4th of July

On the 4th of July we took my mom up the canyon to Cascade Springs.  The kids love looking at waterfalls lately!  

My cute kids in their patriotic clothes

I loved the yellow flowers!

 In the afternoon we went to Alan's parents house for a movie afternoon.  We watched "Brave" and ate delicious treats.  It was so fun to see our families that day!

Summer Fun

We have been having a crazy but fun summer.  Grandma Curtis (my mom) has a pool in her neighborhood, and she is so awesome to invite her grandchildren to go swimming two or three times a week .  Jared has finally had a breakthrough with his swimming skills and has been loving it.  (He used to be so scared to put his head in the water--so scared that I told him I wouldn't put him in more swimming lessons until he would do it.) 

Alan, my kids, Grandma, and some cousins

Evy LOVES swimming and gets so excited when she sees we are getting in swimsuits

My cute kids and hubby

I love this girl

The point of this picture was to show Evy's cute swimsuit that my neighbor gave me as a hand-me-down, but she didn't want to cooperate.  The other kids wanted to be in the picture, too.

We got an annual pass to the new aquarium halfway through the summer and have already been twice.  We had a pass to the old aquarium that expired just over a year ago, and it was so awesome that we knew we had to get a pass to the new aquarium, too.  They made the animals have such cool living spaces, and there are some fun places for kids to play.  It was hard to get pictures of the animals in their tanks, but here are a few:

Jared on a cool rope bridge that is really high up in the air

Standing by the height comparisons of the penguins.  I remember when Jared was the same height as an emperor penguin, and now Maggie is that same height!

Looking at sharks

Evy looking at the clown fish, aka the "Nemos"

Cool arch in the Utah section

Bean Museum

This summer we have gone to a couple of new museums. Yesterday we went to the newly re-finished museum at BYU, where we saw all kinds of taxidermied animals (is that even the words I'm looking for?)  In addition to all the animals they used to have, the rhino, giraffes, and African elephant were new and the most stunning.  

Then we had a quick stop at Chick-Fil-A at the Cougareat, and then we went to the Bookstore to buy chocolate-covered cinnamon bears.........YUM!

Family Reunion

A couple of weeks ago we went to an extended extended extended family reunion.  My kids had lots of fun learning more about the Mormon Pioneers.  

"Washing" rags with a washboard

Maggie riding Honey

 The kids loved the pony rides.  We did the pony rides first thing when there wasn't much of a line, so the kids got a nice 10 minute ride or so!  After Maggie was lifted off of her horse Honey, she said, "Honey likes me!"

Jared riding Appy

We also learned about the Native Americans, rode mini trains, and toured some pioneer homes.

Evelyn's First Steps (A Week Later)

I would feel like a bad mother if I didn't post videos like these.  Evy has been taking up to four steps for a week or so now, but I finally was able to take a video to prove it.  She is almost 14 months old.  (She still seems to think crawling is much more efficient than walking right now, though...)

Surprise Birthday Presents!

Last week a package arrived in the mail with birthday presents for Maggie and Evelyn from their grandparents!  They loved stretching out their birthday celebrations, and they look ADORABLE in their tutus and personalized T-shirts!!  

"Cheese"

I tried to get pictures of the two girls together, but my attempt failed (thank you, Evy!!) Maybe one of these days...

Thank you, Grandpa Kent and Grandma Janice!!

More Funny-isms

• I sing my kids songs about the Mormon Pioneers at bedtime during the summer.  A few days ago Maggie asked me for the "Oreo" song.  I couldn't figure out what she meant!  Then she started singing it: "For some must push, and some must pull, as we go marching up the hill!  So merrily on our way we go until we reach the Oreo!" (Valley-O)
• Maggie likes to lay out her outfit the night before.  It is so cute.  (It usually includes undies, too.)

• Last night our neighborhood held its monthly "Cookie Walk." Four families sign up at church in advance to bake DOZENS of cookies and set up a stand in front of their house.  Then families can walk around the neighborhood on a Sunday evening and take a cookie at each station (or like, four or five cookies at each station if you are an entitled teenager...) and visit with other neighbors.  It's lots of fun.  Last night we had a station in front of our house with 10 or 11 dozen cookies laid out.  Jared was treating the whole thing like a business venture:  "So, Mom, we are open from 6 til 8 o'clock, right?"  And then he greedily said, "We are going to make so much money!" after which I had to tell him we were giving the cookies away for free! (I actually think he already knew that, and he was just saying it to be funny.) 



Getting ready for the cookie walk

I do not have a primary calling, but occasionally I'm told things that happen during singing time or Jared's class time.  Jared has developed quite the reputation with the adults who serve in Primary, and they are always telling me what a good singer he is or what funny and smart things he says:

• Jared's Primary class was asked what "amazed" meant.  As in, the people were amazed at the miracles Jesus performed.  Jared called out, "That means flabbergasted!"
• The primary chorister was teaching the primary kids a new song, and they were on their 2nd week working on it.  She praised them and said how she was so surprised and proud at how so many of them knew most of the words already.  Jared yelled out, "Well, duh, we learned this song last week!"
• Jared and his friend Lauren were sitting next to each other during singing time in Primary.  After a song was finished Lauren said, "Jared, you are such a good singer."  Then Jared replied solemnly, "Well, I always try to do my best at everything!"  
• After a Primary lesson on the Priesthood, Jared wrote on a poster the class was making, "Jared's Guide to Priesthood Ordinances" and then proceeded to list what he knew about each ordinance.  So cute!
• One last note about Jared before I share pictures from the last week of school--Jared is officially a Star Wars geek!  I love it!  He has read many, many Star Wars picture books this past year and is into Angry Birds Star Wars (it teaches more about the characters and plot than you think!)  He knows all the characters and the whole story line.  Well, we have finally started watching the movies with him!  I was nervous showing them to him cause I think they can be a bit scary (we will definitely skip big chunks of Episode III), but he is loving them.  At the end of Episode I, I was explaining to Jared that Palpatine was just pretending to be nice, but he's really a bad guy.  Jared said, "Duh, Mom, everyone know's he's Darth Sidious!"  It's super fun to share that with him.  I think Alan, especially, loves it.  

Jared on the last day of school with Mrs. H!  We loved her. Jared is actually sad that school's out (that makes two of us!) Ha ha!)  He enjoys it so much!

Below is a video of the 1st graders doing their dance for the Dance Festival the last week of school.  Jared's right on the front row, but this was the closest I could zoom in, so don't even try to pick him out. 

Random cute picture of sweet Evelyn with Daddy taken the day of the Dance Festival