Friends come to play

The first week of August was the week of friends.

First, Seth came to visit while his aunt and grandma went tomato picking.

Since I did not go to YW/Girls Camp, we offered to help out the Stake YW Camp Director out with her kids. She only took us up on the offer for 1 day for 1 kid - but Kaylyn loved having Kennedy over for the day. Of course, the day Kennedy came over was the morning after Rylie came over for a sleepover (which was the same day Seth came to play) so we had a house full of girls. Adam escaped somewhere for that day very quickly.

Random fun pictures in August

One August afternoon, Kaylyn grabbed the camera and here are the results.

Self-portrait.And here's the shots she got of Morgan.

The storms abrewin'

Here are some interesting clouds from a storm in August...

Pioneer Day Celebration

In mid-July, our ward celebrated Pioneer Day (for those who don't know Pioneer Day is the day the pioneers entered the Salt Lake valley). We had a pancake breakfast in the park followed by a bike parade. Morgan was excited to get to ride her big girl bike.
I walked the bike parade to help Morgan but Adam rode (he actually rode his bike from our house over to the park, which was several miles away).Kaylyn wasn't excited because we had some confusion - we thought that part of the activity was decorating our bikes but apparently we were supposed to decorate at home. So Kaylyn became upset because her bike wasn't decorated.

So instead of riding around with Adam, Morgan and me, she grabbed the camera and took pictures. Here's my favorite of her pictures - I love the angle.

4th of July Celebrations

Yes, I am still catching up. Eventually, I will be done with these catch up posts and you can see what's going on with us now. But here's 4th of July.

We started out the morning by joining with 5 other families and cleaning the Church building - it took us only 45 minutes because of all of us showing up.

Originally when we had our trip to California planned, we were going to be back on Friday primarily so we could keep our 4th of July traditions - 4th of July parade and then ribs and fireworks with the Crosby's.

One of the families, the Kraude's, who helped clean the Church joined us for the annual 4th of July parade through Midtown... Too bad they moved away at the end of August. But maybe they'll come back for 4th of July next year :)
It started to sprinkle when we arrived so out came the umbrella's. This is Kaylyn with Cami waiting for the parade to start.
I have two favorite parts of the parade. Here's one of the old cars - this is the model that Adam and I dream that we will someday have. My other favorite is the Victorian ladies. Each year they plan their parasol routine to music for the parade and it's a delight to watch. If we lived in the neighborhood, I'd so want to be in the group!

After the parade, we head over to our friends, Gaylynn and Cory, for Cory's famous barbecue ribs. And as soon as it starts getting dark, out come the fireworks (not my favorite part of the day but probably Adam's). Here's Cory with snap pops. Kaylyn, Morgan and Micah (Cory and Gaylynn's 3 y/o grandson) all joined in.

Then the "boys" started playing with fire. Here is one we captured with the camera.

Gaylynn and Cory's neighborhood is awesome because even if we didn't set off fireworks, there are still plenty to see from their driveway. Here's Kaylyn enjoying the pretty colors.

My inspiration

Here's a duplicate of what I posted on my mothers blog...

Last week, I posted about how we have implement "points" in our home, primarily for Princess1. Well, the same source that inspired that has inspired me again. I'm not sure how I'm going to implement the concept but I have to share the concept with you today.

Please click here and read Lara's post. See if it inspires you too.

Our Home Away from Home This Summer

Adam got a second interview in Quincy so time for a road trip!

Krispy Kreme does a special treat for kids' report cards. So as we started our road trip, we stopped at Krispy Kreme with Kaylyn's report card - 6 free donuts! The hot sign was flashing was we arrived so we each also got a free HOT glazed donut. Personally, I didn't think there was anything special about Krispy Kreme - until I'd had one fresh off the glazer. YUMMY!

The girls agreed. It was delicious! And now they believe every road trip starts with a stop at Krispy Kreme. I don't mind :)

Because we were only an hour away from Adam's parents, after the interview, we drove over and checked in at the hotel there. The hotel was our home away from home this summer with 3 trips there - this was trip #2. We actually had two home away from homes - the hotel and our van :)

We took over the hotel lobby to play pool and yahtzee. Adam thinks he's a decent pool player because he can calculate the angles. He does great - against me. But he'd probably not do so well against an actual decent player. But it's fun and that's the important part.

Zeb had not played before so Adam and Zeb played together most of the night.

Grandma and Uncle Alma are avid Yahtzee players, and Zeb usually is too. Kaylyn has played before with them. Morgan HAD to play too this time. Kaylyn's actually getting pretty good. We need to print out some Yahtzee forms, gather the dice and play with her at home.

On the road trip, Morgan kept singing and singing and singing, with motions. I finally got it on video - totally adorable! If you can't understand the words, they are below the video.

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun

Hiding behind the tree.

These little children are asking you.

To please come out so we can play with you.

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun,

Please shine down on me.