Strange Week

Miriam left for Brighton Beehive Camp early Monday morning.

One hour later I dropped Byron off to catch his bus for Science Camp.
Byron came back every day around 3 but Miriam was gone for 5 days....I don't think we have ever been away from her that long, not even when she has been visiting family.

Soren made it known that it would NOT be fair if he had to to chores when M & B didn't have to.  So I made sure Soren had lots of play dates all week.  We invited some new neighbors down for a water balloon party, played at the park twice, went swimming, and enjoyed hours of time with his bestie Owen. Byron LOVED his camp: rockets, dissecting starfish, coding, visiting honey, cheese, and bread making companies, the zoo, a trip to the movies...it was his heaven week.

Our decrepit air conditioner stopped working, and Darin got it back on it's feet....for now. He is brilliant that man...

Ladies Hikes are back on.  I missed photos of the first two, but last Friday three of us did the Farmington Car hike. Loves these ladies...so much wisdom shared with every footstep.

Then we waited anxiously for this girl to get back. She and I both burst into tears when she walked in the door.  She had a great time, but a week is a loooong time to be away from family! It was fun hearing about all her adventures. I am so proud of her bravery.  It was hard not to hear from her for so long but I was able to send her a letter. She came home singing camp fires songs, and telling stories about zip lines, repelling, hiking, and other fun activities.  I am so glad she had this experience.

At this point I made everyone take a family nap to get ready for the evenings events.  Miriam ended up sleeping for 2 1/2 hours.  That girl was exhausted!

The boys had karate testing and moved up to orange belt.

 We ended the day by watching Lego Batman in the park.  This is why a nap was necessary...the movie starts at dark (after 9:00 pm which is when the kids usually settle down in their rooms for the night) and went until 11:30. I read my book The Nightingale under the park street light, Darin stayed home alone...a wonderful time was had by all. 

And today is a gloriously empty Saturday!!!
The kids got chores done without pressure, Darin and I hung Miriam's curtains (from her birthday in February) and then they did a daddy daughter project.  We ordered GOOD pizza (as opposed to Little Sceezers, which we get in a pinch) and went on an evening hike.

Third car, where Soren slipped in poo on the rough way down.

 It was such a fun family outing....but lest you think it is rainbows and moonbeams here at the Ray home rest assured we are normal.  Darin didn't really want to go at all, but with the stipulation that I wouldn't make him go anywhere on Sunday he came. Soren cried and whined quite a bit during the hike, which drives me nuts but I have to remember he has the littlest legs.  In between the hesitant participators, and the on-site whining and the dog poo is where the magic happens....where we sit on a rock and make up funny songs, where we notice the wild flowers and the lizards and discover the 3rd crashed car.

But seriously dog owners pack your poo out. 

What We Did In Between the Beauty Queen Stuff

Last week was busy running from Provo to Salt Lake, but because we were running around anyway we decided to cross some things off our bucket list.

Battle Creek Falls hike with Cristin and Anna. Very fun hike on a cool and windy day. So good to get some exercise before we sat and watched the Shoe Parade.  So fun to have a bit of time with Cristin and Anna!

The kids and I grabbed dinner at Riverwoods, and camped out at a table with chairs right outside of the toy store to enjoyed the show.

The Fashion show was at Traverse Mountain the next evening. It rained all morning, but the afternoon was cool and sunny, perfect weather to visit the Ashton Gardens.  So even though Darin wasn't with us we used our Utah Pass to have a picnic dinner and stroll through the gardens.

There are no photos of the area we spent the bulk of our time at.  Monet's Garden with the massive gold fish a turtle and a frog kept us entertained for so long.  

And of course the kids took a roll down the grass hill.

Then across the street to the fashion show where we watched Madison strut her stuff.

I took the kiddos swimming at Little America.  Miriam said "I have swam here so many times but never actually stayed here"  True story.  Little America is my family's place in the city, but since my little family live only 15 min outside of the city it never makes sense for us to sleep there.

On Saturday we went to see Grandpa and his Riviera in the Bountiful Car show.

Byron and Soren are now "really into cars"....thats what Soren told me as they googled cars all evening.

