midway madness

max--getting ready for the 

1st annual 

'midway madness'

we decided to create a family tradition with dave's family and pioneer day seemed like the perfect fit for such an occasion.   not everyone could make it, but i'm sure once they realize how much fun we had, they will have it on their calendars months in advance.  we had a sleepover monday night so we could be up bright and early for mountain biking.  there are so many awesome trails that are practically in our backyard.  i was a little scared since i can count on one hand how many times i have ever been mountain biking.   i did not want people to have to wait for me.  whatever, they had to wait and it was still so fun!!!  i was proud of myself for doing it despite my fears.  

gourmet chef, heather, fixed an awesome lunch and then everyone lounged while the babies napped (hee, hee--all you happy nappers!).  we swam most of the afternoon.  vivian even sported her new swimming suit and almost liked the pool.  we headed to cafe galleria for dinner and sat outside, eating amazing pizza and enjoying the summer night.  we ended the day at the railroad tracks, watching fireworks over the lake.  it was fun being together and i hope we can make it something the cousins can look forward to every year.  thanks heather, evan, holly and tim for making it happen. 

next year's additions: plein air painting competition, yoga, hopefully a fire pit of some sort, and don't forget the pie and beer (root beer, of course!)

goats

today, i dropped my boys off at a primary activity 

and i saw this goat in someone's front yard.  

it made me so happy.

(abe said he would never forget the goat in the backyard of our rental.
the one that would always say, "a-a-a-a-b-e".  we miss that little guy!)

sleepy

3rd date post mish

summer fun picks:  

me- art museum

max-liberty park

dave- real salt lake game

we decided to make it a day.  it started with us re-enacting our 3rd date after dave's mission.  it was the first time he held my hand after the mish, so it's ingrained in my mind forever.  we went to the kimball art center in park city, then ate at this little deli.  a little different this time around because we were trying to maneuver a stroller and keep track of ten little hands, which made it so we forgot to even hold hands.  it was fun thinking way back to when it was just the two of us and about what we have created.  i thoroughly enjoyed taking our kids on our 3rd date.

sixteen years ago, dave ordered a reuben for himself and a gyro for me, because i had never had one.  so instead of my normal, boring turkey, he expanded my horizon.  he is still good at that. 

the featured artist was an athlete turned artist.  it was called fast/color.  i thought it might be interesting to see how he expressed his love for sports through art. 

liberty park was not part of our original date...just this year's summer fun.  the boys loved making boats and racing them.  sadie and i enjoyed talking and people watching.  i always wonder people's story because everyone has one.

dave got real tickets last minute.  in fact, he met some guy in a black bmw behind crown burger to buy the tickets.  a little sketchy, but they were legit and it ended up being a beautiful night.  we were on the very top row.  max sat down and said, "i'm a little scared, but it's a great view."  and it was!  they even won!

after the game, we went down on the field and watched the amazing fireworks.  the best i've seen in a long time.  vivian, wide awake and happy, watched the whole show.  of course, the boys found a empty water bottle to use as a soccer ball and had a little game before we headed home.

i can't remember the last time we just played together all day.  it was fantastic.

concert

when i saw that the piano guys were coming to the sandy amphitheater, i knew we needed tickets.  the cellist is pretty amazing and i wanted a little inspiration for abe, who's teacher keeps telling me he is so natural at the cello.  we all thought it was a great concert and abe was extremely interested the whole time. 

 vivian did a great job.  it was a late night and she was a trooper.  

 max made his own fun.  he took pictures of awesome cars through the fence, watched some of the concert and then fell asleep.   this is only a sample of the amazing shots he took:)

my two cute boys admiring the instruments.  you know dave was wishing he could hop on stage and play them.

sadie was pretty excited when we found this you tube video of the piano guys playing a little one direction!  it actually is pretty cool.  watch it here
(it's almost as good as holly playing the piano with her elbows...and one of the guys did go to my high school and i remember going to good ol' classic to watch him in his band.  good times.)

zoo

kai's summer fun pick:  hogle zoo

my mom was tending my brother's kids for a few days so we invited them to join us.

sadie was at girl's camp and was actually really disappointed we went without her.

 we really liked the new exhibits.  it felt like a whole new zoo.
the river otter exhibit was my favorite.  the polar bears were doing all kinds of tricks.  they were great, but i really have a deep dislike of bears, so i refuse to post pictures.

