More Summer Craziness

What a crazy busy summer we've had so far. Last week was ridiculously busy. I feel old now. Our ward had a carnival last weekend. James had a lot of fun playing in the bouncy house. I made cake and cupcakes for the cake walk (of which James did NOT like playing along).

 On Monday my sister, Roxanna, moved. So Lorelei came and spent the day with us. James had a lot of fun getting into her toys, reading to her, and calling her cute.

"Big scary truck! It's angry! Grrrrrr. Thee End!"

 Tuesday I tagged along with my younger sisters and went clothes shopping for school. They are pretty hilarious. Seven hours of that just about put me in my grave though.

 On Wednesday I helped Roxanna clean her old place. Then we visited my family in Spanish Fork.

On Thursday all but one of my sister's and I packed a picnic and headed up to Bridal Veil Falls. We had a great lunch and it was so nice up there. Afterwards we headed to Riverwoods and spent the majority of our time in Blikenstaffs. Rosi spent the night in James' room (and James spent the night in our bed--a recent and horrible habit that seems nearly impossible to break).

On Friday Roxanna and I took Rosi to look for rings and wedding dresses. It was a lot of fun!

On Saturday I got up bright and early to pick up my bountiful basket. I am usually pleased with what I get, and this week was no different. 

On Sunday I woke with a cold. Probably from all that running around all week. I'm exhausted! 

Paul has one more day of finals and he's done with school for 2 weeks. I already have a big long list of things around the house to help me with.

Pioneer Day

We had a great weekend.

On Friday we attended the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Pioneer Day Concert. This year was a tribute to our soldiers and it was absolutely awesome! So glad I got to go.

On Saturday morning I picked up my produce from Bountiful Baskets. I got all of this for $15. I am so excited to be able to afford produce now!

Paul got off work early on Saturday and we went for a drive. We went up to Utah lake state park and found an awesome trail. We went for a nice, long walk along the river there. 

Later on we took James to the splash pad in Spanish Fork, picked up Slurpee's and went for another drive. We used to go on drives in the country all the time when we lived in Springville. It was really nice to just drive around  and enjoy the scenery.

On Sunday we went for a walk up at the Provo temple after church. It was hot, but we had a good time. James loves the temple.

On Monday we woke up early and went to the parade in Spanish Fork. Luckily the weather was decent so we didn't fry.  We headed back to my parents house where we ate BBQ, played in the kiddie pool, went to the park & played and finished off the day with ice cream cones and fireworks.

playing the piano at Grandpa's house

he wanted his picture taken in front of this rock

Cosmobile a the parade

Fireworks!

I hope you had an equally awesome weekend!

Paul recently took a trip to Dallas with his boss's boss for a huge food convention. He slept in luxury accommodations all paid for by the school.  

Cowboy on Stilts

The Resort

James and I had movie nights every night, ate lots of fruit snacks and hot dogs. We stayed up super late every night and James slept in my bed, which is probably going to cause some sleep issues in the future.  I don't like sleeping alone though and in order to not freak out I had to be truly wiped out before going to bed.  I feel so much safer with Paul around.

I took James to his first movie. He really wanted to explore the theater, but after about 45 minutes of that, he finally passed out. I don't know if I'll be taking him to the movies again anytime soon.

In front of the theater

One of the few times he wasn't squirming around

And then there were the things that Paul does around the house that I didn't realize that he did.
Like taking out the trash (needless to say, the place was pretty smelly after a few days) and filling up the humidifier (it actually will run out of water!).  Not to mention his hour or so of play time with James when he gets home from work that gets all of James' wiggles out. There was also a spider incident that was particularly horrifying.

We are so glad that he's home. Paul and James have been playing pretty much non-stop since he's been back. Now we just have to get back into some sort of schedule. What a crazy summer it's been so far!

Independence Day!

Our weekend was crazy busy. It started on Friday with Paul going shooting while I went shopping with the girls. Then there was a baby blessing, a priesthood ordination and a pre-wedding BBQ.

On Saturday we had two weddings at the Salt Lake temple. My brother got married at 11:40 and Paul's (adoptive) sister got married at 12:30. It was in the triple digits outside and I still can't wear shoes from the blisters I got. That evening there were two receptions and I'm pretty sure we were all asleep within 30 seconds of hitting our pillows.

Sunday there was another baby blessing, a luncheon, family blessings, and family dinner.

Monday we woke up and went to the Freedom Festival in Provo. We saw the parade, walked around, got James his first cotton candy, made a craft, jumped in a bouncer and general fun was had. Then we went home and set up his pool on the patio, played with bubbles and got ready for a BBQ at my parent's house.  I brought sidewalk chalk and everyone had fun drawing while Paul cooked up the food. Then we watched Wizard of Oz and blasted off a bunch of fireworks. James was scared at first but ended up having a good time.

"I'm bouncing!"

First taste of cotton candy

My sister Reanna drew this

Grillin'

Patriotic Trifle. Yum!

fun with fireworks

Watching the fireworks with my little man

Very tired. Watching the Wizard of Oz.

For the last few weeks we have been watching two awesome shows on Netflix. I would highly suggest them both! I love our country. I feel truly blessed to live here.

  

I hope you all had a great 4th of July!

Why I Love Summer

I love summer. Love it.


We eat watermelon, berries, and salads constantly.

We get to play in the sprinklers every day.

We watch fireworks every weekend (we live right by the school, and after every Orem Owlz game fireworks go off).

The food. We eat food off of the grill almost every day of the week. Have I mentioned that my husband is a grill master extraordinaire? Because he is.

We sit on the full-shade patio, read, play in the kiddie pool, draw with sidewalk chalk, play with bubbles,  then go inside to our air conditioning and Popsicles.

We can take walks at 9:00 pm and feel the heat of the day leaving the earth

I love the sunshine, the heat, and the smell of sunscreen in the morning.


I get to sport my super cute flip flops

We play outside!

I love waking up to sunshine.

We make lots of crafts to keep us occupied.

The only downside to summer is the mosquitoes. I have no love for them. They especially irritate me when they attack my gorgeous little boy and leave him looking pock-stricken.

 Which brings me to another thing I love about summer: Raid!

Happy Daddy's Day!

For Father's Day this year James got to do a little painting using his brand new easel. I cut his masterpiece up into ties for cards.

Someone stole one of Paul's grill tools right off of his grill. JCPenney sends me $10 rewards every other month. There was a great deal on a set that was usually $30 and I got it for absolutely free.  I picked up some specialty sauces and spices (he never buys these for himself), Dad's Root Beer and called it good. 

And this is what we made for my dad: 

Paul's Grandpa will get a similar painted tie. He has become more alert since we left Michigan. We keep hoping for the best.
The best dad's I know:

Me and my daddy. I love him soooo much!

Paul's grandpa took on the responsibility of raising him and his  brother.  He is a great man.

And last but not least, Paul. Thank you for being such a  great daddy to our son. We love you!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Birthday, James!

My baby is two! He requested waffles for breakfast, so I made up a batch from scratch since I ran out of mix (he eats a lot of waffles).  Then we cleaned the apartment (the kitchen in particular--making cake is messy business!).
If you sign up for the Birthday Club at Toys R Us, you get a few dollars to spend at the store. So we went and picked out a toy. He finally decided on a little tractor that makes big tractor noises (I'm secretly looking forward to the day when the batteries run out).
Then we came back home to get ready for his party.

The Tractor

Playing with his balloons

The Cake!

He was so excited to blow out the candles. 

Opening presents

To make the day even more perfect, he went to bed early in his big boy bed and stayed there all night. Yay James!