Thursday, July 30, 2009

Jammin' in July

Even though it is still July I can hardly remember what happened at the beginning of the month. On the fourth of July Brady performed in the Clearfield parade and the weather was pretty decent. We wanted to go to after parade festivities at the park but there weren't any.

A few days later it was the twins seventh birthday and we didn't do too much. They were going to a Science camp out at the fairgrounds all week. so their morning was already booked. Later that day they had a friend over to play. We more than made it up to them later, though. We went to pick dad up at the Gateway and had giant Ben and Jerry's sundae's and we went to make new Build-a-Bear's. since Harry Potter was coming out, they both chose to make the Hedwig owl. Then we went to Seven Peaks in Orem for the day. After we finally convinced Hailey to go down some slides it was a lot of fun. Brady and I even got our blood pumping on the half pipe slide. SCARY! Sorry no pictures.


A friend of mine recently moved into a new house this summer. When Brady helped them move he knew he was in trouble -- after I saw the house I instantly starting looking for a new home. I spent quite a few days actually going and touring homes, but unless I go significantly over my price range, I just haven't found anything that offers everything I want -- and I refuse to sell my home first with the idea that someday I'll find it, 'cuz who knows when someday could be.

Ethan was back for two weeks in July as well. He came home specifically to do scout camp and a CSI camp he had signed up for with a friend. Since he is studying Utah history this year, we also took all the kids up to the Golden Spike. Oh, and have I ever mentioned that all of my kids want to be astronauts…



I was seriously stressed out about Scout camp, but it went really well. Now that I have done it once it will be no big deal. At the camp store they were really "pushing" pocket knives. I told the boys they couldn't buy one unless their mom's were there and agreed. Many of the mothers did let their boys get them. I didn't. A week later at least three mom's said their boys had cut themselves. One even needed stitches! OW!



Brady also performed in the Bountiful handcart days parade. They always have a fun carnival at the end. Recently someone posted about some rude people they encountered at a parade -- well check out the goose egg Andrew got because some very large kid bowled him over to get a piece of candy. It is a week later and he still has a scar.






We were also given a large bunch of Apricots from another friend and we spent the last weekend canning jam, nectar, the apricots themselves and making fruit leather. I was overwhelmed and I only had a few buckets. She has three trees full of ripe apricots -- I can't imagine.
I also spent a huge amount of time preparing to go back to work next week. (I am still very unprepared!) I guess in my attempt to prove how unqualified I am, when I moved all the computers around in my room, I brought down the whole school network for 2 days! Yeah me!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Saturday, July 4, 2009

The Rest of June...

It wouldn't be one of my blogs if there wasn't something related to Scouts! One of my brilliant ideas this year was to march in a parade with the pack, so we did the South Ogden Days parade and had a great time. (Maybe even started a new tradition!) The boys had a great time! See all those yellow neckerchiefs? Those are all my wolves!









We went to family camp at the girl scout camp Cloud Rim, up above Deer Valley. Even though it was the end of June there was still snow on the ground and it was freezing cold. We still had a great time though! We went on fun hikes and saw a beaver lodge and moose tracks. There were crafts and dance lessons provided. Brady was able to rock climb and after two days we finally convinced Hailey to take a canoe out on the water!



The kids love the fact that Dad works at The Gateway, because every time they go down to visit him in the summer they get to play in the water.
We have done a few other fun things this summer that I didn't get pictures of too.
We had to take Andrew down to Primary's for some check ups. Once you have had the privilege of an extended stay down there you get free tickets to the zoo -- for life! So after we visited the Dr., we borrowed the admissions pass and headed for the zoo for the day. My family can never seem to spend more than a few hours there. We took the passes back and the headed out for a tour of the new temple in West Jordan. It was a very educational experience for the kids. They asked a lot of questions. However, Andrew slept through the whole thing and Brady had to carry him. I think Brady is still trying to recover. We finished off the night by taking the kids to Tempanyaki. Can't get much better than dinner and a show!
We also had both the Liddell and the Kunz family reunions on the same Saturday this month. It was a day full of trying to shove as many unfamiliar names and family history stories as one could remember into our brains. Both of the reunions had Brady play his pipes for entertainment. At the Kunz reunion the twins even sung a duet for everyone and they did a stellar job. Andrew didn't want to be left out either. He is such a ham. He went on stage and sung a duet of Twinkle Little Star with mom!
Brady also had his big Salt Lake competition this month. I have banned family attendance to that one. Payson is free a month later, so I don't want to pay $40 for us all to get in, just to sit around all day doing nothing but trying to keep kids entertained all day. Not only is Payson free, but it has huge playground for the kids! Besides, this year at Salt Lake there was a huge rain storm most of the day! Brady's band didn't even have any competition to speak of, so of course they took first.
On another Saturday of the month, we meat at the house of the twins teacher next year to go on a hike. We went on a four mile hike up in the foothills between St. James and 2nd Street. Brady had to carry Andrew for about half of it, but it was really a lot of fun. Then just as it started to rain we made it back to her house for food. We had a great time roasting hot dogs and marshmallows in the fire pit -- even while it was raining!
We also joined the athletic club for the summer. I have been going almost everyday. I have been doing well taking exercises classes. My favorite discovery has been yoga. It relaxes me and works me out at the same time! Of course the kids just love to go swimming all the time! They haven't even asked to put up the back yard pool's yet 'cuz we just go to the club! Yeah! We haven't even been to the little water park by our house all summer!
It has been an amazing summer so far since we have pretty much only had one week without rain! I hope that this means that the season will last a little longer on the other side. There is so much of summer left to live and so little time and good weather!