The naughty list

Am I the only one experiencing this? Every year it seems like my kids get naughtier and naughtier the days leading up to Christmas. And I have never been one to pull the Santa card. ("Santa is watching you, you better be good!") So I don't think they are trying to rebel against that or anything. It's like they become possessed and can't control themselves!! This year it is these two that are very close to sending me over the edge.


They do things that my other kids never did! What is up with that?
Is it because there are two minds working together?
Is it because I am older and more tired and busier?
I think they have this weird "mob mentality" thing going. They are much more brave because there are two of them.
And they blame each other all the time!

Here are just a few of the things that they have done in the last couple of days...
*Draw with pink and brown marker on the bathroom walls, countertop, and toilet.
*Draw with red marker on my bedspread.
*Hide the contents of one of my bedroom drawers (that they know is off limits) under Gabe's bed.
*Dump water from the bathroom sink all over the carpet outside the bathroom.
They have been in time out more the last couple of days than they have all month!
Send reinforcements.
They are winning.
I will be in the corner.
You will recognize me as the one rocking back and forth
and occasionally hitting my head against the wall.
Thing one and thing two will probably be in the corner too.
But they are the ones wringing their hands together and laughing and plotting their next attack.

Help.

My new favorite holiday treat.

My beautiful sister in law Jenn introduced me to these a couple of years ago and they have definitely become my new favorite!! (My favorite used to be candy cane lifesavers but I have not been able to find them for years!) I don't really like regular tootsie pops but there is something about these that I just LOVE!

Mommy needs a time out...

I have heard all of the following statements from my children in the last 30 minutes

* "Mommy, I spilled my cereal on the floor"

* "Mommy, I had a wet bed last night"

* "Mommy, we are out of toilet paper"

* "Mommy, the toilet upstairs is clogged"

Why do these messes all involve something....WET? And why did these messes happen when my dryer is broken and I can't do laundry? I'm pretty sure I would have died a mile in if I had been a pioneer. Yup.

Curse you black friday...

I have never been one that wants to shop on black friday, in fact I usually make it a point to not go shopping at all that weekend. BUT I really want to try and get some Christmas shopping done on saturday. It is one of only two saturdays that I have off work between now and Christmas. Will it be crazy?? Is it even worth venturing out? I was thinking about even waiting until the late afternoon and evening. So if you shop that weekend let me know what to expect. Pretty please.

To blog or not to blog

Lately I have a love hate relationship with my blog.
I LOVE reading other peoples blogs.
I HATE that I then feel guilty that I have not updated my own.
I LOVE all of the ideas that I get that I could blog about.
I HATE that every time I sit down to blog I feel like I should be doing something else.
I LOVE that it provides a journal for my family.
I HATE that I feel like I will never be caught up, so then I end up avoiding it. (Just like scrapbooking.)
I LOVE the outlet that it provides.
I HATE feeling like I have to have everything in chronological order and it just never works out that way.

SO...I'm letting the guilt and the expectations go. I still want to blog, but I just can't do it when I feel like I can't post a cute picture of my kids that I took yesterday when I haven't blogged about our trip to Disneyland last month. I'm going to adopt more of an anything goes attitude!! Things may be out of order and scattered, but that is just fine with me. So with that said, here is another edition of my random thoughts and updates blog. (that seems to be what works best for me lately!) (Basically what I am saying here is that my blog will pretty much be the same as it has been but I'm going let the guilt and pressure go when I feel like I am not "caught up" because it's never going to happen!)

*I got a new calling. I'm in the Primary presidency and I love it!! From the few short weeks I have been doing it I can already see ways that my life has been greatly blessed. One thing that is not such a blessing however is the way my darling twins have been acting since I have had that calling. I was in the primary before but I sat way in the back and occasionally they turned back to wave but that was about it. Now they want to be on me or laying at my feet. (Cole does a pretty impressive impression of a boneless floppy fish when he really wants to.) It hasn't helped that Trevor is leading the music in primary so they think that they need to be right with us the whole time. Well, we are working on it.

*School is going good. I'm finishing up my psychology class. The bad news is that after this class I have no choice but to move onto the math and science classes. Makes me queasy just thinking about it. Nurses don't really need to know anything about math, chemistry, biology, anatomy or physiology to they? Oh that's right, they DO. UGH.

*Cole and Cagney are in preschool and they love it. I had one of those moments when I dropped them off for the first time. I was so happy that I was dropping my youngest kids off at preschool, and I wanted to cry because I was dropping my youngest kids off at preschool.

