Girl's Lunch and Ice-Cream

After the Radio Disney Event, I met up with my sisters at Pizza Factory for lunch to celebrate Ruthanne's birthday. It's kind of "our place" and we always look for opportunities to go there together. I love my sisters! I especially love how they make fun of me when I take forever ordering my food. haha ;)
And here's the happy cousins, Hailey and Emily. They're always hugging each other. It's so cute! Margaret and I are just glad that they play so well together because they keep each other entertained, especially when we get together to scrapbook.
The next day, I went to Coldstone Creamery to enjoy some ice-cream with one of my good friends, Becky Bruso. She's the personal assistant to Governor Huntsman, so she's a little busy to say the least. She just had a baby on June 5 (doesn't she look great?), so while she's on a quick maternity leave, we thought it would be a good time to get together. Becky and I first met at a Leadership Conference as sophomores in high school and found an instant connection. She's one of the most amazing individuals I have ever met. She's fun, dynamic, intelligent and just a genius when it comes to politics. She'll likely be the Governor someday (or even the President of the U.S.)! I love ya Becky!

Radio Disney

Before I post about our big family reunion trip, I wanted to post these fun pictures from a few weeks ago. I met up with my friend, Traci, at the Gallivan Center downtown because Radio Disney was sponsoring a fun little carnival with musical performances, games, and activities for kids of all ages.

Here's a very happy Emily posing next to Mickey Mouse.

Emily and Etta could NOT stop giggling as they jumped around in the bounce house. And they really enjoyed participating in the science experiments, too.

Gibson and Jonathan were just happy to be there and watch their cool older sisters.

So this picture makes me laugh because everyone else is doing the Macarena dance, except my daughter. I tried to show her the moves, but she refused to do it. She just kept looking at everyone else thinking they were crazy! Maybe she didn't get the memo that the 90's rocked! Okay, so the 80's may have been cooler, but come on Emily, it's the Macarena, you gotta do it!

Here's a family photo that I didn't expect would happen. Just minutes before, I was quite alarmed when a man came from behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I turned around and saw that it was my husband! To say that I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. I was thrilled to see him! Wade has been doing a summer internship with Commerce CRG, a commercial real estate company. And since he was working so close to the Gallivan Center, he searched us out among the hundreds of people there to surprise us. What a sweet guy!
After Wade returned to work, Traci and I took the kids to a nice grassy area where a fireman was hosing down the kids. It was hilarious to watch Emily and Etta try to run away from the fireman, but really wanting to get wet!
We ended the morning by playing in the water fountains. Happy kids? Yup! They sure were!

4th of July

On July 2nd, I drove down to Orem for a cousin birthday lunch. Before we left, I took a picture of Emily modeling this cute festive outfit that Sister Larabee, a sweet lady in our ward, made for her.

Here's some of the kids enjoying their lunch. They loved those Cheetos...and they had orange faces to prove it!

Jon was cracking me up! He would growl every time he found a new dinosaur to play with. And here's Ems playing with dolls. Isn't that the cutest doll house you have ever seen?

On the 4th of July, my ward had their annual breakfast that my parents were able to attend with us, since they were in town. After breakfast, they have a Candy Cannon that shoots out candy to all the kids. Emily was really proud of her small bag of candy. She gets all excited when she sees this picture because it reminds her of that fun experience! Isn't my mom cool with her sunglasses and stylin' hat? I think she looks cute!

I brought out the parachute for the kids, and we had all sorts of fun with it!

My dad can always get my kids to smile. He was teasing Jon by taking his sippy cup and pretending to drink out of it. He's such a sweet grandpa!

That afternoon, we had a fun BBQ with both my sisters and their families, my cousin, Carolynn and her family, and my mom and dad. It's been a blast having the three sisters together again in the same town. I just wish we could see my three brothers and their families more often. Here's Emily jumping on the tramp at Margaret's house, where we had the BBQ. You can't keep this girl away from the trampoline every time we visit. She's also wearing another 4th of July outfit that Sister Larrabee made for her.

After the BBQ, we headed over to see Wade's mom and step-dad. She's a grandma that loves to snuggle with her grandkids and Emily is perfectly fine with that because she enjoys it too!

What a surprise! Jon has climbed on top of the couch again...hehehe...at least he's a happy boy!

hi, ho, hi, ho, it's off to the zoo we go...

It was another fun day at the Hogle Zoo, thanks to my friend, Michelle, who invited us to join her. We went at the best time of day, right when they open at 9am, before it gets too busy or too hot!

This was the first time I had Emily stand in front of the Gorilla to compare how much bigger he is than her. It was HILARIOUS to see and hear her make loud Gorilla noises!
Zach and Emily climbed up a small hill and started chasing each other around and around the bushes. They were so cute together!
Here's Zach and Ems saying hello to their favorite animal, the giraffe (it's my favorite too).


The Hogle Zoo has just added this great new carousel, with zoo animals to ride instead of horses. Emily chose a giraffe to ride and Zach changed his mind in the middle of the ride, so Michelle helped him climb off the giraffe and onto a lion. Silly guy! And here's Emily and Jonathan playing with the famous water ball to try to cool off.

family photo-Jon, Emily, and mommy

Memory Game

Here is a fun little game... leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time or a long time, anything that you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It is pretty funny to read the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you are playing and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. Come on, it'll be fun, just try it!

"Camping" with friends

The last weekend in June, we decided to go "camping" with our friends, Ben and Kelly Clegg and Aaron and Britni Lively. After church, we headed up the mountain, had an amazing dutch oven dinner, roasted marshmallows, ate s'mores, and then went back home to our comfy beds. That's right, the best parts of camping, but without having to sleep over with kids. Why we never thought of this before, I don't know, but we will for sure make it a tradition!

Here's Britni and Aaron holding little Kyle, Catherine holding Jon, Emily, and Wade. Check out Wade's awesome boy scout fire!

Ben, Ryan, and Kelly holding Ethan. Ben was the talent behind the dutch oven cooking. He did a great job!

I can never eat a smore without thinking of the movie, Sandlot, during their campout in the treehouse

chubby red-headed kid: Hey, you want a s'more?

Smalls: some more what?

chubby kid: No, no you want a s'more?

Smalls: I haven't had anything yet, so how can I have some more of nothing?

chubby kid: you're killing me, Smalls!

(You may have heard me quote that last line because I do...a lot)

me: What the? Emily, why do you have dirt all over your face?

Em: I play in the dirt and make a cake for you.

me: Wade! Go get the camera! :) We could not stop him, I swear. Jon was so filthy...and happy I might add, that we just shook our heads and laughed...
... and the laughing continues!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

After Jon's friend, Gibby, had his 1st birthday party, we were invited to join them to the Bee's baseball game. I had never been to a Bee's game, so I wasn't sure if it was going to be another "welcome to hick-ville" like the Blaze football game we had recently attended. To my surprise, it was a lot more family-friendly than I had expected, and maybe that's because the game was on a Monday night so many were there for their Family Home Evening activity. There were just tons of families. It was great! Cute little boys: Ashton, Jonathan, Gibby, and Chase

The nice thing about watching the game from the grassy area rather than up in the stands is that the kids had more freedom to play. Emily and the girls had fun rolling down the hill, playing ring around the rosies, and dancing, while Gibby and Jon were crawling everywhere trying to escape! Traci and I even took the girls for a little while and let them play in the bounce houses and on the playground.

Family photo in front of the baseball field. Go Bees!