Charlie is THREE!

      Not the most exciting week but we ended it celebrating Charlie's 3rd birthday and that was enough excitement for me. She got new clothes (that I didn't officially present as gifts but just had her wear them). She loves new clothes and insists on putting them on herself no matter how difficult it is. I also found these cute boots and at a great price so I'm not going to be too upset when she scuffs them up because she sure loves them and has already started the scuffing process.

All ready for church.

I wish I could find this outfit in my size.

    This morning she was up early and as soon as she realized it was finally her birthday she started singing 'happy birthday' to herself.

Cute birthday girl! (It's a good thing I took this photo first thing this morning because these balloons didn't survive past 11 AM.)

    We let her start her day with a birthday card and cash from G & G Baker and a birthday gift from big sis.

Thanks G & G Baker for the card and money!!

"Close your eyes while your brothers get the box open for you."

Her very own Ziggle! Thank goodness for big brothers with some assembly skills.

Now she can race McClane around the neighborhood. P.S. McClane has some mad skills on this ride-on toy. I'll have to post a video sometime.

       Then we went swimming!

Such a fun day! (Only missing Mark & Greg.)

      Then home for one more gift and a little cake.

A new Schwinn trike all her own! (Now she can stop stealing the neighbors.)

McClane is helping her display her new toys.

Ice cream cake makes my life a little easier and it was delicious.

    Now we have the Alpine parade and fireworks to look forward to tomorrow and only one more week of summer break to enjoy!

August!! What?!!

    We're starting August out pretty slow.

Nap time with babies are the best!

    We really haven't done much this past week. Kayli did take four of the boys to the water park but there's no photo evidence of that adventure. And we've also spent a little time at the splash pad this week but, again, no photos. I do have this photo of Charlie modeling one of her early birthday outfits.

She wasn't really in the mood for photos but she did her best.

     And just when I thought I wouldn't have much else to share here's a gem of a video I captured today while in the parking lot at the dollar store. Brock had no idea I was staring at him while he perfectly lip synced this song so I hurried and videoed the last few seconds of his 'performance'. He's pretty good I think!

       

         Not much else is on our schedule for the week/weekend but next week we have a few more things to look forward to, mainly Charlie's 3rd birthday!

Dreams do come true!

      I got a pleasant surprise on Monday when Greg decided to finally do the reclaimed wood wall in our bedroom that I have been dreaming of for quite a while now. I've been wanting to use the wood off the shed, which I know wasn't Greg's first choice initially but I have to say it turned out amazing!

Let the fun begin!

Before we put the bed back.

The finished product!

The top photo was taken at night and the bottom one is a day time photo.

      I was so happy this got done and we didn't have to spend a penny on it and it was done in a day! Unfortunately, as Greg was doing this project, I discovered some other ideas and projects that I'm anxious for him to do for me. Poor guy! This house will never run out of work for him.

      Luckily he does get down time every once in a while.

     And these weirdos were roaming the house and neighborhood.

Cute & Silly!

     We also had a fun afternoon swimming at a friends house this week but I neglected to take any photos. I burned my thighs really bad though so I've been remembering the fun all day everyday for the past couple of days. (And yes I did have sunblock on but clearly I should have reapplied once or twice.)

     It's sad that July is almost over and no words can adequately express my dread over school starting in just a few short weeks! 

A week with visitors

     We've really been enjoying our visit with my sister Marie and her family. Charlie has especially enjoyed all this cousin time and wakes up every morning asking for them.

Charlie thinks little Brigham is so cute and fun.

     We had a super fun time at Seven Peaks water park Tuesday. I failed to get even one photo but I think everyone had a good time.

A little time outside after our trip to the waterpark.

     We also had a fun visit with Heidi and baby Elsie, who was quite fascinated with seeing another person that was close to the same size as her. Maybe she was remembering him from 'earlier'.

Cute babies! (Only 2 weeks apart.)

    And I finally got a chance to take a photo of Mark and Marcus with their red trucks to compare with their earlier photo on their choppers. It thrills me that these two guys have been life time friends. Knowing someone your whole life is fun, most of the time.

Now we just need them to remake the photo of them in cowboy boots and shorts! 

    Only a few kids were up for swimming at Provo Rec. Thursday afternoon. I think some of the kids got a little stomach bug from our trip to Seven Peaks possibly?!

I told them to keep their eyes closed and to open their eyes on three. They mostly did it. 

