Tiff Time

We spent a lot of time with my sister Tiffany during the month of August. Three weeks before her mission departure date she actually decided she was going to go instead of getting engaged. Which means, that we had 3 weeks to get EVERYTHING ready for her mission when usually you have several months to prepare. Things were CRAZY. A lot of the time was spent shopping, planning, preparing for farewell party, but we did get some fun in there too. One afternoon we went up to Snowbird Resort and did the tram ride. See pictures below. 

 



The day before Tiff left we spent HOURS shopping and then did all of her packing that night. Evan was very helpful with climbing in and out of the suitcases and unfolding and unrolling everything we did. I took the kids home to Jon the moment he was done with work.



Seeing Tiff off at the airport

Tiff with all of her nephews and niece at the time.

Shawn's T-ball Season

Shawn loved playing t-ball this year. Jon and I have both spent a lot of time with Shawn practicing baseball which actually made it harder for him to hit off the tee since he was used to us pitching it. He had several amazing hits into the outfield. We only saw one other kid hit balls into the outfield the entire season. I wish I would have caught those on video, but of course I didn't. Here are just a few of the photos I took at several games.

 

Waiting to run

entertaining himself with bubble blowing

Do you know what a good after-game treat is....fresh picked tomato straight from the garden

He always did a couple practice swings before his official hit



End of the season with his much beloved gold medal

 

Bear Lake 2012

We had a really great time in Bear Lake this year. My brother James and his wife Allison were able to fly in from Texas to be with us. We love having them around and constantly try to tempt them into moving back to Utah. The weather was perfect and the lake was actually warm. I have been going to Bear Lake every year for about 15 years now and have never had the water be warm. I could have used a few more days there.

Playing lawn games with Allison, Tiff and James

A little baseball time with Daddy

Until the afternoon rain storm came in

Swinging at the playground on the beach right before bedtime

A traditional cheesy couple shot

Insisting that he be allowed to blow up the raft

Playing in the sun and sand

Until that got too tiring

Hiking with the whole family. Good thing Grandpa was willing to carry boys with tired legs

Best part of the hike: seeing so many ROCKS!

Another afternoon lighting storm that was so intense we were watching the crazy people running on the lawn to see if they were going to be struck dead.

Evan did not enjoy the thunder and ran to Grandpa for some cuddles

Apparently the older kids agreed. After realizing they were missing, we found them hiding in a back bedroom under this blanket to try to stay away from the lighting.

Tiff insisted on staying out in the heavy rain (no lighting) to prove that she was ready for the Ireland/Scotland weather of her mission.

Thanks Bear Lake for another great vacation!

Happy 4th of July

We had a very busy, fun 4th of July. We started the day with red, white and blue pancakes followed by a kids parade in our neighborhood. The kids decorated their bikes or scooters and walked around the neighbor. Nobody was watching the parade, but the kids couldn't care less. I think this will be a new tradition with our neighbors.

One of our neighbors provided otter pops at the end of the parade, which was a highlight for Shawn

We went home from the parade and decided to do some sumo wrestling. I was laughing so hard the whole time they did this because it just looked ridiculous.

It's tiring being a sumo wrestler

 Next we headed to my parent's house for a family BBQ and water slide. This was a big hit, especially once the kids found out that if they put dish soap on their bellies they went faster.

Back home for a neighborhood 4th of July party. Some awesome neighbors down the street rented a bounce house and organized this event. We had a blast playing and visiting with them. The surprise of the night: two of the husbands climbed on the roof of a house with a large bucket of water balloons and started pelting everyone below.

Once it got dark we did a firework show with everyone. We decided to head to the park for the fireworks so we wouldn't start any of our houses on fire. :)

 Shawn watching the fireworks with one of his favorite friends

 Happy 4th of July

Phoenix

In May we went to Phoenix to visit Jon's Dad. We had the privilege of Jon's mom coming with us for the trip. She was so helpful with the boys during the vacation that I think she might have to come with us from now on wherever we go. Shawn was the most excited to spend a lot of time swimming on this vacation. I took him to a public pool the day after we got there and it was closed for the season. Closed? In Phoenix? Where it is always hot? We went the next day and the pool we went to was so cold because they didn't warm it. It was only in the low 80's so we didn't stay too long. We stayed in Vegas on the way home and the kids were so excited for the awesome pool. We checked to make sure it was open when we got there. Changed into swimsuits and went down to see that it was closed. Someone had started bleeding in the pool so it was close for the night to be sanitized. What luck! Who knew it would be so hard to go swimming while on a vacation to Phoenix and Vegas.

I took some ideas from Pinterest to help us get through a 12 hour drive each way. Some included $1 items wrapped up like gifts for the kids to open periodically and another was bringing tin foil for the kids to create things with. Here is Shawn's sword and a tree with roots.

Stopped to check out Hoover Dam

When we arrived I took the boys to a local fun center to get their wiggles out. It was really busy and had a lot of....interesting characters. I chose to carry Evan the whole time. At one point I was trying to get something for Shawn and couldn't do it with one hand so I put Evan down. When I went to pick him back up, he was gone. I mean gone! Not anywhere in the large room we were in. I noticed we were close to the front doors and panicked thinking he ran into the parking lot or was grabbed by someone. I was one of those crazy ladies running around screaming, which freaked Shawn out. That little stinker had run as fast as he could the moment I put him down and had gone into a different room where the arcade was. It was one of the scariest moments of my life as a mom. This is a picture of Shawn doing the bumper cars. He was the exact height limit you had to be so he was barely big enough to hold onto the controls. He held his own though. He was with a group of teenage boys and would ram right into them at full blast.

One of the days we visited the Phoenix Zoo.

The highlight of the zoo was the splash pad.

Shawn's best impression of a flamingo

The petting zoo, which Evan loved and Shawn hated

We decided to check out the Mesa Temple and visitor center. One of the missionaries gave Shawn this little picture of Jesus so he held it up in every photo we took.

We stopped in the exciting town of Wikieup on the drive home.

You have to love Priceline. We got to stay in the 5 star resort in Vegas for $90. The grounds were beautiful. The room was huge and the bathroom was amazing.

The only group photo I took the whole trip