Summertime!

It just doesn't get any better than summertime! And it just doesn't get any bluer than Kate's eyes. 

 I LOVE when her smile gets too happy and too big to contain. It turns in to this!

And another.It's too funny, I can't help myself.

Our Little Momma

Hailey continues to fall asleep nearly everyday...somewhere. It's a fun little game when she is quiet for a few minutes and then I look around and find her passed out. The thing that never changes is her clutch on beloved "Blanklin". 

Hailey had a big accomplishment in June: She potty trained herself! I hate people that say this but, it is actually true. I was not feeling ready to tackle potty training but, as soon as the weather turned warm she was always taking her clothes off. Whenever she is inside (and often times outside) she is naked so, it just happened that she started using the little potty. I told her I'd give her a candy each time she went and so the combination of her being naked and loving candy was all she needed. She was so easy and was even dry at night within a few weeks! Hooray!   

I love the stage Katie is in. Everything is a toy and she wants to hold it all at once. She is so quick to smile. 

 Kate is always on the move...army crawl style

 An after church picture of the girls. One friend said that when we walked in (late, of course) it was a sea of pink.

This one was taken by Andrew. His tactic to get the girls to smile is all about the potty talk and it sure works. 

BIKING AND SWIMMING

Ashley has had a big summer. She started the summer as a four-year old riding with training wheels and seeming to have forgotten that she could swim independently last summer. Now, she is a five year old, swimming like an absolute fish and riding a two-wheeler!

 She figured out no training wheels on July 20th and loves her new freedom. We didn't work with her very much really and I was pretty surprised.

 SLIP N SLIDE AND WATERPLAY
We have spent many, many afternoons playing with friends and water in the backyard. The kids all love our 'hot tub'. 

The kids have so much fun being wild on the slip n slide and I always have extras on hand since we pop them so often. Here are slip n slide pictures from a day in July that our cousins Damon and Ethan (two extra sweet and extra fun kids) spent with us. We also went to the Fort Union Splash pad that day. 

 After a while the single popped so we switched to a double lane

Hailey takes a while to warm up to new things so it's wonderful that she is now participating and having fun with the slip n slide. 

 Cute Katie is just along to watch. I feel bad for any kids that aren't born first or second. 

FIREWORKS

We had fun with our cousins and friends for several days leading up the the 24th of July. Our Circle is perfect for it. 

  LAGOON and the 24th of JULY
On the 24th of July, Dave had an early morning running a half marathon, and then we headed to Lagoon. It was so fun! The morning was overcast and cool, it wasn't very crowded and we had a blast. The down side was that in our old age, Dave got queezy just looking at the rides, and the afternoon got hot. Seeing how much fun we had I hope we go every summer. 

That night we had a BBQ at the Price's and tried to watch some fireworks but, they were too far away to be any good. 

 BEAR LAKE
We always look forward to our annual trip to Bear Lake with Dave's friends and their wives and kids. This year we had a lot of fun being together but, our one day to be at the beach and on the boat was rainy and cold. We made the best of it, and then called it quits way early to spend the rest of the day at the cabin. Ashley's pose and smile say it all - she is too cold! 

Our family took the last boat ride, all the way back from the beach to the cabin. It was cold and Hailey was so terrified just to be on the boat that she was hysterical. Luckily she fell asleep after a few minutes and didn't wake up until the end, along with pleasant Katie. Andrew and Howie had a great time taking a turn on the tube, then Dave and Ashley did too. Then, the weather got even worse and the water so wild that I honestly thought we would capsize. The kids all thought it was great fun bouncing around on the boat, the 3 Dads weren't worried (at least they didn't show it) but, I was wondering how on earth I was going to save my 4 babies once we went under. Luckily, I had no need to worry and we had a great rest of the trip too. 

SPLASH PAD

We've gone to the Splash Pad a few times now. Here is a day we were with cousins Callie, Lizzie and Will.

Everyone loved it except for Hailey and William. They are great friends, probably because they are both a bit chicken. 

And afterwards we followed it up with swimming, of course! 

MILLCREEK CANYON 
Such a fun escape from the heat! 

 THIS IS THE PLACE

Here's our cousin crew

The boy's car on the train 

And the girls. I had to go too, as moral support for Hailey darling

 Panning for gold. We found so much this time. Too bad they don't trade it in for candy anymore! 

