Happy 4th of July and Happy 16th Wedding Anniversary to me and Greg!

   I can't believe all the festivities we've had in just a one week span.  First it was Stadium of Fire in Provo which was SPECTACULAR!  Then it was the actual 4th of July and "Sidewalk of Fire" with the neighbors.  We first had a family barbecue in Riverton in the early evening with some of Greg's Blodgett cousins which was fun with lots of yummy food and then it was our 16th wedding anniversary on the 7th and then yesterday and today we've enjoyed some of American Fork's Steele Day festivities.  There was the Picnic in the Park which is always fun and then the parade this morning and if all goes well we'll be able to attend the concert and fireworks show at the High school tonight.  The band Kansas is performing which should bring back some early childhood memories.  It's really been a fun week over all but don't be fooled, there were days where all but Isaac got grounded to the house, screaming and yelling, (and I just might have been the most guilty in that department) as well as begging and pleading for chores to be done.  But I think the kids have had fun and my three boys are taking swim lessons and showing vast signs of improvement in just an 8 lesson period and have 5 more to go.  Now on to the photo proof of all our fun.

Brock's so cool he sleeps with sunglasses on!

Ready for "Stadium of Fire".

Brad Paisley was awesome!

The fireworks show was choreographed to music and was amazing!!

Carter enjoyed the show too.

Then there was some fun game playing at G & G's.

I hate to say it, but the boys definitely have the advantage here.

And here's just pure cousin fun!!  This is cute Sammy and Brock playing in Grandma's sand box.

Brock enjoying a sparkler at the "Sidewalk of Fire".  This was shortly before he stepped on a hot sparkler with his bare feet and was subsequently sad for the rest of the night.  Bad mom for not putting his shoes on.

This was just one portion of the fireworks everyone had contributed to the "show".  This is also just a small portion of the men that helped in the disbursement of these fireworks.

Pretty much a ball of fire but everyone loved it.

This is just one of the awesome photos we got on our Anniversary outing.  We had dinner at a yummy mexican restaurant and then drove the Alpine Loop starting in Provo and had some beautiful scenery to enjoy.

This was my Anniversary surprise after dinner.  I was more then happy when he tricked me into looking in the glove compartment.  I love surprises like that.

Us on the side of the road in front of a small water fall in American Fork Canyon.

And Mr. Moose who was standing on the side of the road waiting to wish us a happy anniversary.

This is typical Brock at swim lessons, climbing out so he can jump in and usually nowhere near his teacher.  It's good that she's a fast swimmer and that he has no fear of going under water.  He'd actually prefer to be under the water.  We may actually need to put him in Scuba Dive lessons instead.

The four of us with our faces painted at Picnic in the Park.  Their face painting stand is awesome.

Isaac's way to something sweet since there was no money to buy a sweet treat at one of the vending stations.

Kayli a few hours after her face being painted.  She worked most the night volunteering at one of the game booths.

Isaac and Carter on one of the many blow up toys.

Greg with his very first funnel cake.  It was yummy!!

And Carter with one of his first treats of the night and Mark is directly behind him with his back to the camera working at one of the game booths too.  He and Kayli have more fun helping out their Aunt Kristin at this event then just playing the games.  They get to drive golf carts around and hand out prizes and they love it.

Enjoying this morning's parade.

There was a serious gap at one point of the parade so Blaine and Mark went out and threw candy to kids who were dancing to keep the party going.

McClane trying to relax and sleep despite all the noise of the crowd and parade.

   So that's it!  Pretty crazy week really and plenty of excitement.  Sorry for the length of this post but things should slow down here for a few weeks at least.  Happy belated 4th of July to everyone!!

July already!

  I can't believe it's July already, where is our summer going!?  Anyway, this past week really hasn't been that exciting, at least not for us here at home but Kayli had an amazing week down in Lake Powell for Girl's Camp where they spent five days on two FANCY houseboats.  (Really they're yachts if you ask me, but no one asked me so I don't get to make that official.)  You can imagine this was more of a vacation then your typical Girl's Camp but you can bet the girls and their leaders were not complaining and you can't discredit the generosity of some of the wealthier members of our ward for affording an opportunity like this which some of these girls/Kayli may never get again.  (Kayli took over 200 pictures but don't worry, I'm not letting her do her own post this time but stay tuned to facebook for a majority of them to surface.)

     The rest of us had a pretty typical week of tutoring, swim lessons for Isaac, Carter and Brock and a little house work/shopping and one afternoon movie.  We saw Cars 2 which all the boys loved and after wrestling the baby for about 30 minutes with hair pulling, squirming and a little whining he finally fell asleep so I could then too close my eyes for a minute or two so I can't say I saw the entire movie but as long as all the boys were happy and Greg I was glad to be there in body if nothing else.
     I do have a few pictures to share from the week and most importantly I have a "better" picture to share of Kristin and Steve per her request since the one I shared last week was not cute enough for her, so to all 6 of my blog followers presenting KRISTIN AND STEVE (Lang). 

And here are a few pictures of the boys, mainly cute baby McClane!!

He loves pulling himself up by the bathtub for some reason!

I made the cutest little mohawk with his little patch of hair but it's a little difficult to see but he's still cute.

There's nothing better then a yummy cookie.

COOKIES!  Me love Cookies!!

  And last but not least Isaac earned is wolf badge this week at pack meeting as well as one gold and four silver arrow points.  Great Job Isaac!!

  Happy Fourth of July WEEKEND!!  Can't wait for "Stadium of Fire" tonight!

She's Here!!

    Our newest niece and cousin has arrived.  My sister Jackie and her husband Ben had their second baby girl this week and she's a keeper.

This is Shae Gwyneth Atkinson 8lbs. 8oz. 19 inches.  Isn't she a doll!?

