What a busy Week!

My Birthday was Sunday the 19th, and between My Mom and Dad bringing me a cake on Saturday, John taking me on a date to see Harry Potter and shop for home decor, and time to scrapbook on Sunday afternoon, I had a great Birthday! Devin was sick that day, so John took care of him all morning. I didn't have to clean up any puke and that makes it a great Birthday! Not to mention that John made dinner and Erin brought me breakfast in bed! It was really nice.

On Tuesday, we met up with one of my good friends from CA, Andrea Barney. They came into town for the week, so we went to the museum of Natural history with them. The kids had a great time, and it was great to catch up with the Barneys again.

On Wednesday, I drove to Delta to help my Mom and Dad get ready for company. My Sister and her family were coming from Iowa, so everyone was coming to see them. We had the whole family there except for my little brother Richard and his wife Callie. (We missed you guys) It was a full house, so I helped Mom clear out a room for an extra bedroom.

My kids had great time playing with their cousins! We played cards, ate a ton of good food, and had a great time catching up.

We also went bowling while the babies were sleeping. It was fun to see some of the techniques used.

Great Form!

Did I mention that we went to a parade on the 24th of July. It's a holiday here in Utah where we celebrate the day the first pioneer settlers came into the Salt Lake Valley. Erin and Devin got another huge bag of candy each at that parade! Erin decided to make some money and go door to door selling it. She made $2.10! Now that's a little entrepreneur we have!

Yesterday was Erin's first day of 2nd grade. Yes, we are on Year round school here, so we start in July. She had a great day despite missing the bus home. She even lost a tooth on her first day of school! Now how many people can say that happened to them?!!!

Devin's Birthday

My little Devin just turned 4 on Monday!!!! I can't believe he's 4 already! We just had a quiet family party this year. We went to Chuckie Cheese's and had a fun time as a family. I baked him this awesome spider man cake and we brought it with us. Chocolate, of course, cause it's Devin's favorite. Devin got a spider man web blaster/water gun, play dough, and a few other fun things. And he got to go to swimming lessons on his birthday too. what more could a kid want. Happy Birthday to my big boy Devin.

I think John's just as excited for the web blaster as Devin is.

My little Monkeys.

I got adventurous and made the kids new pjs this summer. I think they turned out pretty good. I just hope Devin's don't shrink too much! He's growing like a weed.

We're done with swimming lessons for the summer. Both Erin and Devin went off the diving board. The first thing that Devin said when he went off (it was his first time ever) was " I want to do that again!" Erin wanted to go off the High dive, but I guess that will be something to look forward to in her next swimming lessons.

Happy 4th of July!

We went to Delta for the 4th of July this year. On Friday, I decorated the kids' bikes up and then they were in the kids parade!

Erin shot off so fast that I didn't see much of her. Devin went fast at first, but when he went past the grand stand with all the people clapping he started to wave! He smiled and waved at all the people, and the more they clapped and laughed and waved back, the more he waved. It was so cute! What a little show man he is! After the parade, we stayed at the park to watch my Mom play in the Delta Orchestra. The kids loved the music.

At the Parade Saturday morning, Colin sat comfortably on Grandma and Grandpa's laps in the shade while Erin and Devin did all the hard work of collecting candy. They got a ton of Candy!!!!

After the parade we played at the park on those blow up toys and slides. It was so hot, though that we didn't stay long. Later we set up a pool in the back yard and they all cooled off.

We had an awesome BBQ and then we drove home. My sister Mindy Blessed her Baby Zack on Sunday. I forgot my Camera though, so this will have to do until I get some pictures from someone in my family.

This week I signed the kids up for swimming lessons. Erin didn't want to because "I already know how to swim Mom!", but now she's glad to be in lessons.

Devin is loving the lessons! He's like a fish!

By the way, I forgot to post that John and Erin got their purple belts! I'm so proud of them. They have to test on their moves, but also on sparring. At first Erin didn't like sparring, cause the boys would hurt her, but all of a sudden she's so good! In fact, her Sensei called to see if she would come early on graduation day to spar with someone who still needed to test. She gave him a run for his money!

