Tour Of Utah

The last time we watched the Tour of Utah, it was from a Walgreens in Draper. I think it's safe to say that being invited to a private booth to watch it in Park City is a big improvement. Jeremy had a great time with his colleagues watching the competitors (some were his old team mates) come into the finish line.

First Day of Pre-Kindergarten!

Dancing in the Rain

My neighbors had been planning to host an outdoor wedding for several months, and spent every day making their yard absolutely immaculate. It was a beautiful August day and they spent the day setting up. All the guests arrived and the kids and I were just sitting out on the porch people watching, when suddenly, seriously out of no where, it starting raining.

But not just raining.

Pouring!

It caught us so off guard, the kids were already wet, so I just let them play in the rain.

But I felt SO bad about the wedding!

Wednesday

Is there anything cuter than little four-year hands and stubby fingers? 

Well, maybe the face that begged me to paint her nails sparkly pink.

And then begged me to take her to the Library...or as she says, "Libary"

She is reading so well now!

This girl is growing up so fast and I love spending every minute I can with her.

Orbital What?

On Tuesday, Olivia was trying to avoid Landon's remote controlled car, and ended up tripping over her feet and landing directly ON the car. She had a bit of a goose egg, but as you can see from yesterday's post, she was happy as a clam (but you can see the goose egg on the picture).

I was really surprised to wake up this morning to her eyes and forehead swollen. I was concerned that she may have had some sort of head injury, so I took her right to the doctor.

Turns out she has Orbital Cellulitis which is basically just a skin infection. I'm so grateful it wasn't something more serious. I'm also grateful that no matter how miserable this girl is, she is still always smiling!

I told her she needed to rest and stay inside until the swelling went down. Last night she came into my room and asked me if the swallowing had gone down yet. She cracks me up. 

Girls Day Out

Landon had Scout Camp all day today, so the girls and I decided to do what girls do best...shopping and pampering :)

Emma has been begging me to get bangs for over a year, so I finally gave in. This girl could be bald and would still be the most beautiful girl in the world.

Before

After

We gave Olivia a bit of a trim, but I think she really just wanted her hair done up in Princess Buns and sparkles. I don't blame her- she looks pretty stinkin' cute!

Afterwards, we went to Justice to buy Emma new school clothes and a backpack. 

So fun to have a day out with my favorite girls!

Dance 'n Bowl

It's been raining off and on all week. We've had to leave the park, quit a bike ride, and some days just stay inside. This morning the kids asked what we were going to do today, and I told them we'd have to do something inside since it was going to rain again today. Olivia shouted out, "Let's go bowling!!"

Random, but a great idea. We headed to Fat Cats and had such a great time just laughing, dancing, and spending time together.

Olivia cracked me up so much that I had to get it on video. On every turn, she would casually walk over with her ball, then SLOWLY roll it down, and then RUN all the way back, and dance until her ball hit a pin (which was a good 20 seconds). That girl definitely marches to the beat of her own drum. 

Such a fun day, I can't believe the kids go back to school next week. We are trying to jam in as much as possible in these three weeks, that's for sure!

Landon's Challenge

Two days ago, Landon asked if he could go to the new Harry Potter movie. I told him that since he hadn't seen any of the other movies, it wouldn't make sense to him. I asked if he would be interested in reading the books, and after each book he could watch the corresponding movie. He was super excited for my challenge, and off we went to the Library to get The Sorcerers Stone. This morning he woke up telling me he had finished it and was ready for the movie. I forget how fast that kid can read. Thank goodness for instant video rentals- he had the movie playing within five minutes of asking. Remember when we actually had to drive to a video store and cross our fingers that the movie we wanted was in stock. My kids will never even know what a video store is! Anyway, he is now onto the second book. At this rate, the movie will probably still be in the theater when he finishes the last book. That's my boy!

Summer Lovin'...Having a Blast...

This pretty much sums up our summer so far...

4th Grade Program

Today was Landon's program. Apparently only 4th and 6th grades have an end-of-year program. I'm still learning all the nuances of our new school...like that the program would be 90 minutes long, and so one should make sure one feeds the 4-year old, or have her go potty, or at least bring something to keep her entertained.

Lessoned learned.
(look at all the kids laying on the floor
this was about 60 min in).

They had been learning about Utah all year and practicing for this program. They dressed up like Pioneers and each had speaking parts as well as playing the Recorder. 

 

This is his music teacher, who really put her heart and soul into this program. 

Imagine her devastation when during this dance, the music stopped and she said, 

"Oh, no, the machine ate my tape!"

All of us 'old folks' started laughing, and all of the 'young whippersnappers' had no idea what a tape was.

I was actually surprised she had a machine that would play tapes. I bet that same tape was used for the last 20 years of 4th grade programs. 

Rest in Peace Old Trusty.

Rest in Peace.

There's my handsome boy Young Man.

They did a great job. I'm SO proud of Landon and all he accomplished this year!

The Perfect Combination

Beautiful Day + Family + Hiking + Swimming + Biking = The Perfect Day

Living in the Moment

I got really behind on our family blog because I got too busy. Then I got even more behind. Then I didn't want to catch up, because it seemed like such a chore.

Then when I started to catch up, in an effort to save time, I decided I would only post the "important" things, like birthdays or other significant events. But I was still really demotivated and didn't even do that.

Although my blog is mostly for me to have some sort of record of my family activities, I didn't want to bore others with mundane thoughts or insignificant events.

Then a few days ago, my friend posted this on her blog, and it really resonated with me:

I am always so concerned with the "Getting it Done" part of life, that I rarely treasure the "Doing". I don't stop pulling weeds to listen to the way my kids laugh when playing with each other; I just want to get the stupid weeds pulled.

I WANT to cherish the so-called "insignificant" moments. I want to describe what we ate and what we talked about. I want to take pictures of the flip-flops they were wearing because their little toes won't be this stubby forever. These are things that most people don't want to read about, but these are things that are important for me to remember. I have a friend that posts something every single day. It's rarely anything special. Sometimes she just takes a picture of the book she is reading, or her kids cuddled on the couch, or even her shoes because they are sparkly and it made her happy. Most of the time I don't even fully read her posts because it really is only significant to her. However,  I think about how wonderful it is that she captured those little moments, and can look back at them ten years from now and remember how those sparkly shoes made her feel, and how her kids once liked each other enough to cuddle on the couch.

So, I've decided I'm going to live in the moment more. I'm going to treasure the small things. I'm going to stop pulling weeds if my son wants me to shoot some hoops, and play  hair salon with my girls more. I'm going to capture these moments in my mind, in pictures, and in writing.

So on that note, I'm making this blog private, so I can be certain that only people I know are reading it, and sharing in these small moments with me. Most likely, it won't be interesting to you, but if for some reason you still want to follow along, please click here to send me an email or comment below. I just need your email address to send you an invite :)

(¯`'♥.¸Life is a Journey, Not a Destination¸.♥'´¯)

Herriman Days

I can't remember how many years we've been going to Herriman Days, but I think this was our 6th one. I looked back on this blog to see, but the earliest one I could find was in 2008. It was fun to look back and see the pictures- I forgot how young and chubby little Livi was.

As always, the day starts out with the parade, then the carnival, then fireworks.
It's been such a fun tradition!