The 24th of July

Ever since I was a little girl, the 24th of July has always been a big holiday in my family. My mom grew up in Spanish Fork, so we always celebrated Fiesta Days. Every 24th, we would meet the Smith family (my mom's maiden name is Smith, but Mike and I are not related.(: ) at the Fiesta Day's Parade. After the parade, we would go and buy corn on the cob (that was always my mom's assignment) and then we would head to my Aunt Evie's Pool to swim and have a Bar-B-Que. My aunt passed away a few years ago, and we still have continued with that tradition, but this year my uncle and his new wife are on a mission, so the pool is closed. So we had the party at our house. We all met up at the parade and then we headed to our house. Of Course we have no pool, so I borrowed a blow up one from my friend (thanks Jamie) and we put the sprinkler under the trampoline. We had a great time, and I don't think the kids minded that there wasn't a huge pool to swim in. After everyone left, we took awhile to relax, and then we decided to head down to the library to walk through all of the booths. We got some yummy sandwiches for dinner, and ate on the Library lawn. I love the 24th.
Ethan waiting for the parade to start.
Cute Katelynn
Whitney's softball (state champions) team riding in the parade.

Dalaney waving to the Princesses When we got home from the parade, Ethan, of course, went straight to the pool. At first, he thought it was fun to get a little wet. Then he did a flip and got all the way wet-not so much fun.(: Of course the water day ended in a water fight. Ethan and I sporting our Red, White, and Blue. Eating dinner at the Library. Katelynn was trying to ruin Whitney's picture-so sweet. Whitney took this of Mike and I. Aren't we so cute together!!!

The joys of having 3 older sisters!

So lately, Ethan has been loving to wear the girls headbands. Of course, Mike loves this - not really. If Ethan's not wearing a headband, then he's carrying a purse around. Sometimes I'm glad that he is a total boy. If he wasn't, I might have to worry a little bit.(:

He knows the word "Stinky!"

I had to post this picture of Ethan. While we were in Ephraim, we -of course- had to check on Mike's cows that are there. Ethan and I stayed in the car while the others ventured out to find the cows. It started to get pretty hot in the car, so I decided to roll down the windows (trying to save gas). Anyway, we were parked right next to a bunch of sheep and they STUNK. As soon as I rolled down the windows, Ethan started saying "stinky" and scrunching up his nose. The picture says it all.(: Needless to say, he better get used to the smell of Animals, because I don't think his dad is going to give him a choice in that department.

Park City

While we were in Ephraim for the softball tournament, we were suppose to be in Park City with Mike's family. We felt really bad that we couldn't make it up there to be with his family, but it ended up being o.k.. On Thursday, when we were finally all done with softball, I took the kids up to Park City and met Mike's mom. She was still at the condo and we got to have her all to ourselves.(: We all swam and then while Cathy, Kate, Dalaney, and Ethan rested, Whitney and I got to do a little shopping at the outlets (slim pickin' right now). The kids thought it was great to be able to spend the day with Grandma, so I guess it worked out great.

Ephraim...here we come!

So, Whitney's team ended up going to state tournament. We were really excited about that, until we heard that it was going to be in Ephraim. I love Ephraim (that is where Mike and I met) but the problem was that we were suppose to be in Park City with Mike's family. So, we ended up missing our family vacation, but we had lots of fun in Ephraim. After some very intense games (I seriously wished that I had prescription drugs(: ) Whitney's team ended up being undefeated and won the tournament!!!! I was so exciting! Whitney and her team did an awesome job, they totally deserved to win. Here are a million pictures from our few days in Ephraim.

Katelynn's Baptism

I can't believe that I am old enough to have two kids who have been baptized. It is just crazy to me, but I love it. I was so excited for Katelynn to be able to be baptized, and she was super excited too. I took her the Saturday before her baptism and let her pick out a dress for the special day. After going to about every store in Utah County, she finally settled on a pretty pink one. She had lots of friends and family come to support her, it was great. Her friend Sophie even came. She asked my dad, her grandpa, to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. He did a great job. Baptisms are always so special, and it totally takes you back to how you felt when you were baptized.

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July! We spent all morning getting ready for Katelynn's baptism. After that we got to go and play at my sister Kathy's house. They have a boat, so we went out on Utah Lake and played around for awhile. We swam, rode on the tube, and Whitney and Katelynn even knee boarded. When we got off the lake, we met up with everyone(dad, michael, jason, lorelei, and christian) at Travus and Kathy's house. We had an awesome Bar-b-Que. My sister is amazing! Whenever she cooks and whenever Travus Bar-b-Ques it is always sooooo good! After dinner we, of course, watched fireworks-thanks to dad for buying them. I am so grateful for the freedoms that we have and for the men and women who are fighting each day to keep it that way. Happy 4th.

Family Night at the Temple

The other day I was thinking about how I could give my kids the opportunity to feel the spirit more, so that their testimonies could be strengthened. My first thought was that we needed to let them visit the temple more often. So I decided that for family night we would have a lesson on Temples. We went to the Provo Temple and sat on the grass and had family night. We talked about what the Temples are used for, what they look like, and how we can prepare to be able to go to the temple some day. We looked at pictures of Temples from all over the world. Mike and I both told the girls about the day we were married and the feelings that we felt. I am so grateful for Temples. We are so blessed to live so close to them. After our lesson, we walked around the Temple grounds. It was so quiet and peaceful. For any of you who haven't been to the Provo Temple lately, the grounds are beautiful! We ended the night with ice cream- of course.(:

Girls will be girls!

Quite often, my girls will decide that they want their nails painted. This is quite the process. Of course we can't just paint their finger nails, we have to do their toe nails too. As the girls have gotten older it's has become more complex too. They don't just want one color, they want two. And of course we have to put a flower or some sort of cute design on it. I love that my girls are totally girly girls, even if it does take an hour to paint their nails.(:

Dalaney

Katelynn

Whitney

Roughin' it!

We finally gave in and bought a trampoline for the kids. We have totally loved it, and we haven't had any injuries yet - knock on wood. The girls have been begging Mike to sleep on the tramp with them. He finally gave in, and they all decided to really rough it out and sleep on the tramp.(: I thought for sure they would all end up in the house half way through the night, but they didn't. They lasted the whole night. I even had to wake them up so that they could get ready for church. Dalaney said that she had to sleep clear down in her sleeping bag so that the wind couldn't get her. The girls are already planning their next sleep out.

The Bean Museum

So Summer is half way over - pretty much - and I am barely getting around to doing extra little things. The kids were so good while I was putting up the play set, that I decided to take them on a little field trip. We went to the Bean Museum at BYU. If you've never been there, they have about every kind of animal in there.

All of them are stuffed except for a huge black widow that they have. My kids loved it (and it's free). I thought Ethan would like it more, but he screamed the whole time - that would be why all of the pictures are blurry.(: Afterwards we stopped at the BYU Creamery and had icecream. That was the only part that Ethan didn't scream through. - funny thing.(: