Lagoon Day!!

Last weekend was Questar Lagoon Day…  AKA: The best day of the year!!  

My dad's work has been doing Lagoon Day forever.  I went when I was little so it's been at least 35 years.  It was my favorite day of the year growing up and now my kids look forward to it every year.   

First stop - tattoos!!  

Then we hit the games…  All of our kids made a basket this year baby!!  (Except little Ivy who cheered from her carseat!)  

The fishing pond… 

Football throw and flamingo toss...

Lunch with the family.  

This is one of my favorite pictures ever!  

Aunt Mindy and Ivy.

After lunch we went on rides with the cousins.  Mike was at school that morning so I had all 5 kids which made rides a little tricky.  Luckily for me, my parent took Ivy in the stroller for awhile so I could take the kids on some rides.  

Meg didn't know what Bombora was and I thought she'd like it…  Once they buckled her in she decided she didn't want to go…  Too late…  Off we went.  She bawled the entire ride.  Poor thing.  Maybe next year she'll like it :)  

Matthew heard Meg was at Lagoon and they met up for a few rides.  So cute these two!  

Then we went home for dinner and a rest before heading back to Lagoon with Mike.  Mike won't admit it out loud, but he was relieved he had school and wasn't able to come to Lagoon all day.  It's not his favorite place, but he was a good sport and took Miles on the white roller coaster.  I don't like the big rides anymore, they just make me dizzy.  

We stayed way too late and had way too much fun!!  Another great Questar Lagoon Day!!  

Pancake-Head

Will has always been our little pancake man.  He LOVES them… Remember when we went to Disneyland and all he wanted to do with his money was buy a mickey mouse pancake…  That's Will.  

It's one of those meals that is so satisfying for me to make because I feel like they are appreciated and bring so much joy (and I don't usually feel that way after cooking a meal :)

The best part is watching Will eat them…  See how he sticks his little tongue out in anticipation of the upcoming bite….

Then he uses his fork like a shovel and shoves it in his mouth.  He always eats his pancakes the same way. ALWAYS.  And it always looks just like this...

My triathlete!

A couple of weeks ago Mike did the Xterra off-road triathlon in Snow Basin.

We decided to make a weekend out of it and take the kids to stay in a hotel closer to the race.  It was a great little getaway!  

Here we are at packet pick-up the night before getting his numbers branded on him :)  

While we were at packet pick-up they told us that they were just about to start a kids run.  The kids were so excited to they hurried and signed up and ran over to the group to stretch :)  

The starting line...

Then they were off....  About 7 minutes later I see Miles come flying around the corner...  Miles won!!  He was so happy.  Then shortly behind him was Will and Morgan.  What cute little racers :) 

The racers with their medals.

Will esp loved his number.  He wore to for 3 days :)  

Then we went to carb-load Mike up with some IHOP.  I just can't get enough of their french toast!  

Swimming in the hotel pool.  

We got two rooms that connected with a door between them so the kids could have their own room.  They felt so big and loved having a room all to themselves.   

Ivy stayed with me and Mike, but the kids had to have some snuggle time with her before bed...  

The girls bed...  

The boys bed....  I think she liked the girls' bed better :)  Just kidding.  She was just ready to go to sleep.

Mike getting his race food ready...  

Some action shots.  I don't have any of the swim, bummer...  But I snagged these biking and running shots from the Exterra photos.  After the swim in a freezing lake, he did a super challenging mountain bike ride.  

Mike at the transition before heading out for his run.  

Then he did a trail run up snow basin.  What a crazy, hard course.

While we were killing time waiting to see Mike, the kids made signs for him...  

They were pretty great if I say so myself :)  

It's hard to read Meg's because she insisted I write her's in pink (of course pink!).  It said, "My dad is crazy fast!".  And he is!!!  

This is what Mike saw coming in from his bike ride before starting his run.  That had to have pumped him up a bit.

Then we were at the end cheering for him too.  When he passed the kids, he grabbed their hands and had them cross the finish line with him.  It made their day!!  

They were so proud of their daddy!  

And I was proud of him too!!  

The Sabbath is a Delight

I feel like we've heard so much about the Sabbath day recently.  Our most recent stake conference had talk after talk about the importance of making the Sabbath more meaningful.  Our local ward meetings and even council from our apostles on a church-wide level are focusing on the subject hard.  

It's made us reflect on our Sabbath day observance a lot over the past 6 months or so.  I feel like we've always been good about not "breaking" the Sabbath, but we definitely haven't always made it all we should/could have.  We've tried to hit it hard, so to speak, in our home.   And you know what, it's become my absolute more favorite day of the week…   Although getting ready for church and helping kids sit reverently through sacrament meeting (sometimes by myself since Mike is on the stand or on speaking assignments) is definitely one of the most stressing times of the week for me, the rest of the day is an absolute joy!  

My favorite talk about this is"The Sabbath is a Delight" by Elder Russell M Nelson.  We've made little changes that have made a world of difference.  Our kids know what is expected of them on Sunday and they are noticing that it's a different day.  

I love this candid picture I took of Mike walking Miles and Meg to the car after Stake Conference.  Mike drove separately because he had to be there early and afterwards they wanted to drive home with him. 

They looked so cute walking through the parking lot in their church clothes. 

Miles spends time every Sunday watching videos on mormonchannel.org.  He usually likes to tell me about what he watched and many times he gets emotional as he retells the story.  I like that he's feeling the spirit and learning to recognize it.  

Sunday naps are better than naps on any other day for some reason.

And I love having Mike around.  Morgan took this picture of him making her macaroni and cheese… According to Morgan, daddy makes the best mac and cheese ever!  And for some reason doesn't everything taste better on Sunday??   After church food is the best!  

Some fun with Ivers

Meg started calling Ivy "Ivers"…  And now we all do.  It's a perfect little nickname, and it's esp cute when little Meggie says it.

I think it's pretty obvious, but I LOVE babies.  Love, love, love them!  One of my very favorite things about baby bodies is their short arms.  When a big kid or an adult holds their arms straight up in the air, their arms stick way up high… My elbow sits at the top of my head and the rest of my arm extends well above my head…  With babies, their little arms barely reach the top of their heads…  I don't know why this is so adorable to me, but I can't get enough of short little arms :)  

This is just cute!  

Ivy's changing… She isn't happy being flat on her back anymore.  She wants to sit up and look around or she gets really bored.  She isn't strong enough to stay in there for long, but she's liking her little bouts of bumbo time.

She loves stroller time without being in her carseat…  

She still loves being cuddled during her nap.  Grandpa is always happy to have her for a little nap and snuggle…  (Notice her little arm straight up and barely reaching the top of her head…  Cutest thing ever, right!!) 

This baby is still the happiest, most pleasant thing around.  We all still fight over who gets to hold her.  I  let the kids have a turn every now and then :)  

I feel so lucky to be home with these two little monkeys during the day.  I'm not ready for a quiet house!  (I may not ever be…)