July Activities

We/I had such a fun month this month, I am loving summer this year! 

• Early this month (on the 8th), I went with Mom, Will, Grandma, Andy, and Rachel to see "Top Fun" at Desert Playhouse. Rachel works there and gets us cheap tickets (plus discounts on their food...I had to try their lava cake haha). I love that they are an improv show and they make it pretty interactive. It was such a funny show (they broke character a few times and that makes it more funny haha). It was such fun, I noticed they had a Grinch Christmas show next year that I have every intention of bringing Cara and Gwen to. We even had them do a birthday shout out to Grandma and she was SO surprised and seemed to love it. 

• I crossed off a huge to-do that I've been wanting to do for a few months: I finally cleaned & organized the kids toys & all our sheets (finally!). I found a good storage system for our sheets (I found some storage bags that are about the same size as the zipper bags that the sets come in) and it has been SO nice having those set better.

• I also organized the kids toys into 7 containers so we have one for every day and it's easier to clean them up each day (rather than having ALL toys out all the time). It's not EVERY toy, as some we just left out to have them be able to play with at any point and are easy to clean up (like dress up stuff) and I still need to do something with the basement toys, but maybe that'll be a plan for next month haha.

• Another HUGE check off is we got our backyard patio and outdoor toy storage projects done. I've been looking for a good storage system for our side yard (it's not big and it starts out wide and gets more narrow as it gets closer to the yard, which makes it hard to find something that fits AND we can walk around). We went to Costco one day and I saw these storage boxes that would be PERFECT! I just wasn't sure if they'd be the right size so we went home and I measured and saw they would fit so the next day we went to Costco and...they were all gone (ARGH!). So we drove down to the American Fork Costco and luckily they had them so we grabbed two and very, VERY carefully drove them home (they barely fit in the van with all the kids and I ended up having to drive us home because the driver seat had to be set SO close to the wheel). We got them built and put on some pallets (on top of our big rocks that I had Larry move because the side yard was a much better place than our front square). I loved getting the outdoor toys more organized and put away so they don't blow away or get destroyed in the elements.

• We scoured so many concrete people to get out back patio poured so we can finally have an outdoor dining set (not to mention a LOT less dirt blowing around outside as well). After so many of them telling us it was too small of a job for them so I finally turned to KSL and looked at the services section and found some concrete people to reach out to. One finally reached back out, was within budget, and was able to get the job done within a day (sweet deal to us!). I think we may have to reconfigure our back porch steps for the new area, but that's a job for another summer haha.

• This month was Gwen's turn for 1:1 dates. She ended up picking going swimming at a Rec Center Pool and, of course, the other kids thought that sounded so fun we made it a family date. We were going to go to the one in Lindon, but it was SO packed  (and outdoors while the temperature was over 100 degrees and Larry wasn't feeling being outside) we went to the Lehi one and it was SO much fun (and indoors)!! They had so many fun areas and the kids LOVED the lazy river the most. I'm honestly hoping to go back again because it's so much fun!!

• On 7/11 we got our free slurpees during nap time. It was VERY hot to it was really nice. I'll never pass up a free slurpee (plus they organized the line so it wasn't so bad).

• On the 16th I was craving ice cream so we decided to check out the new Handel's in Saratoga Springs. Larry and I both got the 4 scoop sampler and the kids all got a cone with 3 scoops of their choice of ice cream. It was SO yummy (I'm pretty sure ice cream is my favorite dessert). It was a nice treat in the 100 degree weather and I didn't realize it was National Ice Cream Day until afterwards, so that was nice haha.

• We also have been doing plenty of fun nap time activities while it's summer break. At first it was overwhelming, but now I'm more used to it and I love the more personalized time and breaks from work I get to spend with the girls.

• On the 22nd, we went to this float preview event at the Mountain America Expo Center (it was free, indoors, and they had free face painting for the kids). It wasn't the most exciting things for the kids, but it was really cool seeing the detail in the floats and the video time lapses. Some of them even had little scavenger hunts that the kids could do (they also had candy that I think was their favorite part haha).

• On the 29th one of my work friends, Jeni, got married and we got to go to the reception. The kids were all dressed up and looking so cute. The food was great and Jeni looked so gorgeous in her dress.

So that was July for us. Pretty eventful and exciting. Our last full month of summer break. I'm looking forward to school starting next month and going back to school shopping for Gwen and Cara. Hopefully we can keep it budget friendly haha.

