Sunday, July 25, 2010

24th of July

We spent the 24th of July at my parents house. Grandma Snell created the Olympics for the kids as well as some good eats, a birthday party for cousin H, and fireworks to end the evening. It was a fun night. My cousin Andrea and her cute family came. This is Little Princess sharing the 'girls' table with cousin M. They were funny to watch.
I thought this was a cute picture. This beam was part of the obstacle course, but was also the line for the water toss.
The kids had a great time playing water games..
H opening presents. He turned 8 this year. Where has the time gone? Jeff and I were just dating when he was born.
Grandpa didn't want to ruin the sidewalk or street, so all of the smoke bombs were done on the lawn.
I didn't take as many pictures as I'd hoped, but we had a fun night. It's always crazy with so many little wild people running around, but we love it.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

A Bittersweet Day...

Today was a very rare and special opportunity for me. I watched my friend's little boy while she went to her daughter's funeral. Then tonight, I went to the memorial they had at the church for her. Saydria was only 7 months old when she passed away earlier this week. At two months old she was diagnosed with SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy). Her nerves never developed and a lot of her systems started to deteriorate. Her mom kept her at home to keep her germ free. Even a simple cold could be devastating.

It's been a trying time for the family, but they continue to amaze me with their faith, strength and example. I don't know how you would get through something like this without the gospel. Even with the gospel, it's still hard.

The memorial held in Saydria's honor tonight was a beautiful celebration of her life. The church was beautifully decorated with hundreds of pictures of the sweet little girl. For being so young, they sure had a ton of pictures of her. In half of the cultural hall, they played a video presentation of Saydria. It was hard to watch. It was precious and beautiful, but also a little bittersweet to see her brothers holding her and playing with her and know that they won't get to grow up with her.

I just wanted to write down some of my feelings while they were fresh in my mind. When I came home tonight, I gave my kids a kiss and thanked my Heavenly Father for the opportunity to raise them.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Parade Preview

This is the first year we've gone to the parade preview at the expo center. We had a great time looking at all of the floats that will be in the parade. It's amazing the time and hard work that goes into each float. There were some amazing ones. This one was made entirely out of fleece and blankets.
The cricket and seagull float was a definite favorite of ours

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Box Canyon

I've been going to Fountain Green and Lamb Day for 8 years now and this is my first experience with Box Canyon. We went with a bunch of friends and a ton of kids. It was fun and beautiful.


Jeff got to wear the backpack since I was carrying Little Princess most of the way. It was pretty warm.

If you look really close at the top of this next picture, you'll see someone at the top of this rock wall. That's me. Sometimes I get an itch to do something and so I do. A couple of the older kids wanted to climb up there, and then their dads had to go up too. While we were sitting at the bottom waiting for them, I decided I wanted to go too. I'm definitely not one that has a lot of upper body strength. I could never do those chin-ups in Jr. High. I used every arm, and chest muscle I have climbing up and down this wall. I am still feeling it 2 1/2 days later. It was fun though.
Little Man was a trooper. He didn't feel great, but he still had a good time.




Lamb Day 2010

It's always hot, but it's fun. We camped over in Fountain Green for Lamb Day this past weekend. To keep with tradition, Little Man got sick earlier in the week. I was hoping he would be over it by the time we went, but he wasn't. The hot weather didn't help. I ended up taking him to the Instacare because I was worried he had heat exhaustion or dehydration. He didn't have either one. He did have bronchiolitis though. He was one sick little dude. Luckily he felt better on Saturday. Here are a few pictures from the parade and fun at the park.




Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Random Stuff

When we were camping we saw some beaver dams, so my creative children decided to build a beaver dam in the toy room. You can't really see the other wall of toys because of the angle, but needless to say, there were toys everywhere. They had fun making the mess, but whined while I made them clean it up.
One of my favorite things about summer is going to yard sales. I've found some great bargains this summer. This costume for Big Man was $2. He's already had hours of fun being Darth Vader.
Big Man was trying to protect himself from the neighbor's dog one day. He decided all of this gear would help. Once he got outside and realized how hot it was, it quickly came off.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Primary Parade

