::willard bay::

We went tubing on Uncle Brandon's boat!

(Chloe tubed too, but no photo of that yet)

Played in the sand...

Swam in the lake...

Played in the sand/mud (she had to sit in a life jacket because the sand was too icky-not like in her sandbox at home)...

We also had dinner and celebrated some birthdays with some cousins from Minnesota.  Fun Summer evening.  

I want a boat, actually I want some Jet Skis, or maybe both.  

:)

::splash::

We went to City Creek yesterday to do a bit of shopping for my brother's wedding.  I had to find a shirt, some shoes, things like that.  Matt had never been there, so he came too (I don't think he really cared that much about it).  We told the kids if they were good shopping they could play in the little splash pad there.

Bubb was there too, but he didn't love the splash pad.  He's not too sure about water yet.  He'll get there.

And the teeny girl just wanted to walk in to the splash pad, and out.  In and out, and in and out, and in and out.  Then I picked her up and stood by one of the fountains and stuck her hand in it when it splashed and she loooooved it!  She's so fun!

So earlier in the week I told my mom we'd be down there that day, and she told me to call her and maybe she'd meet us there with my Aunt Karen (who was coming in to town for my brother's wedding).  So when we called, she was making dinner at her house.  We went down.  Aunt Karen was there.  I've never met her (other than when I was probably Ava's age).  She's been estranged from the family for close to 30 years.  The details surrounding the separation are somewhat unclear to me, and they don't really matter.  She's here now and we're glad.  I walked in.  Said hi.  We hugged.  For a long time.  She cried.  So did I.  I've tried to imagine living a life with no family.  No support.  No one to call if you're sad or lonely, no one to spend holidays with, not even a card at Christmas or your birthday.  No body to make you feel like you're loved or important.  I'm sure she had some friends and people to spend time with, but just the thought of no family... I just can't imagine.  I'm glad she and my mom found each other.  I'm glad she's a part of our family again.  I hope she feels loved and important.  I hope she knows she's a part of us and that we love her. 

::the fourth::

We had a happy Fourth, well most of us did.  I was a little under the weather.  I didn't get to run in my race that I usually do every year, we didn't do our swimming and cookout either.  I was just SO sick!  I pulled it together and went to fireworks with the fam that night though.  Thank goodness!  What would the 4th of July be without that?

Look at Avie!  Does she look patriotic or what?!?

We met Matt's family at Pioneer Park for a picnic and fireworks.  We got there around 7ish to get a good spot.  The fireworks start after dark (after 10).  So we (they-I still didn't feel great) ate, talked and played games.  I love that.  It's so fun.  It'll be different next year without Matt's mom and dad (they'll be on their mission).

Here's our little fam

:]

Then the fireworks...

I held Avie.  Well, she kind of walked around the blankets between Matt, the kids, and I.  This picture is SUPER blurry.  I just loved her little finger pointing at them.  Cute little thing.

So the kids are in summer gymnastics.  I'm at The Peak twice a week for it, and the one day, I feel like I'm there ALL day.  There's this little shop in there.  It's a consignment type of shop that sells cute stuff for your home, and other little stuff too.  There was this sign in there (and I'd seen the phrase before, but never paid attention to it).  It said "land of the free because of the brave."  I stared at it for a while.  Maybe it was because I had time (waiting for gymnastics to get over with), or maybe because it had more of an affect on me the more I thought about it.  How true is that statement?!!?  I love it.  It's pretty common-I've seen it a lot, but now that I've really thought about it I love it.  

To all those who have and are serving...Thanks for being so brave.

::putt-putt::

Portie's been BEGGING Matt to take him golfing for days and days.  Matt kept telling him that one of these days he would.  He was thinking the driving range would be good but maybe dangerous for Bubb (because if Port goes so does Bubb), then we decided putt-putt would be a good alternative.  In Utah it's mini-golf, and the place by our house is Toads.  Since Monday is family night, today was the day.