Also, a MOVING UPDATE: I know I posted that we'd be relocating with Larry's job last month. However, after looking and doing the math we realized that housing interest rates are just too insane right now. We'd pay less in gas and car maintenance than we would on just the interest of a new home. So until rates are more favorable we've put a halt on moving. It was a hard decision to come to and we're hopeful moving is still part of our future, but right now it doesn't fit and, luckily, we're happy with where we're at. 

24th of July - a Utah Celebration

The much lesser known, but much more highly celebrated (it seems) 24th of July is becoming a favorite for me haha. This year the 24th is on a Monday so we went to mom's today to celebrate. Andy and Rachel came too so it was such a fun gathering.

Mom and Will grilled us food and had drinks, we brought pie and some pasta salad with us (just so we weren't mooching too much) and it all turned out SO yummy. Mom bought a Twister Splash Pad thing for the kids to get soaked with (I'm sure that was their favorite part haha) and after they dried off, Will took them out in "the buggie" for neighborhood rides. That also got some BIG smiles. 

After all that we lit some snakes, sparklers, and threw down/popped some poppers (Grandma REALLY got into that) while we visited and the kids climbed the tree out front (I hope that becomes a core memory for them!). 

It was SUCH a fun time! We even stayed past the kids bedtime so we could let them have fun (and maybe dry off as much as possible haha). I definitely look forward to doing this each year and having more summer gatherings with the whole group. I am SO happy my mom is back and we get to do get togethers like this so often!!

My little monkeys!

And now all kids are passed out while the outside world is going CRAZY with explosions. I get so excited for when we can take them out late enough to watch the fireworks, but for now I'll enjoy my peaceful night and go fold some laundry.

Happy Independence Day

Our Fourth of July this year wasn't so bad. It was SO nice having a day off of work and being able to sleep in. The only problem is we have had SO much going on the past few weeks that when I woke up, I just wanted to take it as a day off. As in, do house stuff, clean, organize, get stuff done so I could get back into a rhythm. Celebrating any holidays was not on my mind so much. 

Luckily, I woke up a little early and decided to surf Instagram and found one of my Utah pages posting about the country's biggest flag (weighing a whopping 400 lbs!!) would be suspended in Pleasant Grove and is a short walk to go underneath it. I checked to see how far it was from us and when I saw less than 30 minutes I thought "Ooh! We could squeeze that in after breakfast and it could be really cool to see this!" So when everyone got up I asked the girls if that sounded cool and they were all for it.

Luckily, I was able to find mostly festive outfits for the kids (Pierce was technically in red, black, and blue, but it was the closest I could find). And all outfits were mountain trail friendly!

The hike really wasn't too bad, it was all uphill, but not too difficult. It was right near a stream so Cara became obsessed with finding a way to get down to touch the water, so we let her lead the way for a bit. We found a nice shaded clearing and went and played near the water. Larry hung the kids upside down to touch the water (everyone but Lucy seemed to like that part haha). I got some great pictures of the flag and the beautiful nature around us. We did the hike for a bit and then turned around after a while (I wasn't planning a full hike so we didn't have sunscreen or much water and snacks). 

Once we got back home we had some watermelon and blueberries. It felt very festive and I was feeling lucky we had those already in our fridge. After that we had some "bbq" burgers for lunch (yum!) and got ready for nap time. Larry took a nap while I read our "Night Before the Fourth of July" book to the girls and let them have popsicles outside. Then I let them play "music videos" (Kids YouTube) while I researched some other things on my computer.

After nap time things died down a bit. I couldn't find any parades or anything else to do. Outside was 90 degrees so just being outside with no shade was out. We figured the pool might be crazy and I didn't think many stores would be open to walk so we just hung around the house.

For dinner we had bbq chicken sandwiches with pasta salad and then went outside to play with our poppers, sparklers, and the water table. The ice cream truck drove by so we got some ice cream from that and had fun celebrating. I had hoped fireworks would start by 8 so I could let the girls stay up a bit later (I even pushed bath time back a bit to give it as much time as possible), but I didn't hear anything so we had to put them to bed. They didn't end up starting until 9! Maybe next year we'll actually get to watch them?

So even though it started great and ended up a bit more low key, we still had a lot of fun with it. I'm glad the kids enjoyed the flag and I loved telling them about why today is such a good day and why we celebrate it. While I wouldn't say this is my favorite holiday, I do enjoy learning more about our history and thinking about being back in certain times and a time like this where we celebrated such a big victory makes me so proud to be an American. I really do appreciate those who have sacrificed so much so that I can be in this country!

Happy Independence Day 2023!

