Summer Days

Summer Days are ending tomorrow!  Ahh, how did I get old enough to have a kindergartener?  She's excited, I'm melancholy, we'll both make it through tomorrow I'm sure.  The tears already started during dinner when David cheerfully announced "Cyrena, in 13 hours you'll be on the bus!"  She looked at me, teared up and said "I'm going to miss you."  That's all it took to get me going.  This from the girl who hasn't acted sad one BIT this entire time.  I think it's hitting her now.  David had to jump in and save the day.  My tears continued during David's father's blessing for Cyrena.  David asked if he needs to take the day off tomorrow to comfort me. :)  It's the ending of an era, Cyrena and I have made a great team these last 5 1/2 years. 

I did want to capture what our summer days have looked like.  I'm a bit of a homebody and my kids are happy to oblige, especially with it being so hot outside.  We'll have the occasional outing or playdate but for the most part we stay close to home.  

The mornings start out a bit lazy...lay around in pj's and play for a bit

 Then a leisurely breakfast where we eat great food and explore the newspaper

 We dress and do hair then complete some chores

 THEN it's dancing time!  The girls turn on the Disney station on Pandora and the floor is theirs.  They do this every single day.

 While Anna does a lot of this...laughing and learning how to sit up

 Occasionally we'll do a fun activity, like decorating cupcakes.

 These turned out quite tasty as you can imagine!  It was all purple sprinkles for Natalie-her favorite color.

We also enjoy lots of books, the girls are great about reading together most of the time

And of course when Dad gets home it's pandemonium as we all scramble for his undivided attention.

And there you have it, it's not much but it's what we do and what we like.   And now it's coming to an end...sob!

July Staycation

We took a 'staycation' a couple weekends ago. We used one of those Living Social deals (my sis-in-law gave us the heads up-thanks Shay!) and headed to a resort called the Arizona Grand.  It is a very nice hotel with a large water park.  

We spent about 2 hours at the water park and after 5 times around the lazy river we realized our kids are a little young to really enjoy a water park.  However, they loved the lazy river since it was right up their alley.  Later we had pizza, watched a movie, the older girls and I went swimming at the pool near our room, then we headed to bed.  

The next morning we ate a great breakfast (including an omelet bar where David took copious notes as always).  Afterward David took the older girls swimming while Anna napped then we headed out.  It was a quick trip but also so much fun.  We definitely want to make this a tradition every summer.  

Utah Trip Part 2-with Daddy

After a week apart we were MORE than ready to see daddy.  It was a very happy reunion when we met up in at my parent's 2nd home in Hurricane for the 4th of July weekend. 

The first day we headed to a local family fun center where we played all morning.  Our kids had never done anything like this so it was very exciting.  Bumper boats, mini golf, go-carts, arcade and kiddie carts.

Natalie had a hard time steering her car so David had to help.  Cyrena went around and around independently.  

You can tell by her face that she loved doing this with her dad.

We went to see The Little Mermaid at the Tuacahn theater.  Cyrena loves going to plays so this was fun for her.  It's a large outdoor amphitheater and it doesn't start until dusk--8:45!  We didn't make it home until midnight. 

My parents home is close to "Grandpa's Fishing Hole"  We didn't catch anything.  But we sure had fun. I don't remember the last time I've gone fishing.  David and I had a lot of laughs at my casting abilities.  I finally got it though.  Cyrena got really good at it also.  There were some older men and women there who shared some live bait with us and also let Cyrena reel in one of the fish they caught.

Grandpa has an ipod touch--fancy! :)  We don't have anything like that so Cyrena was a bit obsessed. Grandpa and Cyrena worked together to pass several levels of Angry Birds.

The girls lived in this pool in the yard

Check out those thighs!

 On the 4th we rented a wave runner and headed to one of the reservoirs that's about 5 minutes from my parents house.   I hadn't been on one in years and it was SO fun.   Everyone had a great time.  It was nice and calm and not too crowded.  The girls loved every minute of it and they each got several rides.  At the end I took both of them with me and we had some crazy girl time with lots of screaming!!

Building sand castles with plastic cups and spoons...that's how we roll.

Grandma was nice enough to hold and shade Anna so I could have fun

Take a bite, you know you want to

That night we BBQ'd and had a small fireworks show (the $10 pack from Wal-mart)

Natalie got burned by the sparklers-ouch.  She also discovered these light-up singing Belle shoes at grandma's and she was done for.  She rarely took them off.

One of the teeny-tiny fireworks in the pack

The girl loves to light the fireworks, she did a great job!

We came home exhausted and penniless but we are so grateful for the awesome memories we made!  Thanks to my parents for their generosity and for all the good times with family!

My dad also took some great pictures.  He'll be sending me a cd soon so I'll post some more.

Utah Trip part 1-without daddy

We returned last week from our big Utah trip.  It was an adventure and oh so much fun!  We got to spend tons of time with family which was our ultimate goal.  The Utah County part of the trip was minus David which was sad for us but we carried on!  We played in the hot tub, went to a movie, had family night at Chik-fil-A, went to the nearby brand-new splash park a couple of times, met and bonded with Baby Vivienne, stayed up way too late, enjoyed a rainstorm and played and played and played.

The girls had a lot of outside time with grandpa; walking the property, picking and smelling flowers, mowing the lawn, shooting hoops, etc. 

We spied this HUGE butterfly.  I've never seen anything like it.  My dad and I were mesmerized and I took several pictures.  It was loving the lilac bush so it was a willing subject.  

We went in the hot tub a few times.  We turned the temperature down so it was the perfect bathwater temperature.  Here the girls are with cousins Elise and Jacob and they had just turned on the huge volcano that comes up the middle.  

One morning I happened upon another HUGE animal.  This squirrel was so big it almost looked like a jack rabbit.  He was also willing to pose for several pictures.  We saw him on a few occasions; I guess he finds plenty of things to eat on my parents property.  

Another hot tub night with cousins Ty and Isabelle

One night cousin Elise did a princess party with the granddaughters.  They painted nails, put on pretty jewelry, curled their hair, and put on some lip gloss.  Natalie was in heaven. 

Natalie, Isabelle, Naomi, and Elise

Cyrena refused to participate in the princess party.  Instead she played 2 on 2 with cousins Ty, Luke and Jacob.  She held her own pretty well and learned all about 'fouls and defense' from Ty.

Natalie and Isabelle had SO much fun together.  They never really referred to each other by name, just as 'friend'.  "Mom, I can't find my friend"  "Oh, there's my friend!"  They were adorable and always holding hands. Isn't Isabelle gorgeous??

One morning I headed up to Salt Lake to visit with David's grandparents.  It's always wonderful to see them.  They always have fun toys set out for the kids and they make sure to send us away with bags of treats (and Dove bars of course!).

 

 

 This is baby Vivienne, my brother Chad's youngest.  This was our first time meeting her.  She's adorable and a wonderful baby. It was very fun to finally get to meet her. 

Natalie watching grandma get her vitamins and supplements ready for the week.  I found it amusing so I had to take a picture.