DAY 4- Hanging Out

A big bounce, swimming pool, swing set, sandbox, teeter-totter and scooters.... what else does a kid need? We spent the day hanging out and going to the movies--Toy Story 3! Who needs lunch when there is all you can eat popcorn and lemonade?






Cameron and Anna had such a fun time together. They were inseparable. They are both just a little competitive!



Mitch made another good friend while there...



Emma the dog loved to follow you if she thought you had food. The kids were scared of the dog almost the entire time we were there. The dog is so old that it hardly even moves. Quite humorous to watch the children scream with such a scary beast.



The first night there Natalie was going to sleep in Ashley's room. In the middle of the night she woke up crying and spent the rest of the night with Mitch and I. When Ashley woke up the next morning she was a little upset where "that girl went" who was sleeping in her room. The next night Natalie decided that she wanted to sleep in the Rose Petal Cottage. Sure why not....

DAY 3- The Visitors

My children for some strange reason LOVE being the visitors at church. In fact, when planning this trip we made sure that we would be able to go to church there at least one Sunday so that the kids could be the visitors in primary. They had a great time going to class with their cousins.



Later that day we had the opportunity to go visit my grandma in Bountiful. Laura came with us and we both had a good laugh when we saw her door. The plant by her front door was something she had in her house ever since I can remember. It reminded me of her the instant that I saw it. It was nice to see her and give her a hug before the three small demons we brought with us needed to be escorted out of her place. We drove past my grandparents old house and both Mitch and I were a little sad to see it. So many good memories. We stopped at the cemetery and put some flowers and a flag on grandpa's grave. It always makes me sad to go there. I miss my grandpa. We also walked around the grounds of the Bountiful Temple. It was beautiful and the flowers smelled so good. We never made it to Logan this trip, something that I wish we had done. Just not enough time.

DAY 2- 4th of July-Utah Style

The first morning in Utah when Cameron woke up he came up the stairs saying, "It's sunny outside!!" I think Kara died laughing. The next day when he woke up he said "It is sunny every day here!" What a strange new concept.



Since the 4th of July was on a Sunday, Utah celebrated it on Saturday (Is there any place else in the world that does that?) We went to the Murray City Parade in the morning and the fireworks that night. This is the parade that I went to every year as a little girl and we sat on the same curb, in the same spot. It was fun to enjoy the parade and the warm sunshine!



Mitch found a new best friend while we were there. Ashley loved him and wanted to sit on his lap all the time. It was very cute.



Cameron and Julia learned the fine art of catching candy! They both had a bag FULL by the time we left.



That night we went to the fireworks. I think I might have enjoyed it the most. It was a trip down memory lane. Cameron and Anna both fell asleep right as the fireworks started.

DAY 1- Utah here we come!

On July 2nd we hit the road for a fun filled week in Utah to spend time with our cousins. We left the rain behind for some warm weather! Mitch and I were a little nervous about the drive. Our kids don't have the best track record for making long drives enjoyable. They did great though! Thank HEAVENS for DVD players and headphones. We drove straight through making it to Utah in 14 hours. The kids enjoyed watching for each new state and got so excited when we finally crossed into Utah. Knowing this might be the last time we visited Utah for a while I wanted to fill our days by seeing everything we could. It was definitely a fun trip that I will remember for a long time. Thank you Olanders!!

Happy Birthday Jules!

I can't believe my sweet Julia is 5! We had a celebration! Julia had a Pet Shop party and invited some of her good friends to help celebrate. She just loved that it was finally her BIG day!



(Okay so I am a little cheap and used the same poster board for Cam's robot)



The cake wasn't my finest hour but the gift bags turned out cute. A special thanks to my creative party decoration maker Kierstin who helped make everything turn out so cute for both my kids parties!

Lots of new Zhu Zhu pets!

After all the planning and game playing in the end the kids had the most fun just playing with each other. Isn't that how it always goes?

We Are Family...

I got all my sisters with me!



What a special weekend with all the girls in town! It was so nice to be together and have everyone here when Katie went through the temple. I know this most likely won't happen again for a long time. Kierstin is moving to Connecticut, Amy is in Iowa, Kara in Utah, and Laura in Idaho! There is nothing like a sister.

The productivity of my day

I have spent about 2 hours of my day looking for a library book that has been misplaced, I might add that I turned my house upside down looking for that darn thing. It is my own little form of insanity!! On the positive side, I found Natalie's sunglasses during the book hunt that I have been missing for weeks (but no book).

I ordered a summer workbook online for Cameron. It finally came after taking almost 2 1/2 weeks to get here. They sent me a "used" workbook instead of a "new" one like I ordered. Who in the world wants to buy a partial used workbook? I spent a good 45 minutes erasing the "used" parts. Seriously.

