Random Pictures

Here are a couple of random pictures from July.  First, Little One had a couple of friends over and then one of their sisters and a friend showed up.  The next thing I knew they were doing a pyramid in the basement.  Of course, I had to take some pictures. :)

Next was the end of yet another round of swimming lessons.  She was a bit nervous about having a boy teacher this time.  She has a hard time trusting males, especially in the water.  He was my favorite of her teachers though.  Her first one was great with the kids and a good teacher, her second one was good with the kids and a great teacher.  Justin though, was great with the kids AND a great teacher.  We're taking some time off and practicing some things before we start up again.  Perhaps we'll pick it up during the school year or even wait until next summer.

And last, Little One and her friends like to do little picnics out in the lawn.  So fun. :)

Weekend With Laurie Ann

I always have such wonderful intentions.  I even had plans to blog DURING my awesome weekend in Springville.  But no.  Here we are, 3 1/2 weeks later and I'm finally getting to it.  The best laid plans of mice and men....

However, this does not diminish the fun we had.  To start, I got a message from my cute friend, Laurie Ann, inviting the girls and I down for an upcoming weekend.  We figured out when to go and the plans were set.  She and her husband have 2 adorable little boys and both my girls had a blast with them, despite their age differences.

Just by way of intro, Laurie Ann and I have been friends since we were kids.  One of two such friends that I have.  The unique thing is that we started out as pen pals.  I lived in Michigan at the time and had my name in the pen pal section of a homeschool magazine.  She wrote me back and we've been friends ever since.  As a matter of fact, I have all of her letters she's written me over the years (minus when we started to use email) and I took it down to show her.  It was funny reading over some of them.  We drew each other floor plans of our houses and all kinds of stuff.

Anyway, we took off on a Friday afternoon and after a yummy dinner we had a girls night.  First, Laurie Ann took us to the museum where there was a quilt show going on.

Little One by her favorite quilt

Next were nails.

Little One and Peter hit it off right away and had fun coloring

Somehow they snatched my camera and did a little photoshoot with Peter.

 Saturday morning her husband, Brandon, took Peter to do a craft at Lowe's so we did our own girlie craft at home.  Laurie Ann had found a blog that shows you how to make these cute toothpick people.

Cutting the toothpicks

Little One making hers

Ira making hers

Laurie Ann doing hers

They even got creative and painted on jewelry and shoes. :)

Little One with her finished product

Aren't they cute??

Ira's finished family

Little One's finished family

 That night we were supposed to have a BBQ up the canyon but it had been raining most of the day so we decided to eat at home and then go up and see if it was dry enough to play.  Sure enough, it was beautiful!  They had a really cool park that the kids played at.

Little One and Peter

Little One carrying Luke around.

Laurie Ann with Luke

I loved this one. :)

Ira liked jumping off the wall.

Little One liked the nearby stream.  I had one with her looking at me but the smile wasn't as cute.

Ira stuck her shoes in and they stayed under the water.  It looked even cooler than the picture shows.

 That night we took the glow sticks in their backyard and had a blast playing with them.  The kids liked to "hide" them in the grass for us while we looked for them.

We went to church with them on Sunday afternoon.  It was really fun.  I just need to be better and introducing my kids to my friends.  When Little One was asked in primary if she was visiting Sis. Thomas she said no. LOL  Ira had the same problem in Sunday School and YW's.  She was asked who she was there visiting and all she could come up with was "my mom's friend." :)

This was a cute little scene we found as we were getting ready for church.

After church we did dinner and then a whole bunch of Laurie Ann's extended family came over for their monthly FHE.  The shared talents and visited and had yummy desserts.  It was fun to see some of them again.

The girls wanted to stay Sunday night too so we did and then came home Monday morning.  They both got in all the play time they could!

Ira playing with Luke on the piano

Little One and Peter sword fighting

It was a magnificent weekend and one we hope to repeat next summer.  Thanks so much, Laurie Ann!!!!  We love you!

