Pioneer Weekend

I forgot that the entire month of July is basically one big firework fest here in Utah. This past weekend we celebrated Pioneer Day, and we did our best to celebrate our little hearts out!
We started the weekend out by taking our kids to the Days of 47 Rodeo. It was our first experience with the rodeo and the kids loved it! It was really cool to watch and we loved the relaxed atmosphere with the kids!

We dog-sat for some neighbors so the kids had this fun little pup to play with all weekend. Will especially enjoyed having her around. (I on the other hand never want to own a dog again, but dog sitting now and then I can live with)

We spent the rest of the weekend going to fireworks, throwing a barbecue with friends (which turned out pretty dang tasty if I say so myself!) and spending time together since Mike had Monday off of work. We talked to some friends and decided to throw a neighborhood firework party. We gathered in our cul-de-sac and invited the neighborhood to come hang, eat treats, and do fireworks.
Here's Miles with his little stash of fireworks he bought. He carried his bag around all day and wouldn't let it out of his sight. He was in heaven!

Some of the neighborhood ladies!

My favorite picture of the night: Morgan and her friend Claire holding their little brothers for a picture. Will and Nells were born on the same day and are such good little buddies already. Their little lips are stained from all the popsicles they ate. As you can see Will was digging the purple ones - I think he ate at least a dozen of them - NO JOKE.

It started sprinkling on us so some of the girls ran for cover in the trunk.

Luckily we didn't get rained out - just a little drizzle to cool us off. After the rain there was this awesome double rainbow directly above our house. It's hard to see the second rainbow, but it was neat sitting there with all our neighbors as we all stopped and took in the beauty of the evening.

Here's the crowd as we started... We thought it was a decent turnout, but little did we know just how big this party was going to get.

It grew and grew and the fireworks kept coming and coming. It took over 2 hours to get through all of them (and I'm pretty sure we didn't do them all). It was a pretty impressive fireworks show and I am very proud of our neighborhood for stepping up and making it great!
This is only one section of the crowd - there were more all the way down the street and a huge crew of boys standing in the middle of the circle. All together I'd say we reached around 100 people. Not too shabby!

It was so fun! We are definitely going to make this a new neighborhood tradition.

The Sondrups Visit

Over the 10 years we spent in Ohio, Mike and I established many great friendships. Most of them were in Ohio for school and once they finished they moved away from us. The good news is that most of those friends either moved to Utah or they have family in Utah they visit. That is great for us!
When the Sondrups lived by us in Ohio, they were some of our favorite friends! We've missed them. This past week they stopped by for a visit while they were in Utah visiting their families.
It was great to see them and meet their new little addition, Lucas.

These boys played often when we lived by each other. It was fun to see them playing again picking up right where they left off.

The girls!

The moms. This is what you get when you give the kids the camera....

Will saying goodbye to the baby... He liked having the baby there (except when I was holding him... He's got some jealousy issues we need to resolve. His world is going to be rocked when this baby gets here... HA! I can't wait :)

Random stuff

As I was driving home a couple days ago, I spotted a cute little baby bird in the middle of the road. I didn't see it until it was almost too late, but I had just enough time to swerve over and straddle the poor bird between the wheels of the car. I didn't feel a bump as I went over it... Relief. I double checked my rear view mirror to make sure it was okay, but no baby bird in the street... Hum. Oh well, continued the 1/2 mile home. Later that day as I was loading the kids up into the car I head some loud chirping coming from inside the garage. Sure enough, the baby bird was sitting in the corner of the garage...
What the??
He must have gotten stuck or latched onto my car and rode home with us. Poor little thing had a broken leg and wasn't getting anywhere fast.

The kids wanted to take the poor thing to the animal hospital, but Mike had an easier plan; drop it in the trees nearby... Yup. That's what we did. Poor thing. I hope by some miracle it heals and has a happy little birdy life.

When Mike went to Ohio to pick up our remaining stuff, he came back with his dad's scooter. Well, it's our scooter now... Oh joy. The kids beg for rides and Mike loves taking them. It's been a fun little toy for Mike.
Mike and Morgan....

Mike and Miles... Don't worry, Miles usually wears a helmet - this was his last lap around the circle so he got off the hook. I'm working with Mike on wearing one. (Miles doing what he still loves to do, pick his nose)

Mike and Will... Will loves it just as much as the big kids.

