More Summer Fun

My mom and I were talking the other day how we have a "compulsion" to take pictures of everything and document our lives and the lives of those we love. Why? you might ask. We both came to the conclusion that it is the Spirit of Elijah working in us to document our lives. Both of us don't feel the need to do "traditional" family history where you look up ancestor names and such, but we do feel a great need to tell our story and make sure that our kids and grand kids know who we are and know what their childhoods were like. I also feel it is important for me, because I don't want to forget a moment of my kids growing up. When they are all out of the house and I wonder where all the years have gone, I won't really have to wonder, because I will have it documented right in front of me. I know already that the memories will be fresh and the feelings will be right with me. So, in my own small way, I am fulfilling the scripture, "He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers." Or in my case, mother. I do feel like there is a reason I am taking all these pictures and writing everything down. But for now, I am enjoying doing it and I am glad I have this blog to share them on.

So here are some of the latest summer adventures I have taken with the boys. We spent an afternoon getting tons of exercise and all hot and sweaty at Airborne.

Another day, all my old ward friends got together at the Herriman Splash Park.

Another day we invited the neighbor boys over for a little slip-in-slide fun.

Along with some pool fun.

And a little bit of sprinkler fun.

My family and I spent a whole Saturday driving up to Bear Lake for my cousin's daughter's wedding. It took forever to get there and then we only stayed for the 30 minute ceremony. I'd never been to Bear Lake before though, and it was beautiful.

On a side note, Tracy got a speeding ticket on the way there, I didn't get a famous raspberry shake, and we were starving by the time we got back down the canyon and ended up eating at Chuck A Rama in Logan. The wedding was pretty though.

On a sunny, but windy afternoon, we spent the day at the Kearns Pool. If I would have known how windy it was going to be, we wouldn't have gone. It made it super cold!! Aunt Tracy joined us for a very fun and relaxing day at Cherry Hill. This was Miles' first time there and he loved it!

In between some of this fun, I also went to Girls Camp for four days, but that will be a whole separate post. Loving summer and wish it would last forever!!

Mason's 5th Birthday

My little sunshine, Mason, broke his promise to me. He promised he would stay 4 forever and now look what he has done! He's gone ahead and turned 5!! He woke up to a great morning of presents from Mom and Dad and the traditional birthday pancakes with candles.
He got some pretty fun stuff.

The "weapons" were of course his favorite.

That evening we threw a family party for both him and Miles, since Miles' birthday got overshadowed by the big surprise birthday party we threw for Pat in June. Mason was happy to share his special day with his little brother.

Tracy is our one family member who has a house big enough to fit us all in, and she is so willing to let us use it for our family parties.

Once again, I am so grateful that both sides of our family live so close. Everyone was able to come to help us celebrate.

Each boy got their own cake to make a birthday wish.

Miles knows how to eat cake!!!

I sure do love these two! I tried to get Mason to promise that he would stay 5 forever, but he told me, "Mom, I can't. I have to get bigger." I do love watching them grow, but I sure wish it wasn't happening so fast.

4th of July Weekend

AMERICAN FORK CANYON

I am so grateful to be married to someone who is willing to go to all the work to take us camping, because trust me, it is a LOT of work. But we have so much fun together and see so many beautiful places and things, that it is well worth the effort. For the 4th of July weekend, we went up American Fork Canyon. It was fun to go camping in trees, since we have been doing a lot of camping down south in the red rocks for a while. This was the sunrise on the first morning. Gorgeous!
A breakfast of pop tarts and cereal.

There is a little place called "Cascade Springs" where the water has been traveling under the mountains for like 2 miles and then all the sudden comes out of the ground in these beautiful springs.

It is a Harker camping tradition to always have one dinner of hot dogs roasted over the fire. They always taste better while camping.

The next day, Aunt Tracy joined us for a hike up to Timpanogos Cave. It is a very steep hike, but my boys are troopers and did a great job!

I love the view and how you can see down into Utah County.

We made it to the top!

