FAMILY REUNION 2009

The last weekend in June we had our annual siblings reunion. Beck and Sherm hosted it this year out at their place. We started out on Friday afternoon with a way fun scavenger hunt for the kids. First off, we divided into teams and had to do various activities before we could get the next clue to the treasure:

"Egg Baseball" - round all the bases without breaking your egg

Balloon shaving (with the clue written on the balloon)

Scavenger hunt within a scavenger hunt - had to find all the items before receiving the final clue!

Treasure found!! A huge box full of treat bags for everyone!

After a short break for dinner, we tie-tyed shirts to use as our 4th of July shirts. Our family was in charge of this craft - sounds fun huh?!? Well, we tried to tie-dye with regular RIT dye....didn't work at all!! All the shirts came out pink after washing - I think only the girls ended up wearing their shirts on the 4th...but it was fun to see the designs that came out of our efforts! (sorry everyone)

You can't have a late night get together, in the country, without roasting marshmallows and making smores!!

Saturday: we loaded up and went to the water park! The kids had a blast (as did everyone I hope) the weather was nice and hot, so the water didn't feel quite so cold!

It was a great reunion and can't wait to see what Aaron and Megan have in store for us next year! (I promise I won't try to be crafty)

LAZY SUNDAY AFTERNOON

It has always been a struggle to find things for our children to do on Sunday. We are done with church at 2:30p and have the whole afternoon. A lot of the times we go on a bikeride over to my parents home and visit them, but this last Sunday, McKenna and Harrison came up with their own idea - have a Candy party. They grabbed all our candy (minus the good stuff that I keep hidden) and set up their booth in the backyard:

(notice the candy canes from Christmas?!? they still didn't sell even at the candy booths discounted prices)

Then we were invited out to buy some treats - as you can see from the sign above, candy is not free at their candy store!! It says: "Everything you take costs a 1c (cents), 5c, 1D (dollar), 10c

Although not the best photo, you can tell by Tyler's shirt, this is one satisfied customer!!

McKenna and Harrison even entertained us by doing tricks on the trampoline while we ate our treats! It was a great Sunday afternoon!

I just had to add this picture...everyone drools over Tyler's eyelashes and I saw the shot and took it - while he still has the lush lashes!!

BEAR LAKE HIGHLIGHTS - JUNE 2009

Every summer we go to Adam's family cabin at Bear Lake - beautiful views!!

The annual fireworks display -

Plenty of time to play with cousins -

There's always a few days of rain and cold, but still plenty of fun -

When the sun comes out, we all flock to the water, of course, not without the wetsuits and drysuits!!

Water not smooth enough for skiing?!? Get out the tube!!

A little bit of "surfing the waves" on the tube -

It seems to be tradition that the last day (cleaning day) is always one of the nicest, if not THE nicest days?!? Almost all the kids had a chance to "ski" on the kid-friendly, U-SKI -

stay tuned for our next installment of Bear Lake 2009...coming in August!!

MCKENNA'S KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION

A few weeks ago, June 3rd, McKenna graduated from Kindergarten!! It was a cute little program. They had a slide show, the Kindergarteners sang a few songs, and as the children received their diplomas the teachers read what each child wanted to be when they grew up. I was really surprised at some of the answers! There were a few VERY impressive answers; a marine biologist (...who wants to bet their parents coached them on that one for weeks before..), a plastic surgeon, and a cute little girl just wanted to be married when she grew up - LOL!! McKenna said she wanted to be a Disneyland worker - in the princess department...she would like to be Ariel!

Here she is lined up before the graduation procession line -

Here we are at the end of the ceremony - Kenna's "star" pose and Harrison's "deer in the headlights" pose - I cannot look at the pic without laughing at his expression! Kenna's grandpa Bean was able to be there at the graduation too!

McKenna with the classroom helper, Mrs. Smith -

McKenna with her teacher, Mrs. Dompier -

McKenna had a great year in Kindergarten! She is excited to go on to 1st grade but is a little nervous about eating lunch at school, so we've already set up a lunch date for the first day of school. We are so proud of our little graduate!

KID FUNNIES

I need to get these funnies recorded before I forget them?!?

MCKENNA

THE MAGIC OF ADVERTISING

I never realized how much my kids pay attention to commercials until recently when McKenna has decided to become our households very own "Pitch Woman"...

Yesterday I was getting some apples for the kids when Mckenna asked me:

"Mom, have you seen the green bags?"

I looked at her and said, "what are you talking about?"

She then said, "I saw these green bags for fruit on tv and they keep your bananas good for like 25 days!"

I told her I had seen the bags but hadn't ever purchased any...she then looked at me with this "look" and said, "So, you think you don't NEED these bags?!? You just don't care that our bananas are going to go bad?!?"

*******

Now a couple months ago, we were driving down the road and Kenna asked me if I use mascara. I told her that I wear it sometimes but I don't wear makeup everyday. She then went directly into "her pitch": "Well, you know mom, there's a better way! The new Mascara Twirl (or something like that) it curls and applies at the sametime! Don't you want that mom?!?"

STRANGERS LIKE ME

I remembered this one, when we were at the local zoo with McKenna's school. Back when Kenna was a little over three, we took our children to Hogle zoo. One of the zoo's chimps had recently had a baby and it was huddled in a little ball right by the window. McKenna walked up to the window, gazed down at the cute little chimpanzee and started to sing, " I want to know, can you show me..." (from Tarzan) it was so cute!

BRAVO, BRAVO

McKenna and Harrison were doing tricks for each other on the furniture (grrrr...) and after a very impressive move by Harrison, Kenna began clapping and saying, "PROVO....PROVO...PROVO!!" Translation: BRAVO...BRAVO....

HARRISON

THE BREAD

Harrison has made us laugh so many times when he repeats whatever he THINKS we've just said, and it's been way off! Well, the other night we had chicken cacciatore with salad and some french bread. Adam had told Harrison what we were having and to come to the table. I guess when Adam had mentioned french bread Harrison heard something different because Harrison politely asked, "Mom, can you please pass the 'MAN BREAD'?!?" So, from now on, french bread will forever be known to us as "Man Bread"!

The day after our little "car accident" in the garage, Adam had told the kids to watch out for any antifreeze they saw on the floor ....Harrison looked at Adam with this look of disgust and replied, "There's ANT PEE on the garage floor - SICK?!?"

SWIMMING POOL

Adam took the kids to his work the other day. While passing by a house, Adam saw a swimming pool out on the lawn (the 3 layer kind that's white, blue, white...know what I'm talking about?!?) and said, "hey guys, wouldn't it be fun to have a pool like that at our house?" Harrison replied, "yeah, only why would I want to swim in a pool full of whipped cream?!?"

WHO NAMED WHAT!

While we were at Bear Lake this last week (I'm working on the post) Harrison asked Adam this intriguing question: "Dad, why are they named M0-SKI-TOES and not "DRILL NOSE BUGS"? Very interesting question indeed!

I tell ya, I love my kids and their cute and hilarious sayings!