They were SO excited!!  They had no idea what they were doing.  All they knew was that they were supposed to hit the ball towards the hole.  They (the 2 boys) didn't want any help whatsoever holding the putter the right way, swinging it the right way, or standing the right way, or anything!  "Dad I know how to do it!!" So after a couple of frustrating holes (for Matt) we just let 'em go.  It was pretty cute.  I got it on video for later when they really play golf.  We can show them how they thought you were supposed to putt.  Ha!

Chloe, on the other hand, wanted to do a good job.  She wanted to beat Matt on every hole.  She's a Jeppsen, what can we say :)  It was pretty cute how she would try to get the right stance and grip on the club.  She's ask Matt if it was right, and then she's swing.  She'd get so excited when her ball was close to the hole, and she'd get kinda mad when it took her a bunch of tries to get it in the hole.  Poor thing. :)

Mazie's was good in her stroller.  She got to hold a ball here and there, and sometimes she threw 'em.

It was fun.  HOT!!, but fun.  We'll have to do it again :)

::park city::

For our anniversary, we took a little weekender to Park City.  Matt booked us a trip on the Heber Valley Rail Road to do the Reins and Trains.  It was pretty fun!  He has never ridden a horse before, and I hadn't since I was a little bitty girl (my grandpa's horse, Pal).  So we were beginners.  The train ride was fun.  It was slow and rickety.  Sometimes it's referred to as the Heber Creeper, and now we know why :)  

We only rode for about 15 minutes, before we got robbed!  The train robbers came on to steal some cash, but the box was actually had a stuffed duck on it.  Well, that just made 'em mad, so they decided to take some hostages (which was us an another couple who were doing the horse excursion).  We were "forced" off the train at "gunpoint" and had to stand on the platform and watch our train leave us stranded!!  I acted like I was kinda mad about it and didn't want the train to leave.  It was fun.

So then we walked up the dirt road with the other couple doing the horses with us.  They were nice.  They were surprised that we were married 10 years and have 4 kids.  They thought we looked young.  I love to hear that :)  Then we got to the stables and met our guide.  She was a doll.  She got us all set up with our horses.

(The train robber was telling us a story when this photo was taken-that's how come the face)

On our horses!!

The view

After we got off the trail, we had some lunch together with the other couple, caught the train back in to town (Heber), and then drove into Park City.  We stayed at the Treasure Mountain Inn (their initials are TMI-haha!)  It's right on Main St. which we LOVED!  We had dinner on Main, walked around, listened to some live music, soaked in the hot tub, and just had a great night.  

The next morning, we walked out of our room, and had breakfast out on the deck of the Blue Iguana.  Here's our view from our table...looking right down Main.  Isn't it pretty?

It was a pretty perfect weekend!  We had so much fun together.  In the few months leading up to our anniversary, we tossed around the idea of going somewhere way cool (a cruise, Hawaii, something like that), but never really pursued it...I'm too chicken to leave those babies!  My Mom and Kevin watched them, and I probably called 18 times (sorry Mom).  It's terrible.  Someday  I'll get over it-I hope.  So I felt a little dumb that such a landmark anniversary was spent so locally, but in the end (to me anyway), it didn't even matter.  I just loved our time together.  We did something new together, spent time together, talked a lot, and relaxed, and we love each other more then ever.  And that's the most important thing.

:] 

::ten::

every

day

i

love

you

more.

Happy 10th, my love.

::target practice::

We get kinda bored drawing the same ol' pictures on the driveway with sidewalk chalk (flowers, houses, suns, fish, etc).  We try to come up with new ideas, but sometimes I'm not that creative.  I saw this on pinterest, and thought we should try it...

It was way fun!

Water balloons and a target.

One of Bubb's throws...

One of Chloe's...

One of Port's throws...