*Jared and Miquelle had their violin and piano recital a couple of evenings ago. They both did so great. Miquelle played with more feeling than I have ever heard from her, and Jared played a song that he wrote himself.

*I got new running shoes. I had been putting it off for months because I am so insecure about my feet. (Weird I know, I really have no reason to be, but I am.) The guy that helped me was so great though. (I went to Wasatch Running) I tried on a bunch of shoes and was able to run in them before I picked the ones I wanted. They are great, I really like them. So now that it is cold again we are out running in the snow sometimes. Has anyone tried yaktraxor something similar?

*I am apprehensively excited about the holidays. I say apprehensively because I tend to get so bogged down by all of the expectation (most of which I put upon myself) and find myself doing things because I feel like I am obligated to, not because I want to. So this year I am going to try to be more selfish. I'm going to try to do more things that I want to do, and less that I feel obligated to. I want to feel more of the spirit of the season and less of the stress of the season. Wish me luck, we will see how it goes.

*I made this soup for dinner last night and it was so good! (I added ground turkey) My 4/5 of my kids actually ate it pretty well! (One even had a second bowl! That doesn't happen very often around here with soup.)

*Is anybody watching So You Think You Can Dance this season? Is it just me or are the stage and lights really distracting? I miss the little stage. It feels like there is more focus on the theatrics of it and less on the dancing. Speaking of SYTYCD, Miquelle and I went to the tour recently at the E Center. It was so fun! I left with my ears ringing and my throat sore from screaming. It was awesome.

*Yesterday was girls day. We had all read "My Sister's Keeper" so we had a book review and movie night. We went to dinner and talked about the book and then went back to my sisters house to watch the movie. I hated that the movie ended so differently from the book. I just didn't understand why they would do that. I know that movies and books are always going to be different, but that was just a really dramatic change.

*Jared just turned 11. He is seriously the best kid and always has been. Does that mean we are going to be in big trouble when he is a teen-ager?

*I have so much Christmas shopping to do! Last year I was done at the beginning of December and it was so great!! That isn't going to happen this year. I have lots of ideas, but just need the time to go shopping.

Home Sweet Home

My week...




My weekend...

And Super Saturday!

Thankful Thursday

I know it is not Thursday, and I know it has been a long time since I had a thankful Thursday post. It's not that I have not been thankful. Believe you me. Promise. Ever have one of those days where you just feel like your cup "overfloweth"? That's me today. I just couldn't wait until Thursday. Hope you don't mind. I promise I will try to not make it as bad as the verbal vomit that spewed from me on sunday at church. I won't be doing that again anytime soon!! (Oh and just for future reference when that little voice in your head is SCREAMING at you to sit down and shut up. You should listen. I'm just sayin'. You may thank me one day.)

1. Trevor

We celebrated our fifteen year anniversary at the end of September. Fifteen years and my heart still pounds when he holds my hand. (Just like it did when I was 15 and he held my hand for the first time.) Our relationship has gone through some serious and uncomfortable growing pains that last couple of years. There have been moments when I have wondered why it has to be so difficult sometimes. But aren't the most difficult things the most valuable things in the end?? He is constant and strong and level headed and he would do anything for me. And I am crazy and stressed out and impulsive. (Let's paint the living room at ten o'clock at night honey!) Yet through it all he still answers the phone when I call him at work. Even though he doesn't ever know what he is going to hear on the other end. Thanks.

2. A much needed vacation.
We have been planning a Disneyland trip for two years and tomorrow we are finally taking it. We need it. I am so excited to say goodbye to
dishes
and homework
and laundry
and school
and lessons
and work
and temperatures in the 50's.
And SO ready to say hello to
Mickey Mouse
and sunscreen
and time to relax
and handholding
and space mountain
and no dishes or laundry
and temperatures in the 80's.

3, Preschool
Cole and Cagney started preschool yesterday. It felt so weird dropping them off and knowing that for the next 2 and a half hours all of my kids were in school!! It was wonderful and sad at the same time and I couldn't wait to pick them up and hear all about their day. They loved it. I knew they would.

4. Work friends
I know I have said this before, but I'm sayin' it again. My job is hard. Physically. And mentally. And emotionally. But I love it. Crazy as it sounds. The people that I work with make all the difference. They make me laugh, and encourage me in school, and teach me things, and listen to stories about my kids when they probably don't care. I'm so thankful for them. You know who you are...

