Utah State Fair

Baptism

The kids got baptized yesterday

Utah Celebrates Pioneer Day

It's become a tradition in our family to head out to Pioneer Park to celebrate the 24th of July. Pioneer Day is to Utah as the 4th of July is to the United States of America. It is the day Utahans celebrate the Mormon pioneers who first crossed into the Salt Lake valley and proclaimed "This is the place!"
Festivities are a must and our family has always been a fan of going out to the park with (what seems to be) thousands of other Utah families and await the climax of the evening.. FIREWORKS!



This year The Stud and I had a brilliant idea! Instead of walking a mile from an obscure parking spot into the park and fighting the crowd to get out, to the car and on the road home afterward we would take our bikes! What a great idea!! We had a ton of fun and afterward we raced back to our car and beat the traffic all while getting a little exercise!
The fireworks didn't disappoint either! The best part is find a spot to lay in the road and have them blasting over our heads. It's all very stimulating!

The Stud and I Get a Night Out!

It's rare that my stud and I go out. We really should/could do it more often, especially since the kids have gotten older. It just seems as though someone in our family usually has something going on.
So Saturday we found ourselves sitting at home. We had planned to take the crew to see Harry Potter but tickets were sold out and soon one of the three kiddos was invited to a sleep over, then another. I took the opportunity to detail the car. (I love a clean car!) When the best friend in the world text out of the blue "Going to The Fray concert, want to join?" YAY!!! A night out. Quickly we got ready and off to the concert...
I can't say that I am a huge fan of The Fray but I have their CD and LORD knows I'm "Over My Head" and can learn "How To Save A Life" LOL. At any rate, it ended up being a lot of fun, a night out with friends and some good music!Steve, Roxie and Di. Our concert inviters. Thanks for dragging us along!

My Mom Got Married!

She finally took the plunge!!
My mom has been with Mark for 11 years. In fact, he moved here to be with her a week before The Book Worm was born. This makes it easy for my aging brain to remember the date.
We are extremely happy for them and the wedding was a wonderful celebration in their back yard. She did a wonderful job planning for it and really made it an event that the grandkids could enjoy. Check out the photos and you'll see why...

"Sir WOWsalot" and my nephew (the oldest grandsons) walk my Mom down the isle.
The wedding line consisted of all the grandchildren. This is them getting ready for the wedding march.
Mom and Mark take their wedding vows.
You may now kiss the bride.
The whole clan. It's very difficult getting all those kids to look in one place all at the same time. This is the closest I got to that accomplishment.
The girls.
The boys.
The wedding cakes. Yes, more than one. She did a great job choosing delicious flavors that everyone would enjoy. There were a lot of left overs!
The "Candy Buffet!" This was another fun idea. Mom had a dozen or so different types of candy. M&M's, Good N Plenty, Skittles, Swedish Fish... The list goes on and on. At the end of the evening everyone went to the buffet, chose their candy, it was wrapped in a bag with a thank you note reading "Wishing you a sweet goodnight." The kids absolutely loved it of course!
Their backyard was adorned by butterflies and flowers. Providing for a sweet summer wedding!
Congratulations Mom and Mark!
July 11, 2009.

My Bleeding Heart

My Bleeding Heart has finally bloomed. These picture do it no justice. Seriously..

I love this plant! Those little heart shaped flowers, the beautiful shade of pink. Not to mention the rate of speed in which it grows. It truly is my sign that spring is here and summer is upon us!

Watch as my bleeding heart blooms before your very eyes!

Taken 4/20/09

Three days later. 4/23/09

Four days later. 4/27/09

Three days later. 4/30/09

Four days later. 5/4/09

Three days after that. 5/7/09

Another fours days. 5/11/09

And a couple of weeks later it is in full bloom. 5/23/09

Pretty Bleeding Heart

The bees think so too.

The Princess Gets Her Castle

Last Christmas Santa brought Princess a play house. Considering that she is 9 now, it's long past due. She'll soon grow out of it. Maybe she can get two good summers of make believe families, play school house and pretend grocery store out of it. However, this Mom is wishing Santa had brought it 5 years ago so she could have had more time to enjoy it. As they say, better late than never!
So last weekend while Grandpa and Grandma visited for an early Father's Day barbecue, Mr. Studmuffin pulled out the tools and Grandpa and he started assembling her pretty little palace.

Grandpa sorting out the various pieces. Trying to make heads and tails out of it all.

And they're off!

Grandpa working on the porch.

Putting the roof on. From the looks of the pictures, Grandpa is doing it all. LOL But don't be fooled! Dad is running around like a chicken with his head cut off.

The happy Princess with her Knights in shining armor.

Now she spends her days sneaking the house phone out to her palace to call the exterminator (her Dads cell) to kill bugs, the landscaper (her Dads cell) to mow her lawn and the repair man (her Dads cell) to fix anything that doesn't work. Dad is loving it and has a different accent for each worker. He also hands her fake bills and she exchanges them for fake money.

Soon we'll probably end up turning this pretty little palace into a glorious dog house or fire wood or maybe Princess will find some other deserving little girl to enjoy a sacred place of her own.

A day at the zoo...

Every time we go to the zoo there are certain spots we like to pose for pictures. This big tin elephant is one of them.


Another one of those traditional poses on the rhino.

My kids are gorgeous!

I love animals and I'm grateful for a place like the zoo to see animals we may never see otherwise. The only thing is, I find myself wondering what they're thinking with all of us staring at them.
Another posed picture on the tiger.The kids are trying to find an animal in it's habitat. This is an old bike on display at the zoo. I want it for my yard!

I told Savanna that giraffes won't go anywhere without putting on mascara. She believed me :o)

The kids get a break to ride the new carousel.

Birds!!

Kids play area where mom and dad got a rest and the kids had some fun.


We get to the last "traditional pose" area with the gorilla! We love that guy!


Zoo admittance $7.00, train ride $0.75 not having to listen to the kids beg to go on the train anymore... PRICELESS!And we end our day at the magical giant marble floating on water. Let's see how fast we can get it to spin!