Dinner Over an Open Fire

Last month my sister had us over for a "fire pit dinner".  My kids were so excited to go and cook hot dogs and marshmallows all by themselves.

We had a good time, but it was WAY too hot.  My kids slowly kept taking more and more of their clothes off.  And I think that was a good thing because by the time the smores came out they were covered in dirt and chocolate.  Chloe got into the smores and had a great time letting her face eat as much as her mouth!

We didn't stay as long as we would have liked to because we were so hot.  I don't sweat that much so I feel like a walking heater!  I was so glad to get into the car with the AC blasting on the way home!

A Fourth of July Visit

We had so much fun having my brother's family stay with us this last week.  Their kids are the same age as ours, just opposite genders.  They were all good buds and had fun playing with each other.  This is a much improvement from the time years ago when we were both visiting my parents and Sam had nightmares where he would wake up yelling, "No Lucy, No!" :)

We had a good time laughing at my family.  They come over and think our house is freezing in the summer because we actually keep our house cool! :)  I just had to get a shot of them all cuddled up trying to "stay warm."

While they were here we went to the mall and I just loved how they paired off and held hands while walking the mall.  It was so cute.

We got to have them come to our ward 4th of July breakfast before they took off.  It was fun and the food was amazing.  Amy and I couldn't get over the french toast.  It was seriously the best french toast I have ever had in my life and I was seriously almost angry that I couldn't eat as much as I wanted!

We hung out on the 4th and had a fun time letting the kids play in the alley.  We had to get out early before it got to hot.  This summer has been brutal.  It was been so hot.
We were laughing because Lucy came up with a game for Nate and I to play.  We would shot baskets and she would make up all kinds of reasons why her dad would get a point for his shot (whether he made it or not) and why I wouldn't (whether I made it or not).  We were busting up at her reasoning.  It was getting more and more creative as she was desperately trying to get her dad to win.

 

We said good-bye to them that afternoon and we had a quiet 4th of July.  We didn't get together with anyone or even see the fireworks.  We have been so busy and had so much family that we just took it easy and recouped.  It was nice.



The Book of Mormon Museum

With my brother's visit came many fun times.  We met up with them (and Megan) downtown Salt Lake to check out the Children's Book of Mormon Museum at the Church History Museum. 
It was awesome.  It was little a smaller scale Discovery Gateway.
We first went to the North Visitor Center at Temple Square to what my kids called the "Jesus Museum" due to the abundance of painting of Jesus' life and the Christus statue.  They loved seeing the model of Jerusalem and talking about how that's where Nephi and his family lived and had to leave.

We walked around the Church History Museum taking in as much as we could with out impatient children.  They loved getting up to the Conference Center podium and giving talks.

They even got to touch the Angel Moroni while they wore special gloves.

This was my favorite painting I saw.  It was beautiful.  So much with so little color.  They textures were amazing.

The kids were so excited when we finally got to the Book of Mormon Museum.  We walked in and got to help build Nephi's boat and fish off of it.

Chloe loved the writing tablets.  Believe it or not her scribbles looked a lot like the characters! ;)

We had fun turning the pages of the golden plates and then lifting them to see how heavy they really were.

Then it was on to the computer games where the kids got to find hidden objects in pictures, match prophets, do puzzles of pictures from the Book of Mormon stories.

There was a fun area where the kids could cook a meal and sit down and eat with the missionaries.  it was a fun place with a garden and chickens too.

The last area was Chloe's favorite.  There were costumes to wear and videos to watch of dancers.  Chloe danced and danced and danced.  It was fun to watch her beam with happiness in her beautiful dress.  I've got to get this girl in dance classes!

A Mini "T" Family Get Together

My family got together for a fun weekend at my sister-in-law's family cabin.  We didn't go up for the whole time, just came up for an evening of yummy food and a fun white elephant party.

My kids had a blast being up in the mountains.  They were running around crazy with their cousins trying to get as dirty as possible to make sure they got the most out of their experience.

Chloe loved the little game they had set out, but was pretty upset that the balls wouldn't come off the strings.

James decided that he wanted to go swimming and jumped into the creek.  Thankfully it was low at this time of year and Megan was right there to get him out.  He was just so sweet and sincere when he was explaining to me why he jumped in.  "I just wanted to go swimming" he told me in him little voice!

We had the biggest hot dogs my kids had ever seen.  This made James very happy.  He did a great job attacking that thing and actually almost finished it all.

The white elephant party was fun.  We started doing white elephant in the summer last year, due to my parents leaving.  I guess the tradition stuck....
Laura was of course the center of attention in her cabin sweater and moose hat!

We had a great laugh at the camcorder that made its way back into the pile from last year.  Mitch was so excited about it and was guarding it with his life.

We scored some great karate clothes.  Now if we ever take karate we are ready to go!  Chloe of course loved her new "dress up" clothes.

Amy made some amazing homemade marshmallows.  I have never even heard of homemade marshmallows before, but they were yummy.  Once everyone caught on to how delicious they were manners kind of flew out the window....  :)

Just Catching Some ZZZZZ

I was laughing so hard when I glanced back and saw James sleeping in the car.  He has always been such an awkward sleeper.  I don't know how he gets in the positions he does, or how he can possibly be comfortable in the weird positions he falls asleep in, but he sleeps soundly none the less.  It really is quite entertaining to watch this one sleep! :)

What a Character!

James has one of the best imaginations I have every seen.  He can turn anything into anything in that little mind of his.  The best thing about his play is that if you don't call something by it's correct name (the one he is pretending it to be) or address him by his correct character he will either correct you or simply not respond.
This last Sunday he came home from church with this written on his paper.  He teachers proceeded to ask Seth when he came to pick him up if his middle name was Eric! :)

Some of his favorite characters are:
Jake (from his love for the cartoon Jake and the Neverland Pirates)

Phineas (from the cartoon Phineas and Ferb)

 Tweek (character from the cartoon Octonauts)

A monkey

Eric on his big wheel Aero (Train and Driver from GeoTrax)
Widget (character from the cartoon Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!)
Doc McStuffins (from the cartoon Doc McStuffins)

 A cat or dog (Sam's pet)

....and so many more!

All My Ducks in a Row

I just had to snap a shot of all my little ducks all in a row.  This is one of their favorite places to be.  All next to each other, watching a show, while enjoying otter pops.  I make them stay in the kitchen, so this is their usual spot during the long hot days.

My Little "Calvin"

This week I have been taking it easy (well, as easy as I ever do) and so I needed something to read. I didn't feel like diving into a book, so I found my old Calvin and Hobbes comic books and had some fun reading time.

Sam asked what I was reading and wanted a turn. Eventhough he can't read all the words he was over there just laughing his head off at all the funny things Calvin and Hobbes were doing. It was fun to watch. Sam is like my little Calvin so I just had to document the day I introduced him to my favorite comic from my childhood days.