Yummy

We made brownies the other day and Abbie figured out that licking the beaters is one of the best parts of baking stuff. We had a hard time getting it away from her.

A little late...

Lexie has finally started school. (Well on Monday actually.) This year we are on D track and it starts 3 weeks later than the rest of the tracks so it has seemed weird to have her home for 6 weeks this summer, but really nice. I still wasn't ready to send her back to school. She seems to like her teachers (she has team teachers this year one on Mon-Tues and the other on Wed-Thurs and they alternate Fridays) so far and they see to be good so far. (It would be hard to be worse than some of the teachers that she has had.) I just can't believe that she is in 4th grade. My baby is growing up so fast....

Shopping Deals...

Earlier this week I scored a GREAT coupon from Old Navy's coupon site ($75 off $100 or more, yes you read that right!!) How I got so lucky I don't really know. So today we went shopping at Old Navy. Lexie got 3 shirts, a pair of capris, and a pair of pants. Ashton got 2 pairs of pants, a pair of shorts and 2 shirts. I got 3 shirts and the grand total with tax for everything was 35.26. I am still doing the happy dance :)

JUST IN CASE ANYBODY ELSE WANTS TO KNOW HERE IS THE WEBSITE WHERE I SCORED THE GREAT COUPON.. just play around and see what you can find... OLD NAVY WEEKLY they change the website about once a week, and the really good coupons disappear within in minutes of them updating the site, but if you are going shopping there anyway why not get a better deal.

Abbie's 15 month checkup

Abbie had her 15 month check-up today, poor thing had to have 4 shots. Of course she cried like crazy when they gave her the shots, but she was so cute with everyone during our whole visit. She waved at the receptionist as we checked in and even played with the doctor (until she tried to hold her, then she freaked out as usual.) She was 32.5 inches long and weighed 22 pounds. She is really tall (97% does that surprise anyone) and average for her weight. Thank goodness this is her last shots until its time for kindergarten.....

Family Reunion

We went to Jake's Michaelson family reunion (that would be his dad's mom's family) this weekend. And although we are definitely not camping people (even when said camping is in someone's yard) we had a good time with most of Jake's brothers and sisters and all the extended family too. Once again I didn't take my camera (I really don't know what has come over me and forgetting my camera so much lately, but it has become a regular problem). We got there finally Friday night after some technical difficulty which involved turning around and coming back home more than an hour into our three hour trip. The kids had fun exploring the place where we were staying and playing with their cousins. They had a movie for everyone to watch, which was good for everyone but Abbie, since she wanted nothing to do with sleep until the movie was over which was after 11. Saturday we had a good time, ate good food and caught up with lots of family. The kids did as many of the crafts and activities as we would allow and had a great time. They played water baseball after lunch and were glad to be soaked to the bone in the hot sun. We ended up leaving early Saturday before dinner but had a good time while we were there. We had a much easier trip back home and everyone was glad to get to sleep in their own beds....now to tackle the mountain of laundry.....

Water Park Fun

Even though it didn't end up feeling like we did traditional holiday celebrating, we did have a fun day. We went to the water park by our house and since it was a holiday, and most people were busy doing other things, the water park was pretty slow.

Lexie and Ashton had a great time getting soaked, but Abbie thought that there was entirely too much water flying around for her liking. She did think it was great that I gave her her very own water bottle and didn't care that she spilled it all down her front.
After the water park we just waited for Jake to get back home and then had our small fireworks show in the backyard. The kids got to bed late but they had a fun day.
Saturday night, Nathan and Sara and their family, Maren and Landon and their family, and Erick and Heather came to our house for a sushi/chinese/japanese food feast. We had really good food from Fortune Cookie and all the cousins got to play to their hearts content.

