Animal Birthday Party

Kate really wanted an animal party for her 7th birthday. Here are some of the highlights:

7 Year Old Kate!

The day before Kate's 7th birthday, Grandpa came to visit and spent the day at the zoo with her.

On the night of her birthday, we went to White Fence Farm for dinner. Kate wanted to look extra fancy.

We'd never been to White Fence Farm before and the kids loved all the fun details.

It was a fun dinner!

Afterward the kids got balloons and got to go down a giant slide.

Here's Kate's birthday interview:
1. What is your favorite color?Violet, aquamarine, lavender, and purple

2. What is your favorite toy? books

3. What is your favorite fruit? Any berry.

4. What is your favorite tv show? Paw Patrol

5. What is your favorite movie? Lego Batman

6. What is your favorite thing to wear? Skirts and dresses.

7. What is your favorite animal? Dobby the giraffe.

8. What is your favorite song? Roar by Katy Perry

9. What is your favorite book? American Girl Doll Books

10. Who is your best friend? Lucy Garn

11. What is your favorite snack? Graham crackers with chocolate on top...or without. I don’t care.               

12. What is your favorite drink? Hot Chocolate and Lemonade

13. What is your favorite breakfast? Honeynut Cheerios.

14. What is your favorite lunch? Peanut Butter and Jelly with all the things I like on it like chocolate and candy.

15. What is your favorite dinner? Potstickers and Pizza

16. What is your favorite game? Lost Cities

17. What is your favorite thing to play outside? Bikes and Water Balloons.

18. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas.

19. What do you sleep with at night? Kirsten

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? An American Girl Doll storywriter

Awkward Family Photos

Last August my mom came to visit. While she was here we visited the Colorado History Museum and there was a special exhibit with awkward family photos. They were hilarious! 

There was also an area where you could create your own awkward family photos. My kids got really into it! How did we do?

My parents used to have this exact same couch. I'm sure it made some of our own awkward family photos as kids. We'll just have to dig through the photo boxes.

This picture occurred after the exhibit at lunch. I think Kate couldn't shake the awkward faces.

Somehow I only got one picture with my mom, and it was when we were telling her goodbye and everyone was in pajamas.

Eliza's Blessing Day, 4th of July, and Lots of Library Trips

We went to the library a TON last summer. There was an awesome program where you got a different pin at each branch, but to get the pin you had to complete a scavenger hunt. At one branch part of the scavenger hunt was to check out the 3D printer. We got these things from the printer.

We made our annual Utah in July trip. A lot of time was spent in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard.

While the big kids played in the backyard, Eliza went from lap to lap. 

While we were in Utah Eliza was blessed. It was such a sweet day. There was a ton of family there and it was a very special experience. 

Eliza wore my blessing dress, which was also the dress Kate was blessed in. 

We tried to take a picture with all of the grandkids....this was as good as it got. Too bad only Luke's hair made it in the picture and none of the rest of him.

We got a family picture too.....sort of. Eliza's face in this picture makes me smile!

The next day was the 4th, and following tradition we went to the Holladay Parade.

Here's one set of cousins.

And here's the other set of cousins.

Eliza liked the breakfast more than the parade.

In the afternoon Emmy and I took a trek to the Down East Basics warehouse sale. It was amazing. I bought all sorts of things with other people's names on them (backpacks, lunch boxes, and toys). Christian made fun of me, but the backpacks were only like a dollar fifty! 

The funny part is that one day when I picked up Kate from school one day in January another mom said, "I thought that was your daughter! But I knew your daughter's name was Kate and I always saw her with a backpack that said Skye, so I thought she must be someone else." 

Whatever. I take a deal when I can find one.

At least Eliza's backpack had the right initials. 

Of course we stopped by the University of Utah.

We took family pictures with the cousins. This was my favorite picture because Kate and Betsy look like the girls from the Shining.

We spent time with this cute (then)11 year-old neighbor who took care of my kids like a dream.

We went to Utah night at the Rockies. I think we made it to the 7th inning. One day we'll make it all the way to the 9th.

The kids learned how to juggle at the library.

We had a ward picnic. One of the games was a three-legged race. This was the line-up. Christian and Will came in absolute last place. They were not very coordinated.

The kids celebrated pioneer day at church. 

They also went to primary day at the temple.

We finished our family pottery class. These were my works of art. 

Eliza started eating solid food and man was she messy!

So, there you have it. Now I'm only a year behind on this here blog.

June 2016- Creative Title, I know.

Soooooooo, I'm way behind on this whole blogging thing. Oh well. Who reads blogs now-a-days anyway when there are such wonderful inventions as Instagram? Well, maybe I could get caught up. I'm only a year (plus) behind. So, this is what happened last June:

We went to Pirate's Cove with friends. These babies were too cute.

Kate went down the big slides for the first time and was so excited. James was there too, just imagine a picture of him.

Grandpa came to visit and got to come to our family pottery class. 

We tried to make ice cream in a bag. It was terrible. Some of the salt (actually, a lot of the salt) got into the ice cream. It was fun to make though!

We went to some fun activities at the library. This one was about dragons, knights, and princesses. 

How cute is this little princess?

We went to the after hours night a the science museum. My kids always like the paleontologist area best.

James started to learn to read. This was his favorite word to write.

We did a LOT of summer reading. Sometimes it had priority over lunch.

We had a fun swim day with friend and I successfully took 5 kids to the pool by myself without anyone dying. 

Afterward the girls took a rest on the couch.

And the boys took a rest on the porch.