Visits from uncles

 In June we had some visits from Uncle Isaac and Uncle Scott.  The kids always love when their uncles come to visit!  :)  I think this post has like 20 pictures.  But hey...I'm trying to catch up!

 Uncle Isaac participating in some arts and crafts.

 Eating at a yummy frozen yogurt place.  You get to add as much candy as you want!  ha ha.  That's what the kids do anyway.  It takes them forever to eat here because they have to chew all of the gummy bears that get frozen as they sit in the ice cream.  But it is a fun little place.

 Funny picture...look at Isaac's face!

 This is what happens when you put bubbles in the jet tub and then turn the jets on.  There are like four inches of bubbles there!  ha ha.  The kids were in heaven.

 Uncle Scott came over with his fiance for a few days.  Then she had to leave (I didn't take ANY pictures while she was here...sheesh!)  Here he is grilling up the Sunday steaks.  They were delicious too.  And when we sat down at the table, scott got Zac to eat tons of brocolli and mashed potatoes, which is pretty much unheard of.  The trick was to call the potatoes french fries.  He kept asking for more french fries.  Ha ha.

 Silly picture of the kids helping me make sugar cookies.

 Then we went to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point.  Emery was Scott's buddy the whole time.

 Then the kids got put in jail.  ha ha.  Look at Sadie and Zac's faces!  

 Pony ride.  This is always a favorite.  Zac just has the cutest smile!

 And so does Sadie.

 Emery even had a turn this time.  She loved it.  The only time she fussed was when she was sliding off the saddle and I didn't notice.  Ha ha.  She giggled the rest of the time.

 Then we went on the horse drawn wagon ride.  This is another favorite.  Of course, I didn't enjoy the huge toot that the horse let out right before we took off.  Yuck!  But it sure made Zac laugh.

 Sadie sat with Uncle Scott.

 By the cow.

 This makes me want some Chick Fil-A.

 Then before we left we went and got some ice cream.  Yum.  Right before lunch too.  Lucky kids.

 We went to Scheels one day too.  Scott tried out the shooting games.

 Here is another one.

 Sadie enjoying some time with the skunks.

 And of course a ride on the Ferris wheel.  

We love when our uncles come!  Can't wait to see these two and uncle Evan in August for Scott's wedding! 

"Tennis"

The kids found these racquets in our garage a few weeks ago and they have been asking to play tennis.  So the other day we went to the park with our racquetball racquets and some balls.  The kids had a blast running around hitting the ball...but they soon realized they were doing more running than ball hitting.  ha ha.  So they decided to just play on the playground instead.  Maybe when daddy can come with us it will be more fun.  :)

 CHEESE!

And Emery finally discovered that she likes to swing.  She has hated it since she was a baby...but if you just push her a tiny bit so she doesn't go too high...she loves it!  Silly girl.

BYU

Since we still own our duplex in Springville, we go down and visit at least once a month to make sure everything is going good and all that.  Last Saturday we went down to collect rent and to see how things were going and then we stopped at BYU on the way home.  It was a pretty nice day outside so we parked by the bell tower and explored all around there.  It was really fun.

 By the bell tower.  They have changed a lot of things since I went to school there.  But the bell tower still looks mostly the same.

The tunnel.  This is where tunnel singing went on when Rob and I went to school.  Rob said he went a lot, I went once or twice I think.

 Of course the kids all wanted a turn doing this.  :)

 As we walked down the path we saw a door at the bottom of the bell tower opened and she was playing this bell instrument.  She told me what it was called...and she even spelled it for me...but i forgot already.  Then she played "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" on it for us.  It was really neat.  I have never seen an instrument like it.  Kind of like an organ, but the keys were like pegs sticking out and she had to hit them down with her whole hand.  Really cool.

 By the water...Zac couldn't stop looking at the ducks that were coming toward us thinking we had bread.  Poor ducks.  We had no bread.

 Love these guys.

 Emery loved the ducks too of course!

 Then we walked down to the Creamery on Ninth and got some ice cream.  

 Yum.  The kids were all tired of walking so we walked back a little ways and then Rob ran ahead and got the car and picked us up.  

This little one zonked out before we even got to the freeway on our way home.  She was tired!

Fourth of July

We had a great 4th of July this year.  I think the last time that we tried to watch fireworks with the kids was when Zac was not even two, so two years ago.  If I remember right, Zac fell asleep right before they started, and Sadie was terrified of the loud bangs and booms that come with the fireworks show.  So we usually just put them to bed at normal time on the 4th and enjoy the evening by ourselves.  That is exactly what we planned on doing this year...

We started the day off by going to the parade, which is just by the park by our house.  So we walked over there, met up with some of our friends and watched the parade.  It was pretty hot outside and the parade seemed to last forever!  After about an hour or so, we decided to watch the rest of it from the shade nearby while we ate our picnic lunch.  Lots of other people were leaving too, but there were still quite a few floats left.  Anyway, it was tons of fun being with our friends and the kids loved watching the floats drive by.

