SUMMER 2012

Well as you can probably guess our summer has been crazy busy! I seriously haven't been able to find a free moment to blog, or maybe I just didn't want to waste a moment with my kids. Either way I am seriously behind. Here is our June and July in pictures:


JUNE

We decided to make a quick trip up north to surprise my dad for his birthday. No one knew we were coming. We stopped and grabbed lots of balloons and popped Gwen on the porch holding them. We rand the doorbell and hid, leaving here there alone. Needless to say, every one was shocked and surprised. It was a really fun quick trip.

Grandpa and his girls. They will not let him put them down. Grandpa has BIG muscles.

They all like to sit on his lap in the rocking chair while they all sing "Rocky bye-o" over and over.

This right here is why they like him so much. He spends endless amounts of time playing with them and thinking up fun and creative things for them to do. Here they are taking endless rides in the wheelbarrow.Grandpa has BIG muscles.

My dad is one of the most selfless, kind and amazing people I know. We just adore him around these parts. Happy Birthday dad!

 
Youth Conference

Carter and I were put in charge of our wards Youth Conference this summer. We decided to take them up north to temple square.  Here they are enjoying the hot tub. Don't worry the limit was 3 people at a time.

I loved every minute of it! Temple square did all the hard work. great food, great speakers and tours of the grounds. I just love these girls.

Here they are on top of the Conference Center, it was amazing!

At the reflecting pool.

 In front of the Salt Lake temple.

After temple square we were lucky enough to get to rock climb! The kids absolutely loved it! I even got my climb on. Obviously there will be no pictures of me in a climbing harness, sorry to disappoint.

I just love working with the youth in our ward. They are special, very special. What a humbling experience to get to be with them for a whole weekend!

We tried to see more of our home town this year. We tried to be a bit more adventurous. We heard of this fun hike in Leeds and we went for it! It was a little bit of a hike, but these natural pools were totally worth the work. The kids had so much fun, and I even jumped in to cool off.

Jackson jumping off a cliff.

Gwennie being a good supporter. It was too deep for her to swim

Bowen's turn!

Bowen and coop going down the rock slide.

Courtney finally got the guts.

4TH OF JULY

We all know by now that July is my favorite month. I love to decorate and celebrate! Here is a little Pinterest craft.

Little Gwennie is getting some more hair. We are having a blast trying out some new styles. I just think the back of her head is so cute, so I snapped a picture. I have a very similar one of Courtney when she was 2.

Every 4th of July we make homemade taffy. Bowen was anxious to get pulling.

Here I am in all my glory...working the taffy.

Courtney and I pulling, pulling. and more pulling.

Getting ready to cut.

Cutting......

The final product. It was tasty! Notice Bowen rocking out in the background....he cracks me up!

Miss Liberty

The Girls



 Yes I still make them dress up in red, white and blue. I'm mean.

My cute cousin and life long friend Emily, came to visit on the morning of the 4th. We had fun swimming, eating and catching up. She has a great husband and a darling family.

Such cute girls!

Gwen's always good for a funny face.






















Patriotic ice cream sandwiches...very hard.

I might of gotten a little crazy in the cooking department. I made this jello popcorn for another party in the evening. I think it looked better than it tasted.

 These little things rocked! I make them every 4th of July. This year I got smart and made them bite sized. They were so good!

The finished product.

 THEN I made some glass candy in patriotic colors. It was deeelish!

We always end up celebrating Bowen's birthday up north, poor guy. Both of my grandmas birthday's are the 24th so we like to go up and celebrate. Grandma Richards turned 102 this year. AMAZING. Anywho Bowen wanted to try out he old Purple Turtle for his birthday so he and I stopped for a mint oreo shake.

Later we stopped in a Pei Wei. We love that place. We shopped an ended up with a new ipod. Good times. Happy 11th birthday to my sweet, loving, happy boy. I adore you!

When up north you must stop at Macy's for an ice cream. Just like the old days.

Here is Miss Gwen wearing her snazzy 24th outfit compliments of our grandma Cluff. Thanks Grandma!

In my parents neighborhood they always have a fun day on the 24th. Water slides, live bands, games, a zip line and fireworks......and apparently a giant snake which Gwen absolutely loved! She just kept rubbing it and laying on it. SICK!

Here are the boys watching the fireworks.

Such a fun holiday with family!

Summer Randomness

 We have been very busy with Miss Plunkett! Lots of new things are happening. We are very excited.

. This is a cute photo shoot we did with some of our new products. It turned out darling! We are now prepping for Swiss days the first of September.

I just had to include this picture. These two are so funny together. They love to play together, and theyr are so creative. They crack me up!

Having some yogurt in her rain boots. Why not? My standards have definitely lowered on child number five.

We went up to Cedar City and tried our hand at kayaking. It was seriously fun, and a seriously great work out. 

Oh, I just love these littles!

Cooper killing time on the beach until it is his turn again.

What a fun summer we have had,and I haven't even blogged about our summer finale.....NAUVOO! That's next. I LOVE summer and having freedom and lots of extra time to spend together as a family!