5. Fall
As happy as I am to travel to sunny California, I am unexpectedly sad to leave Utah in the fall. It is my favorite time of year. No contest. Fall feels cozy to me despite the drop in temperature. But it passes too quickly and soon the fall leaves are gone and I'm sad that I will miss 7 whole days of it. I LOVE the orange but sadly the white will soon follow.

Super Saturday

If you are interested in what we are making for super saturday go HERE. It's going to be great!!

Everything is under control...

Are you worried about the recession? Health care reform? Taxes? Unemployment?

I am here to tell you to fret no more! Our government is a well oiled machine! Everything MUST be completely under control! How do I know this? Because our government has time to worry about life threatening basketball standards! No need to worry, you are all safe.


This basketball standard has been right there next to our mailbox for 3 1/2 years. Today we received this note in our mailbox...

"Your address has been identified as having a potential hazard to the carriers and vehicles of the US Postal Service. Your Basketball Standard is impeding the carriers from approaching and exiting yours or your neighbor's mailbox safely. This card is to inform you of the safety problem. Thank you in advance for helping to reduce injuries and vehicle damage."

Phew...everything is under control people. No need to worry, our country is safe from evil basketball hoops.

*No postal workers were injured in the making of this blog post.

Thirteen things about Miquelle at 13!!

1. Miquelle got a new purple ipod for her birthday. She likes to tell me at least once everyday that her ipod holds more songs than mine does. She also finds it amazing that I don't know how many songs are on my ipod at any given time.

2. Getting Miquelle to eat fruits and veggies is not always an easy task. But she does love cantaloupe, cucumbers and grapefruit. She is very excited for grapefruit to be in season.

3. Miquelle just started her fourth season on the senior clogging competition team.

4. Miquelle loves facebook. A LOT.

5. Miquelle hates to sit in the back of the van with her little brothers. It is the highest form of torture for her.

6. Miquelle just started 8th grade and she is on the yearbook committee this year.

7. Miquelle still takes piano lessons, and still complains about practicing almost everyday.

8. Miquelle loves popcorn shrimp. She chose Red Lobster for her birthday dinner so she could have a big plate of popcorn shrimp. (Gabe is allergic to shellfish so we never have it at home, so Miquelle and Jared love to order it when we go out.)

9. Miquelle loves hoodie sweatshirts and jackets. She must take after me.

10. Miquelle twisted her ankle recently racing her friends dog across the yard. It really hurt, but she likes to point out that she did beat the dog.

11. Miquelle is very organized with her school work. I love that she really stays on top of things and I don't have to worry about her getting things done.

12. Miquelle loves to stay up late and sleep in on the weekends.

13. Lately Miquelle has two moods. Little miss attitude, or silly and crazy. We love her either way. (But seriously some middle ground would be nice sometimes.)

MORE random things...

Yes, I know, I know, it has been a long time!! And I find myself yet again in the situation where I have a lot of things to catch up on and decide to just lump it all into one big post...

*Everyone is back in school!!! Since June 3rd one of my kids has always been home. Jared and Gabe have been off track but they went back this morning. The house seems so quiet with just me and the littles here. But I'm loving it. I'm back in school too. I came so close to dropping my class just because I was feeling so overwhelmed. But I'm doing my best to stick with it. Psychology this time.

*Miquelle has been very miffed that I have not updated my blog and it still says she is 12. Oh the horror. She had a fun birthday. I'm going to do a separate 13 things about Miquelle post. That is worthy of a separate post.

*We had a fun Labor Day. Traditionally we have a brunch picnic with Trevors family. This year we met up at Mueller Park. I remember when I was little and we could spend time in the mountains for free! Now we have to pay. Weird.


*Swimming lessons were a huge success. It was a bit crazy and I was at the pool everyday for three weeks, but it was totally worth it. The kids all made huge improvements. I was very impressed with how well they all did. Cagney is just a little fish so I was not surprised that she did great. Cole got a lot more confident with jumping in and putting his head underwater. Jared learned some great dives and after trying many times was finally able to dive down and get a toy from the bottom of the pool. Gabe probably improved the most. He felt so much more comfortable being in the water by the end and was really doing well with the different strokes.



*Do you ever just wish you could have a day where you didn't get interrupted one time? You could just catch up on all of the things you need to do? No telephone, no laundry, no work, no cooking, no cleaning, no shopping. Me too. Like today.