This is one of our favorite activities of the summer. Our ward does an annual primary parade. We start at the top of one street in the neighborhood and end at the park where we have a carnival. My kids had a blast. Big Man wanted to ride his bike this year. He was way ahead of the rest of the parade.
Little Man was riding on the fire engine. He's on the back and wouldn't let go to even wave. What an obedient child. I told him to hold on tight.
Little Princess thought she was hot stuff in the wagon. She didn't quite know what was going on, but she had a great time.
The highlight at the park is when the fire truck hooks up to the water and sprays the kids. It's a great way to cool down. Little Princess couldn't be left out. She was right in the middle of the fun. I think she played in the water the longest.
We brought swim suits for the boys this year, but forgot towels. I had some pretty cold kids at the end of the night.
Look at that skinny boy. Isn't he cute?
You can't quite tell from the picture, but Little Princess is sopping wet. You can also see that she enjoyed her snow cone. It's all over her.
What a fun night. July is always a busy month for us with lots of fun activities. Stay tuned for more fun posts.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Family Camping Trip

Jeff has been wanting to go camping for weeks now. We've had various things every weekend, so we haven't been able to go yet. This weekend, we finally went. We borrowed my uncle's camper, which made camping so much nicer. We went up to Current Creek. The kids had a great time. The boys are used to hanging out with dad in the mountains, but this was the fist time I got to see them in action. In fact all week leading up to our camp out, Little Man kept asking me if I was really going. "Girls don't go camping."

This is our campsite. The kids had a great time sitting around the campfire.
We went fishing on our second day. The kids were a little restless because we weren't catching fish for the first little while.
They still found ways to entertain themselves. Throwing rocks into the lake was a favorite. That's probably why we weren't catching fish :)
I love the glasses and hat. Big man sported this look a lot this weekend.
After a while we moved to stream fishing. Jeff caught lots of little fish in the stream. This entertained the kids a lot.
Playing in the stream was great too. It was a nice way to cool down, even though it wasn't real hot.
Me and Little Princess watching the fishing fun. I love this picture, because it shows how different we look. Me and my dark hair, eyes, and skin. Little Princess with her fair skin, light hair, and blue eyes. Hard to believe I'm her mom.
Little Princess was quite fascinated with the fish. She tried to kiss it. So cute.
So am I completely unrealistic to think that because Little Princess is a girl, that she should stay clean and out of the dirt? I can hope right. She gets dirtier than the boys. This picture doesn't quite show the extent of her camping fun.
Little Man was quite excited to build and tend the fire the second night we were there. He did a good job.
Most of the boys time outside was spent cutting and destroying wood. Only while camping do they get to play with these hatchets :)
The morning we broke camp was overcast and rainy, but we still had to have the hat and glasses. We even ran into a little bit of snow. Kind of crazy to see snow in July.
Little Princess cracks me up. Her favorite way to wear sunglasses is upside down. She also likes to put them in her hair.

Some other highlights from our campout:
1. An hour and a half detour cutting down a tree. The boys entertained themselves by building a bridge across a tiny stream.
2. Letting Little Princess pee on the side of the road. I was a little worried she wouldn't do it, but she thought it was fun. Every time her brothers peed outside, she wanted to also. What a nut.
3. An hour of shushing the kids in the camper to get them to go to sleep every night. Little Princess doesn't sleep well if she's not in her own bed. Flashbacks from our Boise trip.
4. We spotted LOTS of deer. The boys are pretty good at seeing them, but you could always tell when Little Princess saw one because she would get so excited. On our way out, we saw a mom and two tiny babies. That was pretty cool.
5. I loved watching my boys be boys in the outdoors. They love being outside, getting dirty, cutting wood, looking for animals, etc. Jeff always gets to see them in action in the outdoors, but I don't. It was cute.
6. Going on a little hike with the kids. We explored the area above our camper. We climbed over fallen logs, explored animal holes, listed to wood peckers, and more. Such simple activities can be great adventures to kids.
7. Listening to Jeff teach the boys about animals, hunting, fires, trees, etc. He's very knowledgeable about these things and the boys love learning in a hands-on way. It was cute. He's a cute dad.

We had such a great time. It ended up being a lot of work to get ready, and a lot of clean up when we got home, but as a friend said today, we're making memories.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Darn Brothers

I'm sure this is the first of many injuries caused by brothers. Little Man tackled Little Princess in the tub the other night. She got a pretty good shiner out of it. The picture doesn't really do it justice. It ballooned up pretty good. Now that all three kids have had goose eggs on their forehead, I think we can be done.

Carnival O Fun

This was our third year at the Riverton Carnival and I continue to be impressed. The rides are fun and the prices are good. The first night is family night where all tickets are a dollar and each ride only takes one ticket. We went with cousins again this year and had a blast. Little Princess got to ride on most of the rides as well. She thought she was as big as all her cousins.