What do you do in the summertime?

Oh what do you do in the summer time

When all the world is green?

Do you have a candy stand?

Or run through the sprinklers?

Or play with your friends outside?

Is that what you do? So do I!

Oh what do you do in the summer time

When all the world is green?

Do you ride in a convertible?

Or pick lots of strawberries?

And make fruit smoothies every night?

Is that what you do? So do I!

Oh what do you do in the summer time

When all the world is green?

Do you water your garden?

And pick lots of weeds?

And make lots of raspberry jam?

Is that what you do? So do I!

Oh what do you do in the summer time

When all the world is green?

Do you fish in Utah Lake?

Or kiss a catfish?

Or get sunburned until you might cry?

Is that what you do? So do I!

Here's a before and after shot of our new patio cover.

We love spending time in our backyard, and look forward to being able to spend more time out there with a little more shade and comfort.

I have been loving this summer. I don't know for sure, but it seems like I haven't enjoyed summer this much for many years. Last year (2009) was a new baby and moving to a new school. The summer before I was doing my Master's degree full time (2008). The summer before that (2007) we were in a new house and had projects galore, plus I didn't know anyone in my neighborhood and was pretty lonely. Summer 2006 Audrey was born. So it must have been the summer of 2005 that I last got to really relax and enjoy my summer. That was the summer we took a 10 day trip to Arizona. We saw Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Nogales, MX and more. It was so much fun!

Some of my favorite things about summer are:

• Doing laundry during the week so I can spend Saturday working in the yard with Dave or doing fun stuff as a family
• Having time during the day to do chores so that at night Dave and I can watch a show.
• Having time to clean and organize my house
• Doing fun stuff with my kids
• Spending time with friends
• Growing food in my garden and working in the yard
• starting NetFlix and getting a new movie for the kids to watch every couple of days
• making a double batch of cookie dough every Sunday night and having a spoonful or two every night while watching a show before bed
• Being on a more relaxed schedule- I don't have to be up, dressed, and ready to go at 8am.
• More stuff that I can't think of right now! 

the girls eating their cookie dough while watching Backyardigans

I know it may seem like summer just started, but for me summer is winding down. We've got the big birthday party this week, and then it's downhill from there. As soon as August hits, I'm back to school mode. I have had a wonderful break.

4th of July

We got back from the reunion just in time to celebrate the 4th of July. Since it was on a Sunday this year, we got to celebrate for 3 days- Sat, Sun, and Mon.

On Saturday, we held a spontaneous barbeque at our house with our good friends the Foxes and Sinemas. The kids played like crazy, including performing a play downstairs entitled, "Ghosts in the Graveyard". Pretty spooky. At dark, we went to our neighbors yard to watch the fireworks. They were pretty far away, but from our spot we could see the fireworks from at least three cities. It was really cool, and it took less than a minute to walk home afterward.

On Sunday we went to church wearing our red, white, and blue in honor of Independence Day.

On Monday, we got up early to go to the parade. Thanks to the Smiths for saving an awesome spot, we fully enjoyed the parade this year. With all the twirling, horn honking, hollering, and fun we could possibly muster. The funniest thing about the parade this year was when a mouse ran out into the middle of the road. A big truck went by, and we thought it was dead. But when the truck passed, out ran the mouse alive and well. We all cheered. There was a little gap, and a marching band was next. The flag holders and baton twirlers could see this mouse running towards them. They tried to keep a straight face, but one girl was petrified. The look on her face was hilarious. We were all laughing so hard as the mouse ran in between the all feet marching in the band, then ran towards safety on the other side of the street. You should have seen the people scatter, a big lady trying to swat it,  people picking up their blankets as the mouse ran under. This mouse caused quite a flurry of excitement. That's when we lost track, as more floats came by and we couldn't see, but I'm guessing it finally found grass and ran off to safety.

After the parade we went with family and friends to the Brick Oven for lunch. Yummy as always.

Reunion

We had a wonderful family reunion up at Wolf Creek at the end of June/ first of July.

One of the best things we did was go horseback riding at Red Cliff Ranch.

Audrey and Kimee did pony rides.

 Also, Kimee and mom went on a 30 min trail ride. It was so much fun!

There was a pond at the ranch where the kids played while waiting.

 Right next to the resort is a golf course, so Dave went over with the boys to do some putting.

I lost the pictures from my camera when my hard drive crashed, but I got some from my niece Amy. I'm sad that I don't have all the photos of my girls, but these are great!

