Boating Summer

We got to go out with our friends, the Rosenlofs, on their boat several times this summer.  All of the kids loved diving straight into the lake.  Jon wasn't able to join us most of the times so we kept the water activities to a minimum.  But every now and then we pulled out the tube.  I seriously rode like this with them.  It was crazy.

Asher is the best tuber known to man.  We have always called him monkey boy because he can hold onto anything.  As a baby, you could just let go of him and he would cling to you.  While tubing, there were at least four times when he got bounced so high his entire body left the tube but those little monkey paws of his never lost their grip.  We were rolling with laughter so hard.

We had one crazy adventure.  We usually hit the lake in the middle of the week but we went out one Saturday afternoon.  The dock was being reconstructed so there was only one lane open.  The line to get a boat in was soooo long.  It took us almost two hours just to get our boat in the lake.  We started at 3 pm and didn't get in until 5 pm.  We cruised around a bit, did a few wakeboarding runs, let the kids swim a little, then headed back for the dock as the sun was going down.  We got to the dock a little before 8 pm. We did get out of the water until about 10:15 pm.  At that point, it was completely dark, the kids were losing it, and it seemed like the night that would never end.  

We finally were in our car and headed back to town.  I stopped at the Taco Bell drive through in Boulder City so the kids could get a quick dinner at the only place that was still open.  Plus I figured a caramel apple empanada would end the evening on a good note. There were only two cars in front of me but I waited 15 minutes to get to the window.  Then the lady left me at the window for 10 minutes.   Ten minutes!   I was so done.  So so done.  She finally came to the window to say they were still waiting for the empanadas.  I took the food she had ready and sped off.  That place still owes me 4 empanadas.

Asher is 4 years old!

During a church auction, I won a pizza party for ten at Cici's Pizza.  Cici's is a pizza buffet that is located almost across the street from us.  But we have never been there.  Not once.  But somehow, I managed to convince Asher that it would be the coolest place ever to have a birthday party.  He was totally on board.  

We did have a great time.  Aunt Kylie and Uncle Stephen were in town, along with Aunt Kristy and cousin Declan.  We had our friends the Shrouts, the Mackays and the Egberts show up.  Pizza was consumed in mass quantities, soda was gulped, glow sticks were sported, and presents were given.  

Cici's makes a macaroni and cheese pizza... which is basically a cheese pizza with noodles on it.  Jude was a big fan.

Scarlet and Calvin Shrout.

Rhode and Ian Shrout

The whole crew!

Thankfully Will Shrout brought his camera and took a lot of photos...because I kind of forgot to.

Brooklyn Mackay, Asher, and Frankie Shrout

Overall a big success.

One of his favorite gifts was some awesome soccer gear from Grammy.  This guy instantly looked like a pro.

Which was great timing because Asher had won a free season of Lil' Kickers soccer at the school raffle.

So every Tuesday night, we would head down to the indoor soccer area.  There is nothing better than indoor soccer during the summer.  The kids and I would stick around while he had his lesson.  Scarlet commandeered my phone one practice and caught was these normally looked like.

Jude would wander.

I would read and ignore everyone.

And Jude would wander some more.  He usually insisted we bring "Jude's soccer ball" so he could play as well.

Earlchella 2015

Every other year, the Earl girl cousins get together to reconnect.  It am so glad to be a part of this group.  It has got to be one of the best group of girls out there.  I love the originals, I love the married ins.  It was such a fantastic weekend.

This year we headed up to Spanish Fork and stayed at Kim Wise's house.  She has a beautiful house and we were all comfortable.  For the first time ever, I did not have a small baby at the reunion!  But oddly enough this was the year that every one else did, including Kristy.  I volunteered to camp with Kristy and we got Kim's nice big room so Declan could get some good rest.

We ate delicious food, including a night at the Provo food trucks that was fantastic.  

We sang karaoke.  We sang karaoke hard.

We had some other amazing activities.  We all brought a favorite gift to share and did an exchange game.  We all took home some fantastic new treasures.