Reuniting

Last Sunday my cousin had a layover in town so the girls and I went to hang out for a little bit.  It was awesome. :)  I have vague memories of him from a couple of times growing up but that's it.  I just remember him being nice and I liked him.  It was like meeting an old friend.  We talked for over an hour and could have done more.  I can't wait until next time!

Ira, Me, Cheesy Smile Little One, and Rob, chillin' at the airport.

4th of July

The 4th of July was pretty laid back this year.  We started off with a mini disaster when Ira shut her finger in a car door.  Completely shut it in.  As in had to reopen the door to get it out.  Poor girl.  It sliced her nail pretty good and was bleeding all over.

After we got her all cleaned up and some Tylenol in her she was feeling up to fireworks.  We'd never actually been to our city's fireworks but because of some new restrictions this year we couldn't do our own.  We had a place saved and it ended up being perfect.  It was a really nice night and we were even able to get in and out quickly.  Bonus! :)

The next morning we went to the parade.  We had chairs set out but it was at the very beginning and we weren't sure how that was going to work.  It ended up being awesome.  We could see everything really well.

Here we are with our matching flag shirts as we wait for the parade to start.

Loved the R2D2 chair.

This is for our friend Jan who dresses up as a clown and visits kids in hospitals in Ukraine.

I so want an Iron Man suit....

Summer Lemonade/Tang Stands

Little One has been into lemonade/tang stands this summer and it's been so cute.  Mom and I have been her biggest customers and it's been fun.  Here she is with her friend, Ashley doing a lemonade stand.  It wasn't on a very busy street and in the middle of the week, but they still got a couple dollars each.

Swimming!

Little One has done 4 weeks of swimming lessons since she doesn't now how to swim.  I started her out in level 2 and that worked great for her.  She was getting better all the time.  You could see her progress by the day.

I didn't get her signed up in time to get her into level 3 for the next session but was hoping maybe one of the level 3 kids would move up or down and she could slide in.  When they started though, a lot of the kids in her new level 2 class were a bit more advanced than her previous one so the teacher did some of the level 3 stuff with them.  It was kind of a 2.5 class. :)  I left her in, hoping that by the time she does level 3 she can just pass everything off and not have to retake it.  She's getting a bit tired of swimming everyday though (and so is her poor hair) so we're going to take some time off before getting her going again.

Here she is on the last day of her first session.

This was her teacher, Shandi.  She LOVED her.

This was her teacher for the second class, Kristen.  She really liked her too.

By this time her poor bathing suit was really getting loose on her.  I'm not really sure why since OshKosh is usually really good.  However, it was going to fall off of her so we went and got her a new one.  Not as good at keeping the sun off of her, but very, very cute. :)

Ballet and Karate

The girls each got to choose something they wanted to do.  Ira picked ballet.  She started up not long after school got out and has been LOVING it.  She looks absolutely adorable in her leotard, doesn't she? :)  They don't like the parents to be in the studios with the kids so if I want to watch I have to do it through a window.  I'm going to ask her if she minds me taking a couple of shots of her while she's practicing and then (provided she's okay with that) post them. :)  She tells me every week what she learned and how they're doing.  It's so fun!

Little One, my one I just KNEW was going to be a cute little ballerina, decided she wanted to do karate.  This is my girl that around 4 years old saw some leotards in Target and went, "Mom!  WHAT are those?"  I explained and then in a dreamy sort of voice she said, "I want to do ballet...." LOL  Earlier this year though, she went to a friends birthday party at a karate dojo and LOVED it.  She's been talking about how that's what she wants to do ever since.  I made sure she really wasn't going to change her mind when Ira got her leotard and then signed her up.  She's been having a blast and even I have signed up and started.  It's been something I've always wanted to do anyway and it's fun to do it with her.  We have different classes, but can "practice" together.  These guys are amazing with the kids.  So kind and encouraging.  I've been beyond impressed.  They have places to sit and watch so I did get some pictures of her.

She's gotten to do demonstrate some.

Then she got to hold the thing so he could show how the other team member should do it.