Summer Recap

 We last left off in July...
July is a BIG month for birthdays! Just another reason to love summer.

On the 1st of July, Grace girl turned 4! Gracie will notice every detail of your outfit and will be the first person to compliment you. She is VERY observant for a 4 year old. We love our bubbly Gracie. 

Amy turned 21, again, on July 12th (we all have an age that we are forever and Amy is 21). We went to CPK for her birthday lunch, our sister tradition.

Mia, sweet n' sassy little miss Mia turned 2 on July 13th! Two years ago when I held this little dark hair beauty for the first time I was sooooo in love with her that it gave me the courage to go home and make my own little beauty.... and then came Reese. So truly, Reese is in debt to Mia because she was the inspiration for why she was born, lol.

 Then we have my birthday and two days later, we have Hallie who turned 4 on July 29th. She is the last of the 2008 babies in our family. She completes the crazy trio we have today. What would we do with out our little Hallie girl? I am sure her mom would have a lot less crayon on the walls but life wouldn't be as sweet if it weren't for her!

 During the month I got to run away down to St. George with my friend Kim and met up with Amy and some of her friends.

 We took full advantage of the HOT St. George sun and relaxed in the hot tub at night.

 We didn't do much other then hang by the pool and read and talk, go out to eat, and go shopping. What else would you want out of a girls trip?

 Oh yea, Vampire Diaries! DUH! Yes, Kim and I did indulge in a lot of Vampire Diaries!

At the start of Summer Irey and I started "Good Girl Quarters". Pretty easy, Irey does something good, she gets a quarter. Irey does something bad, she gets a warning and then for second offense we take a good girl quarter away. She saved up A LOT of good girl quarters and we went to cash them in! After no joke, 30 minutes of looking we finally settled on Skipper and Chelsea. It was really exciting for Irelyn to be able to buy her own toy and made her realize how hard it is to save up and resist temptation to cash in on a smaller prize like, a Ring Pop. Haha, I love being a mom.

 
At the begining of August we went to Rangely Colorado to visit our sister Brittanie. She was pregnant with her twin babies and we went out to help with Evelette, clean, and cook.

 The girls LOVED to be able to play. There was a lot of playing to be had to make up for lost time.

 They kept themselves very entertained with all the baby stuff. They were so cute together and played really well. We can't wait to go see them again and play with Evey some more!

For Irey's birthday we got her one of those power wheel convertibles. Well, we used it twice and then, it broke. Awesome.
Here is a tip for life: DON'T buy those stupid cars because they are a waste of money.
Here is another tip: If you DO buy the car, make sure you get it for a good deal at Walmart on BlackFriday. AND when they ask you if you want to buy the three year maintenance plan (or something like that) for $3, say YES!

 Moral of the story: Because of that $3 we got refunded the $106 on a Walmart giftcard, no questions asked. We were able to buy Irey a bike instead for $60 and used the rest to buy a replacement battery for car. I would say we came out on top with that one!
Hooray, Irey got a bike. You would think that because it had training wheels it would just be a matter of getting on and riding but OH NO, nothing is ever that simple with these children of mine! It took a few times to figure out how to peddle and brake, then it took a while for Irey to not be afraid of falling off (even though there are training wheels) because the bike would tilt and then she would over correct and tip it over anyways. We are still mastering the whole balance thing when the side walk dips down for the driveways... I didn't realize how DRAMA a bike would be! Oh well, she is getting it... S L O W L Y. 

For our last HOORAH this summer we did a play date at Discovery Museum.
I think I had as much fun watching my kids as my kids had playing. I love that place!

 Reese is a BIG fan of balls so naturally that was probably her favorite part.

 The mommy crew.

 Playing some music. The girl seriously has skills.

 Irey is the grocery shopping mom! If only it was really that fun.

 The girls cooking some dinner.

 Let us hope Irey gets her driving skills from her dad.

 Building blocks can be fun for a mom who is still a kid at heart.

 Hunter was VERY entertaining on the helicopter pad. The girls didn't take their secret missions as seriously has he would have hoped. But good thing Hunter is easy going and can work with even the least willing of people!

 News room.

 Such a fun day. I can't wait to take the girls back a day when Irey doesn't have preschool.

The Bunco girls always try to get away before school starts for our annual Park City shopping over-nighter. Good food, good friends, decent shopping... a success!

Irey and Brandon got to go on date before school started, for the both of them, to the BYU kick-off. Irey LOVED every second of it and Brandon was so excited that he has an excuse  partner to go with him.

 And of course ending the night at the Creamery isn't a bad way to make the night "The best time ever!" for Irey.

 OH How I love LOVE LOVE summer! And OH how I will miss it until next year!

What miss most about summer:

Duh! The POOL! Warm sun, cool water, and somewhat of a tan...Yes please! 

Summer nights! They are long in coming so by the time night-time hits, you're ready for it. There is no school to happen tomorrow so if you want to say up late and read just one more story or sucker mom to let you watch just one more show in her bed, you can! It's all back to business in the fall but in the summer, the nights are just chill. So if you want to eat the bag of Kit-Kats and fall asleep reading your Kindle... that's cool too, who cares, it's summer!

Oh the dress ups! Of course you can dress up in the other seasons too but Summer is HOT and switching from PJs, to a swimsuit, to a tank top and shorts... there are a lot of dress ups in between the mix. We have had MANY fashion shows this summer. I can't say I always love the wardrobe changes... considering the clothes that littler the floors of the house from top to bottom, but it's good memories that remind me of summer!

 Creative Playing... With no Preschool and in general no structure to our schedules sometimes there are those days that you can't go to the pool and it's too HOT to play outside. We have come up will a lot of creative ways to keep entertained during the hot summer days...

 Cool summer treats! We would go get breakfast either Maceys donuts or Magleby's Fresh like once a week during the summer time. And more times in a week then I care to admit we would go get an ice-cream cone or a snowie or even just chill on the deck with a yummy popsickle. We were on a sugar high all summer long.

 Playing outside! I have LOVED having our yard finished. It's the best in the world to kick back on the deck while the girls run around and play. It's especially fun when dad can join in and we all play on the tramp or go on walks. I love going up the canyon or to the park, anywhere we can play outside and soak up the Vitamin D, ahhh heavenly.

 As much as I love the hot sun, I will miss the hot summer rain storms! Irey and I love to watch the storm but one day we thought we would be a little crazy and go dance in the rain. Everyone has got to do it at least once a summer. Nothing better.

 We also took full advantage of going to the library. It was surprisingly a lot of fun to find books that Irey or Reese would like. Obviously we can do that year round too, but some things are just funner on lazy summer days!

I will look back fondly at our summer time activities and hold on to the memories of the hot summer sun to help me survive the freezing winter! Man, I love living in Utah.