July 2016 Part 1

Do you think Mom would learn her lesson?  Of course she didn't.  The boys were giggling in the bath and yep, $8.00 worth of product in the bath.  AGAIN!  

In all reality, we are so lucky to have such a cute set of boys who love each other so much. 

Jeff and I have never gone camping alone.  We didn't have any gear until we had three kids.  We finally took a weekend up in the mountains with just the two of us.  We want to make this a yearly tradition.  It was more relaxing than spending two nights in a fancy hotel.  

4th of July fun with my parents and my brother's family.

Katie and her cousin Haylee watching the aerials.

Our college friend works for the company that sponsors Salt Lake's soccer team: REAL Monarchs.  He gifted us 4 seats in the sponsor area for Josh's 16th birthday.  We had all you can eat food and snacks, great seats, and free VIP parking.  It was an amazing night.  Jeff might actually start caring about soccer after that experience.

Air Show and American Fork Canyon

We went to the Hill Air Force Base air show this summer.  We went with a few friends and some family.  I have always love watching the power of military airplanes and I get quite emotional. 

Caleb can be quickly overwhelmed by loud noises and crowds but we took the risk anyway.  We brought his ipad and some noise canceling headphones.  We still had a few epic meltdowns in the middle of the hot asphalt tarmac.  It doesn't matter if Mom is wearing white pants and is exhausted herself.  She has to plop herself down next to her son and help him recover.  

Here are the Thunderbirds in formation.  They are incredible to watch in person.

We drove up American Fork Canyon to our favorite spot in the summer.  The river is quite shallow but still offers the kids a cool place to play.  

Josh and Kyle tried some fishing and Katie was enjoying her chips in this shot.

Here is a huge "Creepy Guy" that Blake found by the river.  (Read previous post to understand what a "creepy guy" is to Blake.)

Where do they have drama classes for 2 year olds?  This kid loves to put on a show and entertain.

Late June 2016

Here is Blake doing his favorite pastime.  He loves to dig up all the weeds, sometimes Mommy's plants, and cart them around.  He calls them "Creepy Guys".  The name comes from the weird balloon men that wiggle and dance with a fan blowing up their bodies that cell phone companies put in front of their businesses.  Katie always yells out "Creepy Guy" when we pass one and I guess the weeds remind Blake of those wiggly men.

Caleb got to attend a soccer camp for children with autism.  He had one "friend" the entire time for the two days.  He didn't particularly care about it but we have to push him in ways that might help.

Here is the oldest reading a book to the youngest.  I love this picture because that was one of our first baby books.  I loved it so much and I have to keep taping it together.  It has survived 5 sweet babies.

Those Boys!?!?!?!?

Caleb had a small eye infection and it took us hours to get him to put the drops in.  Kyle was a great therapist and let Caleb put the drops in his eye so he'd feel more comfortable.

If you are ever around these boys and you hear laughing in the distance, RUN!  Blake has gotten the both of them into trouble.  Here, they dumped 2 1/2 bottles of body wash and shampoo into the bath water.  Blake's eyes were burning red but he could still splash around and make Caleb laugh.  It was a task trying to rinse all of the bubbles down the drain.  The bubbles wouldn't stop multiplying.

Kyle's baseball team won the championship this year.  Baseball is my favorite sport to watch and my favorite for the boys to play.  I love being at the fields.

Branson 3

We did get to see one show.  We saw "Buckets and Boards".  They were a duo of funny guys who sing, drum, play recorders with their nose, dance, etc.  

Caleb and Blake were excited to show Grandma Venice their truck souvenirs.

What do you do on a 4 1/2 hour layover in Denver?  Beat up on your big brother, of course.

Blake, that's how we all felt on the way home.  We played hard and loved every minute of it.

Branson 2

This was the warmest lake I've ever been to.  We had fun swimming and getting a break from the heat.

 Uncle Brent surprised us with a short visit.  He's pretty popular with his nieces.

Katherine and Grandma

The hotel had such great amenities.  Pool, ping pong,craft room, and random games.  

Branson 1

Here we are in Branson with our family.  

This is Katie with her cousins Maddie,Emma, and Ruby.  She sure enjoyed her girl time.

Here is a great example of my terrible photography skills.  The memory is perfect though.  We are lucky parents to have such awesome kids.  For some reason, Blake snuck out of this shot.  All 5 of them were in the bed.

We decided to try out the hotel's "grabbag" night showcasing entertainers from the city.  We were a little dissapointed in the cheesiness factor and weird singers but had a great time later mocking the lameness.

The boys played like it had only been months since they'd seen each other.  They learned how to play poker and had many goofy nights with eachother.

Caleb was by far the slowest and safest driver on the course.  We were just surprised that he got into the car by himself.  This was a day at a local fun park.  We did bumper boats, go carts, mini golf, and more.

Even Blake got a turn with Mommy!

The little boys found some frogs that came out of the bushes at night to visit the pool.  Those frogs were small but made a lot of noise.

Boys vs Girls

One night the boys went to a Cardinals vs. Giants baseball game.  Katie and I got to go see "The Jungle Book" at a theater that only had leather reclining seats.  We are so spoiled!

You can see Jeff's and Kyle's orange Giants shirts in the middle of the red shirted crowd.  They said the midwesterners were the nicest opponents.

St. Louis Zoo

We had a blast at the St. Louis Zoo.  It was the biggest zoo I've ever been to.  We had a blast in the butterfly exhibit.  

The train rode around the whole park and stopped in 4 different areas.  That's how big the park was.  We had to pull Blake kicking and screaming from the train.  He loved it so much.

One of our favorite exhibits was the hippos.  They had 4 in a large tank.  Our zoo hasn't had a hippo for years and they have 4?!  What a cool animal.

We got to attend a sea lion show.  Caleb loved when the sea lion would slide down into the water. 

We were so exhausted by this point but had only seen 1/2 of the zoo.  After this, we dragged them to the bug and snake house, tigers and big cats, camel, polar bear, pengions and then to the gift shop for souvenirs.

Don't forget petting the stingrays.  Caleb even got his hands in the water and touched a few.