Photos from the 4th

Some pictures from our 4th of July celebration:

Nate and Ben went to the parade an hour and a half early to save our spot. It was pretty cold in the shade so Ben spent most of the waiting time across the street soaking up some rays and reading Harry Potter.


Aaron had to work, but Heidi and the boys kept with tradition and joined us for the parade. It was fun to hang out with them. Ben is blurry in the first picture because he was dancing (which is why Heidi and I are cracking up). He could give Elaine Benes a run for her money.




After the parade, we headed back to our house for a picnic under the trampoline and a little cousin play time.


Nate was nice and hooked up the hose to the hot water heater so the kids could have a warm pool to play in. Notice Ben’s cool new bands on his braces. He was so excited to get red, white, and blue at his last orthodontist appointment.





Ben and Abby had a little water fight. Abby couldn’t really hold the gun and squeeze the trigger with one hand. Instead she used this (amazingly awkward) technique.


We played a little bocce ball while we were waiting for it to get dark. Nate wore a tie most of the day . . . just in case someone had planned a holiday ambush in the water fight.


We had planned on walking up the canal road to watch the fireworks, but all of the kids wanted to just stay here and watch from the trampoline. It worked out great. We did a few fireworks before the show started and then let the kids do sparklers before we headed into bed. I did the girls’ hair in a fun glow stick-holding hairdo. You can’t really tell from the pictures, but they looked pretty cool running around with the glow sticks woven through their hair.

Toy Story 3

We took the kids to see Toy Story 3 today. It was a quality flick and I loved it! It was the second time that a Pixar film has moved me to tears. Nate even got a little weepy (in a movie without hobbits!). The kids all gave it a big thumbs-up. I was just happy that they actually wore their 3D glasses this time.


Wow. Two movie theater experiences in one week. That fills my quota for the next three years.

Midnight Movie Madness

I decided to walk on the wild side last night and go to the midnight showing of Eclipse with some friends. It was my first time going to an opening night midnight movie, and it was loads of fun. I haven’t stayed up past 2 a.m. (on purpose) for a long time. It made me feel like a kid again to stay out late with quality friends. I liked the movie lots more than either of the other two. I’m excited to see what score Nate gives it in six months when I make him watch the DVD.


In other (tangentially related) news, the boys in this house are making good progress in the ward water fight. Ben eliminated his third target (this time a 60-something grandpa) and Nate got his second target . . . she was actually one of the girls I went to the movie with; he drove down to the movie theater at 10:00 last night and snuck into the lobby to squirt her. I have yet to get anyone wet. I guess I just don’t have the killer instinct required for this game. :)

Ogden Temple

The Ogden Temple is scheduled to get a major facelift in the next couple of years. It will look like a completely different building after the work is done.



I wanted to get a picture of each of the kids in front of the temple before they start construction. Yesterday morning Nate and the kids did an encore performance of Teach Me to Walk in the Light at a Senior Citizen branch in Ogden (long story). Since we were in the area, we stopped for a little photo shoot at the temple. I think it will be cool for the kids to have the pictures to show their own kids in 30 years.

Another Fun Week

This summer is going by way too fast. I wish I could slow down time a bit. Instead, we are just trying to cram lots of stuff into the time we have. This week was a busy one with lots of fun. Here are a few of the highlights:

Father’s Day

We didn’t do anything spectacular for Father’s Day, but Nate seemed to have a good day. The best parts were
· the fabulous smoothie that Nate made in his new blender
· fun gifts from the kids
· Nate getting his tie cut off during sharing time
· catching a few minutes of the World Cup
· watching From the Earth to the Moon and playing Sequence with the kids
· good food all day long . . . and yummy FH’zookies for dessert





Kennecott

We took a little cousin fieldtrip to the Bingham Copper Mine on Monday. Ben certainly got more out of it than the girls did, but they all had fun hanging out with their cousins.