     And we finished the day off with a Skype visit with our family from "Down Under".

We wish we could squish these cute faces in person.

     We also had another fun movie night with a few of the neighbors. We watched the original "Herbie". This week has definitely flown by. We've enjoyed having our cousins/aunt and uncle here and we hope they've had fun despite the sickness that has hit the household.

The other fun stuff I mentioned before

    Car cruise! Whenever I see small cool cars like this I think of my brother, Tad. 

Cute little Sunbeam!

    The parade in A.F. was fun as always!

We love snuggles with the 'littles'.

J.J. loves his "Char".

     No offense to the parade but the bike ride later the same day was the most fun!! Six Harley's chasing a Beamer for 185 miles, best time ever!! Kayli was a little annoyed with this 'biker gang' attempt by her non-cool parents but little does she know our true selves are finally coming through! The ride was from Alpine to a little place called Hanna and the drive was beautiful. Wolf Creek Pass was awesome!!

We just need a name for our 'biker gang' to really irritate Kayli!

Check out that smooth road on the bottom right!

      And while we were out riding the kids went to Picnic in the Park with Kayli and had a great time.

Kayli hooked me up with some cute photos.

     We made an impromptu but awesome trip to Seven Peaks waterpark Monday. For the first time ever we got there right when it opened and surprisingly it was a slower day than usual and it was awesome! We met up with Josh and Camille and their two kids and everyone had a great time.

Sun and water really take a lot out of you. She napped in the car, here on the front porch and in her bed.

     The next big event was a teenage moment that we still aren't sure how to handle! Mark had this monstrosity sitting in our driveway Wednesday night.

Seriously!

    We told the kid he could maybe buy a motorcycle after he got a quote from insurance and had $3000 saved for his mission but apparently that wasn't good enough for him. It's really too bad because now the likelihood of him getting a motorcycle while he's living under our roof is not likely. This bike doesn't even have a headlight or blinkers, brakes or even both foot pegs. Seriously, this is a prime example of how brain-dead teenagers can be. (Sorry mom and dad for my brain dead teenage moments!)

      So what should I do? Um maybe get my second pedicure ever?! Aren't you impressed, Jackie?

I love the flower details, totally worth the extra $5.

     And to finish off our week of fun......movie night!! I absolutely LOVE summer and outdoor movie nights are at the top of my favorite summer things to do.

We watched "Plane's Fire & Rescue".

      Now we're gearing up for Marie and her family to visit, it should be FUN! Stay tuned!

4th of July 2016

     We had another successful neighborhood, "Sidewalk of Fire". We had a lot of friends and neighbors congregate and there was lots of yummy food and quite an elaborate fireworks display thanks to a very generous neighbor. (Rumor has it a total of $2500 was spent on the fireworks he shot off for everyone to enjoy!)

      I failed to take a lot of photos but here are the ones I did get.

The kids had lots of fun with the chalk, bubbles and water activities that were made available. (For some reason Mark wasn't around when I was taking photos.)

     Wednesday afternoon these four had the opportunity to spend a little time at the Highland splash pad.

They didn't last long but they had fun.

     And here's a photo of Greg and me after having lunch at Chili's celebrating our 21st wedding anniversary.

     There are still lots of fun activities coming up this weekend but I'll save them for next week. I will share, however, this photo of an impromptu anniversary gift. There was money set aside to jack up our front porch steps that have settled about 2 inches but the quote to fix it was much higher than we were originally told so we bagged that idea and I found new patio furniture on sale instead. We'll deal with the front porch issues later.

A bit smaller then what we had before but with the ottoman's we actually gained more seating and the price was right!

A few fun things

       We did a few fun things this past week. Here are a few more photos from Greg and Mark's hike last Saturday. I'm kind of sad I didn't join them but at least the yard got weeded. There's also photos of most of the other things we did but I failed to take any photos of the motorcycle ride Greg and I took Saturday evening with the neighbors to Midway. It was great, we had a yummy dinner and the weather was perfect!

Water run off from all the snow.

A fun afternoon at the air show!

The Thunderbirds did not disappoint.

We found this cool park a few weeks ago and finally got the kids there to check it out. I think they had fun.

Charlie found a pair of firemen boots at the neighbors. Safety first!

Spent a little time at Trafalgar Fun Center.

And today we invited ourselves to the neighbors for a little swimming fun.

       It's been a fairly eventful week but not too eventful. I love a week when all the activities are self-planned.