Summertime Fun!

Since I am just now getting around to posting our 4th of July pics, I just decided to add a few more to the mix from the past few weeks. We had a fairly uneventful 4th this year, which is why I am just now garnering up the motivation to post anything. All of our friends either went out of town or have other family in town that they spent the 4th with, so we were on our own. We made the most of it and did do a few fun activities with our own little family. In the morning we took the kids to the city parade down Main Street. Of course, their favorite part of that was all the candy that was thrown to them! Afterwards we went to a little carnival at the park and let them play on the inflatables. When we came home the kids swam in their little pool and ran around in the sprinklers. That night, we barbecued and did our own little fireworks display in front of our house, and then watched the city fireworks from our front yard. Pretty traditional, not too exciting, but the kids seemed to have a good time.

We have also been keeping quite busy with swim lessons this summer. Jacey took two sessions of lessons and has become quite the little swimmer. I am amazed at how much she has improved and am proud of her for having the courage to conquer her fears in the water.

Lastly, the not-so-fun summertime activity that has plagued us lately has been the yard work. Every day we go out there is a whole new crop of weeds that need pulling. And we haven't even started our backyard yet! Although it is a pain, there is something strangely therapeutic about going out and weeding the yard. The kids have been trying to help us out too, and they especially like to help Jon push the lawn mower around. Hey, if we can't have any boys, we may as well teach our girls to work outside!

Goin' Fishin'!

Last Tuesday the YW 2nd Counselor and I took the Beehive class from our ward up the canyon to Woods Ranch to the Kid's Fishing Pond. It has become an annual tradition for us to take the girls up there for a summer picnic and fishing trip, and they love it! Last year we caught quite a few fish, but sadly, this year we didn't catch any. My kids love it too because they get to come along! Jacey and Brooklyn loved to hold the fishing poles and the Beehives were very cute and helpful with them. Here are a few pics of our time there:

Some things about me. . .

After reading Jeff's blog I thought that this would be fun to try:

10 years ago:
I was living the relatively easy, carefree life of a newlywed. We were living in a circa-1950's cinderblock-walled apartment in downtown Provo and I was working two jobs while we were off school for the summer, one of which was a telemarketing job that I absolutely hated. Oh, and I was enjoying my 21-year old body.

5 years ago:
I was working part-time at the bank and staying at home with 10-month old Jacey. I'm pretty sure that I thought that life was busy back then.

5 months ago:
Not so much different from 5 years ago, besides the fact that now I have two kids. Starting the soccer mom phase of being 30, owning a minivan, and taking kids to their various activities.

5 things on my to-do list:
1. Catch up with my bank work.
2. Mop my awful kitchen floor.
3. Tackle the major catastrophe that is my basement.
4. Weed the yard.
5. Get the millions of pictures off my hard drive, print them up, and scrapbook them.

5 snacks:
1. Apple-cinnamon Flat Earth chips
2. Cashews
3. String cheese
4. Cool Ranch Doritos
5. Crackers and Easy Cheese (a shout-out to my bro Jeff)

5 billionaire things:
1. A Gulfstream jet
2. Vacation homes
3. A garage that it bigger than most people's houses, filled up with vintage cars
4. Having a rare, miniature dog that sits in your purse and wears designer clothes
5. To will your estate to your pets

5 places I have lived:
1. Everyone who knows me knows where I live now
2. St. George, UT
3. Auburn, AL
4. Provo, UT
5. Tustin, CA

5 things you may not know about me:
1. I am left-handed and double-jointed.
2. I was a major tomboy growing up.
3. I used to model for Nordstrom's.
4. I used to work at In-N-Out Burger.
5. I played tennis and soccer in high school, but was never really that good at either.

5 pet peeves:
1. Gas prices that keep going up with no end in sight.
2. Congress, Pres. Bush, environmentalists, or whoever is responsible for the fact that we are sitting on billions of barrels of oil but can't drill any of it, thus feeding the terrorist countries that we are trying to fight.
3. Ignorance
4. Nepotism
5. Parents who are clueless when it comes to raising (and disciplining) their children.

Play Ball!

Jon has been playing on a co-ed city league softball team over the past couple of months with several of his co-workers and a couple of kids from his school. Unlike the past couple of years when his team hasn't done so well, this year the team was really good and they actually won every regular season game and finished in first place! The past couple of weeks they have been in the tournament, and they played 5 games in only two nights last weekend. The kids and I went out to support the team, but unfortunately they lost the last game in a heartbreaker. I forgot the camera so I couldn't get any pictures to put up. Jon has really enjoyed getting back out on the field to play and is reliving his "glory days" as a baseball player.

On a side note, during one of the games last week the kids were getting quite bored and restless so I took them over to a little park by the softball fields to play. Jacey made quick friends with a couple of little boys at the park and started chasing them around. I watched her run around and was quite amused at their interactions. At one point Jacey stopped chasing them, put her hands on her hips, and called out "Hey Boys! You can run but you can't hide!" A sign of things to come? Oh, I hope not!