(his balloon is almost out of frame.  It's at the top of the photo inside the window on our house, and I didn't happen to get another shot of Port tossing his balloon-whoops!)

Final Scores!!

Chloe won by one lucky toss (well, maybe 2 lucky tosses, maybe it wasn't luck).  

Great job Chloe!

(It might have taken longer to fill up the balloons than it did to throw them, and it it might have mostly washed off after the first couple of throws, and we might have ended up with one extra water balloon that Matt got to throw (at me!!--but he missed! haha!), but it was still way fun!  We'll have to do it again!)

::father's day::

Man!  Sometimes this early church business is a little rough!  We didn't get to make him breakfast or anything!  We had all kinds of cool ideas for taking his order, filling out a card, and shopping for exactly what he wanted the night before, but with early church and 4 kids to get ready, that's just too hard.  So we went to church, came home, and gave him some little gifties.  

The kids and I went shopping earlier in the week and got him some new golf-type clothes (shirts and shorts and such), and then they made him some cute little tokens in their church classes (good for one hug, etc).  I think his favorite thing was this picture thing we made him.  It has my favorite fathers quote by Lydia M. Child with his big hand print and each of the kids inside it.  He couldn't stop staring at it.  He's going to take it to work and put it in his office.  I was a little surprised by that 'cause it's just something we made, but so sweet :)

(Dada with all his babies:  Avie-15 mos, Portie-6, Chloe-8 1/2, Coop-3 1/2)

Later on, we went down to the Gateway to see the sidewalk chalk art and meet up with my family (after that we stopped by Matt's brother's house to spend some time with his side for father's day).

They had some really cool ones!  

This one seemed fitting for the day...

I just can't say enough about Matt.  He's the best dad in the world.  He's always making us laugh.  He's so much fun, and so sweet and loving.  He's always supportive and takes such good care of us.  We're so thankful for him.  We're lucky to have him.

:]

::Bub's first gym class::

So I registered the three bigger kids for some summer activities a few weeks ago.  They're doing gymnastics (all three of them in separate classes), swimming lessons, and story hour.  I was hoping to get Port into T-ball, but the last week of registration (I don't know why I waited 'til the last week, I guess that's just how I like to roll) fell on the same week of Matt's surgery, and it slipped my mind.  Chloe had no interest in softball this year, so that was out for her.  It was no easy task trying to register 3 kids for 3 different gym classes and trying to get them on the same day of the week at the same time, and also swimming!  3 kids, all different swimming levels, at the same times.  When it was all done, I felt like I had just registered them for college!

I forgot the rules at the peak about 3 year olds and their Jr. Gym class.  You have to be 4.  Bubb won't be 4 until November, so he had to be in the parent/child class.  I wasn't too excited about that.  Port had the same kind of deal...he has too "advanced" for that class and was in with kids ranging all the way down to 18 months old.  Kind of a bummer.  Same kind of deal this go 'round with Bubb.  We're in there with lots of 2 year olds and he's a little advanced (if you want to call it that).  His teacher asked how old he was, and was like too bad, 'cause he's totally ready for Jr. Gymnastics! 

But...

Bubb LOVES his class!  He had SO much fun!  His teacher sets up the class with some stations (each one has a different skill to practice) in a circle and we go around a few times.  He gets a little bored after a few times around.  So, when there's probably about 15-20 minutes left in the class, we go in the big gym and play on the trampolines and the pit and that kind of stuff-which he LOVES!!   He's pretty brave in there!  No fear running down the tumble track and jumping into the foam pit (he calls it "smarshmellies"). 

We go to our 3rd class tomorrow.  He gets SO excited to go to his gym class.  He LOVES it!!  I think he's excited to just be in gymnastics like the big kids.  He tells them all about it when he gets home.  Port tells him to do his best before he goes.  It's fun to go with him.  His class is at 5:30 (after Matt gets home), so it's just the 2 of us, and that's way fun.  Just me and Bubb :)