The Pond

I have always heard my friends talk about going to the pond, but we had never gone for one reason or another. But Monday when Heather texted me that they were all going I thought it would be fun for the girls...and it was they had a blast.

The kids played in the water and in the sand for hours. The adults sat under umbrella's on chairs and just watched and talked. It was a fun and relaxing day at the pond!

A Bender/Ludvigson Dinner

We haven't had a Bender/Ludvigson/Tippetts Dinner in forever. So when Cory said that they were hosting a dinner I said YES we will be there. I can't believe how big the Bender kids have gotten. After dinner Bryn made the mistake of telling Josh he couldn't make her eat grass (which he used to do when she was a little girl and he would usually make her cry by doing it) and so he picked her up and took her outside to eat some grass!

Then came Josh as a jungle gym...

It was a fun evening getting together with old friends!

A Little Bit of Family History

In Josh's family there is a blanket that is made. It started with Trudy's Dad's mom, Elna Nelson. She made ONE blanket for each family. Then Trudy made ONE blanket for each of the grandchildren. So my girls each have their own blankets, it is their blessing blankets. I wanted to learn how to make these blankets, so about a year or so ago I asked Trudy to teach me. I wanted to start some blankets for my grandchildren and have them before my hands got too bad with RA. I started and then my RA got bad and I stopped. Then a few months ago I decided to start again. It's amazing what a new baby in the family will motivate you to do. I wanted to finish it for Miss Olivia. So I started again, and this last week Trudy helped me finish it while we were down in Vegas. She finished the edge for me when my hands were hurting too much! So here is my finished project, and now on to the next one. I am now starting a blue and cream one... I can at least go a little slower on this one because I don't expect grandchildren anytime soon!

Strawberry Days 2014

Of all the summer days I LOVE Strawberry Days the most! Even though we missed most of it this year during the week because we made a quick trip down to Vegas we made it back in time for the parade/carnival and for some strawberries and cream! Even though we got home very late we pulled ourselves out of bed early in the morning so that we could get our spot on the parade route! We were joined by the Big Anderson's and the Ludvigson's!

After the much anticipated parade and watching all the kiddos running into the street for candy we headed off to the carnival! We saw Joey and Brit there with all the kids and the girls went on a couple of rides with them. I can't believe how big my girls are now they no longer want to ride the small rides but only want to ride the big scary ones! Baylee wasn't liking Josh too much...but did that bother Josh....

And of course there was the strawberries and cream....and yes it was very berry yummy!

Usually we are all about the carnival foods...but this year we decided to try a new pizza place that we were sitting across the street from through out the parade. 

All and all Strawberry Days was a hit! Yummy food and good entertainment you just can't ask for much more then that!

Guilty Pleasure!

One of my biggest guilty pleasures is shaved ice! And it can't be just any shaved ice it has to be the one all the way across town....it's the best! One of the best things about summer is that this place opens. It's called Hokulia and it's heaven. We have already gone at least once every week now. Josh's is not as much of a fan as I am but he humors me and takes me, the girls LOVE it also!

Josh even buys me the big one and I usually eat mine and part of his! Best part of summer... just writing about it makes me want one!

Seven Peaks!

We haven't been to Seven Peaks Water Park since 2009! So I guess it was time. Our friends were going so we tagged along! We were there for like 5 1/2 hours and yes I was SO tired and in pain by the end. But the girls had fun so I guess that is all that really matters! I love that my girls are big enough to go on rides by themselves and just come and check in with me so I didn't feel like I had to worry too much about my kid drowning! They are good swimmers and are responsible kids.

1st lesson learned though...make sure we are all completely covered with sunscreen...I don't think I did a good job on everyone so parts of us are sun burned! Lesson learned we will do better next time! And despite the fact that I spent the rest of the day in bed and had to take some big girl pills to stop the pain...I think we will do this a few more times this summer...it was fun!

U Swirl

I love me some U Swirl and you just can't pass up double stamp Tuesday! Abby and I had to go up to Salt Lake early that morning for a doctors appointment for Abby and she did SO good with them taking her blood that I told her that we would pick up her sister and go for some U Swirl! It's a good day when you can get some frozen yogurt!

A Busy Monday

Our day started with an assignment. Abby decided that she was in charge of FHE and gave out EVERYONE written assignments for that night. I got treats! So I recruited the girls to help me make the candy sushi again. This time I let the girls do most of the work. They were very excited about this! 

After the sushi was made we went on a field trip to a dairy farm! My friend Heather invited us down to the farm. We all got to mile a cow and I was shocked that Abby wanted to try! We learned all about how a dairy farm is run. It was VERY educational!

Then we got to see the baby cows. Elizabeth got a little carried away and let one of the babies suck on her fingers...they were all slobbery after! Then they went over to feed the horses.

After seeing all the animals we went into their backyard and they were flooding the lawn so the kids thought that it was the perfect time to cool off. All the kids were drenched by the end!

Heather is going to be in charge of ALL of our field trips from now on. It was a fun day down on the farm! That evening we had a wonderful FHE prepared by Abby. Over all it was a good day!

Let Summer Begin...

I have found over the years that to make my life go more smoother, and to help pretty much everyone in our house not to throw the occupational tantrum, I have to keep us all on our schedule even through summer. So the girls have their work charts that they HAVE to complete before they are allowed to do ANYTHING else. And if you look at it close you see that take a bath and brush your teeth are first on the list....yes I have to remind them to do these things still! Then next is what they have to keep clean...bedroom, bathroom, playroom, and laundry room. After cleaning they do two pages in their summer workbooks. It covers math, science, writing, spelling, etc. To help keep them in the learning mood. Then they have the list of 20 min jobs which include, typing practice (they have a typing program that teaches them the keys), Elizabeth has one extra job which is 20 min of Viola practice, then read for 20 min ( I got them all new summer books to read), and last practice piano for 20 min! Now this may seem like a lot of stuff but my kids get up REALLY early in the morning and if they are focused they can finish the whole list by 9AM! Now if they finish their chores for the day and want to earn money I have put up a jobs list in the Canning Kitchen that they can choose from for extra money. I laminated these jobs and put velcro on the back so that they can take off the jobs that they complete! Before they get any money they have to be approved by me or Nana that they were done right. So far I think Elizabeth has earned almost $10...Abby maybe $5.

Every Summer I give the girls the option to pick one extra activity that they want to do...i.e. sport, extra lessons, etc. This year I made them a deal...they could choose the extra activity or they could choose to do more big stuff...i.e. seven peaks parks, museums, zoo, etc. They picked the big stuff. They each made a list of activities that they wanted to see or wanted to go to and we made our master list. To earn a trip to one of the places on our big list they have to fully complete chores. So far the girls have done a really good job and we have already done a few big things sprinkled with a few smaller activities. I think so far the summer is going pretty good!