Moab

The last week of June, We went to Moab Utah. What a beautiful place that is! We drove through Moab and headed up the La Sal mountains, cause I knew it was going to be hot in Moab, and wanted to remain as cool as possible. We Google-mapped our route and started on our way. However the road it told us to turn on turned out to be a 4 wheel drive road! I couldn't believe it! all this planning and reservations and we weren't going to be able to stay up on the cool canyon! Well, we decided to head back to town, but on the way we saw a sign for Warner Lake (which is where we were going to stay) and headed that way. We followed the signs up into the mountains and then onto a washboard road that was 4 miles, but 45 minutes long. We got there just in time to set up the tent before dark. What an adventure! And the Vacation had just started! we knew this would be no ordinary vacation.

Warner Lake was beautiful!!!!!!!! Well worth the huge adventure it took to get there! When we drove into the campsite, there were deer all over! They would come right up to our camp and peer at us like they had never seen humans before! It was amazing! Erin chased them all over, and came back claiming that they had let her pet them, which of course they never would.

We hiked together, played games, and enjoyed the relaxing environment of the peaceful mountains. the day we packed up, it poured. We were sad to be leaving that beautiful place, but excited to see Arches and get out of the rain. We started down the canyon, and used our GPS to go a different way to Moab. Well, we stumbled on a gold mine! We came out of the luscious mountains into Castle Valley! There were these huge castle like spires sticking up out of the middle of nowhere! It was so awesome! and then we ended up following the Colorado River as it wound it's way to Moab. What a gorgeous drive!

We stayed the next night in a cabin. That was kind of fun. We took showers and freshened up, then slept in a real bed. Very nice. The next day We went into Arches National Park. We drove straight in to do a couple of hikes while it was still cool. We walked right up to several arches, like the Windows, and the Turret Arch, and the Landscape Arch, and then there were others that we looked at from view points like the infamous Delicate Arch.

One of our favorites was the Balanced Rock. Kind of amazing how a huge rock can be just sitting there on top of sandstone, and not fall. The kids also got to play in a nice shaded natural sand box. They loved that.

We were eating Cheetos and Devin made his own Delicate Arch!

The next day we drove into Canyonlands National Park. It was a beautiful view. Our favorite part was the Mesa Arch. It's a short half mile hike, and it was worth every step. The arch was on the edge of a cliff and you can walk right up to it and look down into the valley. It was literally breath taking. You can see how John was holding on to Erin and Devin really tight here.

This was not one of Colin's finer moments.

While we were in Canyonlands, Erin discovered the Jr. Park Ranger program. She got a booklet which she completed some projects in and then she became a Junior Park Ranger. She liked it so much that she became a Jr. Park Ranger in Arches too. We were so proud.

Yes it was hot in Moab that weekend, but we were able to beat the heat by getting out early, and spending the afternoon in the pool at the camp ground.

There was a play ground there with some wooden horses that Erin grew attached to. She named them all and would ride them very frequently. This was a very candid shot of her taking care of her horse gingerspots.

Yard completed

Our yard was completely finished about the second week of June. I love having a place where my kids can go out and play. They love it too. The other day, Devin was saying his prayers and he thanked Heavenly Father for our new fence and our new yard "cause its so esciting". It was so sweet and great to know that he appreciates it. Since we had a nice new yard, I wanted something out there for the kids to play on. And because work's been so hectic for John lately, I knew I'd be waiting for a while. I decided to start to put it together myself. Well, I did it little by little in the garage, when I had time and then John helped me carry it out back. I am so proud of myself! The kids were pretty impressed too. One of the neighbor girls came over when I was working on it and said, "I didn't know moms did work with tools." Well, the kids love the swings, and it was worth every sore muscle.

My parents stayed with us for a couple of nights while Erin was off track this month, and they decided to take us to the Living Planet Aquarium. (This picture is of my favorite, Turtles.)

Well, I have never seen Colin more excited! He loved the fish! And he loved walking from tank to tank like a big boy. If I'd known he'd love it so much I would have taken him sooner! (This picture's blurry, cause I had it on the wrong mode, and he kept moving so fast back and forth to see the fish.)