It is somewhat symbolic that I lost the pictures from this reunion, because it kind of felt like we weren't really there. Audrey and Maddi had a virus that could have been contagious, so we were super careful to not let them interact with the other little kids that were there. The big family photo was the only time Audrey and Maddi were with the whole group. Just Kimee and Dave went to the other group activities. We still had lots of fun hanging out in our condo playing, watching movies, having treats, and spending time together.

sad day

It is a sad day. My hard drive crashed on my laptop and I lost all pictures from 2010. I am glad most had been posted to my blog, except the last download before it died. So I lost the pictures from the reunion and the fourth of July. Sad, but not too bad. I lost lots more, but most of them were posted to my blog so I don't feel too bad about that. I am really grateful that I already printed a photo book of our Depoe Bay trip and of Maddi's first year.

This is a lesson learned about backing up your computer on a regular basis. I have hours and hours of work on that laptop that I will have to redo for school. Yet, I am grateful this happened in the summer when I am not in the middle of everything.

I have been going through the stages of grief- denial, pain, anger. Depression hasn't really set in, but I'm sure I will have some here and there as I discover what I am missing and the time I will have to spend to recreate it. Bummer. I guess I'm getting into the acceptance stage. Not much else I can do about it. I know it's not the end of the world, it's just a computer. And I don't even have to pay to get it fixed! Look at all the positives!

So, anyone who reads this, when was the last time you did a back up on your computer?

ShadowCases

One of my summer projects has been to complete the ShadowCases that I bought from my sister's new business. They were easy and so fun to put together, once I got the pictures and collected the stuff I wanted to put in them. Here are some pictures.

Maddi

Maddi got some sores in her mouth, and so she wasn't eating for a few days. The doctor mentioned yogurt and ice cream wouldn't hurt as much. So I froze some Gogurts, and she loved them! This is a great summer treat. I handed her one the other day and she took it into the backyard. A few minutes later, I found her here, just eating in her car. I thought it was so cute.

Maddi often repeats what she hears us say, but she overall she is still pretty quiet.
Here are a few new words she is saying:
odd-ee (Audrey)
Boo!
shoes

Backyard Campout

On Friday night, we had our annual backyard campout. This year it was just us (no cousins) and we still had a great time. Kimee and Audrey were so excited to put up the tent, eat smores, and sleep outside.

What do you ned for a backyard campout?

A tent and a fire!

For dinner we grilled chicken and ate outside. Here is a conversation between Audrey and myself as I was dishing out their food.

Mom: Audrey, what do you want for dinner? Chicken, noodles, carrots, grapes?
Audrey: I don't want any of those. Oh, I know! I want shmores!

Kimee is getting really good at making the perfectly golden marshmallow.

This is sticky!

It's getting dark! Good thing it's dark enough you can't see how messy my hair is!

Time for bed!

I can't get them to hold still to take their picture!

No backyard campout would be complete without monkey paws for breakfast!

Father's Day

We had a pretty laid back Father's Day. The girls were so excited for it and tried to be good all day.  Audrey had been waiting, and asking every day, for Father's Day, because she really wanted to get the yummy chocolate donuts (from Costco) out of the freezer.  It was a special treat that Dave loves. He also got to sleep in and take a nap with Maddi.

opening presents

jeans from Maddi

 silly Daddy ;)

reading the special card Kimberly wrote

a book and a shirt from Kimee

a book and a shirt from Audrey

Dave loves reading with his girls.

We did presents after church, but Maddi was taking a nap so we didn't get her picture with dad until later.

 Maddi LOVED the Father's Day dinner of enchiladas. She ate a whole enchilada herself!

Happy Father's Day, David!

You are such a good dad and your daughters adore you!

a little more summer fun

Last Friday, we went to one of our favorite annual events, Huck Finn Day. Mariah and Emma took the girls around to do your typical carnival games, while Maddi and I stood in line for Pony Rides, our favorite!

The girls love riding bikes in the garage. (It's even better when Mom moves the van out.)

Yesterday Kimee, Audrey, and I went to Seven Peaks while Maddi played with Jill and Jeremy. It was a lot of fun, but I didn't enjoy all the lines. I'm glad we only do that once a year too, and that we didn't have to pay to get in!

We now have eight things checked off of our Summer Fun Things list, and only one project done. There are several projects in the works, or halfway done, but I need to get more done! I'm trying to enjoy summer and have fun with my kids, but I've got to get this house cleaned up and organized before I have to go back to work full time! I'll keep you posted...