Ward Picnic/Water Fight

Tuesday night we went to our ward’s potluck picnic. It was a good, fun time. Emily showed off her tree climbing skills. I don’t know how such a wimpy mom got such daring kids.


The picnic was also the kick-off of the ward’s summer-long water fight. They opened it up to everyone Senior Primary age and up, so Nate, Ben and I signed up. Here’s how it works:

The aim of the game is for players to track down and eliminate their targets until only one player remains. When a player eliminates his/her target, he/she takes over his/her victim's target. When only one player remains, the game is over. You want to be the last DRY person in the ward. The rules: You need to get your target wet with no more than a quart of water. You may not get your target if he/she is wearing a tie or dress. You may not get your target wet on Sunday. You may not get your target wet in the church house or their house.

So far, Ben has gotten his first two targets (two 30-something/50-something dads) and Nate got his first target (a ten-year-old girl). I’m the only loser that has yet to get my target. In the meantime, I am lying low and hoping that I don’t get eliminated before I can make my move. I even went so far as to wear a skirt to playgroup to take advantage of that little loophole. Nate was an even bigger dork and wore a shirt and tie to the peach orchard on Saturday to help with our ward’s thinning assignment. We tend to get a bit carried away when there’s a competition involved.


Cake Wrecks

Nate and I had a fun date to a book-signing on Wednesday. One of our favorite blogs is Cake Wrecks. When I found out that Jen Yates (the creative genius behind the blog) was coming to Salt Lake, I just had to go. We took the kids to Heidi and Aaron’s, stopped at Firehouse for some scrummy food, and then headed to Salt Lake. We even decorated mini-wrecks for the cupcake contest, but we were way outmatched in both skill and creativity by some of the other attendees. It was quite an eclectic crowd that had gathered for the book-signing and we had lots of fun people-watching. Jen, and her husband John, were every bit as clever and hilarious in real life as they are on the blog. We had a great time.



Sarah-sitting

Jody had to go to a class this week, so we got to watch Sarah. I have to say that it was the easiest babysitting job of my life. She was a sweetie and cried for a grand total of eight and a half minutes during the three days she was here. The kids absolutely loved having a baby in the house. They laughed every time she made a noise or pulled a face, and each time I made her a bottle all four kids had to take a turn feeding her.




Raptors Game

Our neighbor gave us free tickets to Friday’s Raptors game. It was the first time we’ve gone to a baseball game as a family and we had lots of fun. We figured that we would only stay for a few innings, but the kids were loads more attentive than I thought they would be so we stayed for the whole game. Ben really got into it and loved cheering . . . even though we were cheering for the losing team.

Brave Girls

We took the kids boating on Friday. Emily and Elise both tried out the kneeboard for the first time. I was proud of them just for getting into the cold water, but even more impressed that they wanted to learn to kneeboard.

Emily went first and got up right away. She figured out how to turn a little and didn’t even tip over/let go of the rope when we hit a pretty good-sized bump. She was so pleased with herself that she was beaming.



Elise was next up. As soon as Nate started to go, I could tell she was saying “stop”, but I told him to keep going. It might make me a bad mom, but I knew she could do it and I didn’t want her to quit after four and a half seconds. She must not have realized that she could just let go of the board, so she pulled herself up. She did great and liked it until we stopped and the board flipped over and dumped her into the water.



Abby was brave too and decided to give the tube another chance. Nate made sure that we had a nice smooth ride and she loved it. Phew.



