Now If I Only had a Maid

I LOVE it when the kids do the cooking! (That's my 7 year old making waffles for the family.) I just wish I could figure out how to get them to do it more often.I love that they always put on their chef hats when they are cooking. I guess it makes it more official.
Samantha was cooking too, but had to go lay down after Shawn cut his thumb while slicing up fruit. She's not good with blood.

Sometimes...

you go downtown expecting to see a movie with your family, but when you get there you find out the movie is all sold out, and instead you end up inside a ball at the planetarium.
That's just how life goes.

Grandeur Peak

The day after Shawn returned from his 50 mile hike with the scouts, I guess he thought he hadn't had enough and decided we should "run" up Grandeur Peak. So, we did. Sort of. The up was pretty steep and it was hot and I was tired, so that was more of just a hike.

At the top.

But we did run back down. I am already paying for that with some very sore muscles.

Swimming Just For Fun

Now that swim team is over, we can spend time at the pool just playing. You can see how the girls feel about that.Peter doesn't mind either, although maybe he would like a more manly looking life jacket. Sometimes it's rough coming behind 3 sisters.

A Balloon Bouquet for Rob

Today is my brother, Rob's, birthday. Now ordinarily, my brothers' birthdays don't warrant a blog post. (As I'm sure will be pointed out to me by some of them.) But, if you recall, Rob gave me this lovely "pot" of flowers for my birthday, and so I felt like I needed to acknowledge his special day.So I took a few birthday balloons to his house, but no one would answer the door. (I know the kids were home.) I was a little concerned that they might float away, so I found something to tie them to so they would still be there waiting when he came home from work. Just a little balloon weight to hold them in place. It's a thing of beauty, isn't it?
Anyway, while I was there, I also saw that Rob maybe needs to do a little weed control in his front yard. He has these weird weeds popping up all over the place.

I went ahead and pulled all the dead ones that were lying around (because I'm just that kind of sister.) I guess if he's lucky, the heat will kill them all before the day is through and make the yard work a little easier.
Seriously, a balloon bouquet, and someone decorated his yard? This has got to be his best birthday ever.
Poor Peter got a little sweaty while I was moving that balloon weight around and tying balloons to it. But, he's all about celebrating Rob's birthday.
Happy Birthday Rob!

Our Last Meet!!!!

So, I'm kind of ready to be done with swimming this year. Fortunately for me, last night was the end. (Other than an awards banquet coming up a little later.) It was the High Point meet - the last meet held for all non-conference swimmers. (Should I feel bad that my kids don't swim fast enough to go to conference? Because I don't. I'm actually relieved to be done. I suppose you can add that to my good mothering score card.) Anyway, after the meet they had an award ceremony and gave all of the kids medals.

Samantha walking up.

Samantha's coach was Sarah.

Amelia's turn to shake hands with Tommy. (Head coach)

Her coach was Angela (on the left.)

Amelia and Ellie side by side.

My swimmers - complete with cupcake mustaches. (Medals weren't enough. They also got enormous cupcakes to munch on.)

This is the coaching staff at the Tennis Club this year. (Plus Tommy's dad there on the left.) I have to say that the Tennis Club has really great coaches and instructors.

(L to R: Tom Thorum, Angela, Sarah, Nick (behind), Matt, Claire, Tommy

And of course, we tried to get a picture of the girl cousins together.

Sometimes, do you wonder why we try?

Anyway, one more day of swim lessons and then any trips to the pool after that will be just for fun. We can't wait!

Pioneer Day Fireworks

Our friends, the Dunfords invited us to join them for fireworks and s'mores on the 24th of July - and we did. They had quite a gathering, plus combining everyone's fireworks made for a much more impressive show than any of us would have had on our own.

Duffy hung back a little bit, but stayed outside the whole time instead of hiding inside like last year. That's some serious progress.

Here is much of the crew gathered to watch the fireworks.
This was Peter's reaction to the first couple of fireworks, but everyone clapped afterward and he joined right in and was fine after that. (He did stay close to me and grab a little tighter when it was loud, but other than that, he was great.)

I have to wonder, what would the pioneers think of our celebration?

Birthday Celebrations

We have been getting together with my family once a month to celebrate birthdays. Somehow, things didn't work out in June, so Duffy got to celebrate with the July birthdays (Rob and Robbie.) Michelle hosted the dinner at her house. This seems all out of order, being over a month past her birthday, but at least she finally got to blow out candles on a cake (even if it was store bought and not especially made for her by the cake boss or his lovely assistant.) Rob and Robbie got cream cheese brownies - which were delicious, by the way. (Of course, Michelle's brownies always are.) I guess I left all pictures of Rob and Robbie to Michelle, 'cause this is all I've got.

My favorite is always the blowing picture.

Happy Birthday (again) Duff! (And Rob and Robbie!)

Peter Breinholt Concert

One of our favorite summer traditions is the Peter Breinholt concert at the Sandy amphitheater. We sat on the grass with Rob and Michelle (and kids), the Dunfords, and the Boydens. There were arm wrestling matches to keep us entertained before the music started.

As always, there is a large contingent of beautiful, young girls.

(And Peter.)

Peter did a little dancing with Ainsley. (I love watching that kid dance.) He didn't dance nearly as much as last year, but it was still entertaining.

A little view of Pete and Mike and the rest of the band.

Some of the concert goers:

Some serious girl talk between Samantha and Maren.

Some resting. (All that dancing can really wear you out.)

This is a horrible picture but that's Josh Boyden playing the bagpipes with Peter Breinholt! (He's the piper on the right.) Shawn was a little jealous. He's always wanted to play in the band with Peter, but Josh beat him to it. He was awesome. Now we can say we knew him when...

All in all a great evening for young and old(er). We were up way too late, again, but we'll keep coming back.