 The new splash pad is perfect to take off the heat. I felt soooo bad for all the kids stuck up their in their pioneer clothing. They wandered around all day, hot and bored, while their mother's volunteered in pioneer houses somewhere doing something. Can you imagine? At least they have a splash pad now! 

The animal lover herself could hardly wait to get to the horses and petting zoo. Hailey loved the petting zoo but, didn't want to go on a horse at all!

Here's a story I hope I never forget about Joe and how he had me laughing all the way until the next day. We were waiting to go on the horses and reading the sign with basic info on it. At the bottom it says "Helmets available on request". I told Joe I'd give him a dollar if he wore a helmet for his ride. Joe is a 12-year old man child. He's getting all grown up, tall, strong and was probably too cool to come with us in the first place. So, he walks in to get on the horse and without a smile asks "Can I please have a helmet?" The poor 16-year old girl in pioneer clothes just looked at him. Kim and I were laughing so hard and I had to discretely turn around so I didn't ruin it. They don't have helmets right there so she said something like, "They go really slow, you probably won't need one" and Joe says "Are you sure?", and then goes ahead and rides. I still laugh thinking about it now. 

 Ashley wanted to pet the ducks so badly! She chased them up and down this stream a few times and she got them! 

 Hailey loves animals almost as much as Ashley does, and that's saying something!  

"Hold still so I can jump on"

 Lizzie and Katie

 Andrew doesn't like farm animals but, he touched them all out of obligation. 

 MY AWESOME NEIGHBORS
My next-door neighbors are empty-nesters, full time workers and a really sweet couple. They have a really nice swimming pool too. They are so nice that last summer they let me come and have the pool all to myself one day a week. This year they gave me two days each week. It is so awesome! Most times Katie is down for a nap and we bring a monitor. Between swim lessons, the neighbor's pool and occasional invites to other pools we have been in the water a lot this summer! 

We cheered the first day Hailey would get in the water without being held, (the last day of July). For my other kids this was a non-event but, she starts out tentative and this was a big deal. Once she figured out that she liked it, she REALLY liked it. Now she motors all over the pool, jumps in from the side without being caught and doesn't even mind getting splashed a little bit. 

Actually, a few days ago Hailey jumped in from the side over and over and over again. Then got out of the pool, took off her floaties and life jacket and jumped right in like every time before. Only this time she didn't pop back up. I was right there in the water with Katie and just pulled her right up. I had been watching her and wondered what she was doing, and then when she jumped in so fast I just had to laugh. The good news is that she learned that she needs floaties! 

The neighbors went out of town for several days and told us to come as much as we liked. We went a few evenings so Dave could come too. 

Thumbs up baby!

  SWIM LESSONS
Andrew and Ashley took a few more sessions of swim lessons in a backyard pool in Holladay. It made for a lot of swimming!

Hailey isn't old enough yet but, she wore her suit everyday anyway because she really wants to be like the big kids and she really wanted to get in.

Luckily the backyard was fun while we waited with a playset, trampoline and this crazy hyper kitten. 

Andrew was lucky to be in class with Lizzie. 

 CHERRY HILL COUSIN DAY
We went to Cherry Hill with ALL of our cousins, on both sides. It was really fun! Andrew was off with the big boys and we rarely saw the 5 of them. Alyssa and Callie spent most their day together or with Ashley and Lizzie, and Hailey, William (and Katie, of course) spent their time with parents and mostly loving the lazy river, again and again and again. Hailey must have been having a brave day, or maybe she's just been swimming so much lately that she's used to it. She jumped right in and had a ball. 

 We have done so many other fun things this summer. I can't take pictures of everything of course!
We've filled our days and nights with things like *Playdates at homes, at the Splash Pad, at the Zoo, at Parks, and lots in our own water backyard *Riding Bikes and such *Kid's Camps *Birthday parties  *Cookie Sales *Library trips *Picking food from our garden *Drawing with Chalk *Eating Otter Pops and Ice Cream Cones *Jumping on the trampoline and Playing games *Walks *Going to bed way too late and waking up too late too. I love being home with my kids. I love summer, everything about it. I love trying to pack their summer days with fun activities out and about and I love how much fun they have just here on our street too. Andrew starts 1st grade in a week and a half, I am excited for him and thrilled with his teacher but, I can hardly believe that I have to be without him for the entire day. It actually breaks my heart a bit. Ashley starts Kindergarten a week after that and I'm so happy that it's only half day!