Pioneer Day

Well, I did not get my chairs and table painted black last week like I wanted to. I primed 3 of the 6, but that's as far as I got. I haven't even had a chance to go to the store to buy more paint! Oh well....maybe this week! On Friday we spent the day in Fairview at the Sundwall family reunion. There were about 130 people there and some that had traveled from all over the country. A lot of work went into it and it was well done. Richard and I were supposed to come up with a family "song" based on the ancestors that we all shared. We were literally working on it on the way down to the reunion and didn't even do it with the piano until we got up on the stage. We pulled it off, but just barely! It was a fun day and unfortunately I forgot my camera. On Saturday we had a little pool party with my brothers family and did sparklers (that was the extent of our fireworks) and helped their kids be less afraid of dogs. Again, no pictures. What is wrong with me? Today was a fun day with the kids. We started the day with a dance party before chores, then we hiked up to Stewart Falls up above Sundance. It is about a 4 mile round trip and I think Kate walked a total of 50 yards. We held her the rest of the time...okay, mostly Richard. The other kids did great and even though we were very sweaty and very dirty it was a great trip and a beautiful waterfall! We stopped on the way home for snow cones and came home and cleaned up a bit. We had to clean up, as Kate had spilled her snow cone in her car seat. Brother Findlay took the kids on a horse and buggy ride around the block and then we went to Jim's for dinner. We all had a fun time and we love our fun little family!

At the beginning of the trail head....before we really knew what we were in for!

Kate sitting on a bouncy tree.

So happy that we made it....it was so nice and cool by the waterfall!

Check out Kate's super light hair and super dark legs!

If you blow this picture up, you can see Richard and Landon and Daniel right at the base of the waterfall.

More summer happenings

There are plenty of things that make summer a little crazy, but overall I truly love summer. I love going to the pool, I love flip flops (and cutting down on my sock load of laundry), I love snow cones, watermelon, corn on the cob, more laid back schedules, all that stuff. I love spending time with my kids and doing fun things with them. I love that Kate can jump into the pool 50 times in a row and never get sick of it. I love that my 3 oldest can go to the pool by themselves. I love riding my bike to Maceys with Kate in the great bike trailer that our generous neighbors gave us. I love that Landon can babysit Kate so I can run errands...and he wants to because I pay him a little and it is so worth it! Here are a few random summer pictures.

On the way home from a family reunion the boys found a roll of duct tape in the car and kept themselves occupied!

I know this is silly to post, but I love this picture because the flash caught my earring and I think it looks really cool!

WE ARE GOING TO SEE HARRY POTTER TOMORROW AND I CAN HARDLY STAND IT I'M SO EXCITED! Kate isn't coming, but doesn't she look cute?

I had a great birthday and that evening we celebrated with three other people in our ward who all share the same birthday. I am the youngest, and I still think my birthday is the best because of the year! 7-7-77! Our friends were so nice to have a fun BBQ for all of us!

Travis, Jenny, Julia and Eric

Last weekend Voice Male sang at Abravanel Hall with the American Heritage Chorus and Orchestra. It was a great, patriotic program and very neat to be a part of! This is our family with Phil, another Lehi-ite who sang in the chorus!

On the list for this week:

Painting my kitchen table and chairs, singing with my band, Kate getting tubes, having a family pool party/BBQ, attending another family reunion, seeing Harry Potter and lots of swimming!

Happy Fourth!

We had a fun fourth of July and spent it with the McAllisters this year. Richard dropped the kids off in Mt. Pleasant to spend the night with their cousins on Sunday and to be able to go to the city breakfast in the morning. Richard, Kate and I made it down a little later in time for the parade. (I did not want to sleep over because Kate has had ear infections and I'd rather deal with her in my own home!) My pictures are chronologically backwards, but here goes!

The kids had way more fun with 100 glow sticks than they did with fireworks!

After breakfast, the parades and a few other festivites we headed up to the cabin for a BBQ. The weather was perfect and it smelled so good up in the mountains. We had a fun time!

Kate and Amelia...I gotta get me some of those boots!

Jenny and Richard

Landon and Daniel

My Patriotic children

Trying to make Kate smile, but really just being silly!

Landon and Riley

Daniel and Grandpa McAllister

Cute sisters!

Aunt Lori did all the girls hair so cute and they loved it!

The parade is under way! Bring on the squirt guns and the sticky taffy!

The boys were soaked!

Kathryn, Amelia, Emily and Jenny watching the parade

Last week we went to Seven Peaks (formerly known as Raging Waters) in Salt Lake with our friends, the Huffs. The boys mostly took care of themselves and went on almost all the slides. Layne and I and our little girls spent a good part of the time in the Lazy River, which was fine by me! Days like that are so much better when you can share them with friends!

John brought us pizza dinner and slurpees from 7-11. He bought 10 slurpees for all of us!

We sure had a fun day!

My cute kiddos! Landon did not like this pose idea but he was a good sport anyway!