Randomness

I’ve been wanting to post for awhile now but haven’t sat down and made myself do it until now.  I think about blogging and then push that thought to the back of my brain because it gets to be too overwhelming for me! It takes all kinds of time sometimes to do one simple post and sometimes it just doesn’t happen! Obviously…

This summer has been quite the summer! 

Makenzi had her third dance recital and LOVED every bit of it. She is quite the performer and loves to practice singing and dancing her numbers to perfection:

We had our awesome Texas friends come and stay with us for a couple of days which we always love.  The kids always have a blast together and it’s just fun to hang out with people that you feel like you’ve known forever:

 

We kind of went all out this year for our TEN year anniversary and went on a Western Caribbean Cruise!  It was pretty much awesome and the best vacation I’ve ever been on!  We didn’t care if we were the whitest people on the ship, we were NOT going to get sunburned….well, except that I did.  I blame the blasted stingray for slurping it off my back (see photo). 

The new Carnival Magic Ship

Fancy night

Montego Bay, Jamaica

Ready to go kayaking & zip lining!

Cayman Islands

Stingray City

Tulum, Mexico

Mayan Ruins

 

We always have fun when Jed’s sister and fam come to visit.  Jax LOVES his “boys” and having boy time with them including wrestling, teasing and just overall having a fun time.  Kenzi adores Navy and pretty much thinks she hung the moon, especially after Navy so patiently taught her how to play Mary Had a Little Lamb on the piano! (Nave, please come back and teach her a new tune!! )

Bailee even tried her luck at fishing…

Turns out, she’s a pro! She caught her first fish! (But then wanted NOTHING to do with it! I don’t blame her!)

 

All the cousins…

 

Camping with my family is ALWAYS an adventure. This year we got POURED on!!! Thank goodness for my incredibly prepared family members that make it so it’s still a great time even with constant rain! OK, so there were a FEW moments of no rain (as you will see) but seriously it was kind of ridiculous how much it rained up there!

My brother brought his horse up for the day:

 

Our awesome canopies (with WALLS) that helped us endure the rain

 

Again with the rain, we sat out on the sidewalk in Ogden and enjoyed the Pioneer Days parade. Bailee LOVED the horses and would hit you with excitement to get your attention to say “Wook!!” “Raarrr!” (apparently ALL animals say “RAARRR!”)

Unfortunately this was our view for 99% of the parade!!! UGH!!! Seriously, people are so RUDE!! I couldn’t believe that they stood there in front of us and the people by us the ENTIRE parade!! GET A CLUE, PEOPLE!!!! (OK, rant over…)

South Weber Days is always a fun time.  Kenzi wanted to be in the Little Miss Pageant again this year so we signed her up for that (any chance to perform and she’s there!).  She didn’t win which is fine,  we purchased her some flowers and that made her day! Really, that’s what it’s all about: getting flowers at the end of it all!

Kenzi and her cute cousin Maya

Luck was totally on our side this year as we won a Kindle FIRE from the “Let’s Make a Deal” game night!! Kenzi went up on stage with Jed and she thought that was pretty cool! It was a fun night, for sure!

This year I decided to put Kenzi in the Kids K for the first time.  I had never been to it before so I really didn’t know how to prepare her for it other than the obvious: “you are going to be running”.  She was SUPER nervous.  She was nervous about the older kids and about not winning (competitive much? ) and just “not sure if she should do it”.  However, I told her she just had to do her best and to HAVE FUN!!  So she went and was super excited to do it with her cousins Maya and Reese.  Once we found them in the crowd she was good to go! And go she did!! She was off! She did her run and was so. stinkin. cute!! Her rosy cheeks and running as hard as she could.  I was SO proud of her for doing something that was out of her comfort zone! She was VERY happy that she did it and told me she definitely wants to do it again next year!

I decided to convince my friend Staci and have her run the Richard Bouchard Memorial 5K with me.  If you know me at all you know that I’m NOT a runner!! Not even close!  I’ve danced for so many years that I’m sadly starting to feel the affects with sore hips, yucky knees and a not-so-stellar back.  However, I do appreciate the sense of accomplishment and challenging yourself to something.  I didn’t train much prior to the race. OK, truth be known, I didn’t train AT ALL!  Big mistake!  No really, we kind of surprised ourselves and pretty much rocked it, all things considered of course! We ran pretty much the entire time, stopping about 3 times to walk for just a second to catch our breath and keep plugging along!

We were happy with our times and well, happy it was over! HA!! Just kidding, we were really glad we did it and I just may do something like that again!   Also, I might have won a double Belgian waffle maker right after the race during the raffle that kind of made my day!  Also, a shout out to my awesome mother in law who came and met us at the finish line! I didn’t know she was going to be there.  She was so great to come! She took our picture and brought a blanket for us (which we LOVED, once we cooled down it was actually pretty chilly!) so THANK YOU Sondra, for coming and supporting us!!  

We had my niece Kyli with us during this time which was really fun.  She was so good and the girls had so much fun together!! It’s really awesome that they can be such close cousins.  I love it. 

We take a family photo every year right before the parade starts! We’ve done this every year since the summer Jed & I started dating (we might have missed a couple years when we weren’t able to fly back for Country Fair Days…)

Always a tradition to dance to the music in the street pre-parade!

Waiting for the fireworks to start!

The rest of the summer included fun things such as going to Cherry Hill, Lagoon, bowling and to a couple of fun movies.  Kenzi has decided she is going to be Merida/Brave for Halloween.  Which is kind of a no brainer as she IS kind of her twin!!   Love it!

Jax being SO brave and doggy-paddling in the lazy river!! He is such a big boy!!

I just love this little miss!

Lagoon!

Speaking of Kenzi, she is going to FIRST GRADE this year and is SOOOOOOOO excited! Why? Because she gets THREE recesses (short one, long one, and short one) AND she gets to eat lunch at school!! And really that’s what it’s all about!! Playing and eating lunch with your friends!! I may have asked my dear friend Annie who works at the school and helps with lunch time to keep an extra eye on my little 1st grader!! She happily has agreed! Phew!  OK, so I worry.  I admit it.  I can’t wait to hear how she loves it.  However, I think I’m gonna miss her at home!!!

It’s been a fun summer! Lots of fun activities and play dates.  Lots of popsicles and running through the sprinklers. And well, lots of fun memories!