Half-Way Point!

We'll, we're 5 weeks into our summer, with 5 weeks to go...can you believe it? We almost went camping this weekend -- but we only had 2 days and one night to do it-- and too much work for such a short time. Instead, we packed up swimsuits and pjs and headed up to a resort in Scottsdale and swam and played until we could swim no more. "Camping" at the Hilton, who could resist that! (One great perk of living in AZ during the summer is all the resort summer special prices they have - and think of the gas we saved). Here are some fun pics we took.
Sunbathing beauties...














Steve showing how STRONG he his!


















My boys...














Loved this shot!

The Joys of a 2 Year Old!

Just another example of what you are missing out on when you don't have a toddler into EVERYTHING! Seems Joshua found the black permanent marker and decided to color all over himself yesterday. Not good. I googled how to remove it, and the best answer I found said just to let it wear off. So, needless to say, I've had some strange looks when I've taken him out in public...but I've had enough children now not to let the looks even phase me - it' just part of having kids!These are his legs...there's also some on his arms and his whole entire palm of his hand is black.

Countdown!

You all know I love my kids, but is this premature?

I made this widget at MyFlashFetish.com.

My brother is getting married the day after school starts (Aug. 7th), and I swear his fiance thinks I'm off my rocker because I can tell her exactly how many weeks she has before she gets married -- I have to remind her I'm not counting down to her wedding (although, I am excited for it), I'm counting down to when my kids return to school -- although there's still much to do in the meantime.

Happy Father's Day!

Hopefully, Steve had a good day today --- he really is a great dad and enjoys his children.

At church today, since it was Father's Day, our wonderful primary chorister (Sis. Spencer) lined up some dads today outside the primary room and, one at time, had them come in and sit up front with her. She would have the children sing a song and if she felt they sang it loud enough, she'd cut off the dad's tie. (FYI, these dad's had prior knowledge thanks to a phone call from her the night before - so they would wear an old tie or run and get one from a thrift store.) Anyway, it was fun to see the kids reaction - since most of the dads would kind of "act" sad when she would do it. Steve was the first dad to have his tie cut and our little Joseph was sitting towards the front when it happened. He had huge tears well up in his eyes and started crying. We didn't think much of it, Steve gave him a hug and figured he'd get over it, however, AN HOUR LATER, they had to pull me out of class because they STILL couldn't calm him down. He was just holding what was left of his dad's cut tie and sobbing. I asked him if he had a suggestion and offered a few of my own (let him wear yours, go home and get him another one, or try to fix it). He opted for the last suggestion, so we walked home (across the street) grabbed some thick clear packing tape, walked back to the church and pulled Steve out of his class with the Deacons so Joseph could help him fix his tie. He was calm after that and I was able to walk him back to his primary class. What a tender heart he has. And what do I expect from the same child who had a hard time and cried for days when we replaced the refrigerator.

Carnival Fun

My brothers fiance, Heidi, works for University of Phoenix and invited my family to join her and Bryce to her work party "Summer Extravaganza" on Saturday afternoon... actually, it was a really fun carnival inside of the stadium where the Arizona Cardinals play football and a great place to spend a warm 110 degree Saturday -- inside! They gave away some really great prizes - my kids each walked away with a grocery bag filled brim full of loot ... although I suspect half it will make it to the garbage by Tuesday.

This is a view of the carnival from above.














Goofy family modeling some of our 1st place prizes from some of the games...














Starr and her killer bee!














Steve's highlight...meeting 2 of the Cardinals football players (Deuce Lutui and Neil Rackers).














Jeff's highlight...meeting the Cardinals cheerleaders!!! (When did he grow up, anyway.)

Our "Fun Fridays"!

Over the past few years during the summer, our family has developed the tradition of "FUN FRIDAYS"! The kids are pretty much on their own during the other days, if they're not busy with summer programs, however, on Fridays, since there is usually nothing going on, we try to make that day special by doing some fun things like visiting museums, swimming, ice skating, library, etc. For our FUN FRIDAY today - since it wasn't blistering hot (the public pools are still too cool for me, personally), we put the blow up pool under the slide and the kids played all afternoon, then it was off to Sonic for their "happy-hour" half-price drinks. After Josh's nap we headed over to In-And-Out Burger for dinner and then to San Tan Village for shopping and water fun! Going to San Tan Village was quite a treat for the kids since the last time we were there was in NOVEMBER! Frankly, we're just not mall shopping people. Anyway, just thought you'd like an example of how we're spending part of our summer....at least the Fridays of our summer.

Grandparent Alert....

I'm sure this isn't going in interest most of you...but mainly wanted proud grandparents to know that we received a phone call from the Highland Jr. High band teacher this afternoon with an invite for Jeff to play percussion for Jazz Band. He auditioned for this a couple of weeks ago, and was suppose to hear right away if he made it, so since he didn't hear, he was convinced he didn't make it. He'll be so excited to know he made it when Steve heads to up scout camp tomorrow and tells him! Hurray, Jeff!

So Far....So Good....

Steve was commenting to me after he saw that the kids return to school Aug. 6th, that the summer seems to be getting shorter every year. I, however, have learned not to complain...as much as I enjoy having my kids home during the summer, I am ALWAYS ready to have them return to school. And with almost 11 days into summer vacation, and I thought I'd report what we're up to thus far and what our summer plans are...

Jeffrey: Has been busy finishing up his baseball season, in fact, his team advanced pretty far in the little league playoffs with only 2 more brackets to go, but because of the rain delays, the season (and championship) went into THIS week. The conflict: Scout camp is also this week (Monday-Saturday). So with 4 boys on the team (and coach) involved in scout camp, the coach made the tough decision to forfeit the remaining games. I feel so badly for the other players who deserved to move on, but didn't really want to without all the players. However, I'm grateful for a coach (Jeff Brown, our former bishop) who knows the importance of scouting and choosing it over baseball. It was a good lesson for the 4 boys in our ward to learn -- good, better, and best. Baseball is good, but scouting is best. So needless to say, Jeff's busy at scout camp this week, I'm sure having a WONDERFUL time forgetting about he baseball championship games! As for the rest of the summer, I guess some down time (is that good?), hanging out with friends, and a trip to Washington state in July.

Starr: Hummmm....when her BFF is out of town (which has been alot so far), she's not a happy camper. Fortunately, she has Boredom Busters (sponsored by the Parks and Rec....they do inside games, crafts, and take the kids swimming) most afternoons and some down-time in the mornings. She's also leaving for Washington late July.

Emi: Similar to Starr with Boredom Busters and then swimming lessons scheduled for July.

Joseph: Summer School for reading...(boy, will he be the smartest kid to start kindergarten or what?) and swimming lessons in July also.

Josh: Continue to see a speech therapist and development specialist to get him talking....not great progress so far (as you can see from my chart on the right), but we're still hopeful.

FAMILY PLANS: Hopefully, a trip to San Deigo in July and a camping trip later this month, but not much else planned.