 

 the reptile/bird house was a hit.

max and ben doing their scary snake face.

random iphotos

a few photos i found on my iphone that i didn't take, but loved finding.

vivs is super smiley!  anytime i make eye contact with her, she will pretty much give me the cutest smile.

 sadie likes to mess around with my photo camera app.

 where was i when all of this was taking place?  i really don't know:)

vivian loves to hold on to a blanket.  it is so safe and secure.  i love it.

my favorite quotes of the week:

a lady in our ward that has a son sadie's age stopped me in the hall and said, "i just love your daughter. she is so cute.  there is something about her...she is just so smart and modest.  i'm so glad there are still girls like her around."

abe in the back seat talking to vivian:  "you are so intelligent and you look great in rainbow!"  she was wearing different colored stripes.  i loved it.  i always tell the boys that big brothers can make a huge difference.  if they tell her how wonderful she is, she will believe it and won't need other people to tell her that.  they really do build her up.

i love that abe!

RSL camp

 more photos from real salt lake camp.  it was the favorite soccer camp this summer.

 max's slow motion, keeper, posing for the camera shot.

kai worked hard!  he also told me that someone at camp had TWO PAIRS of soccer cleats!  how does he notice these things?

 abe had a one on one drill.  he did a header and then without the ball touching the ground, kicked it in for a goal.  it was pretty awesome and we sort of got a picture of it :)

why?

in our new house, why did we make sure everyone had their own room???

vivs in 3-D

for family night, we met dave for dinner and a movie.  ice age in 3-D.  when we got home, i found vivs like this :)

her brothers love her and pay attention to her.  my favorite quote of the week has to be when kai climbed up on my bed next to her and said, "nice onesie vivs!"

summer days

i absolutely love summer!  i love calm mornings when i get to sit and hold vivian and i can hear my kids playing.  i love hanging out with my kids and having adventures with them, but mostly,  i love just talking and laughing with them.  sadie left for girl's camp with our new ward and i am missing her!  they went to bear lake and i hope she is having a great experience. 

i am also tending my niece for a few days while her parents are being in charge of trek. 

this summer abe and i are training for a 5k.  someone said you don't train for a 5k, but i am.  this fifth pregnancy about did me in.  it's hard for me to run, but i wanted to pick something that was hard for me and show my kids i could make myself do it.  abe is helping me and we are going to do it together.  i love saying things like, i'd better eat since i'm 'training'...sadie will laugh because she knows i only run a mile.   ANYWAY,  we always run past this little pond and it's full of little guppies (dave informed us they are called minnows).  we decided today's adventure should be catching guppies.  

before vivian and i reached the pond, abe was already up to his shoulders in the water and his shoe was stuck in the sinking mud.  gross.     

 they caught five.  their names:  max, kai, abe, mini abe, and HUGE abe :)

 i kept thinking how gross the water was and reminding myself that my mom used to send my brothers to the canal to swim...ghetto.  point is, they survived without catching any major disease.

the boys thought it was great!

 after guppy hunting, we headed to the pool.  i strategically planned pond then swimming, in hopes the chlorine would kill any germ left on us from the yucky pond water. 

i love this picture of max wearing his life jacket that always pushes up on his cheeks:)

 i dipped vivi's feet in the water and she liked it.  we decided to let her get in in her clothes--i hope it reminded her of when she was in my tummy and i jumped in fully dressed to save max.

I LOVE FUN SUMMER DAYS!

**our next adventure will be releasing the guppies.  abe has such a tender heart.  i love that about him.