Then we rushed home so we could put the kids down for a nap/quiet time and clean up the house and prep for our friends who were coming over for a BBQ in a few hours.  Of course, Emery fell asleep for about 15 minutes in the stroller on the walk home, so she didn't take a nap.  But she was pleasant the rest of the day anyway.  I think it helped that our friends and Rob's brother and wife were there.

We enjoyed the BBQ and after our friends left, we decided to walk over to the neighborhood party that was going on.  At this point it was about 7:30 (30 minutes past our kids bedtime...I know...we are such mean parents to put our kids down so early) but the kids were doing alright.  We stayed there for a while and chatted with some of our new neighbors and ward members. 

Oh I forgot to mention that we threw some pop-its in the backyard and I got some glow bracelets out for the kids before we walked over to the party.  Sadie was trying to crack her glow sticks some more because they weren't really glowing (it was still light out).  As she cracked it, they exploded open and the glow juice went right into her eyes.  She screamed and screamed.  So I took her inside and started pouring water in her eyes...and Rob looked up what to do on the computer.  Turns out, you just keep pouring water in their eyes for ten minutes.  So that is what I did....anyway, moving on...

When we got home from the party, Luke broke out his fireworks to do in front of our house.  They were pretty awesome this year.  There were a lot more fireworks that were legal, and you could tell.  They were going off all around us.  It was crazy.  The kids even liked them after watching from the window for a while.  Then we set up a blanket on our front lawn and watched the city fireworks show.  We have a pretty good view.  So by eleven or so the kids were finally in bed.  And then I went to bed shortly after.  It was a pretty busy day, but it was so fun to have a day like that every once in a while.  Hope you all had a good 4th of July!  I am glad that I get to enjoy the freedoms we do here in the USA!

 This was our treat for FHE on Monday before the fourth of July.

 I don't think we even had time for FHE that night...

 But we still ate the yummy treats of course!

 Rob put this screen thing up before the parade.  He is so manly!

 Walking to the park.  This is the part that always scares me...crossing the tracks!  Fortunately they weren't running that day so it was a little less stressful.

 Waiting for the parade.

 All the kids waiting for candy...unfortunately, we were at the very end of the parade, so most of the candy was all gone.  I think they each got two pieces of taffy.  I'm ok with them not having a ton of sugar!

Yay for friends!

 Our kids sure love their aunts and uncles.  Although, ever since we had a visit from uncle Isaac, they call all of their uncles "Isaac".  It is pretty funny!

 Throwing pop-its all over the place.  ( I dont' know what they are really called!)

 Watching the firework show uncle Luke is putting on.

 Sparklers...the kids are still terrified of these. 

 The kids begged Uncle Luke to play the blanket game (throw a blanket on them) again and again and again...

 My friend Laurel made this delicious fruit pizza.  It was so yummy!  Rob just ate the last piece today.  So good!

And here are some fun red white and blue cookies I made.  It is fun to make these kind of cookies, but only once in a while, because they take a lot of time and patience.  Ha ha.  But I love how they turned out.  Almost too pretty to eat!

Problem solved

I bought a card reader today at Walmart.  Woohoo!  I just finished transferring all of the pictures on my camera to the computer.  It was about a month and a half worth of pictures.  Now I get to go organize them all.  :)  So rest assured that I will soon begin "Operation Catch-up".  Until then, here are a few fun videos for your enjoyment.

This first one is another favorite song of the kids.  Even Emery loves it.  It is a gorilla singing about his jungle.  This is the dance they do while the gorilla is singing.  So funny.

This one is of Uncle Luke playing the blanket game with the kids.  How can you resist doing it over and over when they are so cute??  :)

Broken Camera

...Well, the camera isn't actually broken.  It takes pictures just fine.  I just can't transfer them from my camera to my computer.  The cord isn't working.  I have a feeling my kids had something to do with it.  :)  I am going to look online today and see how much a card reader is so we don't have to buy a whole new camera.  We'll see how that goes. 

In the mean time, here are some cute pictures of the kiddos.

 At Thanksgiving Point.  I love the tulips.

 Emery loves this girl!  

 Sadie found a friend on BYU campus.

 So did Zac.

Some things I need to catch up on when I get the camera working:

-4th of July Obviously
-Visit from Uncle Isaac, Uncle Scott and Stephanie
-various family activities and visits to Thanksgiving Point
-any other crazy pictures I find...it has been about a month since I have been able to clear my camera!

Sadie's a dancer

 

Sadie did great at dance this year!  She loved every minute of it!  She is so flexible.  She just loves to dance.  She will turn music on at home and make up her own dances and put on shows.  It is great.  I wish I could upload the videos of both of her dances...but for some reason it isn't working.  We loved our time at Charisma Dance and hope we can find a dance studio as good here in West Jordan!