happy birthday, dana!

Happy Birthday to my darling little sister! I never think to call her before its too late on the east coast so she'll have to be satisfied with a blog post instead.

Dana lives way too far away in Boston. It was fun to see her more often when we lived in Virginia. I'm hoping they'll move back west sometime soon. She is mom to four adorable blondies and wife to dearest Rob. She is talented, funny, athletic, stylish, extroverted (so many things I am not). We've always gotten along fairly well despite those differences. She is really such an amazing person and I am so lucky to be her sister.





I love you, Dana! Hope your day was fabulous!

happy town, usa

We live in a great city. Our little city had its Family Festival this weekend. The festival always coincides with the 24th of July, usually the Saturday after it. On Saturday morning we walked down to the end of our street to watch the parade. Of course the kids loved collecting the candy and it was fun to see Emma in the parade with her dance team.


In the afternoon, we opted not to go to the festivities at the park. Dave took the older three kids swimming instead for three hours. I stayed home with Sawyer who thankfully napped for a good long while.

After dinner, Dave lit "snakes" with the kids. Don't ask me why he was doing it on the sidewalk. I don't think those burn marks will ever go away. The kids were covered in ash but thought the whole thing was awesome.


At the time it was lovely summer evening and it was nice to be outside. I especially loved watching Nathan be so Nathan--riding his bike and scooter up and down the street, running, flipping, and just being happy.

We thought we would head over to the park for the last performance of the evening. We got there just in time for a downpour. Obviously the performance was canceled. The kids ran and splashed in the rain instead. We came home for baths and a movie. At ten we headed down the street to watch the fireworks but were disappointed when they called them off because of the wind.

The city postponed them until tonight. We were right across from the field where they were set off so we had a fantastic view of the fireworks right overhead. We enjoyed the twenty minute show followed by the ten minute walk home and tired kids who went straight to bed.

by the numbers

in the last two weeks....

trips to the swimming pool for lessons or fun--8
photo sessions I shot last Wednesday--2
people over at my house on Sunday evening--21
musical numbers performed at church--1 (Emma sang with a small group I put together. They performed beautifully.)
work dinners--1 at the Grill at Ipanema (my first experience with Brazilian)
softball games--2
violin lessons--2
cost to fill up my van last week--$98.33
times I thought about blogging and didn't--too many to count

happy birthday, grandma

We headed down to BYU this afternoon to surprise Grandma Daniel at her office. I got there first and the kids entertained themselves at the fountain and on the stairs. Sorry to all those BYU students who were outside trying to enjoy a leisurely lunch on a beautiful day. We were just doing a public service by being "birth control" to those in a hurry to get married. Yeah, we're constantly working on using proper behavior in public. Anyhow....

Heather and Katie showed up with the other 8 grandchildren. We managed to get all 12 children upstairs, lined up in the hall and with a flower in hand. They even were whispering for a good portion of the time. Amazing.

Unfortunately, Grandma had someone in her office and we had to wait longer than they had patience so the quiet didn't last. Finally, we sent them in one by one to hand Grandma her flower and wish her Happy Birthday.


Then, since we are totally crazy, we took everyone over to the Cougareat for lunch. All I can say is we would have been in a huge world of hurt if it hadn't been for the buckles that kept certain young ones from escaping. Everyone ate. No one got lost. We finished it off with ice cream cones outside. What an adventure.

Happy Birthday to Phyllis! We love you. Thank you for raising such an amazing son. Thank you for welcoming me into your family. Thank you for loving my children. Hope your day was wonderful!

fresh faces

I love having different faces to photograph. Sawyer has started holding out his hand in front of the camera which is proof positive that my children are tired of modeling for me. I siezed the opportunity to photograph my nieces and nephew today instead. They actually asked me to take more! They aren't exactly ideal--messy hair, swimsuits, harsh sun--but I figure their mom will at least smile to see them. Kate, these are for you!

keys to a successful summer day

1. read scriptures
2. exercise (even if its just for 15 minutes)
3. take the kids somewhere fun (with plenty of shade and water)

It is amazing how doing just a few simple things (particularly reading my scriptures and exercising) make me feel like my whole day was great. I also got some "fun mom" points for taking the kids to the Children's Garden at Thanksgiving Point. We hadn't been before and it was great. They splashed and soaked and ran and laughed.


And Sawyer finished it all off with a small serving of towel.


They got to play with their cousins which made it even better. We hardly explored past the Ark but it didn't really matter. I love having an annual pass! I am sure we will be back to wander the paths and see the beautiful gardens another time when it isn't so hot.

We snagged some treats at JCW's before heading over to watch the last fifteen minutes of Dave's softball game. And then finally came home to watch So You Think You Can Dance (me) or Food Network (Emma), finish sprinkler installation (Dave), and play in the backyard (boys).

Hurray for summer days like this one!

fourth of july weekend

I started out in a very grumpy mood on the 4th. Dave went golfing with his dad and brothers and I just was feeling like there was no fun and celebration to be had for me and the kids. We had no plans and I hate that. We went over to Dave's sister's house to let the cousins play for awhile. Poor Katie had to put up with my grumpiness. Fortunately things did get better. Dave came back (that always makes things better) and Katie made plans for everyone. She invited us all over to Grandma's house.

We barbequed. And jumped on the tramp. And played card games. And enjoyed the nice summer evening.


Then we headed back to Katie's to watch the Pleasant Grove fireworks and set off some of our own. I learned that I have absolutely no clue how to take night shots so I didn't get any good pictures. There is always something to learn! The kids had a lot of fun and no one melted down despite the late hour. We finally made it home at 11:00.


On Saturday, we headed out to Payson Lakes for a day of canoing and swimming in the lake. I think everyone enjoyed the day. Even me. I found a nice spot of shade and sat back and "relaxed". The one huge downside was all the cotton blowing around from the trees. Made my nose itchy and runny and I'm still sneezing.


After church today, we headed back over to Katie's for the monthly get together. We had lots of yummy dessert and just sat around talking. The kids all even got along well for the most part. Now if Sawyer were old enough to entertain himself, Dave and I could have sat down and acted lazy the whole evening. Unfortunately he is still rather demanding.

What I learned:
--make plans early
--get a small camera or a different lens so I am actually in some pictures
--take a family picture
--buy lots of fireworks