The inside of the cave is so cool.

As always, the boys earned another Jr. Ranger badge. I think they are up to 9 or 10 now.

Before we packed up and headed home, we played a little round of baseball. Max has a killer swing and was knocking them way over the trees.

FOURTH OF JULY

We got home from camping in the afternoon and found our flag from the scouts in our yard. Miles is obsessed with flags right now and points them whenever he sees one. He wanted to stand by this one for the rest of the day.

That evening we headed out to Murray Park to hang out with the Millers and Harkers while we waited for the fireworks. This is one of my favorite holidays because it is so low key and relaxing.

The hit of the night was the glow bracelets Grandma Miller brought for all the grandkids.

It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend. I love being with my family and participating in our traditions. We have a lot of fun together and we are lucky to have each other. I am also so grateful to live in the United States of America. We are so blessed!

Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime?

Even though my house is in constant chaos (a mess!) and I have a bunch of projects I should be working on, I don't want to let this summer pass by without having some fun with my boys. So, these are some of the things we have been doing while I ignore all the "should dos" and instead focus on the "want to dos." We spent one Monday at Murray pool. The best part was right after we got there, we ran into Suzie with her kids. That made the day extra fun because my boys LOVE playing with their cousins!

We spent another afternoon using a killer deal I got off City Deals to Hollywood Connection. They love the roller coaster!

Did a little mini golf.

Rode the carousel.

On one of the cooler days we headed on over to the West Jordan park.

Some days we have spent at home on our very own Slip and Slide.

Or playing with squirt guns and just getting soaking wet.

Summer is by far my favorite season of the year. I wish it could last so much longer. That is why I feel like I have to shove as much into it as I can. Loving it!

Important June Events

The end of June was jam packed with so many amazing events for me and my family. All of them happened the same week as Trek, so it was probably the busiest week of my life, but also one of the most amazing. On Thursday, June 24th, my brother-in-law Matt married Holly in the Draper, Utah temple. Matt was never one to date very much, at it was getting to the point where we all wondered if he would ever pursue marriage. Then one night he was introduced to Holly and he fell head over heals in love. For the next few months he turned into a totally different Matt then we had ever seen before. His romantic side came busting out and he did all he could to win her over and to agree to marry him. We are so excited to have Holly join our family. I will no longer be the only Harker daughter-in-law. I was filming the whole event so eventually, they will have a lovely wedding video to remember their amazing day.
Holly loves bright colors so these are the outfits my boys wore to the wedding and reception. Aren't they the most handsome boys you have ever seen? Yeah, I thought so!
The next day, Friday June 25th, was Miles' 2nd birthday. He has such a personality!! He can be the most stubborn pill one minute and the cutest sweetheart the next. He is so funny and silly and yet can cry and wine his way into getting what ever he wants. He definitely keeps me on my toes!

For his birthday, he got some new pajamas and a Slip and Slide. Of course we had to test it out right away.

That same day, was a HUGE surprise birthday party for my mother-in-law Pat's 60th birthday. The Harker kids had been planning this party for months. All the family from everywhere, neighbors, and friends of Pat were invited. Mike was able to get all the tables, chairs, linens, a snowcone machine, and a dunking booth from Diamond. His sisters decorated everything with pictures of Pat's life. I made a slide show movie showing Pat from a baby until now. Kari made a book with letters from all her family telling her how much we love and appreciate her. We had dinner and a DJ too. It was an amazing party and Pat was totally surprised.

(I have a way cute picture of Pat with her cool cake, but for some reason I can't get it to load here on my blog!)

And last, but not least, after 2 years, one month, and two weeks, I got my braces off!!!! It feels so good and eating has gotten fun again! I love my new smile and of course now it all seems worth it. But I really did hate every minute of having braces. Its good to feel like myself again and not always be worried if I have leftover food stuck in my teeth. Love it!!

So June was a killer, but so full of some amazing events and memories. I am glad I have tons of pictures to remember it all because really, it was kind of a big blur.