End of Summer

I am having a really hard time with my kids going back to school this year. I know I am weird but I am NOT ready for school to start. We have had a really eventful summer this year and I just want the fun to continue on (though as I type this I have three whiny children complaining about having to do chores).

We had a new baby girl. Well technically this was before summer even started but it has taken up a very large portion of my time and sleep this summer so I thought I would add it to our list of happenings. We were told to make funny faces in this picture. Jared and I made faces to show what we thought we would look like the next couple of months. I was scared about taking care of four children. I think Jared was scared of not getting any sleep. We have faired okay. She is a pretty good baby for the most part.

This was our first year for swim lessons. (Kase is the one hanging on the back of his swim teacher. I am not sure how much he learned from his teacher but he had fun.) I was hoping that by taking lessons, we would get enough swimming in to cover the summer. (I don't know how much you can go swimming with a new baby.) But about a week before school started I asked if we did all the fun things they wanted to do before school. I was told no, summer was not fun at all that all they wanted to do was go swimming.

My sister, Kalie, had her baby, Maddie, six days after Lily was born. We thought it would be a great idea to have a multiple baby blessing for the girls. Shay also had her baby, Emery, who is a few months older blessed on the same day. It was so nice to have all of our families in the same room at the same time for such a special event. Kalie and her family came from Colorado for the 4th of July and we blessed them the Saturday after the 4th. We had a nice get together at a park afterward. It turned out to be such a special day.

We did go on several camping trips this year. The kids' favorite of course was camping in the field at Crystal Hot Springs for a family reunion. Jared and my idea of a good camping trip, however, is way up in the woods where you are by yourself and don't have to pay recreation fees. We found the best spot up in the Uintah Mtns a few weeks ago where we went with Jared's family for a few days but not long enough. We went four wheeling, fishing, and simply played in the rain and mud. We had the best time. I really could have stayed there much longer than we did. I am sad that our camping trips are done for the year.

We went to Cabela's for the day one day this summer. I have decided that Cabela's is better than the zoo. All of the animals stand still for the pictures and they are easy to point out to little ones because they don't move around. Addy loved Cabelas and tells everyone that she went there and wants to go back. Her favorite part was the airplane that hung from the ceiling. She thought it was a yellow helicopter. She couldn't get enough of it and watched it all through lunch. Lily even enjoyed herself and managed to make a mess of herself, me, and the store floor all at the same time. I was sure glad I had a change of clothing for her that day.

My mom and dad have tickets to the Capital Theatre and had tickets to High School Musical. Braylie and Kasen got the extra tickets and got to have a special night out with grandma, grandpa, and mom. We went to dinner at a little deli around the corner from the theater and then on with the show. They had so much fun. Braylie left saying that Troy waved at her and Kasen had a ball collecting the confetti that exploded from the stage. All in all they had a blast even though we arrived home around midnight and had to be to church at nine the next morning. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the amazing evening!!

My sister came for a week to visit and my mom thought it would be a great chance to take all eight of her grandkids to the zoo. The hardest part of all of this was that we were leaving that evening to go camping so I had to have our little family of six ready for a week long trip before we left for the zoo. We had a blast though and it all worked out amazingly well. Grandma bought us all tickets to the zoo, tickets to the train, tickets to the merry-go-round, and made and brought us all lunch. My mother is the most amazing and thoughtful person I know. We had so much fun with our cousins and with all of the zoo animals. We just seem to all fit together so well, I am suprised I did not loose my little monkeys and we all made it out in one piece.

More camping. We love to camp and fish. You can't tell but it was raining when this picture was taken. It started to pour right after this picture was taken and Addy and I were back in the truck again. Jared, Kasen, Grandpa, and all of Jared's brothers stood in the pouring rain for at least 30 minutes because they are "die hard fisherman." Addy, Lily, and I sat in the truck and watched Arthur movies. It was actually quite fun. Jared was upset because he was the only one who did not catch a fish. Camp was a mess when we got back. It was so muddy and wet everywhere. We made dinner under our homemade canopy and tried to dry camp chairs over a somewhat wet fire. Oh the memories you make. It was awesome.

I know this is a picture of my sleeping baby so it really doesn't look like we went swimming, but we did (hence the swimming suit). When I asked the kids if they had had a fun summer they told me no and that all they wanted to do this summer was go to the pool. So I gave in and we finally did it the week before school started. We went with our good friends, the Ballards, (really recommended when you have a newborn) and we had a blast. Braylie was even able to go down the slide by passing her swim test with the lifeguards because she is not yet tall enough to go without the test. Hopefully my children were full filled by our long fun summer.

Well we are all now just plain tuckered out especially because this post took me three days to write. I have to go now and get my 2nd grade homework done. I am still not so sure about this blogging thing. I sure is alot of work.