Happy Birthday Alec!!!

8. It's kind of surreal. The 2nd major milestone birthday for our family this year.

We decided to do a low key birthday celebration for Alec this year. With his baptism planned for Saturday, and a party after, I didn't need any more stress. Plus, it seems every time I try to plan a party for one of my children, it's an inconvenience for some, and I won't let even a hint of that spill over to my children...I want their birthday to be all about them.

Alec asked me to make cupcakes with chocolate frosting. (That was a surprise in and of itself). I had a thing I had to attend at work in the morning. We went swimming in the afternoon, grabbed McDonalds for dinner, and then opened a few presesnts.

From July 2010

From July 2010

He was thrilled with his gifts, from the cash from his different grandparents, to the HUGE Bionicle and new DS game from Cole and I. Unfortunately, I didn't have the settings on my camera right to get good pictures of him blowing out the candles, but all in all, I think he had a nice, special day.

Ode to Temporary Stupidity....

Remember these shoes?

From March 2010

(the ones on the right).

So cute, and I thought they'd be perfect for wearing to Lagoon this summer. I don't like to wear sandals to Lagoon, I prefer my feet to have a little more protection in that environment.

The only problem with the shoes, was that after I wore them a couple of times, I noticed that for walking the asphalt at Lagoon, they just didn't have enough padding in the heels. No problem, I thought, I would just get some insoles for them.

Unfortunately, I didn't think about the fact that adding an insole with padding would also change where the shoes hit the back of my heel.

The result...

From July 2010

Horrible blisters after walking from the entrance to the South side of the park. I really thought it wasn't that bad, and I braved it...but the pain was soon terrible. I limped to the car for bandaids and neosporin...which covered the problem, but didn't help the pain. I gave up on my shoes, and now I'm the proud owner of these...

From July 2010

Relatively cute, purple fake Crocs. After getting my bandaids, and realizing that they weren't enough protection, I limped to Lagoon's Surf shop. I have to send all my thanks, gratitude, and blessings out to the cute salesgirl, who saw me desperately searching for my size (which must be popular, all the sizes they had out were either too big or kids), asked me what color I wanted, and pulled the size I needed. They also had some really cute flip flops, but I'm not a flip flop girl...having something between my toes is always painful for me. The crocs were only $10, a small price to pay for not ruining my family's night at Lagoon.

The really sad thing...everyone else in line was also buying shoes, and for the same reason. I guess it was just one of those days....

More Lagoon!

We headed out to Lagoon again last night. It was incredibly crowded, but all things considered we ended up pretty lucky. Part of the reason is that when we head out to Lagoon, we try to have a really laid back vibe. If we go, and it's busy, and we only get to ride a few things, it's ok...that's the beauty of having season passes. We don't feel obligated to spend hours and ride EVERYTHING.

From July 2010

Talia loves the bell on the statue that decorates the entrance to the Jumping Dragon (all the kids seem to)

From July 2010

Alec...

From July 2010

It was hot, but we had a good time!

"Soft me Mommy!"

From July 2010

All my kids loved to be tickled...somewhere along the way they started calling it "softing", probably for softly tickle me...

The "4th"

Where to begin? When you haven't blogged for 10 days, you took 90 pictures in a 24 hour period (and only stopped because your camera died), and then your husband takes 130 pics with his camera...I feel a little bit overwhelmed.

We had a great 4th of July weekend holiday. It started on Friday night. I was working, but Cole took the kids to his uncle's for fireworks, and left the boys to sleep out on the driveway with their cousins. Saturday morning I was exhausted, and slept, but Cole decided to brave the Riverdale Parade.

From July 4th 2010

(Cole's Mom, Brother Heath and Sister in Law Erin behind my kids)

All lined up, ready to collect candy...

From July 4th 2010

In recent years we've skipped the parade...too hot, too crowded, really little princess....but this year our niece Alyssa was performing. She's one of TH Bell's cheerleaders this year, and I begged Cole to go take some pictures of her. As always, he would do anything for me..including braving the crowds.

From July 4th 2010

Isn't she cute?

After the Parade, Cole and the kids came home, Cole and Talia took a nap, and after we all woke up we headed out to my parent's pool...

From July 4th 2010

From July 4th 2010

(my brother and nephew)

From July 4th 2010

From July 4th 2010

From July 4th 2010

(my grandparents and parents hang out)

From July 4th 2010

Me and Brenda...

From July 4th 2010

Gracie does a cannonball...

From July 4th 2010

Talia's learned to jump off by herself...and she loves it!

From July 4th 2010

All ready to go to our next party...(Thanks for the skirt Rachael, she loved it, and everyone thought it was soooooo super cute!)

After a few hours of swimming, we headed over to Cole's Aunt and Uncle's for the annual barbeque.

From July 4th 2010

From July 4th 2010

I finally got to see my new niece again...

From July 4th 2010

and cuddle her...

From July 4th 2010

Alyssa very happily volunteered to show me some cheers since I missed the parade...She's really good, you can tell they've been practicing a lot, I'm really proud of her!

From July 4th 2010

From July 4th 2010

Cole taking pics of me taking pics..:)

From July 4th 2010

The little girls cheered right a long with Alyssa...

From July 4th 2010

Cole was happy to see his little brother be such a good daddy...(David used to be terrified of babies, it was all we could do when our kids were infants to get him to even hold them. It just melts my heart to see him so comfortable and happy as a daddy!)

The kids ran through the sprinklers...

