Sunday, November 3, 2013

Summer in review

Without further ado, the 2013, Summer of Visitors!!
 
Fathers' Day (with all this Father's kiddos)
 
 My birthday. Now I can run for President of the USA. This is the REAL kickoff to summer, folks.
 Hiking Stewart falls with some of our bestest friends (who came up for Texas just to celebrate the kickoff to summer, aka, Ali's Birthday). These kiddos were troopers!
 At the falls. You can tell it is summer by the sparsity of the falling water.
 When those awesome friends left, we spent some quality time on the back deck, soaking in the mild evenings.
 My Dad and Stepmom came a week after our bestests left. My dad has a long tradition of telling Brer Rabbit stories to kids. Fortunately, my kids got to enjoy the story of "The Teenchy Tiny Duck". They were completely enthralled.
We dragged Dad and Carla up to Bridal Veil Falls. It is a nice, easy, fairly-shady walk.
 Watching the 4th of July parade, a long-standing Utah Valley tradition. It started out pretty mild but was scorching by the end!

 Cole approved of the parade!
 After the parade, we carried on the tradition of swimming and BBQ. Fun 4th! We're so glad Grandpa and Grandma Carla could come!

We got to visit the BYU Broadcasting Building several times throughout the summer. The kids really enjoyed posing in Studio B! A few weeks after the tour with Gpa and Gma C, we had my sister and her family in town. After the obligatory tour, we were lucky enough to meet Matt Meese,  of Studio C! Dream come true for my nephew!!
We also visited the Paleontology Museum at BYU with my sister and family...

And we "hiked" to Bridal Veil falls again. It was a lovely way to spend Pioneer Day!
Of course, Malcolm had to make sure the fish were biting on the Provo River!

There was also time for walking on the Provo River Trail, 

visiting Temple Square,
and swimming!

We had so much fun with our summer guests!
We also got to have Grammy and Pop visit!! Until partway through August, we only had a week or 2 before the next guests came. AWESOME!!! But that meant that in August, we had to make good use of downtime before school started again. So...
I painted the kitchen cabinets,
Tyler celebrated Movember a few months early,
Cole perfected his "splits" technique with Henry coaching him,
and we built amazing contraptions with Mega Bloks. 

Oh, and Tyler and I had a hot date to watch taping for Studio C!
Other things from the summer?
LOTS of rain! It was like living on the East Coast. Awesome, torrential thunderstorms. 
Lots of painting. Those kitchen cabinets took ages!
Friends. Not as much time was spent with friends as Jack would've liked, but they had a great time when friends were around. 
Phew! On to fall....

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Springtime in the Rockies

Because most people bother filling in the details from the past 6 or 8 months on their blogs, right? Right....?
Obviously, this whole "mother of 5" thing is sapping my brain-power and time. I will be the first to admit that I'd rather curl up with a good book (or even a mediocre book!) than blog these days. But, since so many of the people we love live so far away, and because they are going through withdrawals from my adorable progeny, I really need to improve!

 Once again, Jack participated in his school's play, "The Golden Goose". He played the villainous brother to the hero. It was fun to see how much more comfortable and capable he was on stage this year, as opposed to last year. He help his own (as a 2nd grader) with the 6th graders! 
  Clowning around in the play.
We attended BYU football's spring exhibition. Sheridan is getting IN on the action! Rah rah, rah rah rah! Goooooo Cougars!!
Dying Easter eggs--always a favorite tradition!! With so many kids, we ended up with a boat-load of hard boiled eggs after.
 Tyler celebrated his birthday with the-cake-that-did-not-fully- cook-so-it-lost-its-middle-and-became-a-square-bundt. Le Sigh. The cooked parts were delicious, though!

 Now that he's 8, Jack can attend General Conference with Dad! So neat. While he loved going...it was not a thrill-ride for him! But he felt the Holy Ghost, so we'll call it a win.
 Jack with his Pinewood Derby car. It is a peregrine falcon. While I showed him the techniques for painting, he tackled most of it himself.
 Taking the walk up to Bridal Veil Falls with my longest-time friend and her daughter. It was so fun to have them come visit at the beginning of May--we never get enough time in person any more!
 Ready for her dance recital! Sheridan had a blast performing in the Spring recital.
 "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
Father and Son Campout. I'm pretty sure this extra-large bonfire epitomizes everything that is the campout.