*I'm one of two people in charge Super Saturday this year. We had a meeting last week and came up with enough ideas to fill three super saturdays! We are really excited about it, it will be really busy but so much fun too. The best part is a get to work with some great women! I like to surround myself with great people, makes me feel a little bit more greater-er myself.

*We spent a day at cherry hill a couple of weeks ago. I'm so glad we were able to fit it in this year. (Was this summer really strange for anyone else? It felt like it was two weeks long!) We had a really fun day, made even better by the fact that Greg and Miranda and their kids were there. We only see them a couple of times a year. We got a little sunburned, got a little banged up by the water slides, and had yummy ice cream at the pie pantry.


*Another favorite summer activity that we did recently was hike Ensign Peak. This is a great (fairly easy) hike for little kids. And great for parents too because we weren't worried about the kids falling of the edge. There is a little bit steeper point at the end where we made the littles hold hands with someone. The view is fabulous once you get to the top too. It is just a great little hike.


*The Oquirrh Mountain temple is open! Complete with a shiny new Angel Moroni. We just love having this temple so close to us. I drive past it many times and we have taken a lot of walks up there and watched this beautiful building being built. It was great to be able to attend one of the sessions for the dedication and we have been able to go since it has been dedicated at it is just amazing. We didn't know when we moved here that they were building a temple within a mile of our house, we just love it.


*Fall! I'm so excited to decorate for fall! I just put my 4th of July decorations away and I can't wait to pull out my fall stuff! I will try to control myself for the next couple of weeks. Fall is my favorite time of year for many reasons and decorating is one of them!! I'm also really excited for fall TV.

A few random things...

*My class is over, and I have three blissful homework free weeks ahead of me. I got an A and my teacher said some really good things about my final paper, I think she actually read it! (Last semester the only comment my teacher ever made was, "great paper".) I'm seriously still amazed that my brain actually works. Sometimes I really wonder.

*Cole and Cagney have pink eye (we think) so I stayed home from church with them today. It was so nice and quiet with just me and the littles here. I painted my toes, they needed it bad. Don't you just love the names of nail polish? This one is called Almond Crunch and is the pink color of an almond roca package.

*I just made zucchini muffins. Trevors mom gave us a bunch of zucchini. I love it when people share their harvest. YUM.

* Girls day was yesterday and it was so nice and relaxing. I made a couple of skirts. I'm totally not a seamstress. I really like to sew but I'm not good at it. Oh well, just don't look at the seems too closely.

*Last night as part of girls day we went and saw "Julie and Julia". I loved it. It was so cute and funny and just a feel good movie. I totally recommend it.

*Miquelle had a great time at oakcrest. LOVED it. She starts school in a couple of weeks and wants the time to pass quickly, she is ready. I, on the other hand, would like the next couple of weeks to last as long as possible!!

*We have had a cooler spell the last couple of days and it has made me so excited for fall! I don't want it to be here yet but I will be ready when it gets here! Wouldn't it be nice if we had an unusually warm fall like we did last year? It's my favorite time of the year. I especially love decorating for fall. I got some cute stuff last year on clearance and I'm so excited to use it this year.

*We have one more week of swimming lessons. I thought it would drive me crazy to be at the pool everyday but I have loved it. It has been so nice to just sit by the pool at watch the kids. They have all improved so much and it has been fun to watch.

*My parents are in Boston AND HAVING A REALLY GOOD TIME. I'm totally jealous, I want to go to New England. Someday. I need to go up to their house later and raid their garden. More yummy stuff.

*We have been keeping track since March of license plates and have only 10 more until we find all 50 states. The kids have had fun looking for different license plates. People probably think we are stalking them because we have followed their cars rather closely to try to see the license plate. Last night while walking in to the movie I saw Vermont. Now we just need Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii (Jared is convinced we will never see this one), Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia. (I bet my parents will see a lot of those!) What about you? How long do you think it would take you to find all 50?

Sometimes I do not enjoy being a girl

Boys, stop reading right here. This blog post would not be interesting to you. Move along, nothing to see here. I'm sure you can find a Popular Mechanics or Sports Illustrated that you can read. Seriously please leave. You have been warned, BUT if you choose to read further just don't make direct eye contact the next time you see me.

Okay, does everyone who is left have a uterus (or used to have one)? Good, read on.

Sometimes being a girl SUCKS!!!! Big time!