Both of my boys have been extremely active. Not a surprise to any mom with boys. As toddlers, neither of them really got attached to certain toys. They just wanted to run, throw a ball, jump or climb. Once in a while they'd sit and play with toys, but never did they have a "favorite" toy they'd carry around... Until recently. Will has decided that he loves Toy Story and for the past few days he carries his toy Buzz and Woody everywhere. I think it's adorable.

Belly update. Here I am last week at 22 weeks. She's getting big and I feel her move quite a bit. She doesn't seem too active yet, so I'm hoping that's an indication of her personality when she comes out. Sometimes if I haven't felt her move for a while, I eat something fruity and lay down. That usually makes her happy and she squirms around a bit.
This pregnancy is definitely taking a toll on my body. A few weeks ago I started getting varicose veins in my legs - a first for me. So I thought I'd start walking to get my blood going... Well, when I got home my hand and feet were tingling and super swollen. I haven't worked out since... I guess I'll take care of all that once she's out of me. For now, bring on the M&M's while I run around in shorts and wear my bulging veins with pride.

Midway With The Dukes

One of the best things about our new house is our awesome neighbors. We've made some great friends since we've moved here. Let me introduce you to the Duke Family. They are so fun!! And the best part is that they have kids the same ages as our kids - and the kids adore each other. It's a match made in heaven.
This past weekend they invited us to Midway to spend a couple days at their vacation house to hike, swim, play, and eat lots of junk. It was a blast! Here are the kids sitting next to the creek they threw rocks in after a hot hike.

We took the kids to the Dairy Keen, a fun place to eat with trains all over. It was crazy busy, but the kids loved it.



The dads and the little boys. Surprisingly, the kids made it though the entire weekend without fighting.

Thank you Duke Family for adding some excitement to our summer!

Buzz Heads... Before and After

Mike has been bugging me to buzz Will's head. I just couldn't bring myself to cut off his sweet little blonde baby hair... until today. I figured why not, it is summer after all. Besides, it's one of the many reasons I love having boys... Easy hair! It will take some getting used to, but I think he looks as adorable as ever!

I think it makes him look older too.

Can you tell they are brothers? I sooo love my boys!

Happy 4th

We had a pretty low key 4th this year. The day was filled mostly with yard work... It had to be done. But the evening turned out to be much more festive. We went out to dinner with some of the cousins (we really wanted Dairy Queen, but when we got there it was closed... BOO! So the kids got McDonalds and the adults some In-N-Out Burger. yum.)
After dinner we took the kids home and did some sparklers... They loved the idea of it, but as soon as we actually lit them, they turned into little chickens. They'd hold the sparkler with a straight arm and wouldn't budge until it was completely burned out.

They had fun even though their faces look terrified.

Will on the other hand, wanted to wave his all over the place and run around with it... We had to pin him down and help him hold it.

Since we saw the N Salt Lake fireworks on Saturday, we skipped going to fireworks and went in to go to bed. But little did we know the night was just beginning... Fireworks started going off right outside their bedroom windows.
Here I am playing with the flash.. I just can't quite work my camera yet... These pictures were taken within a minute of each other and they look like they were taken at different times of the day...


Then all the neighbors in our cul-de-sac came out and started their own fireworks. We took our blanket outside and watched another show with our fun neighbors. We are loving this neighborhood!

I hope you all had a great 4th too! And hopefully it was a little more exciting than ours :)

Sweet

Our fence was finally finished on Wednesday... It only took about 5 weeks longer than expected... GRRR... But at least it's done! I no longer have to chase Will every second we are outside. That boy loves to open doors (he can even unlock the dead-bolts), he loves the street and loves to disappear. This fence it truly a lifesaver (literally)! I put locks on both gates so they can't accidently be left open... This boy is trapped!!! Now they can roam in and out as they please. HEAVEN!

The ugly concrete wall behind our house isn't ugly anymore... It has this cool ivy growing all over and it makes me happy! I need to figure out how to make it grow the entire way down the wall... I may need to do some research.

Mike is home from a week long work trip. We really missed him. I don't know how single mom's do it... Every time he's away I realize just how much we all need him. He adds laughter and enjoyment when he comes home and it's so refreshing - esp during the summer when I'm home with all the kids all day. I love having late nights, sleeping in, and nakie boys!

Will the Goof Ball

Will was in a silly mood the other day, so I grabbed my camera and started clicking away. Will is so much fun to have around. The big kids just adore him and comment all the time about how cute he is and how much they love him. It's easy to see why they feel that way. He's just so dang cute!