A Special Summer Visitor

Grandma Charlet and Grandpa LeRoy came from Ohio to spend some time with us this summer. We were so excited and couldn't wait for their arrival. They had big plans during their visit, but we were lucky enough to spend an afternoon with them in Salt Lake and the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
Here's Brianna and Grandma in front of the fountains on the 10th floor. They have huge observation windows that look out at the city and up to the University of Utah and the other side looks into Temple Square. It was such a beautiful day. Here's Charlie, Tom, and Brianna. While at the Joseph Smith Memorial building we were able to watch a movie about Joseph Smith. It was amazing to see all the things that he persevered to continue the work he was called to do. My favorite part was after he got tarred and feathered, the movie showed him conducting a church service with patches of hair missing and still bloodied and bruised. Then I thought about my self and how I try to use anything to get me out of church. After our Temple Square visit we went to our favorite lunch spot...Crown Burger. We were so happy to have a fun afternoon with our special visitors.

July 24th--Pioneer Day

A new tradition that my sister, Emily, has tried to implement is playing water baseball with the cousins. (We tried on Independence Day, but it was WAY too cold.) We had a great game until someone got hurt (me.)
Here's Chuck getting ready to hit.

Brianna's on deck with Jayne and Tom cheering on the batter, or the pitcher. Brian always has that duty. If he wasn't so darn good.

Tom's turn at bat. We hit from the end of the slip and slide, first base was the wading pool, second and third were both buckets of water, and we had to slide into home on the slip and slide.

It looks like Brianna's on first, while the rest of us are taking a break before we head to second. I was waiting here with the others and when it was finally my turn to run, I made it through second and third and while sliding into home I landed on my ankle funny. After that the game went downhill. But we had a TON of fun while it lasted.

After our baseball game, my mom had a barbecue ready for the water logged athletes. It was an amazing spread--like always--and it was fun to have a picnic in the backyard. Here's Charlie's plate of mostly fruit, chips and a hot dog minus the bun.

They sure love playing with their cousins.

Charlet, sorry the camera got put away before you got there. We would have liked to have pictures of you guys too.

We Love a Parade

We love going to the Pioneer Day Parade in our city. We went with all our friends/family. We got lots of candy and saw lots of funny people. It was very hot, so we had to buy some Popsicles to help cool us down.

The boys stood right up front so they could see all the parade activities--or to catch all the candy that was thrown to the watchers.

Charlie got right up there too. He liked the bands and the floats that had lots of music.

Grandma and Grandpa found a small piece of shade with the boys. If I heard right I think everyone enjoyed the Popsicles while waiting for the parade to start.

Here's a picture of our family and the strangers that we sat next too during the parade. If you look really close you can even see Brianna trying to get away from the camera.

Feast or Famine

I have to apologize about the lack of posts lately. It's not for the lack of exciting things. So it's either 100 posts in one day and then nothing for a week or so. I promise that I'll be better about posting.

More New Shoes

We decided to get Tom and Charlie some new shoes. We keep buying them the cheap Walmart, or Payless shoes, but then have to buy another pair in a month or so. We decided to try something new and get them some Adidas--a little more expensive, but hopefully they'll last a little longer.
We went to the outlets in Park City on Saturday afternoon and found some great deals. Charlie got a pair, Tom got some shoes and new socks (he wears his out faster than anyone I know,) and even Brian picked out a pair. When the nice guy at the counter rang us up, we also got $25 off. So it ended up being 3 pairs of shoes and 12 pairs of socks for $75! What a steal!

The boys couldn't wait to put their new shoes on and wore them the rest of the shopping trip. They LOVE their new kicks, and I think they are pretty cute too. I didn't get a picture of Brian's new shoes, but maybe when he's not looking.

I love these boys!

Dinosaur Museum

I volunteered to go to Vernal for my work last week. My work thing was at the Dinosaur Museum so I thought it would be fun for everyone to go and check out the museum. Notice their faces in the picture and you'll see how much fun they had.
Here's the kid's in front of the big Dino outside.

Another picture from the outside part, but this is the woolly mammoth and a rare species of children.

Brianna is waiting outside. Can't you tell she's having the most enjoyable time?

Charlie's posing with the glyphs inside the museum. Again, I think this was his favorite part of the day.

I can always count on Tom to smile for a picture. Even if everyone else is being grumpy.

My work thing was down the hall from where the boys are sitting. I thought the museum would take more time to work through, but about 30 minutes after they started, the kids and Brian were ready to go. It's a good thing I got paid for the trip, or the 6 hour drive would have been a waste. After the museum, Brian took the kids to a nearby park to run and play for a while before we headed back home. I think they really liked that.

This is what happened on the way home. You'll notice that Brianna isn't pictured...I didn't want her to be upset with me for posting that image, but she was knocked out just like the boys. It was a long fun day, but we won't have to go to Eastern Utah for a while now.

New Bikes

I did a special assignment for my work during the last half of the year. For payment of this work, I got a gift card to Amazon.com from the company. I didn't know what to get, but soon came to the conclusion that we would spend the money on getting new bikes for the boys.
We let them pick which bike they wanted. Tom picked a Spiderman one and Charlie wanted the Batman one. Then they had to wait for them to come by mail. Each day they would ask if they bikes came and were really sad when they didn't. Soon they stopped asking, and that's when they showed up.
Tom's Spiderman bike came first, then Charlie's was the next day. Here are some pictures of them with their new bikes. They love them and ride them every day. It was a good purchase.
Here's the pile of trash from Tom's bike (Brian had already picked up some of it.) Luckily when we put together Charlie's I was smart enough to put all the garbage in the box as we were going.

Chuck is a speed racer on his Batman bike.

Tom loves going fast with his Spiderman bike.

Brian already had to make adjustments on Charlie's bike, but Chuck was backing him up when he needed help.

They love racing on their bikes and spend a lot of time riding everyday.