Family Party

 Greg's family didn't plan a camp out this year and so one of his brother's planned a little day outing for all those who could make it.  We went up into Provo Canyon and had a nice BBQ and games.  I love how the kids get a long SO well. 

 Click on this picture of the camp host rock.  The Story is pretty funny and love that the kids thought it was funny also. 

 Grandma is a great sport with water balloons.  She tied quite a few knots that afternoon.

 Ladder ball/bola ball/tennis golf.  Whatever the name, my kids love this game.  I bought a set for my parents so that we could play with them when we went camping with them next week.  Well, thanks to a busy schedule and a new side yard (I promise I will post about this soon), we can't go.  I am sad we don't get to play the new toy with them.

 Greg and some others playing Bocce Ball.  Callie was a GREAT helper.  Seriously.  I don't think she was bugging Greg at all.

It was short and sweet, but fun to hang out with some of Greg's family.  A couple families came to our house afterwards and played a little more.  We got to watch Amy's kids while she and Jeremy went to Greg's Dad's play.   We introduced Amy's kids to video games and princesses.  And we made shrinky dinks.  I loved those when I was a kid!  Good times!

Dinosaur Museum

 What is summer vacation without a trip to the dinosaur museum?  Annabelle is always begging to come here.  She loves it so much because she was about Callie's age when we had a pass to Thanksgiving Point and she went all the time. 

 At first Annabelle wanted her own picture everywhere, but I convinced her to let Callie join in the traditional fun pictures that we take every time.

 I love watching the creativity at the sand table.  Sometime I worry my boys are a little aggressive when they are making their dams, but I think the other children watch them in awe and want to listen and help them.  Callie didn't love getting sand on her fingers, wet sand.  She liked playing in the water though.

 Gotta have a picture with the shark.  Callie saw the little sharks and wanted her picture with them.

 There is an excavation part of the museum and my kids love it in here.  As the boys and Annie have gotten older they have become more fastidious with uncovering the bones.  They want to uncover the whole thing and figure out what it is. But with other children playing and walking around it just doesn't work.  We sure love this yearly trip to the Dinosaur Museum!

It's Rodeo Time!

 We have lived here in rodeo town for eight years.  (We ate cake the other week in celebration of our house being finished 8 years ago).  Anyway, we had never taken the kids to the rodeo.  Why?  Money, Time (it is late at night), and it just never sounded like something we wanted to do.  This year I thought we would give it a try.  First we had a little neighborhood BBQ and I loved watching all three of my boys play volleyball.  The boys think they know how to play since they watched their dad so many times.

Next we picked up a sitter for Callie and headed over to the rodeo grounds.  Parking was surprisingly easy and close and we went to stand in the long line to get in.  Luckily some smart person told us to go into another line and it went VERY quickly.  The kids were very excited and while Ryan sneezed A LOT (allergies--and I even had given him some meds before we came), they all loved watching everything.  Annabelle loved all the girls on their horses.  A lot of them had crowns and some fancy outfits.  The boys loved all the horses and bulls, but especially loved the trickster motorcycles.  They did flips and other tricks on big ramps. 

I on the other hand was tired and a bit cranky.  Maybe because the seats were hard or because I knew Callie was teething at home and probably giving the sitter a hard time.  Or maybe it was Ryan's sneezing or the stench of animal manure.  Or maybe rodeos just aren't for me.  We were there from 7:45-10:45.  It wasn't over yet.  The kids kept saying, "after this one...no, after this one!"  I finally put my foot down and just started walking out of the park.  The rest of them eventually followed suit.

It wasn't horrible.  It was fun hanging out with some friends that came with us.  And while it looked horribly painful to both animal and cowboy, it was pretty crazy watching their skills.  I can't see us going again, at least not for a very long time.  Kudos to all you who go every year and love it!

Honey the Horse

 Aunt Debi brought her horse Honey to our family dinner.  The kids LOVED riding her and feeding her. 

 

 

 The kids all get along so nicely.  There are a bunch of boys my boys' age and then a bunch of girls Annabelle's age.  So much fun!

Better Days

I am happy to report that this week has been much better.  We have been healthy and happy and have not had as much running around.  We all have had our moments, but for the most part everyone has gotten along well and we have had fun together.

