{24th of July}

So I grew up LDS but never remember celebrating the pioneers. I remember a lot of talk of pioneers in July but I never made a connection.

Now having lived in Utah I understand what they are celebrating....do I like it? I liked the day off work but I am not into the parades and all of that. Plus we just had fireworks on the 4th of July so I feel a bit tired of them by the time the 24th would roll around.

Here in Nevada our stake has done a big celebration every year. But we never went until last year and this year. My kids like it....running around playing "pioneer game" (i don't consider a cake walk a pioneer game, but to each his own), eating at the park and hanging out in the heat.

So here are some pictures from last night....we had "the girls" with us to which made it even more fun.

One last thing....I don't think the grass was this green. I mean it is the hottest part of the summer here and I dint' think it was that green last night.

{swimming}

I have done one thing terribly this summer...well one thing I will admit to.

That is swimming. Last year we went everyday this year twice. yes twice. well lets count the day at the hotel with Apo family and it is 3 times.

My boys will be mad when they start counting.

I have good excuses...well one great one. They didn't have the great sale for a pool pass this year.....by great I mean I paid 79 dollars for my family as opposed to the 260 it could of cost.

No big sale....No pool pass.

It costs us 12 dollars each time I pay for us to swim at that pool this year. And after Thursday when we figured out that the boys can't go down the slides until they pass the swim test I don't know if we will go back. (last year there was no swim test needed)

I know they should just pass the swim test, but my 2 have no interest in swimming the length of the "deep pool." Secretly I think E. would do it if K. wouldn't talk about how hard it is to do and I know E. could pass it.

So here are the horrible pictures I took at the pool this week.

they wanted me to take one of them "floating" so here it is....i humor them a lot with what I take pictures of.

Maybe I can get better and take them swimming a few more times before school starts (and that is in 3 weeks! yikes!!)

{then it was my birthday}

For my birthday all I wanted was a trip to the beach.....which I will get next week...a day trip but I can't be picky I just need some beach time no matter how short or long.

But back to the rest of the day.......the boys knew I wanted a beach trip for my big day so they made me a sandcastle cake....with Chad's help of course.....

Here is the finished cake.....and a bit of the process

{13 Aritcles of Faith}

So on Sunday we had a Faith in God fireside at church. I needed to bring the memory game about the Articles of Faith. NO problem until the copier at church ran out of toner and the plan was beginning to get a little more tight time wise.


So we got home from church printed out over 100 pages of cards on the printer and started cutting them apart.


Chad and I cut. K & E started sorting them into piles-making sure each pile had a picture card and word card for each article of Faith.


Eventually the kitchen table looked like this.....



33 cards piled neatly ready to be bagged. I stamped the bags Chad stuffed the bags, and the boys folded down the tops.


They were cute when it was all done...and we had an hour to spare.

Whoever thinks callings in the church aren't family callings are WRONG! My calling is continually involving my family........and I love that they help me all the time!

{Kids Museum}

We have a Children's Museum here in Vegas and we have always called it the Kids Museum...I don't know why or who started it but if you say CHildren's museum in our house the boys have no idea waht you are talking about.

Our two reading boys earned free passes through our public library by reading and tracking their reading this summer. So C took them over to the kids museum on Friday afternoon. I was happy to let him go as I have been there more than enough times over the years....and some Daddy time is great for the boys.

I sent the camera with them and they came home with over 100 pictures form the 3 hours they were gone. My boys know I love to have pictures!

This month (we think summer though) one of the rooms in the museum has been turned into a "Gross-ology" section. It is about bodily functions...smells, healthy eating, why you throw up...you know all those things boys love. So that will explain some of the pictures for you!

{yummy}

we had cinnamon roll cooking night.

a recipe I have makes about 6 dozen so it makes a ton and i need help from everyone when we make them.

we made maple icing and orange icing. the orange is my all time favorite and tasted so good on the rolls


we delivered some to a family in our ward and kept a pan for ourselves. I forgot to take pictures of all the pans full before we left and when i remembered we had already dug into the pan we kept.


here are some photos of the process though and I made cute little flags to put on the pans we delivered to let them know which were which.


Before cooking

orange frosting....yummy

flags

I hope to make more soon though...the pan we kept went too fast!!

{Jobs}

So in our house everyone has "jobs" to do. This summer a few new ones have been added to the list the boys can do on their own...which I am happy to report that laundry is one of them.

K can now load the washer, add soap and start it without assistance. So E sorts laundry and K loads and makes the switch to the dryer. E unloads the dryer and puts it on the blue couch where the boys sort, fold and hang their clothing.

This has changed my week!! They are really good at it and we have had no big laundry accidents yet...

I did tell them that when school starts again it will go back to being a Mom Job b/c they won't have all the extra time they have over the summer.

E has also gained more bathroom jobs. This is him cleaning the mirror this week. I thought it was funny that he was standing in the sink....he said he forgot about the mirror and did the counter first, then remembered and stood in the sink since he hadn't cleaned that yet. Very resourceful I think!

Afterthought...okay so I am not making them do the whole house's laundry just thier own. And they like it.....really they do. They have said to me how easy the job is but it is a lot of trying to remember to get it in the dryer later. They have had nights where they have no clean jammies b/c they forgot to switch it over to the dryer. Learning from little mistakes now is good I hope.

{Weekend Fun}

We had some cousins visit us over the weekend.

The boys had a ton of fun with our Salmon cousins as they usually do.
We didn't take them anywhere or provide any of the fun stuff. The kids did it all themselves and played very well together and had a great time!

Thanks for the visit!!

(and one day I'll remember to take out the camera!)

{Summer Wishes}

I go this idea from another blogger...

to have the boys create a list with all the summer wishes....to which i explained anything can be a wish but just because it is on the list doesn't mean it will happen but at least when we are looking for something fun to do we can refer to our list....which now hangs on the side of the fridge. Personally i HOPE HOPE HOPE the beach trip becomes a reality, after all I am an Apo and we can't go without our beach time!!

{4th of July}

That night we did the popcorn and slurpees in the car while we went to watch fireworks. We are getting better at it as the years go by. Better parking spot so we can get out quickly and not arriving too early to bake in the deseret heat.

Here's the boys....sticking out the sunroof and out the side window! The pics are blurry still..this camera is killing me!

{Happy 4th}

No we aren't here....but one day I will take my family to see them there! One of my favorite places to see the fireworks!!

{Happy Canada Day}

We celebrate Canada day a couple ways each year.....Canada shirts, pop its and sparklers.

This year we wore either a Canada shirt or a red shirt....K choose a red shirt, E has a big selection of Canada shirts since he doesn't grow to quickly and gets K's hand me downs so he is in a Canada shirt.

Each year I take a picture of both of them in their shirts. This year I couldn't get a good picture.

So this is what the best one looks like.

Then that night was pop its and sparklers. The sparkler pictures didn't come out to great but at least I got some.

Happy Canada Day to you!