The highlight of the trip was the Hollywood Game Night.  I hadn't actually watched the show before, but seriously was I missing out.  Angie gathered some clues and games from the show and we had the ultimate game off.  There was charades, movie guessing, catch phrase, puzzles, so so many games.  We competed and shouted and laughed and ran into each other and won and lost.  It was so so so much fun.

After the reunion of awesomeness, I stole this little guy and took him home with me.

Okay, I took his mom too.  Kristy, Declan and I had a great week together.  I got to get some awesome baby snuggles with one of the most content babies on the planet and got to hang out with my sister.  

Jude was very interested in Declan, as long as I wasn't holding him.  

Rain Hiking

On a random Saturday in July, we decided to go on an adventure.  The weather was looking a little iffy, but hey its Las Vegas!  Rain never sticks around that long.  Jon found a fun new path for us that led us right past a herd of wild burro and lead to a little stream.

But when we got to the start of the hike, it was still coming down pretty hard.  So we scrounged up any rain gear we could in the car (a few hats, a thermal blanket, a plastic bag or two...) and took off anyway.

My biggest mistake was wearing jean shorts.  They were already a little loose on me.  Add some water and it was all I could do to keep my shorts on.  Jon gave me his rain jacket.  I held onto Jude and Jon wedged the jacket around the two of us.  We stayed nice and toasty in there, especially when Jude feel asleep and became a sleeping baby space heater.

Jude slept most of the way in and was pretty cranky on the way out.  That meant no walking.  It also meant that he was annoyed with all of my attempts to switch him into my hip or any other comfortable carrying position.  So I had to just carry him in front of me the entire way in and out.  When we finally got back, my arms would hardly straighten they were so sore.  Don't worry Jude, you were worth it.

The kids were super tough.  It was cold and wet.  But the burros were awesome and the water was cool.  And there is just something about feeling cold in July in the desert.  It's miserable and magical at the same time.  

In the end, we were cold, wet to the bone and tired, but had an awesome afternoon to remember.  I love my adventure babies.

The Randoms of July

Scarlet and I got our hair cut at the beginning of the summer.  We both got shorter do's but mine was especially short.  Scarlet got a kick out of the big ponytail of hair I cut off.    I went from this:

To this.  It made the summer so much more enjoyable.  I have loved short hair.

Scarlet's cut turned out very adorable.

Asher was extremely pleased to try on his wedding clothes for Kylie's wedding.  Thrilled actually.

He prefers his basketball shirt.. and selfies.

Sometimes mom has a crazy hair day and takes pics with her boys.

One of the many outdoor meals they planned for themselves this summer.  Kids eating outdoors is the best thing that could happen to summertime.

I had a fun night out with some ladies and we went painting.  Yeah, painting is not a skill of mine.  But a night chatting with fun people, totally my scene.

 Here's my poor painting.  My hummingbird looks overdue with triplets... Scarlet was impressed.

Scarlet made herself breakfast one morning.  I was impressed with the healthful balance.  She was impressed with the happy nature of her creation.

Jude loves donuts.  Every now and again, in the middle of an unrelated conversation, he will perk up and say, "donut?"  He is always annoyed when we don't have one sitting around for him at these random moments.

The three older kids played tennis this summer.  Poor kids were out in triple digit heat almost every practice.  Jude is also pretty sure he is a tennis player.  He insisted on taking a racket every week and hitting the balls I threw at him.  We are hoping to take tennis in the spring this year so it isn't so miserably hot.

And one hot afternoon, we hit up the digiridoo show at the library.  The kids were fascinated by the strange instruments and the very strange presenters.  Scarlet and Rhode even got to take a turn onstage.

And finally, a mom and her boys.  That is one lucky lady for sure.

4th of July with the Stouts

We spent 4th of July in Prescott, AZ.  Prescott does 4th of July like a small town, with tons of festivities and activities, only they really aren't that small.  We did everything from the kiddie parade to the Big Parade to fireworks.  

There was some serious candy throwing at the parade.  Our kids walked away with a candy fortune.

We also got to do some adventuring.  The Stouts took us out on a canoe one night and the kids took turns paddling around a little lake.   And as usual, all of our children played like crazy just enjoying each other's company.  And Blaze's new pet.   It was a great weekend.