Case in point. Before I had kids I wore a size 7 shoe. Before I had kids I wore a C cup. After having kids I wear a size 9 shoe. After having kids I can't quite fill an A cup. HOW IN THE WORLD IS THAT FAIR!? I knew about the stretch marks and expected that but no one told me that after having kids I would look like bigfoot trying to smuggle grapes out of the grocery store by stuffing them in my bra. And while on that subject it is totally unfair that I still have to wear a bra. I went bra shopping the other day and had a fitting. I hoped that the breast gods would shine down on me and I would miraculously be a B cup (Heck I would be thrilled to even actually fill the stupid A!) but that was a big fat NO. Still an A. Although I don't think I can even call it an A. It's more like an a. A tiny lowercase a. So the girl suggested a bra with padding. I tried it and discovered that I really don't like wearing a bra that makes me feel like I'm trying to steal twinkies by sticking one in each cup!! Nope, not a fan. Then she brought in the chicken cutlets, seriously...I don't care how comfortable and discreet you say they are but it would just be one big embarrassing story waiting to happen. "Excuse me ma'am I think you dropped something....is that a chicken cutlet?"

Second reason I don't like being a girl. Three weeks ago I decided that I wanted to try to lose a few pounds so I decided to cut out sugar. I thought I would give it a month and not weigh myself during that time so I wouldn't sabotage myself (I'm really weird that way). I had been doing really good with the no sugar thing and this morning I decided that I just couldn't wait to weigh myself, I had to be down at least a pound or two. Step on the scale....UP FIVE POUNDS! Are you freaking kidding me!?? So I showed that scale. After dinner tonight I made cinnamon rolls and ate two! And they were yummy.

So there you go. Two reasons that being a girl really stinks sometimes. I'm sure there are many more. Does anyone know where I can get some double a's, and sadly I'm not talking about batteries.

Kitchen Before and After

Many moons ago I posted about some changes we were making to our kitchen and I still have not posted photos! It is mostly done (at least for now, there is still a lot I would like to do eventually) so here are some before and after pictures.
Here is what we did:
Painted cabinets and added hardware
Painted walls
Put up beadboard
Replaced stove
Painted peg shelf above table (it was navy blue, now it is black)
The photos aren't great but you get the idea. We love our "new" kitchen.













I should have cleaned off the fridge and taken the dishtowel off of the stove...oh well I guess it has to look realistic!
Oh and I don't know if you can tell but see the drawer right under the sink? Remember the handle vs. no handle debate? The jury is still out on that one, but I still want to put a handle there!

Mother of the year

I have threatened my kids for years that if they can't keep their rooms clean then I will come in with a garbage bag and clean it myself. Or if they complain about having to clean their rooms I tell them that I will do it for them and then I head for the garbage bags. Quick disclaimer here...I don't expect perfection at all, not even close. But put dirty clothes where they go, put clean clothes and shoes in the closet, if your floor is covered with legos that you were playing with four days ago then clean them up! Stuff like that. Well Jared and Gabe have been out for "summer" vacation these past three weeks and start school again on monday. Their room has gotten out of control. I have been trying to get them to clean it up and they have done a little bit here and there. This morning I said it had to be done today. That if they didn't get it clean I would come in with a garbage bag. Two hours later they were just playing in there so I went in and filled two garbage bags with stuff (while they frantically tried to clean things up before I got to them.)

But now I'm wondering, "now what?" I never really thought about what I would do at this point. I mean I really don't want to throw everything away, there was some really good stuff in there. (The bags have stuffed animals, nerf guns, lots of legos, books, knex pieces, game boy games, other games and such.) But do I lose all credibility if I don't? I guess I never really told them what I would do once I "cleaned up" for them. Hmmm...What would you do?

After this happened they have since (without any prompting from me) cleaned up the playroom downstairs, vacuumed a few rooms, dusted some things, and cleaned around all of the light switches and doorknobs in the house. And then asked if they could have their stuff back. I told them no, but we would wait a week and see how clean they could keep their room and then we would talk about it. What do you think??

(Oh I have to add that I would never actually throw perfectly good things away, I would donate them if that is what it came down too.)

Read any good books lately?

I have a sister in law who makes DARLING cards, is a great seamstress (makes VERY cute little girl clothes) and recommends great books. Last weekend when we were visiting Trevor's parents I read a book that she had given their dad for Father's Day. It was excellent. It was written by a woman who survived the genocide in Rwanda. It was so well written and thought provoking. I felt shocked that something like this happened not so very long ago, strengthened by her words about forgiveness, and humbled by her faith. If you are like me and keep a running list of books you want to read then add this one to it!

A little bit of everything...

