sadie

highlights for sadie this week:

*practicing basketball each day. 

 we drive to provo each week for private lessons from the former byu women's assistant b-ball coaches.  it is fantastic and sadie likes it a lot.

*temple triatholon training

her young women's group is getting ready to do a temple triatholon in august, so this week has been full of mountain biking.  they are going to bike 8 miles past deer creek, float the provo river, then walk 10 miles to the provo temple.  it is all about preperation.  you won't just be able to 'show up' to the temple, it takes prep.  she biked 6 miles yesterday :)

*friday night surprise party 

she did a lot of prep this week for the surprise party that she planned for her good friend that is moving to provo.  the party was a success!  her friend was very surprised and they had a ton of fun. party activities included: making music videos, making and eating supreme nachos, finger laser dancing, sadie performing a song-singing and playing the guitar-she wrote for her friend (who started to cry), and playing foosball and just dance on the wii.   i made them take this photo even though a lot of people had already left.  i needed something to document the night.  she and her friend ended the night with ice cream cones and a sleepover.  she is sad her friend is moving, but was excited to do something nice for her.

i have really enjoyed having sadie home this summer.  she is happy,  helpful, and works hard.  i also love the random photos i find on my iphone regularly:)

camps

 this week has been full of soccer!  abe, kai and max participated in the real salt lake camp every morning, irish camp for abe (and his club team) in the afternoons, kai's team soccer practice a couple of evenings, and abe's club team parent meeting...whew!  we loved it.  

kai took first place in the skills challenge for the 9 + 10 year old in the RSL camp.  he won this cool water bottle. 

 abe also won first place in his irish camp individual tournament.  it was kind of intense.  they played 3 v 3 games and each game they would switch teams so no one was ever on the same team twice.  then, they tallied every players points and abe took took first place.  they presented him with a prize today.   they said they couldn't get to salt lake to get his prize so they gave him these awesome pens and told him, "but,  they are $20 pens"....lame.  abe was ok with it though (as you can see from his powerful pen poses in these photos.)  both camps were good experiences and they came away feeling good about their efforts.

bathing beauty

vivian loves her bath.  

she also loves to eat her hands, stick out her tongue, and smile.

three months old, and growing up way too fast.

aquarium

we started our summer fun list.  everyone picks one thing that costs money and one that doesn't and then when we get our work done (at least most of our work) and we have an open afternoon, we pick something from our list.  i can't believe summer is half over.  we are going to have to get goin' if we are going to get them all in.  max picked the aquarium and it was our first afternoon adventure.  

sadie had fun taking pictures with my iphone.  

vivian got the royal treatment.  

she was carried while all the interesting things were pointed out to her.

we still love the penguins!

kai said, "hey!  this penguin is just like grandma....he's saying, 'i won't come down!'"  one of my mom's kid's conference themes from a few years ago.  i'm glad kai remembers it!

such fun!!! i love hanging out with my kids.  i realized watching them, that they are growing up!  i need to make good use of my time and enjoy them as much as possible.  

can't wait for another free afternoon!

peaceful

i always want to remember the way viv's hair sticks straight up and how much i love her cute chin and hands.  how when she looks at me, i feel like she is communicating and saying so much, even though she doesn't talk.  

fourth of july

last year, i went to the fourth of july celebration with sadie and we loved it.  so, i made everyone come to the 7am sunrise service.  i even talked my sister into staying another day so they could come.  everyone was happy to be there, except maybe kai, who was just so tired!  it took him a little while to decide he was happy to be there...maybe until he saw the all you can eat chocolate chip pancakes after the service.

the highlight of the service:

when abe leaned over and said, "my primary teacher is the mayor?!"

who knew?

we had a chocolate bar taste test while we watched fireworks from our front porch.  i'm pretty sure lindt chocolate won.

i am so grateful to live in america.

super dad

super-dad had a birthday!  it was pretty low-key since my family parties started that day and everyone was coming to our house, bright and early, for breakfast.  we were finishing up party details and cooking, but took a time out for cards and one present.  after years of being married to dave, i have figured out that he doesn't need lots of presents, just one good one.  we got him a bike stand so he can work on bikes in our garage....and he really liked it!  he has already fixed a few bikes.

abe's card--look closely at the food chain.  the poor birthday cake is at the end of the line.

this was part of sadie's card that described how old he is.  luckily, she wrote him a really nice note that made up for this downer.

 i liked that kai referred to him as dr. tullis :)

 happy birthday, dave.  thanks for staying up way past midnight to clean the garage (brazilian style) because you love me.... and waking up super early to go grocery shopping and then cooking breakfast for, pretty much, my entire family....and being happy to do it....on your birthday!