Un-Birthday Party! The kids loved this one. They drew names then we took them to the dollar store to spend a couple bucks on each other. We played games, had ice cream cone cake (the cake is baked in the cone and then a big scoop of ice cream on top, it was a hit), and exchanged gifts. It was a fun mini-party.
Tate was the winner! (We all think he peeked a little)

Jace and the ice cream cone cake.

Belle

One of Belle's best friends this trip was Ellie. I love that Ellie couldn't walk through the room without stopping to love on Belle. You could see in Belle's eyes how much she adores her. Belle would light up whenever she saw Ellie. It was so sweet to watch their little relationship.

Belle had a few firsts on this trip:

First time getting curlers put in.....

First time holding her own bottle.....(which she hasn't tried again)

First time for pigtails.....love love love......

Pie Fight

Before the trip Wendi and I were brainstorming on all the things we were going to do for the kids to keep them entertained and happy. Wendi found this adorable coupon book that had a million fun things to choose from. The first coupon we used said something about getting to play with your food. The kids especially Jonah wanted to do this one. He told Aunt Wendi that he would do anything to be able to throw a pie in Kiegan's face. So what does wonderful Aunt Wendi do??? Plans a pie fight! The Steel's came over and all the kids had a blast. There were a few tears shed but all in all everyone had a good time.
Mason
Kiegan

Ellie

Jonah

Lincoln, Josh, and Jace are in the mix somewhere.

Summer VACATION!!!!

Summer Vacation Woo Hoo!!! It is finally here. Our big summer trip this year was to go to Utah for a couple weeks. It started off with a night in a hotel. I don't normally do this but because the boys were going to be in the car for a long time I told them to jump like crazy on the beds. At first they thought I was joking. My goal this summer and especially for the trip is/was to be totally laid back and to make it very memorable.......

Track & Field

Kiegan is our little runner. He loves to run and he is really really good at it. He did Track and Field this year and had a lot of fun. His favorite events were ball kick and the 75 yard dash. We loved watching him and are so proud of him.