We were all exhausted by Father's Day but the kids wrote Darin sweet notes and memories,

and Miriam made a special dinner inspired by my cousin Amanda.

Soren was concerned that there were no gifts to give (besides hershey kisses and marzipan chocolate) but I assured him that his father would MUCH prefer notes of love and good food than things. 

 I sure do love that father of mine, and I love my hubby too.  So grateful for the good men in my life. 

Miss Utah

My niece Madison was crowned Miss Carbon County last Fall, my other niece  Tatum was serving as Little Miss Carbon County.  So all year I have heard about "Miss Utah Week" with a sense of urgency as preparations were being made....but living 2 hours away I was somewhat removed from everything.  

Well now I know!

A full week of activities, classes, workshops, activities, and competitions that go waaaay past my bedtime! 

The kids LOVED having family stay with us all week. Especially having cousins to play with as soon as they woke up in the morning!

Show me your shoes parade.

Traverse Mountain fashion show.

Four nights of Capital Theatre competitions.
Both Tatum and Madison worked their tails off and did a fantastic job! I didn't get to see Madison's talent, but I was SO PROUD of her on stage questions answer and she looked gorgeous every night! Tatum just shines on stage. 

The week wasn't without it's drama and problems but all in all Madison had a great experience, and as always, we pulled through as a family and "got her done!"

Officially Summer

It is star period 5 - that is a literal translation of how the Chinese say Saturday - which is one of the things we have learned during our first week of Summer 2017.

It's been good so far! Really good.....and I was nervous it wouldn't be because I was unprepared with any kind of a schedule.  I real quick threw it all together in my mind Sunday while giving the boys their summer hair cuts.  I put my homemade, non-artistic, schedules and charts in page protectors so the kids can cross things off with dry erase markers and hung them to the fridge.  It's very NOT Martha or Joanna Gaines, but it's working well for us.  

The boys wouldn't let me buzz their whole heads like Dad, but we have minimal hair to comb.

I decided Tuesdays would be our swim days. In order to get my teen excited about swimming with the fam, AND to help further my guys in swimming levels I also decided that when we choose the rec center I will do a little mini swim lesson with each one. Miriam and I had tons of fun, Byron and Soren both said this was their "low of the day".  On the flip side going swimming was the "high" so I will keep doing it.

So far, I hit the sweet spot with summer classes.  Nothing starts till 11, and there are not multiple things going on each day. Plenty of time to get all chores and lessons out of the way, just in time to get us out of the house before it gets too hot, but also not spending my whole afternoons as a shuttle service.   Next week will be a different story...it's Miss Utah so we are gearing up for a full week of go go go activities....but I am hopeful that we are in enough of a groove to return to the schedule after that.

It's so exciting to see our flowers coming back and doing so well! I planted a bunch of stuff late last fall when things were 75% off at the nursery.  I was crossing my fingers that it would make it through the winter! Our strawberry patch is doing great, getting bigger and bigger every year.  The neighbors raspberry bush made it over the fence and there are lots of berries juicin up! Our herbs are good...if I can get whatever is munching my basil to stop we will be in business.

Our big WELCOME SUMMER family surprise was going to see OK Go in concert at the Ogden Amphitheater.  The kids first ever rock concert!

It was also baby Parker's first rock concert....Alicia and Mike are clearly cooler parents than we are.

  We have loved OK Go's music and videos for a long time, this just made us love them even more.  We've been jamming out to their music all weekend.

Soren and Bub had the best seats in the house.

End of year piano recital. Miriam and Bub both worked so hard and performed beautifully.  They are not perfect my any means, but I have to say they are pretty darn good about practicing in the mornings.
I am giving Soren "Mom Lessons" this summer, it's fairly painful as that kid doesn't like to be wrong ever, but he LOVES it when he gets a song down.  He starts his lessons with Molly this Fall and he can't wait...that kid has seen his fair share of piano recitals.

We hit Menchie's on the way home

I just had to slip this photo in, sometimes Darin and I start discussing things in the car after a trip and we forget that the kids are waiting by the door to be let in.  That happened again today, mid sentence I remembered that the kids were waiting on the porch and rushed out.  Miriam was not amused.