 I love finding random pictures when I upload my pictures.  Nathan is getting so old.  This summer he is a math tutor at our library.  He is helping a boy a year younger than him twice a week.  It adds a little crazy to our summer, but I was so proud of Nathan for volunteering and I think it has been a great experience so far with him.

 

My children love Monopoly.  On Sunday I started a game with the three older kids while Greg and Callie napped.  Annabelle and I were done after 40 minutes but the boys moved it upstairs and kept going.  The game continued until the next day and then the played it again over the next 2 days.  Nathan loves to finish things, the right way.  I love how the boys have to use so much math with the game.  I feel like that they learn so much by buying properties and exchanging money. 

 For cub scouts this week we did some science experiments.  I HATED science in high school.  I remember telling my biology teacher that I just didn't care about science and she told me that it was her goal to make me like science.  It didn't work, but when I took a class in college about teaching science to kids I was hooked.  I like fun science experiments and I LOVE watching kids' eyes light up when we do one.  This was a new one for me: What happens to a bar of Ivory soap when you microwave it?  We all made some guesses, hypotheses, and the we put it in the microwave.  It was SO cool to watch it grow into the above shape.  If you are going to try it, and I think you should, make sure you put parchment paper under the soap and make sure it is Ivory.  This was in the microwave for just under 2 minutes.  Some of the scouts took some home in plastic baggies so they could show their families. 

The kids made these beauties at craft camp this week, along with a cool harmonica and an even cooler catapult.  I can't wait to see "hair" coming out of these guys.
Tomorrow we are pouring concrete on the side of our house.  I haven't taken any pictures or mentioned this before, but it is kind of a HUGE project.  Hopefully all goes well and the dirt will disappear and we will have a nicer patio, shed pad, and future basketball court and BBQ pit.

Cub Scout Day Camp

 I have 2 cub scout positions.  I am a Unit Commissioner and a Den Leader.  This year our Stake put on the day camp as opposed to going to one already planned and prepared for us (never again I say!).  It was A LOT of work.  A lot of planning and counting and figuring out and meetings and I feel like I did hardly anything compared to so many others.  But, the day arrived and not even my sick little Callie could make it come any slower.  All morning I was back and forth getting things ready and trying to help Greg care for Callie.  I couldn't leave her with a sitter like I had originally planned and so Greg stayed home and tried to do a little work with her being SO hard.  There were 2 people that did SO much work adn so much organization.  THanks to them, things ran very smoothly. 

 At 3 all 200 or so scouts (plus 60+ leaders) met together for a flag ceremony.  We did our cheers and laid down the rules.  Then off they went.  I hung out with my boys off on and on since I was in charge of dinner and other things.  It is Nathan's last year at Cub Scout Day Camp, and Ryan's first.  It was fun to have both boys there.  My ward did survival bracelets with para-cord.  The bracelets are cool and I caught on pretty quick, but helping 25+ boys was tricky.  I am glad I was able to help the boys finish theirs at home. 

 Their were 8 stations and the boys seemed to have fun at all of them.  There was first aid, obstacle courses, fire safety, walking sticks, hiking, paw prints, knots and 1 more that I can't remember. 

 

 While the walking sticks were a neat idea, 200 boys with sticks was pretty laughable.  As far as I know, no one got hurt, but I am not totally sure.  Ryan calls his stick a ninja stick and he wasn't the only one using as such. 

Dinner was my area and it was so smoothly.  We had 4 food tents and each pack was assigned to a certain one.  The boys went through the lines quickly and were all eating in record time.  We were able to give seconds to all that wanted it and barely had any food left. 
Greg sent me occasional texts updating me about Callie's progress or lack thereof.  During dinner she had a temperature over 104!!  After I got dinner cleaned up I decided I needed to head home and help.  When I got home she was SO miserable.  While I gave her a bath I debated with Greg about taking her to the doc.  I just felt it was the right thing to do,  with such a high temp and not knowing what else we could do to help her.  Thankfully we got an appointment right away and I rushed over there, telling Greg to go over to camp and make sure I left things okay.  I am glad I took Callie in.  It turned out that she had strep throat and she was a different person so quickly with the medicine.  I LOVE when I make the right call about going to see the doctor. 

Today was a much better day.  She has eaten a little and I have seen LOTS of smiles.  I finally took this picture of Callie with her Art City Day stuff so I can toss it.  Considering her misery the past few days, this smile is priceless!

