Summer Vacation Day One

About a month ago Josh and I were talking about how fun it would be to take a trip to Colorado for the fourth of July.  He has been talking about going there ever since we got married to show me where he lived until he was  in first grade.  Well, we sat down and figured out cost and decided we could fit it into our budget-yay!

So we stayed in town for Willard City's Patriotic Program on the first.  Ally was playing the piano and Jensen was singing in it and they both did great!  We slept in the next morning and then left about 9:30.  We decided to go through Vernal so we could go to Dinosaur Land.  Josh and I both remembered going there as kids and really enjoying it.  Well, it was a bad choice.  Apparently the Visitor Center is closed for remodeling.  Everything we read said we could still go see fossils, but everything was blocked off.  Lame.  The kids were really disappointed.

Here are the kids in front of where all the cool fossils are-that were blocked off.  And did I mention that it was HOT? We did pass through the town of Jensen.  All of my boys are named after towns in Utah and this was the first time Jensen had been to Jensen.  He wouldn't let me get a picture of him in Jensen though.

The only thing we got to see were some petroglyphs.  Then we went on our way.  A very long way!  It took forever to get to Denver!  We were in the car for 12 hours with a few stops here and there.  The kids did really well, though.  Even Holden.  He would point out the window and say "deer" every time we would see any kind of animal-cows, horses, birds-it was quite funny.  His phrase of the trip was also "Dinosaur Land".  He kept saying it over and over the whole trip.  It must have made quite the impression on him-not sure why though!  We arrived at our hotel in Denver around 9:30 and headed out to eat.  We went to Subway, which was right next to a liquor store and got "cased" as we went in.  Josh was quite nervous and had us all beeline for the car after we got our food.  Not a very good first impression of Denver!

Baseball/Softball

June is definitely Baseball (or Softball) month.  Ally, Logan and Jensen all joined teams and they have loved it!

This was taken after Jensen's last game.   They all had games on the same nights most of the time and it has been crazy shuffling them to their games.

Ally at her Softball game.  She has never played until this year, but she enjoyed watching the boys's games and wanted to give it a try.

Logan is all business.  He scored a home run a couple weeks ago.  

He usually plays center field.

Jensen loves to play!  He got a hit in every game this year.  

He even got to play catcher on his last game.

Holden LOVED going to the games.  He would ask every morning if this was a baseball game day.  He loved wandering around and having a "dog dog" or a "ice crise" (snowcone).  The people in the concession stand just loved giving him free snowcones-sometimes three or four a game!  He also liked to sneak up to the scoring booth and pretend to announce the games.  He got used to being up there because I took a few turns at score keeping which was pretty fun.

We definitely loved baseball season and are sad to see it be over.  Can't wait until next year!

Whew!

I'm glad June is almost over!!

To say June has been busy is quite the understatement.  This is our calendar and I don't even have everything written on it!  Yikes!  I think I can safely say I have reached the "busy" part of raising kids. I love being able to watch my kids try new things and continue with the things I know they love.

It's Like Christmas!

You might think I'm weird after reading this post, but yesterday was like Christmas to me.  Josh's work provides a cell phone for each employee in the company, but they have very few minutes (and no texting) allowed per month.  Anyone who knows Josh knows that a "few" minutes would never work for him, so I inherited his company phone. I consider this my one and only perk from the family business-a paid for cell phone.  Well, I have affectionately called it my "Trucker Cell Phone" or "My Brick" because it is so ugly.  It could seriously get run over by a vehicle and be just fine. The last few months I have started to notice that people stare, snicker or downright laugh when I pull it out (it might not help that my ringtone was ducks quacking).  Being the sensitive person I am, I asked if there was any way I could get a new phone.  Josh said, "why?".

Men just don't understand, I guess.  

Anyway, after about three months of getting the runaround I finally got to upgrade (for only $4 a month) from this...

...to this!  Wahoo!  I'm so stinking excited!  I feel like I have finally entered the 21st Century.  It's an Android phone (whatever that is) and I love it already.  So, judge me if you will, but it feels like Christmas to me!

As the Saying Goes....

...a bad day of fishing is better than about anything else!  

My Dad invited the kids up to the dike to go fishing.  We had been told that it had been planted.  Unfortunately, I think we got told too late.

We tried and tried, but finally came to the conclusion that there were no fish left.  They probably got pushed over the dike.

Oh, well!  We still had lots of fun, so the saying is true!

Things Holden Loves

The "cap".  He loves to hold it, pull it's tail, smother it with pillows and otherwise make it's life miserable.  Poor Nimbus!

The golf cart.  He loves golf cart rides, especially with his Dad.

Jumping on the trampoline.  He always figures out some way to get on the tramp.  He usually finds the stroller and pushes it over so he can climb up.  He makes me so nervous when he is up there!

After all that fun, he usually crashes hard!  Isn't summer fun?

It's Summer!

School is out and the kids are excited for summer!  Notice I said the KIDS were excited for summer-not me.  Ugh.  I think it's only been the last couple of years that I have dreaded school being out.  I used to miss my kids while they were at school.  Not that I don't now, they are just getting old enough to whine about being bored, trash the house in 30 seconds flat, and fight like crazy with each other.  I have already heard "I"m bored" at least two dozen times-even from Jensen who never had a problem entertaining himself after morning kindergarten.

Oh well, like I've said before, I need to cherish these moments while my kids are little and life is good.  I hope to have lots of fun with them this summer (and hopefully Josh will take the boys to work with him a lot!).

Here are a few pictures from our last few weeks.

Jensen's Kindergarten Program-Together, Together, Together Everyone...(I know you all know that song, so feel free to sing along!)

Cute neighbor Liberty and Jensen after the program.  They look like such a cute little couple!

Jensen really tried hard to sing during the program.  It's not really his thing, but he did so good.  His favorite song was "Snowman".  It was pretty funny during the program because Jensen's pants kept sliding down and he kept wiggling his hips to keep them up.  We weren't sure if it was a potty dance or not.

As most of you know, we have been storing electric golf carts for a friend.  He let us use them and we got quite addicted to the convenience of getting around town in them (we can drive them on the street in our town).  So the day after he came and took the last one away, we got on KSL (a classifieds site) and found one to buy.  We were able to get a REALLY good deal and so we are the proud new owners of a blue golf cart. (It's not the one in the picture, I'll try to get a picture of it soon)  We are all loving it and it saves on gas for all those tiny trips around town.

Other things going on:

Jensen is playing coach pitch baseball.  His team is the Phillies and he has hit the ball every time he was at bat.

Logan is playing Little League and got his first hit the other night.  His team is the Orioles.

Ally has her first softball game on Monday.  Her team is the Orioles, too.  Not cute according to her because no one wears orange-ew.

I've been going to Zumba classes twice a week.

Logan and Ally are still in piano, Scouts and Activity Days.

The kids did really well in school.  At least I think they did.  It's hard to tell with the new grading system they have.  It's numbers between 1 and 4, with 3 being "at grade level".  They all got mostly 3's.

Ally graduated from Elementary School.  She was sad.  I'm terrified.  I do not want her to go to intermediate school!  It will be such an eye opening experience for my sweet sheltered girl.

Life has been crazy busy, but I love it!  Now onto the craziness that is summer...