Utah Vacation - Part 1

We all flew to Utah on Friday, July 27th. We were delayed in Phoenix where we had a layover, but made it in safely, even though it was late!

Russ requested an outing to Bridal Veil Falls on Saturday, so we all headed over, along with Grandpa and a few cousins. 

Brenna, Grandpa, and I opted to stay at the bottom, rather than to climb up with everyone else.
That water was SO COLD!!! I could hardly stand to stick my feet in. 

After making their way back down from the waterfall, Ashlyn and Russ wanted to go up again.
Grandpa took most the other kids home, but there wasn't enough room for McKell, so she got a consolation popsicle for staying behind. :)

Saturday night my whole family gathered at a park to celebrate Grandma's 65th birthday.

Here's the birthday girl with her gorgeous cake made by my talended niece, Becca.

Baby Hannah loved Brenna's glasses.

These cute cousins - Audrey, Lydia, and Brenna - were all born within a few months of each other. 

My entire family - it's going to be awhile before we can all be together again.

Kaylee made me leave the table while she spilled all her secrets to her aunts and uncles. 

Tasty dinner from Cafe Rio!

Sunday morning we went to church in my brother's ward, so the kids could attend classes with their cousins. After church the kids split up, with the younger girls staying at Nate's house to play, and the older kids coming back to Grandma's with us to play board games. Russ was a good sport to referee all the games. We played a version of "The Family Game" and learned that what Zach wants to be when he grows up is "rich".

Sunday night we all went over to Nate's house for dinner.

McKell had a great time on Eliza's backyard swing.

This picture of Isaac is SO darling.

Monday morning we had to say goodbye to Russ. :( Back home to return to work.
It was 12 days before we got to see him again. 

July 2018 Highlights

We often invite a group of friends over for the 4th of July, but it didn't work out this year, so we just planned a bunch of super fun things for our little family to do. We spent the morning at the park for a Ward Breakfast. Then Russ, Ashlyn, and Brenna joined some friends for a few hours of volleyball playing (Kaylee was still at Girls Camp, and McKell opted to stay home and play in our wading pool). We watched a movie together later on, grilled steaks, made homemade rootbeer, made homemade ice cream, and watched fireworks. The day was a success!

Patriotic fingernails!

Kaylee's not interested in matching with her sisters anymore, but these three were thrilled with their twinner shirts. :)

So fun when Russ added the dry ice to the rootbeer mixture.

I tried to plan some extra special activities for the girls while Kaylee was at camp. We tried out a nearby trampoline park one morning. The favorite part for all of them wasn't actually the trampolines though, but the climbing area.

Ashlyn climbed everything they had to offer (she's on the Right in the picture), and I was so impressed with Brenna's determination and ability to climb the graduated columns. She kept doing it over and over again.

Home from Camp!!!

We never miss Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A. :)

June 2018 Highlights

The Houston Astros gave thousands of free tickets to the Mormon Helping Hands volunteers who helped with the Hurricane Harvey clean-up last fall. We were lucky enough to snag a few!

We've never been to an Astros game before, but we LOVED it. So much, in fact, that we plan to make it an annual family tradition to take in a ball game or two. Parking around the stadium was crazy, but other than that (and the $7 soda Ashlyn decided to purchase) the experience was fantastic. (The fact that the Astros won in the bottom of the 9th when they'd been down the whole game probably helped!)

The stadium is really nice, and there was definitely a family-friendly vibe.

I worried about how much Brenna and McKell would enjoy the game, but I brought in some treats and grabbed a few cheap pairs of binoculars at the store, and that seemed to do the trick! Everyone had a fun night. 

 Ashlyn continued her practices for swim team, and competed in her final meet of the season. And Brenna and McKell started their first of two summer swim sessions.

Brenna was so nervous about the diving board, but she loved it after her first jump.

Ashlyn had an awesome swim season, and ended with 4 medals (2 individual and 2 relay) from the Divisional meet.

And at the end of June Kaylee headed off for a week of high adventure girls camp in Colorado!

June Birthday Girls

Now that the summer is over and the kids are back in school, I'm going to catch up here!

Ashlyn turned ELEVEN on June 6th. She really wishes it was 12, rather than 11, but she'll have to survive another year before that comes to pass.

Russ takes each girl out for morning donuts on her birthday. 

I can't even remember what gifts this kid got for her special day,
except for the standing fan she requested (which is destined to be her most used gift for sure). 

She's been collecting Harry Potter Funko Pop dolls, and requested a Ginny one on her cake.
She asks for the same cake flavor ever year now - chocolate cake with Cool Whip and strawberries.

And here's our second (but really first, since she's older) June birthday girl. Kaylee turned THIRTEEN and entered her teenage years on June 7th.

I don't remember what gifts she got either, except that she's getting old and boring and telling me things like, "I want a new backpack and new tennis shoes and new clothes for my birthday, but I want to pick them out myself." 

And here she is with the Chocolate Yum-Yum cake she always asks for.

Ashlyn gave Kaylee a tote bag that says "Just a Wizard Girl Living in a Muggle World, Took the Hogwarts Train Going Anywhere". The girls had no idea that was a play on words from a super famous song, so Russ (who actually used to listen to classic rock, rather than simply classical) enlightened them with a little Youtube video of the original lyrics. Everyone thought the fashion of the 80s was totally awesome.