Swimming and Sunshine

 For the past two weeks Nathan, Annabelle and Ryan have had swim lessons.  Again.  Every year I try some place new, hoping that this will be the place to produce the results I want.  I swam on a team from 7-17 and I don't ever remember taking lessons, especially not over so many years.  i just learned to swim and was racing at a younger age than my children are now.  I really like the American Fork Rec center.  I was going to put the kids back in private lessons but Ry really didn't like their strict techniques and so I had to decide why I was putting them in lessons.  Did I really care if they were on the swim team?  Did I want them to love swimming like I did?  Those 2 conflicted with last years' swim lessons so we tried something new.  I think all the kids learned new things and all of them are more comfortable and confident in the water.  I love watching them do strokes, and while I wish they were better, I know that it is up to me to get them to a pool every week so they can practice what they learned. 

 

 Every Tuesday we pack a lunch and head to a park.  This week we went to a splash park in Alpine.  The best part is that they are playgrounds right next to the splash pad and so the kids have the best pf both worlds.  They can run around and get hot, and then run through the water, again and again.

 

Sometimes I pack a little too much into our day.  After the splash park we went home and let Callie sleep.  And then we headed back to the AF pool for some free swim.  It was A LOT of fun.  The boys were able to just go off together and I had the girls.  Annabelle is a little fish, and she could reach everywhere we were, so it was nice to only really worry about Callie.  However, having watched her siblings the last 2 weeks Callie thought that she could swim as well and didn't like me holding her much.  As we were driving home from a 1.5 hour swim I noticed that "The Lorax" was still at the $1.50 theaters.  We raced home, made and ate dinner, and then with Greg we went to the movie.  The kids bought snacks with their allowance (sometimes it is hard to watch them spend their money) and we all enjoyed the movie. 
Unfortunately something we did that day affected the kids.  On Wednesday morning I came home from the gym feeling on top of everything and planning my day out.  Greg was at the top of the stairs and told me Ryan was up in the middle of the night sick and Callie was in our bed moaning.  Ryan got over it quick but all day Wednesday Callie was throwing up.  Nathan had 1 occurrence Wednesday night.  Needless to say it was awful.  I am not sure if it was the cherries, the pool water, the candy at the movie, a sickness from friends, or a combination of all of it.  Whatever it was though, it hit Callie hard and she was a monster.  I hate not being able to help my children.  It makes me so sad.  And frustrated.  Frustrated that I can't help and frustrated that my plans got messed up and then frustrated that my sick kids are making me frustrated because I should be more loving about the whole thing.  When Callie threw up at the bread store as I was picking things up for Day Camp the next day I realized that my day was over and I had to turn it over to her.  Making that mental change was a big step for me.  It helped me get through the day. 

Art City Days and Cherries

 For a Field trip Friday we went to Springville for their Art City Day festivities.  A couple friends met us down there and we did a bunch of free crafts outside.  Greg's family is from Springville and so it was a little weird going down there but not seeing any family.  The boys were awesome at the crafts.  They didn't need any help and they even helped their sisters, when they weren't running to the next one while I helped the girls finish.  It was a pretty hot and crowded day, but we managed to stay for an hour and a half before we were sweaty enough to head to Dairy Queen.  The kids were SO hot in the car driving there, but were FREEZING as we headed back out to the car.

 

 On Sunday we headed back down to Springville to visit Grandma Bev and Grandpa Wilf and then later to see Grandma Pam and more family.  Our kids LOVE this tradition.  They ask every Sunday if we get to go visit people.  This Sunday Grandma Pam's cherry tree was ripe for the picking.  The boys were up in the tree and they picked SO many cherries.  At first they were having a competition, boys against girls, but since the boys are all a couple years older than the girls they decided it wasn't really fair, or an adult decided it for them.  

 

 Nathan and Ryan stayed out longer than anyone, picking cherries.  They were so excited to bring them all home, claiming a large ziploc full of them as their own.

Annabelle ate the most cherries of everyone that I saw.  She loved using the pitter and while she did have a bit of a tummy ache the next day, I think she would say it was worth it.

I only used a small fraction of the cherries to make this scrumptious pie.  It was heavenly!  I didn't have a pitter so it was really tough pitting all the cherries, but I bought a pitter today and I plan on making 1 or 2 pies on Sunday with more of the cherries.  YUMM!