The girls have been wanting to dress up in my clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc. and put on a fashion show.  I've been putting them off because it seemed like it would be too much of a hassle.  But, they finally convinced me to allow the dress-up party yesterday.  They had so much fun!  Here were the end results.

 Oh yeah, Kale also got in on the fun and dressed up in Jonny's clothes.  Kale thought it was so funny every time he would come out in a different shirt.  I would take a picture, the girls would go back and change, and Kale would say, "Do you want to get another picture just of me Mom?"  And so I would.  So here are a few just of Kale.

24th of July

Holidays are the best!  Jon took the whole day off, so we got to spend all day as a family.  We started off the day with a run (separate of course -- I could never keep up with Jon), and then went to the splash pad in Kaysville.  Sorry, no pictures -- I forgot the camera.  We spent a few hours there and the kids loved it even more than usual because Jon was willing to run through the freezing cold water with them a few times.

After the splash pad, we met up with the Snarr's for some swimming fun at our neighborhood pool (again, no pictures -- sorry).

We came back to our house and played until it was time for dinner.  Jon grilled up some hotdogs and hamburgers, and we had grilled zucchini and corn on the cob.  And of course, watermelon -- you can't have a barbecue without it.  We finished off the night with ice cream sandwiches and sparklers. 

 

Of course it was still light, but the kids didn't seem to mind doing sparklers with the sun still out.

 

It was a super fun day and I'm glad the Snarr's were here to help us celebrate.

Happy Birthday Sky Girl!!

Friday was Sky's birthday, and she was so excited for her little party.  We had Nick's kids staying with us for a few days and Anita, Ruth, Blake, and Baby Dawson came up to help us celebrate.

The kids were in charge of thinking up a few games for the party.  We played pin the crown on the princess (pictures were courtesy of Taylor, and the crowns were drawn and decorated by the girls) and hot potato, using a princess stuffed doll as the potato.  The big kids loved that they were in charge of the games, and I did too because that gave me more time to finish a few other things.

Sky got to choose dinner, so we ended up eating chicken nuggets and grapes.  Her first choice was actually cake and cookies, but I reminded her that we needed to eat real food first.  Do chicken nuggets really qualify?

We are so lucky to have spunky, little Sky in our family!  We love her so much.

 

 

  

Family Vacation!!

 We were sitting in Church one Sunday when Jon suggested that we take a family vacation that very week!  I'm always up for a fun family vacation, so of course immediately agreed.  We spent the week packing and set out for California on Thursday when Jon got home from Denver.

We decided to spend a week visiting different theme parks.  We did a day at Disneyland, then had a day at Universal and Sea World, and then ended with 2 more days of Disney.  It was so fun and the kids loved every second of it.

 Sky was too short for lots of the rides, but she really wanted to go on every single one.  It was sometimes tricky to help her be happy while the bigger kids went on rides, but Jon always managed to keep her entertained when it was his turn.

Sky really loved being in charge of the maps.  She would study them intently and then let us know the route that we should be taking.

 Kale was so excited when he realized we both had Superman shirts.  He made me promise to wear mine the same day that he wore his (I actually hadn't even been planning to bring mine).

 The kids got their faces painted the second we walked into Universal Studios.  It's all Kale had talked about since finding out we were going on vacation.  Until his face was painted, his vacation hadn't truly begun.  All the kids were ecstatic about the end results; and rightly so -- they looked fabulous.

 Sky was so happy that we got to see Curious George.  He was a very pleasant surprise for her!

 Sea World was pretty awesome.  We watched the Shamu/killer whale show, and the kids insisted that we sit in the "soak zone".  We sat far enough back that I was hoping we would just get a few drops splashed on us, but apparently, it wasn't far enough away.  We ended up super soaked with the gross, fishy, salt water.  The girls then decided that we wouldn't sit quite so close at any other shows.

 There was a great big playground at Sea World.  The kids spent hours climbing around the nets and playing in the bouncing area.  Luckily, the heat never seems to affect their ability to play and run around.

Rachel and Hallie loved pushing the stroller, but they didn't get many chances because it was so crowded in the parks.

Jon's 31st birthday was on the Monday that we were in Disneyland.  We all remembered to say Happy Birthday, but his presents/cake didn't come until we were home a few days later.