Our next task is to help Ben work up the courage to try skiing. We might have to use the girls’ examples as leverage to get him to try . . . no boy wants to be outdone by his little sisters. :)

Cub Scout Day Camp

We spent the day at Camp Kiesel on Thursday. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it was lots of fun! We missed day camp last year because we were in California, so this was Ben’s first chance to go. He was super excited about going and it completely lived up to his expectations. He especially loved the BB guns and archery. They were, in Ben's words, "better than Disneyland." I loved that Nate got to come along. He was just called to serve as the Cub Committee Chairman and is also my unofficial Assistant Bear Den Leader, so the two of us took our four Bears up to camp. The boys were SO GOOD! They did just what they were supposed to and made our job easy. Ben had a great time. I told him that if he wanted to write about it in his journal, I would put it in the blog. Here’s his journal entry:

Sunday, June 20, 2010
Last Thursday I went to Day Camp. Our first activity was the Trading Post there I bought a Multicolored pen, and a pocket knife. Next was an obstacle course. I liked the laser field most. After that was BB guns I hit a target four times. Then it was archery. I hit the target 2 times 2 others went over the target. After that it was leave no trace they told us to put your trash in the trash. Everybody had lunch. Then we went to arts & crafts I made a bear necklace there. After that we learned info. about plants & animals. Then we went on a nature walk we learned if you touch stinging nettle you can rub it off with Lamb’s Ear. Finally we went to the canoe Lake we got paddles. We were the first ones there at the end we had a water ball fight. We had the flag ceremony and an end skit. IT WAS AWESOME!









The girls spent the day with Claudy and Maddie while we were gone. They went to McDonalds and to the park for our ward playgroup and to the Treehouse Museum. I was glad I could leave them in such good hands. They had tons of fun. (Thanks Claudy!)

Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy Anniversary

(Nate says that only cool people will get that title. Sorry if you’re not cool.)

Nate and I celebrated our eleventh anniversary this last weekend. We were glad that June 12th wasn’t 65 degrees and rainy eleven years ago like it was this year. I felt bad for all of the couples who had planned outdoor receptions and then had to move to the nearest cultural hall.

We decided to check out the local comedy club for our anniversary date. Luckily the comic on the schedule this weekend turned out to be of the non-f-bomb variety. He was very funny. We laughed until it hurt. The drunk lady sitting in front of us added a bit to the level of entertainment. It was a good fun time.


It helped that we were primed to laugh after seeing a 55-year-old bald transvestite at Fashion Bug. He was dressed like a woman from head to toe . . . open-toed high-heeled sandals, bright red toenails, woman’s jeans, a pink shirt, fake nails, long curly hair, and make-up. He maybe could have pulled it off if it wasn’t for the male pattern baldness and baritone voice. I know it is politically incorrect to mock such things, but it was just so darn unexpected that it struck me as funny. I guess he is a regular at the store because all the ladies working there seemed to know him. I just kept waiting for the candid camera guy to jump out from behind one of the clothing racks.

We were bugged that we couldn’t snap a candid picture of our own. Nate’s cell phone didn’t survive last week’s dip in Willard Bay, so we were back to using our camera-less, circa 2003, Nokia phones. We wanted to prevent missing any other golden photo opportunities, so Saturday we spent some time at T-Mobile upgrading our phones. When Nate pulled out a matching pair of old-school Nokias, it was our turn to be mocked. Our salesman actually laughed out loud when he saw them. We were quite a hit with the whole sales staff (and our fellow customers) . . . “Did you see their phones!?!?!” Apparently seven human years are equivalent to 93 cell phone years.

Meteorologists

The name sounds so scientific. It tricks you into thinking that they know what they are talking about. I’m starting to think that they just take a shot in the dark every day and hope that no one notices when they get it wrong.

We had a K-1 boating party yesterday. I double checked the weather forecast at 8:30 in the morning just to be safe. This is what it looked like:


We figured it would be hot and sunny. At worst we would have to sit out a short-lived thunderstorm.

In the real world, it was overcast, windy, and the high was closer to 73 degrees.

We did manage to have some fun before the winds really picked up and the clouds were completely blocking out any hope of sunshine. The weather certainly wasn’t ideal, but it was still great to see everyone. Austin and Kaylynn are moving to Canada in two weeks, so I’m glad we got a chance to hang out before they go. We promised the locals that we’ll have a make-up day sometime in July. Hopefully we’ll have better luck with Mother Nature.