Larry's Birthday

Larry is officially an old man now! Not because he turned 35, but because when I turned 35 he kept calling me an old lady and now that he's my age I get to throw it back at him haha. No, 35 is a great age! We both agreed we'd be done having kids by 35 (we said we'd have as many as we could handle, but 35 is our stopping point for our goal of having a great time at 40 and we're a little ahead of the game on that one haha).

I wanted to make sure his birthday this year was great! Something to make up for his Father's Day that didn't go as well. I told him he gets to decide, whatever he wants. All he could tell me ahead of time was that he wanted to go to Leatherby's for dinner (his favorite tradition) and go to Nickel City at some point. So we knew going into the weekend that it would be easiest to go to Nickel City first and head to Leatherby's for dinner afterwards. I'm not a huge fan of going to the nickel arcades with the kids, but mostly because I have to watch them so closely I don't get to play much so it's not as much fun, but I still enjoy him having fun so it's worth it. 

Since his birthday was on a Saturday and that's his day I let him sleep in, I decided to let him sleep in as long as he wanted. He got to "party" last night so we ended up waking him up around 9:30 because he wanted to see this bike parade our neighborhood was doing at 10 so that was his time limit for sleeping haha. We went outside our house (he said he saw they rode right past us) right at 10 and waited...and waited....and waited. Finally after 15 minutes I thought "surely, they would've started by now?" so I asked him about it and decided to check the map on our neighborhood page...turns out they were going along the train BEHIND the houses in front of us. So we rushed over to the basketball courts (where the finish line was) and saw it was all just ending as we showed up. Luckily, they had a cooler full of popsicles for the kids so they got to at least have a treat. It was a bit of a bummer, but we did get to see the bikes...just not moving as much haha.

After that I asked Larry what he wanted to do since we had some time before lunch. He said he just wanted to hang out at the house. I know that's pretty typical so I wasn't surprised, so a lazy morning is what he got. The kids wanted to be outside so he and I just sat on the grass in the little bit of shade our trees gave us and let the kids have fun.

For lunch, I made the kids some lunch and then went and grabbed myself something (Larry said he wasn't hungry still so he didn't want anything, but I haven't been able to get myself lunch in so long that I wasn't going to miss the opportunity). After lunch, I put Pierce and Lucy down for a nap and entertained the older girls while Larry laid down. We made paper bag monsters, a soccer field, we read one of the highlight magazines from our huge stack in the front room, set Cara's "grow a unicorn" up in water to watch, and then I let them play while I made the grocery list (it felt very productive haha).

After nap time, we got everyone all ready and headed to Nickel City. We ended up having more fun than we have the past few times we've come (mostly because the last few times I've either been pretty pregnant or we have a new baby that doesn't walk that I need to hold the entire time). I told Larry to go play his games and I'll entertain the kids. It's easy when they mostly love this little carousel that's at the front. I let them ride that a few times and then I let them each pick a game to play and we'd go do that for a while. 

After a little bit, we found Larry playing a shooting dinosaur game and Cara wanted to play that with him so I left her with him and took the other three to play other games. Then we kind of stuck with dad after a few games. Around 4:30 I asked him when we should head to dinner and he said in about 20 minutes so we played a bit more and then I had him play his DDR game (that he usually plays at least once when we're there). About 4:45 we were done, we turned in the tickets (well, he did, while I did the carousel ride a couple more times for Pierce since he didn't really get to play anything and he just smiled and smiled so much on that thing haha), and we headed over to dinner.

Luckily, there wasn't much of a wait at Leatherby's so we were able to get right in. It was even more lucky because the kids all had to go to the bathroom right as we sat down so I was able to take them and then change Lucy and Pierce's diapers as well. Dinner was really good and we got lots of good ice creams as well (Larry, of course, got his bubble gum, I tried Rocky Road, which okay, the girls got play dough and cotton candy). After that we went home, got the kids to bed, and now we're getting ready for our movie night. I'm letting him choose since it's his birthday and all. 

I asked him how his birthday was and he said it wasn't bad. I'm sure it was a little better than Father's Day, but still feel we could do more for his birthday. It felt very boring, but at least he got a nap, some game time, and some yummy ice cream so it's not all bad, right?

Anyways, happy birthday to the best husband and father we could ask for. To the guy who is always going along with my plans without complaining so he deserved a day to make the plans and have us all go along with it. I hope you know how much we love and appreciate all you do for us on a daily basis (he's one of the only dad's I know who is as involved with his kids as much as he is and he's a MUCH better dad than the ones we got growing up so I'm very very very proud of him for being happy to be with his kids so much). Welcome to 35, may the next 35 years be just as great as the last few have been! LOVE YOU BABE!!