Water Works

I am terribly impressed with how much Tannie does to make life fun for her kids. She is the kind of mom I aspire to be. Thank you, Tannie, for being such a good example to me and such a good friend!

While we were in Idaho, we took every chance we had to spend time with the Datwylers. Lucky for us, Claire has quite an assortment of differently sized swimming suits so all girls could be properly attired even though we didn't come prepared.

Ben and Deirdre contented themselves with a bucket of water. Well, Ben did. As long as Deirdre wasn't trying to climb into the bucket.

The older boys entertained themselves instead with construction. Much more entertaining, I hear.

We continued the water fun on Pioneer Day with Grandma Karrie. We didn't have any fun holiday plans, especially since Chris was working. To make up for that, we planned on a spontaneous trip to the new splash pad in Cottonwood Heights.

They have a pretty cool set up there, including a fun playground just for little kids. Jane thoroughly enjoyed the teeter-totter.

Ben, on the other hand, was less impressed.

Jane braved the big kid playground, too.

Megan was a little less adventurous, though she did have just as much fun.

It's even better with an apple.

Hearty Congratulations to All!

Years worth of college certainly deserves a trip to Idaho! Congratulations to Amanda on earning her degree from BYU-Idaho.

Can you see her? She's right...there. No, there. Oh. Well, just wave at all of them and then you can tell Amanda that you waved at her at graduation.

Here, this picture is a little more clear.

It was a delightful trip up to Rexburg, visiting with the family and even sneaking away for a bit to hang with the Datwylers--those pictures coming soon (hint, hint Tannie)!

Graduation was, per tradition, long and boring. We left our kids with Tannie, but at least Ivan was still around to keep us entertained. Books and iPods were also helpful. I am very excited for Amanda to be graduated and I wish her the best of luck in her career as a veterinary technician!

The pre-graduation barbeque was quite nice, despite Craig's near-death experience on the trampoline and a little bit of cousin rivalry.

Upon our return, we celebrated Bill and Morgan's FIRST anniversary. Congratulations to you both!

Fireworks were certainly in order, seeing as how they were legal and all. I only took pictures of the sparklers this time--thanks again, Wendi and Tony!

Correction: I didn't take any pictures of fireworks per se, but I did take pictures of the result of one particular firework that exploded out the wrong end when it was lit.

Yep, lucky Amy got hit in the face with a firework.

Ice and painkillers seemed to make her a lot happier by the end of the night, though we all felt it was prudent for Chase to leave work early to come pick her up.

Update of this morning--pretty nasty burn spreading over her nose, eyelid, and even on her eyeball, but nothing that requires serious medical attention.

Way to be, man. Good job keeping the night interesting.

Oh my goodness, we're so funny

We can't be funny before we go camping.

Don't write that down, that wasn't funny.

Sometimes I'm so cool that I don't even know.

I was right? I'm never right when I make things up.

Those weren't real leaves, they were dream leaves.

I am sharing my insight even though I don't have a Plymouth.

They can be funny now 'cause they're not going camping.

It's like an exorcism of gnats.

Camping. Camping attracts gnats.

Why do they only come to me?

They don't. You just whine about it louder.

Is that the rule of the crack? You can look and see if you like it?

I'm picking bugs off you like a monkey.

I just snorted a bug. It'll fly around in my brain now.

That was like ninja speed gnat killing.

10! 10! Wild! Wild! Oh my gosh.

I don't care if my kids eat dirt [or drink lake water]. I just don't want them to get it on me.

If you weren't so far behind, you'd be winning.

And, break! Oh, They already left.

Hey, Laura, we're really funny but it seems to only be us.

I hit my funny bone but I hit it awkwardly so it's really not that funny.

Mud. Mud. Mud.

You're lumpy.

I got a bug bite on my elbow. What fresh hell is this?

Oops, I just kicked a dog.

Why are we funny at night? We are so funny at night.

I'm going to take this in case we're funny.

Our cracks are smaller.

To Appease Michael

It has been aptly noted that I posted a Preview and have yet to post what the preview was about. And so, without further ado, I present

Our Fourth of July

That might be a lot of buildup for a holiday that happened two weeks ago...Oh, well.

On the cuteness scale, my kids score level 10. If you're judging on a scale of 1-10. They would be level 100 if you were scoring 1-100. Or maybe they would be a level 1 if you were scoring 1-10 with 1 being the best and 10 being not-so-cute.

Pretty much I'm saying that my kids are cute. Look, I have proof.

Our festivities included the traditional Neighborhood Breakfast at my parents' church building.

And as usual, the breakfast was followed by a parade

and a water fight.

None of the kids seemed completely thrilled by getting wet, but Chris certainly had fun.

Our grand idea for the afternoon was to find a random ballgame in a random park and cheer for a random team. Oddly enough, no one was playing any games within easy driving distance of Grandma's house.

In the absence of organized sporting events, we delved instead into our own unorganized sports events and let Jane chronicle the action.

The conclude the holiday celebrations, we held a barbeque at our house--an excuse to use Chris's brand new grill on a larger scale.

Once upon a time we had planned a driveway fireworks extravaganza, but all fireworks were banned in our area due to the fire hazard. So, Jane drew us some fireworks instead. That's like the same, right?

Happy Holiday! 

Stay tuned for the reason why I have taken so long to post this.