This is the Place Park

Today I took the kids to This is the Place Park and even though it was really hot we had a great time. There were so many things to do and see there, we visited many of the building and did as many of the crafts as we could(three per person). Next time I am going to pay for extra crafts because there were so many things that the kids wanted to do we couldn't do them all. There are people all over the place dressed in period clothing and acting the parts of many of the people in Utah history, we got to meet "Brother Brigham" and "Mary Fielding Smith" gave the kids paper dolls to color. We went to the blacksmith's shop and saw how a paper press works at the Deseret News print shop. Ashton and Abbie rode some horses The big kids made arrowhead necklaces at the indian village and punched designs into pieces of leather at the saddle shop We visited the Smoot Hall at Brigham Young Academy We walked a lot and were very tired by lunchtime. The downsides were that you are up on the benches so there is a lot of walking up hill and it is made to look like Salt Lake would have during the pioneer times so there really are any side walks and if there are side walks they are made of wood planks or grave and it was really hard to push a stroller around. We didn't even get to half the buildings so we definitely have to go back Oh and if you go (which I recommend) were good walking shoes not flip flops you'll have a much easier time.

Time for an update...

We have had a busy start to our summer, unfortunately I don't have any pictures to prove just how much fun we have had. I am still working on getting them from my mom's camera. My brother and his family came for a short visit from Texas. They arrived on Friday the 3rd and Lexie became a permanent resident of my mom's house while they were here, so she could "spend as much time with her cousins as possible." He has a son that just turned 11 and a daughter that is 8 almost 9 so Lexie is in heaven when they get to see each other, she finally gets to play with cousins her own age instead of 5 or more years younger than she is. Saturday found us at Boondocks for miniature golf, go-cart rides, and as many arcade games as they could talk the adults into paying for. We had a great time. I think we BBQ ed every night and the kids had a great time playing together. Wednesday started early (we were on the road before 8) on our way to Vernal for visits with family and of course as many horse rides as you can fit in 5 hours. It was a great day and my dad got to show my kids the house he lived in as a little boy and the house he lived in after that before they moved to the Vernal area. All my kids love to ride horses, but right now I am amazed at how much Abbie loves it. She is excited to get on and she has a great time while riding the horse, bouncing up and down even more than what is naturally part of riding a horse and then she cries and cries when you take her off. She is not scared of them at all, which is scary at times when she thinks she can walk right up to them if she is not being held. Ashton got to have fun throwing sticks into the irrigation canal and watching them float through the pipe and down the stream. Lexie had a good time showing off her increasingly good horsemanship skills, and she got to hold my cousins new baby girl, she was in heaven. We had a great day and it was worth it even though we got back really late and everyone was tired. Thursday all the girls got together for a "gel toes" party and got our toenails done. All the older grand kids went to an afternoon movie with Grandma and Grandpa on Friday. Then sadly for my kids, their cousins headed back for Texas Sunday morning. I'm glad that my kids got to have such a fun week, but I am glad that they are home now, my house seemed so empty and quiet without them here. Now we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our next set of cousins to arrive from Texas sometime this week.

Watermelon and Birthday Cake

Last Saturday we went to my nephew Gauge's first birthday party. It was really fun and we ate really great food (thanks Maren and Landon). Abbie has found a new love this summer eating watermelon...it is so cute to see her stained red face with juice dripping down her chin while she completely enjoys her treat.

After Gauge got to dig into his birthday cake, Abbie took her turn at it..

Fun in the sun...

My kids have been begging for months outside water toys, so I told them to put their money together and we would go to the store and see what they could buy. They got a slip-n-slide and some water guns. The only problem is that it has rained here every day since they bought their toys (which was 10 days ago.) I can't believe how much rain we have gotten, and not just a little here and there, but major thunderstorms everyday for the last 10 days... I am grateful for the rain, our grass looks great without us having to water it, but come on we live in a desert for crying out loud. Today it is more typical sunny Utah summer weather, so out came the slip-n-slide. Here are a few pictures..




They had a blast!!! I think it is going to be a popular activity this summer.