Family, family everywhere!

Let’s start this post with some yummy s’mores, cooked in our kitchen on our gas stove… I guess the kids liked ‘em…

We had a super fun weekend with lots of family. First, we picked up cute Erin. On loan to us from Kentucky. We headed out to Kennecott to see the cool sights. Erin with Annie in the outfit that Erin’s family gave her. Awwwww.The next night, some major partying began. First order of business was a little pizza on the grill. The grillmaster himself… And the deliciousness of grilled pizza…I think we counted that Joe grilled about 14 pizzas that night. What a guy! The family started showing up…Yay for sister/mom pictures!! Poor Mom broke her toe at the St. George Temple, so we ordered her to take it easy. She did, for a minute. We pitched a couple of tents in the backyard and let the kids play, and play, and play. We watched “National Treasure” in our backyard… Teens on the swing… Cute and cuter… And how-much-more-stinkin’-cute-can-you-get… Ice cream, jammies… It was a very fun night! The kids even fell asleep at a (kind of) reasonable hour.

The next morning was the 24th of July…yay Pioneer Day! We skipped the parade this year in order to eat pancakes, it was a fair trade-off… Dad, Mom, Lorchin, Camille, Cheryl, Jake, J’Nell, Maddie, Conner, Lori, Arianna, Jason, Darci, Derrick, Taylor, Lindsey, Erin, Trish, and our family all made an appearance sometime during the two-day party.

After breakfast clean-up, we took some of the clan swimming. Cousin Derrick was a lifeguard there and it was fun to see him in action. That was it. Everyone went their own way as the day wore on. As for me and my family, we headed over to Crestwood Park. It’s a family favorite! Easy tiger, don’t fall!!My very favorite people in the whole world! Plus Annie, of course :) Beautiful!Breathtaking!! The party didn’t end there, but this post is gonna.

Happy Pioneer Day Everyone!!

July is crazy fun!

It’s like we’re trying to pack all the fun-ness into one month or something! Maybe that’s why the pioneers came to Utah in July, it’s just so fun :) We’ve done some really fun things this month and they all cost exactly $0. Is there any other way?

First,

Every year, we have our annual Neighborhood Breakfast. This year, we started off with a one-mile Fun Run. I strapped Annie to me, put Beau and Camri in the stroller, and Emma ran along side…actually she ran the whole way, I had to take short cuts to keep up with her. Joe took Dakota and Colin on a different route, then we met at the park.

They had a big breakfast: pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, milk, and juice. They had a big slide for the kids. They had a candy cannon. They had sno-cones. They had friends and neighbors. I’m telling you, this is what a neighborhood party should be! And,

The Days of ‘47 celebration is going on, with the big parade coming up on Saturday. Every year we go see the floats beforehand and vote for our favorites. This year, Grandma even came with us.

Our Stake did a float this year…Who’s in Your Family Tree? The whole fam…standing in front of our cartoon representation. This would’ve been us as pioneers… Food storage, then and now… With the princess…Clever. This is not a Garmin GPS, nope, it’s a Marmin. My cute family, and some guy off to the side who decided to pose for the picture… How to Train Your Dragon. With the marching band there, it felt like we were at the parade. Good thing since we’ll miss it this year. Teaching our children young to take the proper path…Look to your dreams, my darlings! I’m in Cub Scouts now as my church calling, so call me biased, but this float was awesome!! 100 years of scouting!Won’t be long, Colin, and you’ll be scoutin’! Okay, this one just cracks me up. Turning Trials into Treats…a good lesson for everyone, but the –ahem- curvaciousness of Mama Seagull made me laugh. Happy Birthday, Utah!

We had some friends over to enjoy the sun. They brought their little swimming pool and the kids loved getting into the freezing cold water. Go figure. Didn’t seem to bother them that much… We love summer!