   Of course all the kids minus Mark came to the hospital to meet and hold her.  We're so glad to have another baby girl cousin living near by.

   With baby Shae came Grandma and Grandpa Baker and that means flying fun for the boys and it wasn't long before Grandpa had them at the park chasing home made parachutes falling from his r/c airplane and they loved every minute of it.

making a grocery bag parachute.

Let's get this show on the road!

Who's having the most fun here, the pilot or the runners?  I'll say it's a toss up.

Time to reload the the parachutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   The kids also had fun just going to the park and playing in the sand while I got to sit in the shade and enjoy a little reading and relaxing with McClane.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another week of Paradise!

   We've blown through another week of summer vacation and it definitely had its ups and downs.  I've had moments of complete frustration and then pure enjoyment. One minute the kids have me pulling my hair out and the next they're helping and happy and I'm wondering what I need to do to keep their behavior going.  Anyway, it's been a fun and not all fun week.
    First I have to say that these french doors in the kitchen are a hand print magnet and nothing but frustration for me and now here's kid number six to add to my frustration.  It's a good thing he's so cute at this point because the smudges and dirty glass are not at all cute.

    We did go to the splash pad this week but I didn't have enough time to take any photos because we weren't there long thanks to the 14 year old who was asking every two minutes when we could leave so it was a short visit.  But we did make a trip to the "wooden" park in Pleasant Grove, better known as "The Discovery Park" where we had a little picnic and the kids played for a bit.  Unfortunately it was an extra busy day there so again we didn't stay too long but Brock had fun and found the perfect size pole to go down.  And lunch was good for everyone even if we didn't have enough spoons for everyone to eat their applesauce at the same time.  That's what happens when Mark is in charge of making most of the lunches.  I do have to say the kids couldn't have been better behaved, it was one of my happier days as a mom this week for sure.

This cute baby McClane loved the swing!

   Then the wind blew in and this was the damage in our backyard.  Thankfully no one was playing out back but our neighbor was outside and saw it fall and because he's just a good guy and Greg was gone at the moment he got that cleaned up in a few minutes for me.  I would have let it wait for Greg but like I said, our neighbors just a good guy.
    Well this just about wraps up our week.  We have been spending time out on the front porch and enjoying sodas from the mini-fridge we purchased but this is also a source of temptation for the kids who think they need a soda every day no matter what but they're learning.  It's also a little messy when a soda is frozen and foams up all over when you try to open it but I'm sure we'll get all the kinks worked out by the time summer is over.

We've survived!!

      Well we've survived the first week of summer vacation.  I think it only took me about a week to get a schedule working.  There's still much room for improvement but at least we've got something going.

First there's this cute boy!!  I just want to eat his face!!

And what's life without a chocolate chip cookie to enjoy!

    And Mister Carter has lost another tooth and when I say lost I mean he really lost it.  He took it after it fell out and was probably trying to show it off to friends and literally lost it but thankfully the Tooth Fairy got wind of this mishap and still brought him a little something but couldn't justify paying him full price for a missing tooth so she paid him half and promised the other half if he ever finds the actual tooth.  He did look high and low that first day but has since given up and is now just working on losing the next tooth.
    
 Then Mark convinced us to take a little fishing lunch break at a near by park/pond.  He must have been feeling an itch because he caught a fish in the first ten minutes of casting his line.

Please ignore the inappropriate grab of Carter in the background.  P.S. We just caught and released this bad boy. (not Carter)

  Then just as the week ends we got a surprise visit from the fire departments huge ladder truck.  Don't worry, no emergency, just our neighbor coming home for a quick "Hello" to his family and you know the kids took advantage of this truck while in such close proximity to their homes.

   To bad these fire guys left so quick because they missed out on some divine chocolaty chocolate bunt cake that our neighbor baked up for everyone.

     And now the weekend is here and it's time for Greg to clean out his "Man Cave" and hopefully we'll do something fun before the weekend is over and if I'm really lucky I'll get to go out without any kids.

Schooools out for Summer!

    Summer vacation is finally here and it only took me until about 3 p.m. to realize I'm looking forward to "Back-to-School" night.  Why is it so hard to adjust to having all these kids home all day!?  Lets just hope Monday brings new hope for a rudimentary schedule that will help my sanity and keep the kids some what disciplined.

  We had a cloudy Saturday and McClane loved it.  Is he not the cutest thing EVER!!  He hasn't been the happiest boy this week due to teething, running nose and cough but he's still a real champ!!

  I gave the boys hair cuts Saturday night and just for fun we took pictures with some different style cuts before shaving it all off.  Isaac was the only one who really just wanted a trim so we didn't mess with his look which explains why we didn't photograph him.

      And remember when it was Sunday, May 29th and it was so cold you could see your breath so we broke out the sleeping bags so we could still chit chat on the porch with all the neighbors.  I won't tell you what they've nicknamed the ladies and the men who like to hang out on the porch because I just was informed it's really a derogatory term but it's all in good fun.

  Then this girl, Kayli Elaine, turned 14!  She's a happy camper and is anxious to spend her birthday cash from mom, dad and grandparents.  Her two closest friends joined her for birthday cake, Kelzie and Toni.

  And this weekend we had our traditional "Tent City" in the back yard and it was a blast.  The weather was fairly nice, the dutch oven taco salad and cobblers were delicious and the family fun was awesome.  There was one casualty, the dogs chew toy died in the fire thanks to a certain three year old but that was the only accident and the game of "sardines" played in the dark of night was exceptional.  And the best part was having my kids sleeping in a tent while I still got to enjoy my nice cozy bed, running hot water, electricity and a fully stocked kitchen.  I'm starting to think backyard camping is the only way to go.