I have been needing to update our blog for awhile and the more time passed the more overwhelmed I felt about it by all of the posts I wanted to do. So I'm doing another random update post. (There are so many things overwhelming about life, blogging should not be one of them.)

*My summer class is half way over. It has been a good class. It moves really fast and covers a lot, but luckily I have a really good teacher. And a computer geek husband who can help me! Going to school in the summer stinks though. I'm hoping to avoid it next year.

*Miquelle is gone to girls camp. I hate having my kids gone overnight. It really makes me nervous. And I totally miss being able to see her sleeping safely in her bed before I go to bed. I wonder if when my kids are married their spouses would mind if I just ran over to their houses for a quick peek before I go to bed. GASP...what if they live too far away?! SOB...

*Jared and Gabe are finally out of school for the summer. I'm so so so SO glad. We only have three weeks but I'm going to enjoy it!! No making school lunches or helping with homework! YIPPIE!! We are even taking a break from piano and violin lessons for a couple weeks.

*We had a family reunion a couple of weeks ago with my family. It was a really fun day. We reserved the swimming pool in Farmington and had a great time swimming, jumping, sliding and splashing. After such a rainy June we wondered how the weather would be, but it was great!! It kind of felt like summer had finally started! We learned a few things at this family reunion.
1. Baby Benjamin is a CUTIE! This was the first time that we saw him. Made my uterus twitch for just a second.
2. Cagney is INSANE in the water. She has absolutely no fear. She jumped off of the diving board and went down the slides over and over (sans floaties even) and loved it. She reminds me of me when I was her age.
3. Coco is more hesitant but he warmed up to it and loved the slides. No diving board for him though, maybe next year.
4. It is possible for a swimming suit to get so worn out that it looks see-through once wet (when it looked perfectly fine while it was dry!) sorry honey. I will pack your other suit next time.
5. It is possible after tons and tons and tons of looking to find a swimming suit that is acceptable to Miquelle.
6. Jared loved the high dive. It was his first time and he went over and over and over.
7. It is ok to use floatation devices if you are 7 and don't just LOVE the water.
8. Grandma and Grandpa put on a great party!!
9. Sometimes you have to really encourage your siblings to want to be in a family picture, but it is totally worth it!!


*We hit this milestone on our little 1992 Honda Civic (Gordon). And he is still going!!


*Cagney loves her summer dance class. It is so cute. Every week they do a craft and then learn a dance that goes along with it. She has had so much fun (and looks adorable doing it!)

*I'm craving S'mores big time. We need to make a trip up to the hills and roast some hot dogs and marshmallows! I just love summer.

*We visited the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. It was awesome, just beautiful! And have I mentioned that it is only about a mile from our house! I did? Oh. Trevor and I have both been able to do a volunteer shift also and that has been really cool. Now we need to just get our little tushes over there more often once it is open!


*The kids start swimming lessons in a couple of weeks. I couldn't get them all in at the same time so I have some kids on MWF and some kids on TTH which means that for three weeks we will be at the pool everyday! Maybe I can work on my tan. HA! Who am I kidding...I have three skin tones...white, red and peeling.

*I just turned on the TV and the final Gilmore Girls episode was on, and I watched it and I cried. Yup, pretty much. Two years later and it still makes me cry.

July 4th 2009

I LOVE this holiday. I love the decorations, I love how hot it is outside, I love spending time with family, I love the food, I love that there isn't a lot of preparation that has to happen for it to be great!, and I love that we do the same thing every year!
Trevor was off work on friday so we tried to get up to his parents house as early as we could. We wanted to set our chairs up for the parade but there was a lady who was being the chair nazi sitting right by where we wanted to put them so we had to wait until later. People there take their parades very seriously!!

This is what we did on the 4th of July weekend...
We stopped at Pace's for a treat. The peach rainbow is my favorite! So yum.
We spent the evening swimming and eating yummy food.








We watched fireworks. I think they get better every year!


We got up early to run! Trevor and I ran the 5K (Our first official race. It was SO fun! Our goal was to finish in 30 minutes and we did it in 27.20) Miquelle and Jared ran the mile and Gabe ran the 1/2 mile.)

We had breakfast at the park.
We watched the parade.



We played at the park.





We took turns holding our cute new cousin.



We had fun with our cousins.





We had two baby blessings to go to on Sunday.

Kalianna (Hope you don't mind me using the picture Stacy, if you do just say the word and I will take it off.)

Claire
It was a great way to end the weekend. More food, more family, more time with cousins. We were TIRED by the time we got home!!