Summer

Here she is....Miss Bugsy Smores! 

She really is a sweet pet. The boys have been cheerfully taking care of her; feeding, skat duty, and so far one cage cleaning...I am sure that good attitude won't last forever but I love how tender they are with her.  I read about how pets create empathy in children, I don't think my kiddos are lacking in that department but I do love to see them taking care of another living thing. 

Friday hike - Adams Canyon.  

The temps have been in the high 90's-100 all week.  That blazing hot sun is not my friend but the silver lining is the drastic sunsets! This night in particular, I called everyone in the house to come out on the deck and watch the sun go down.  

Those hot temps are encouraging us to plan ways to get out of the heat! We used our family pass to the Clark Planetarium last weekend.

First: splash pad for the boys and Sur La Table for Miriam (she adores that place)

Then Barnes and Noble because both the boys have gift certificates they had won during the school year.  Are my kids the only ones who have near nervous breakdowns over spending $...even FREE $?  In the end Soren bought a little puzzle  and Byron is saving his $.

We had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and then hit our IMAX

I forget how much I enjoy these shows! I don't really like movies in 3D so I guess I thought I we were mostly going for the kids, but I loved it! The documentaries are exciting but not overly stimulating like block buster movies.

There are new displays and interactive activities which was a surprise, I did not schedule enough exploration time. The boys were so sad to leave and I could have spent another hour there. The pass also includes a Dome Theatre movie so we will be back.  

Red Hot 4th

It's weird when the 4th is on a Tuesday.  We celebrated over the weekend, then Darin worked, then we celebrated, worked Wednesday, had Thursday off (family stuff) but worked again on Friday.  Thats not totally the 4th's fault, but a strange week anyhow. 

Monday.....So this came in the mail.... Way to go Mir-cat!!

Miriam found this pristine deceased butterfly and carefully brought it home for the boys to investigate.  A Swallowtail. Miriam adores butterflies so it was bittersweet but she knew these guys love bugs in all states of life.

That night we walked down the street to the elementary school and watched the city light off their fireworks.  Fun to be right underneath them, and even more fun to not deal with traffic!! I hope the city never moves the location because this was my favorite part of our 4th celebrating mainly because of ease, temperature, enjoyment, and no required pre-planning.

Tuesday morning the kids and I walked down to the city parade.  We knew we would be in the sun because I didn't stake out a spot the day before, but I have had bad experiences saving spots for parades and don't enjoy that at all.   Even though it was early (9 am) we did get blazing hot full frontal sun...but we also got tons of candy INCLUDING minty mints from Mrs. Cavanaughs, which was why I came- so win!! (thats really not why I came...the bands, that is why I come and the fly-bys).

Double fly byes for this parade...fighter jets (I just realized that I always call them flighter jets and only knew it was wrong from spell check) from Hill, and then these older planes from I don't know where because obviously I don't know about aeronautics.

We had tye dyed shirts over the weekend with cousins and they got us noticed even on the HOT side of the street where there were hardly any kids.  We got so much candy the boys got sick of picking it up. They became picky about the taffy and I had to encourage them to get what was around their feet because 1. it was nice that people threw it at them and 2. we don't litter

To the park for just a bit...to do one play thing and watch some of Centerville's got talent.

We had an exciting delivery from an old friend to come home to.

A new pet guinea pig named Bugsy...photos to come.  She is adorable and very old so calm, quiet and sweet.  She may not be with us for a long time but we are happy to take care of her for all the the time  she has left. 

Unfortunately it was too windy for us to let off our driveway fireworks.  That was a huge bummer for the boys, but we all went out to the deck to watch multiple displays from neighbors and communities along the valley. 

America does birthday parties right.

The Cabin

Pleasant Valley Days 2017 

An extra beautiful weekend, the lake is full and the vegetation is gorgeous!

The weather was great too...in the low 80's all weekend with cool evenings.

We cheered our guts out for our favorite beauty queens

and high school band (GO CARBON!)

We celebrated Hazel's first birthday. This cutie is walking and starting to talk. Erik and Kelly brought up Hazel's aunt and brother and sister to the cabin to celebrate with us.  They were darling little kids, so fun to watch them experience cabin activities for the first time.

 The kiddos played their games in the cabin, we went on our hikes, we got in a few rounds of Werewolf.

Grandpa taught Miriam to ride the 4-wheeler 

and the younger cousins rode Tatum and Wyler's 4-wheeler for hours.

We cheered for the fireworks.

Darin Miriam and I went on a beautiful hike to the top of the mountain.

I got to treasure hunt for wild flowers to my hearts content, Darin found beautiful birds and wildlife, and Miriam enjoyed it all.

We made it back to go to church at the local branch. Fun to see friends from my childhood.

We ended our trip by helping Julia pull the decorations off the float.  This was a surprisingly fun endeavor. the kids pulled out staples while we chatted and spent time together on the deck.

So grateful for my parents and all the hard work they have done to give us this place in the mountains.

Summer Livin'

 Arts and Crafts has ended for Soren with not one photo taken.  It was a fun class where he ran into lots of neighborhood kids and classmates. It was something for him to look forward to while slugging through daily chores.  Tennis is going strong for boy boys and luckily it hasn't been too hot, but this week was SWIM WEEK! 

Soren is happy any time he gets to swim, but this class pushed Byron.  He hated it at first, but he ended up enjoying it.  Anytime you accomplish something hard you can't help to like it even if it was never "fun".

Because the boys were wet everyday by 12:00 we spent extra time at local pools.  Miriam and I even spent a morning lap swimming because I have bruised my heel and couldn't run or hike (or walk very well).  Going to the pool is finally FINALLY relaxing for me! The kids can carry their own stuff and I don't have to be in the water right there with them.  

Soren mastered the high dive!

Miriam has become my grocery shopping/ cooking helper.  She is becoming quite the healthy foodie girl and it is so fun for me!! Darin and I have for years been pushing the veggies and helping the kids make healthy food choices. Being prepared with healthy meals, and being constant encouragers and good examples is hard work...so nice to have another memeber on our team.