From July 4th 2010

From July 4th 2010

We headed home around 6:30. I really wanted to go to Riverdale's fireworks, so around 9 we headed out again. We haven't had a chance to go to a fireworks show for 3 years, so I was really excited. We met up with Heath and Erin and Kallie and Justin (Cole's cousins) and their families.

From July 4th 2010

Talia wanted to cuddle with Alyssa...she didn't leave her side the entire time!

From July 4th 2010

From July 4th 2010

Crazy Alec!

From July 4th 2010

Kyle hung out with the boys...

From July 4th 2010

And of course, the fireworks...

From July 4th 2010

This is just a teaser, I got a lot of pretty cool pics with my camera, and they'll be posted on my picture blog shortly!

We enjoyed the fireworks, and went home and crashed. Sunday (the actual 4th), we went to church, then came home and relaxed in the afternoon. We went on a walk with my parents on Sunday night.

We had a busy, but fun holiday weekend.

Bear Lake 2010

This weekend was a Family Reunion for my Dad's Mom's side of the Family. As the story goes, back in the day my Dad's uncle Jesse would call my Grandpa Lyman and suggest a sojourn up to Bear Lake. All the cousins would play on the beach, and the adults would relax. A few years back, that side of the family decided it would be fun to reinstate that tradition with the newer generation. We've gone up almost every year since then....as much as I'm really not a "beach" type person, it's really a good time, and I enjoy catching up with my Dad's side of the family, as well as hanging out with my cousins I see more frequently.

From June 2010

All packed up and ready to go...

From June 2010

On the road....

My parents decided to get a condo at the place we typically stay, the Blue Water Beach Resort/KOA. We've camped in the past, but my brother got rid of his trailer, and my sister is 7 months pregnant, and my mom dislikes camping. She prefers easy access to a bathroom and shower, and since Talia is still in the early stages of being potty trained, I had to agree that easy bathroom access was a priority. We had no idea what to expect...and were really pleasantly surprised. The condo was really nice.

From June 2010

My niece Gracie, and our "other sister" Summer (Summer is my SIL Brenda's youngest sister. She's with us a lot to help Brenda with the kids, so we have come to consider her our youngest sister, and we love to have her with us!)

From June 2010

Cute pregnant Heidi with Hunter...

From June 2010

Gracie let me play with her hair...

From June 2010

My Dad's cousins maintain a cabin on a hill overlooking Bear Lake. We headed up there Friday night to roast hot dogs and marshmallows..

From June 2010

A Stunning view...

From June 2010

Chris and Brenda

From June 2010

Having Fun (Brenda and Summer)

From June 2010

The kids were all more interested with my brother's Ranger ATV

From June 2010

The Fam...

From June 2010

Talia is all about the flowers!

From June 2010

From June 2010

Imagine my surprise to see our favorite House Supervisor Michelle (in the yellow visor) at my family reunion..it turns out that she is good friends with my dad's cousin Diane. She drove Diane up to the reunion, and decided to stay and golf and eat dinner with us...

From June 2010

Good times...

From June 2010

From June 2010

The first night I don't think anyone got much sleep. The condo was set up with 1 bedroom (my parents and Heidi and Adam slept in there), and 2 pull out beds in the living room. Chris and Brenda and Cole and I took the pull outs, with the intention of having the kids sleep on the floor and Summer on the couch. Well, Talia ended up in bed with Cole and I, and Hunter with Chris and Brenda. Sleeping with a 3 year old and 2 year old is....difficult. Cole gave up and went out to the car to try to sleep around 2:30 am. Brenda took a sleeping bag down the end of the hall, leaving Chris and I with the beds and our restless toddlers. None of us got any good sleep...

Chris and Hunter

From June 2010

From June 2010

(Photoshop enhanced)
Parker and Alec

From June 2010

Kyle and Gracie

From June 2010

(I took all these without a flash, with my long shutter setting on my camera. Considering the no flash and no tripod, they turned out pretty good. I did use photoshop to lighten them up a bit).

We ate breakfast, got ready, and hit the beach to join up with the family.

From June 2010

From June 2010

(Talia kept trying to talk to the seagulls)

From June 2010

From June 2010

From June 2010

Our own family "island"

From June 2010

From June 2010

From June 2010

(I wore a light cardigan most the day...between the breeze and the intermittent clouds, I was cold)
Building a sand castle...

From June 2010

The kids always have a great time!

From June 2010

After a day at the beach, we went back, cleaned up, and headed out to dinner...
Talia was so wiped out she fell asleep on the way into town..and didn't wake when we transferred her from person to person...my mom enjoyed cuddling her (it doesn't happen very often anymore, she's too active)

From June 2010

After dinner, I went out in the ranger with Chris, my Dad, Adam, and a couple of my younger cousins to go look for deer. We saw a few, and I mananged to get some pretty decent shots of this doe...

From June 2010

I was really impressed with my camera. This was using the digital zoom, with the exposure set to -1, and no flash (obviously). I used photoshop to clean up the digital noise a little. I love how you can see her watching our every move...
Beautiful scenery along the way...

From June 2010

After we got back, we played games for a little while, then crashed. Cole and I were able to get Talia to sleep on the floor, so we had a much better night. The sleep was pretty decent, and we woke feeling much better.

We cleaned up and headed out...the drive home was calm and beautiful. I really love driving through Logan canyon. We got home, unpacked, and I started the millions of load of laundry I'm still catching up on.

It was a really fun vacation.