Jonas Turns 15!

Fifteen years ago, I became a mother.  (Fifteen, really?!! I swear it's only been 5 years or so.) Thanks Jonas, for the things you have taught  me so far along our journey.  

Shawn and I were out of town over night for our anniversary, but we made it back in time to help him celebrate.  He's always a good sport about wearing the birthday hat.

You get really exciting stuff when you're 15 - like pajama pants.  But seriously, he was pretty happy.  Due to his major growth spurts, it has been a long time since he's had any pajamas that actually reach his ankles.

Jonas is extremely difficult to buy for.  He just wants, well, nothing.  Ever.  So I was so proud of myself for coming up with something that he would actually like and use.

His very own hammock!  The hammock is one of his favorite places to be during the summer and our big family hammock finally wore out earlier this summer, so it seemed like an obvious gift.

(Notice the gaggle of girls hanging around and watching him open his presents.  We came home to a house overflowing with girls.  I don't think it bothered Jonas too much.)

And finally, his cool remote controlled helicopter.

We made him pose with all of the girls - just to mortify him because that is our job as parents, after all.

Since he had no idea what type of cake he wanted, we came home with a box of gourmet doughnuts to try out.

Everyone was yelling out for pieces of the doughnuts they wanted to try.  (I have to say all of the ones I tried were really good!)  Plus this picture with Jonas surrounded by a bunch of neighborhood girls (and cousins) is pretty funny.

A successful birthday wish.

Ah, see? I knew it would make him happy.

And for one final birthday gift, we forced him to get a cell phone.  He has insisted for quite some time that he doesn't need or want one, but I am finding that it would be nice to be able to track him down and know where he is sometimes.  As soon as we walked into the apple store, he found plenty of things to entertain himself.

(And somehow - perhaps against our better judgement, Samantha got in on the birthday deal as well.  We'll have to see how that goes.)

A Busy Week

It seems like all of our weeks are busy lately, but here's a little catch up post of this week.  Since Shawn's new calling in the Taylorsville YSA (young single adult) bishopric, most of our Monday nights involve going to Family Home Evening with the YSA ward.  This week though, Amelia was the only one who was able to go, so she and Shawn joined them on their hike to Ensign Peak.

She's a little younger than the rest of the group, but she had fun.

I guess even when you're over 18, you can't help but have a silly face photo.

We've been having fun with my "Rob" pillow.

These pictures just make us laugh.  Who knew this would end up being such a fantastic bithday gift?

And so versatile, too.  He can go from football player to swimmer in a matter of seconds.

Either Megan asked Samantha to help her put in curlers, or Samantha asked Megan to let her try an experiment in her hair.  Either way, this is what I found Sunday morning when Megan came upstairs.

The straws definitely curled her hair.

A lot.  Normally her hair is almost to her waist.

The curls lasted for days - just  slowly loosening and lengthening as time went on.  It would be a great hairdo if she were dressing as Merida from Brave.

Peter and I are back to enjoying our morning walks when we walk the girls to school.  And as always, he is sure to stop and smell the flowers and explore all the things we see.

And possibly against our better judgement, we signed Peter up for soccer.  We have really enjoyed our break from the game for the past few years, but thought we should give it a try.  We'll see how it goes since Peter hasn't watched any of his siblings play the game.  He's spent a lot of time at swim meets and water polo games, but soccer is new to him.

This was his first practice.  He gave it a good try for a while, 

but then decided to sit down for a little break and watch the other kids play.

We are still definitely trying to adjust to being back in school.  Hopefully things will settle down a bit?

Random Summer Photos

Some of the things we did this summer that were never blogged about. (In no particular order.)

Took lots of random photos.

Enjoyed weather hot enough to melt the citronella candles completely.

Ate candy more than usual.

(That thing seriously grossed me out.)

Went to a couple of movies.

Ate lots of ice cream and made silly faces.

I love these blue-eyed babies of mine.

Did lots of cleaning up.

Did I mention we took lots of random photos?  (Most of which I didn't know about until they showed up on my phone?)

More silly faces.

We did a LOT of sitting on our new front porch.  This was one of the best investments we've made.  We gave up a little garden space and traded it for a fantastic family hangout space.

Peter got to hang out with Dad at work.  He likes to hang out with his friends there.

Lucky for him, there was broccoli for lunch.

We took a few trips to Arctic Circle for dipped cones.

And this is how Megan actually started the summer - with a good whack to the head-

That left this enormous lump on her forehead.

We tried on glasses just for fun.

Went to the store dressed in capes and other fancy outfits.

Enjoyed free slurpees on 7/11.

Made some yummy treats and devoured them quickly.

Went to another movie - apparently all by ourselves.

And enjoyed some fantastic rain storms!

It was a good summer - busy, but good.  So sad that it's over.  Just 9 more months to go, right?