Fun at home, fish lake, the splash pad and Mommy's big day

Kids relaxing at home...I had to take this pic because as soon as James saw that emma was laying down he had to do it too. He loves to do what she is doing.

Emma's preschool got to be part of the Lindon Days Parade...she was so excited, but I think she was pretty bored by the end of the parade.

Highland now has a splash pad. It's totally free and a lot of fun. We went one day with Benjamin and Nicole. This was at the end.

They had so much fun playing. I think it will be more fun now that all the big kids are in school, hopefully we can go a couple more times before it gets cold.

The kids loved to climb on the rocks, that wasn't my favorite part, just because they had sharp edges, I imagine some kid will crack his head open there at some point.

This was at Big Rock Candy Mountain

I think I already did a post about Fish lake, but here are some more pictures. When we left we decided to take a detour and go to Junction, Utah to relive some of my fondest childhood memories.

My Great Grandmother lived in Junction. It is a VERY small town, but so fun to visit. We always loved going and went a lot. This is at the park that we would go play at when we were there. This toy wasn't there, but the kids loved it.

The kids all thought it was pretty cool that Daddy climbed up to the top. We didn't spend too much time at the park, as you can see by the clouds a storm was coming right for us.

This toy was in Junction when I was a kid, and I know I played on it. It was kind of fun to share it with the kids.

This is where my Grandma's house once stood. There isn't really anything left, other than a few bricks from her fireplace. Makes me sad that it is all gone, it was a really cool place to visit. I remember tying quilts with my grandma and her letting me help her with the sewing machine. I loved this place...and I always will.

Nicole and Benjamin on the turny-thing with us. We had a great time while daddy pushed us.

The BIG Race! This was of course at the end. I took a little breather while Geoff went and helped with someone that was having a medical problem.

Not sure what James was telling me, but he had quite the story to tell.

Emma kept me going at the very end by running up to me and running with me. She thought it was great. The race was a little bit harder than I expected, and I got sick part way through, which of course slowed me down. At the end I informed Nicole, who ran with me, that this was my last half marathon, but I have changed my mind and will be running another one this spring. I was really happy to have finished, and I was very grateful to have a whole group of cheerleaders at the end to help me keep going.

My final time was 3 hours and 3 minutes, and some seconds, I can't remember. Yes I was very slow, but I finished, I ran all but about 1 1/2 miles of it too.

Me and James in the backyard getting ready for some smores.

More of the parade

This was James at the parade. My mom took him so that I could walk with Emma. Aunt Anita and Katy came too.

Sorry these aren't really in order. This was at the end with Nicole and Curtis. We had fun running together. I was glad to have them with me. They finished a lot earlier than I did. But waited at the end for me. I'm so glad Geoff and I can call these two friends, because they are GREAT ones.

Almost to the finish line(running on grass is NOT fun).

Nicole and Curtis near the end. They did awesome.

We are having a great summer, I'm kind of sad to see it end. But I'm really excited for fall. We have a lot of fun planned. I have more summer pictures that I will get up soon.

more fun times

I know there are a LOT of pictures in this post...but I just want to get caught up...so here we go, in no particular order.

These are from my birthday. My parents took us all to Tucano's(one of my favorites) to celebrate. We had a lot of fun. The kids had never been there before, they loved it. Emma ate and ate, I don't think I've ever seen her eat so much.

Emma is still practicing her picture taking skills, but this one is pretty good.
Geoff let the waitress know pretty early on that it was my birthday...which meant embarassing singing...including me having my own part in the whole ordeal. After the song and embarassment was over, they took what I thought was my ice cream sundae away and gave it to someone else. If I'm going to be embarassed ice cream needs to be involved. After some more eating the waitress came and asked if I wanted a birthday sundae...if you know me, you know that's a stupid question.
From this picture you can see that Emma has discovered Silly Bandz. She loved all the food. She also insisted that she use the tongs they give us to grab the meat from them as her fork.
tong lickin' good





This was a few months ago, but I just saw it, and I thought it was super cute of my little James, so I had to share.

This is a cake I made for a birthday party for another little girl. It had some small problems...I did it in kind of a hurry.
Aunt Anita gave Emma a cute little apron for her birthday, Emma loves to weat it every chance she gets.
This time it was to decorate a cake of her own...looks yummy doesn't it.
She had so much fun decorating this, and I think for a 4 year old she did a pretty decent job.

James likes to get into EVERYTHING!!!
Turning 4 meant that Emma has developed her own style. headbands that don't match, and lots and lots of jewelry are part of this style.
Emma and I on the ferris wheel at the carnival...waiting for it to load.
James and Daddy waiting for us on the Ferris Wheel. James was going to ride with Daddy, but they said that he's too small. not really sure what that's about...but whatever.
James loves to be up on Daddy's shoulders

Emma found one of our neighbors at the carnival, so they went on a ride together. They had a lot of fun. Emma loves friends.






This is at our friends cabin in Fish Lake. We went there for a weekend, we totally wore the kids out, if you can't tell.
James loved to throw rocks in the lake.
Emma thought it was pretty cool to fish...and I thought it was great that we didn't catch anything...that meant I didn't have to do anything with it.

James was very sad when we had to leave the lake, but it had started to get cold and then it started to rain. So we went back to the cabin and played.



Watching some fireworks on the 24th.
Last year Emma wasn't so sure about sparklers, but this year she thought they were great.
so did james.

The kids had popsicles while they were watching the fireworks, they thought it was pretty great.
The kids were very excited about having corn on the cob.
This is just about the only vegetable I can get James to eat...so I had to have proof




This was at the Steele Days Parade...which was super long, and we left early.
But the kids loved it while we were there.
This was at the Steele Days 5k, I took 2 1/2 minutes off my time, I was pretty happy about that. It has probably been my favorite 5k so far.

For the 4th of July we always have a family party. The kids love the stomp rockets, James and Geoff got a little time to do it on their own.

Emma loved playing blongo ball...I think that's what it's called. She had fun with all of her cousins.

Jenna and Emma became little buds the whole day...it was cute. She took great care of Emma.
James wasn't so sure about the fog from the rootbeer, but he liked the end result.

Emma is a little helper. As soon as we started setting up, she was right there trying to help.

Our ward did a pioneer parade, Emma was so excited to be in a parade. They were supposed to dress up like pioneers, the tutu and green pasta necklace was her idea of what a pioneer wears.


I still have more pictures...I'll try to get them up soon