I took the kids to a library event at the library. I thought it was going to be a bubble something or other, what it ended up being was a room that should hold 100 people with 300 in it and a very strange woman performer doing some weird magic/musical/bubble slapstick. Natalie cried the whole time that she wanted to go home and get away from that lady. I felt the exact same way as Natalie by the time it was over.

Helpers and why I need a new feather duster!

The kids helped me clean today. They did a good job!! I am now completely out of Pledge and my house smells strongly of lemon and orange furniture polish. I can think of much worse problems.



I gave Natalie the feather duster to dust with but apparently that wasn't good enough. She found a water bottle full of water from outside and brought it in to do the job. While I was cleaning the bathroom, she came in and assisted me. Can you say new feather duster?



Cameron helped Mitch out with the lawn last night. I think that the mower weighs more than him!

A Frog Story

Our yard is literally hopping with frogs...that being said....



On Tuesday it was finally warm enough to pretend that it was summer. The kids wanted so badly to try out their new swimming pool. Although 72 degrees isn't beach weather to me, we will take what we can get! We had a fun day playing in the pool. Unfortunately in order to get the pool to drain and moved off the lawn you have to deflate the pool and hang it over the rails on the deck to dry. What a pain! The pool has three valves the size of quarters that you can let the air out, so it goes pretty fast. It is pumping the thing back up that is annoying....

So the next day, Wednesday the weather seemed good, the pool was re-inflated and the swimming continued. After a while the kids start shouting that a frog was in the pool. I looked up to see the shadow of a frog in the pool. I thought, how in the world did a frog get in the water? A closer look into the pool I realize that the frog wasn't in the pool but INSIDE the pool's air chambers. The previous night we left the quarter size holes unplugged and a frog decided to come on in. The kids thought it was hilarious. You could see it hopping around the inside of the pool. I wanted the frog out. Mitch and I tried to get the frog out for a LONG TIME but didn't have any luck. The frog would not cooperate! Mitch decided after the pool was deflated for the night to keep the pool plugged up so that another frog wouldn't come in and after the frog died we would then be able to get it out.



You know, just what you want--a dead frog's silhouette while enjoying the sun during pool time. The next day I went out looking for the carcass and found that silly animal still hopping around. I pleaded with Mitch to get it out alive. After working on it for awhile, he finally got it to hop out. I am sure the frog had a tale for his family when he returned home. And that is the story of a frog and a pool. The moral of the story? Keep your valves tightly closed while the pool is not in use. You never know what might crawl or hop in. The end.

Summer Reading Program

Cameron is serious about the summer reading program from the library. We HAD to go sign up the first day it was available. When you read for 20 minutes you get to fill in a square on your chart. To get the finisher prize you have to read for 1,000 minutes. He is a man on a mission...

Today I found him sitting in front of the clock (so that he knew exactly when 20 minutes was up so he could mark his chart) reading his favorite books.

Poor guy...

A few days ago while brushing Cameron's teeth I could see a big cavity in one of his molars. We made an appointment and he got it fixed. Hey, who needs that extra $150 anyway? He has his dad's soft enamel (this is his 3rd cavity and he brushes!) He is such a good boy at the dentist and so cute to watch. Watching my kids get shots as infants doesn't bother me (okay, so I might have a heart of stone) but watching Cameron get Novocaine with that really long needle was hard.

As a bonus of the day Julia threw up in the car on the way to the dentist. Kierstin was kind enough to help me clean her and my car up. Car throw up is bad. Lucky me.

The Pine Cones

Grandpa Swany was having a pine cone problem in his yard and offered Cameron and Julia 5 cents for every pine cone that they picked up. Cameron was a pine cone picking up machine. After it was all said and done Cameron made 20 bucks and Julia 7. I told my dad that he didn't really need to give them that kind of money but he said that it was a deal. Cameron had a great time at Wal-Mart picking out what he wanted to spend his money on. He finally decided on a bag of 12 tennis balls. He spends his days throwing a ball against the house and catching it with his mitt. Julia on the other hand knew exactly what she wanted the minute the money touched her hot little hand--a hula hoop.



Cameron offered his assistance of pine cone picking up for our yard but I told him that I didn't think I could afford him. Grandpa definitely pays better!

Cameron is 7

Happy Birthday Cameron!

We had a robot themed party and invited some friends over to help celebrate. Cameron came up with a long list of games that he wanted to play that included: Dance robot (you dance like a robot and freeze when the music stops), pin the gear on the robot, duck duck goose, penny toss, airplane throw, limbo, water balloon toss, guess how many candies are in the jar, and hot potato. We ate pizza, played games, and tired mom out. It was a good day. I can't believe that my boy is so old. Where does the time go?









The unwrapping of the presents!