Summer ongoings

Here are a few of our summer ongoing activities - we're always coming and going, here and there.  The kids have been really good most days and we've had so much fun...but sometimes we are all in bad moods from the morning until the night it feels like.  Luckily, it's more of the first than the second! :)

We started selling cotton candy, popcorn, drinks, and candy at our local concerts at the park that are once a week.  We thought it would be a great way to teach the kids to work and earn a little money for them and us.  So far, it's been fun!  Em is a great helper and many comment on how she's a great for business girl.  She works hard.  Cal and Lucy help pretty well, and Cov and the Lucy go to a babysitters for most of the time.  It's been a good experience for us all!

Dave was able to go to Scout Camp for a week here.  They went to camp Buffalo Bill, up by Cody.  They got to do some high adventures, go river rafting, and go to Yellowstone to see the sights.  He didn't take very many pictures, but these are the ones he took, ha ha!  He does so well as Scoutmaster with those boys.

It's been fun to have some friends come visit this summer!  We had the Haurands come see us.  Will's been on active duty for a while now, but his parent's are up at Martin's Cove serving a mission and they came to see us after they visited them.  It was fun to see them and hangout.

I've also been busy sewing and making baby gifts.  We put on a shower for our good friend Mariah, who is due with her baby soon.  The decorations and food were so fun.  My red velvet cake pops though, were more like cake blobs, haha!  They kept all falling off and were a fail.  They tasted good, but looked horrible.  But she loved the onesie dress and headband we made for her little miss.  We've had lots of other babies born around here, too.  So I've been having fun sewing for them.  And I helped an elderly lady in my ward make pajama pants for her grand kids who are heading off to college.  She usually does, but her artritis was getting too bad. 

We hosted a neighborhood block party...it was quite fun!  We had our popcorn machine going, a float bar and other treats.  We had sidewalk chalk, balls, pinwheels and bubbles for the kids.  And the adults enjoyed some lively conversation.  It was nice to get to know our neighbors better.  We have some pretty great ones!  And the retired man across the street is Dave's new best friend...he takes him on his side-by-side all of the time now and they have some good talks.  I took these pictures at the very beginning, but a lot more came than were pictured.  It was a fun night!

]

The kids enjoy going to play group each week and our picnics in the park with friends.  One week they found a little bird who couldn't fly. We don't know if it was hurt or just hadn't learned to fly yet.  But the kids were gushing over it and trying to help it. 

Summer reading programs at the library are a must for us.  We've gone to some activities there.  And we are reading our little hearts out. 

The kids put on their first lemonade stand!  For not living on a very busy street, these girls did pretty well.  They made some good money and had so much fun!

We've had lots of disasters, too, this summer!  Cov has a thing for the flour, apparently and if I don't put the giant bag away soon enough, he's in it all over!  He also got out baby powder one day and dumped it all over, and it was so thick in the air, it looked smoky.  Lucy also cut her hair - eek!  It's pretty short in the front, but repairable thank goodness.  Her face when I told her she was going to have to get it cut to even it out - oh my!  She was so sad and told me she was sad she couldn't be "Lucepunzel" anymore.  

 

We've been enjoying going on our summer field trips.  The kids enjoyed going to the museum and park in the next town over, and to an old fort, the donut shop in town, the local museum.

Swimming lessons is a must during the summer.  Our kids have done pretty well and enjoy it.  Cov loves hanging out in the locker rooms, locking himself in the lockers, lol!

I I love just goofing around and having fun during the summer!  Our kids sure know how to do that.  

At the end of the day, the kids get so worn out, like Covey here (who loves wearing his "coon" hat 24/7).  It's been busy but lots of fun!

Independence Day Rocking in the USA

We had a whirlwind of fun this Fourth of July.  The week before, we had cousin Tayla stay the week.  The girls had the best time and love each other so much, it's so sweet to see them together.  They had a list of all kinds of activities they wanted to do and we did them all except one, because it was an outdoor activity and it was stormy that day.  The girls did a fashion show, put on a play, we went to the park, they sewed some skirts (mostly on their own), camped in the backyard, helped me make some meals and treats, and giggled and played a ton.


We left town Friday around lunch time.  It was a nice day!  We got down to Utah, made a trip to Sam's Club, had pizza with the family, then left to Eaglewood to watch the fireworks.  The kids had a great time running around on the grass, throwing balls, and playing with Grandma's year supply of glow sticks.  Cov was picking up on older chicks, ha ha!  It was so funny!  As these teenage girls passed, he started walking after them, gave them the cutest little bashful grin, then was fixing his hair.  Emma loved being with Tayla and Amber, Cal and Kaison kept running all over, and Lucy and Brody were doing funny things to make us all laugh.  We played mosquito tag with Uncle Marko, that was fun.  And we ate a lot of peanut butter popcorn.  The fireworks show was good this year, lots of smiley faces and hearts, the kids loved that!

The next day, we woke up and went to the North Ogden parade.  My cousins were in it, which was fun!  Shan was Miss North Ogden 1st Attendant and Cari was a pioneer on their Stake float.  It was a fun parade we've never been to, but it was nice to see them and our other family, including Dave & kids, visiting from Vegas.  The kids got a lot of goods and were so happy to see Morgan & Kyle.

 

Then we ran a few errands, and we were off to a family picnic at Friendship Park.  Our new watermelon cutter we brought was the hit of the party, it was hot but still nice.  Then swimming at Lois & Keiths was next.  The kids loved swimming and didn't want to stop!  But they all crashed on the drive back.  After that, it was back to Grandma & Grandpa Ryerses.

We got cleaned up, had a BBQ there, played for a while, then it was our favorite firework show, Davis High fireworks!  While we were waiting, we watched the crazy sky - it was so dusty and gray and stormy, but never rained.  We played some good Uno rounds, went on the Bouncy houses, and took several trips to the bathroom (of course kids never all have to go at the same time, haha!).  The fireworks were awesome this year, but ended abruptly, I think they had some technical difficulties and never really had that grand finale, but they were still great!  I always love their song selection and how they set the fireworks to the music.  It's like pyro-coreography.  Sitting under the stars, looking at the sky being lit up with my little family always is a great time for me to reflect on the many blessings, privileges and opportunities I enjoy living in this country.  I'm so thankful to live here - for the freedoms we enjoy and to those who help make it that way.  I get goosebumps and wet eyes thinking about the origin and history of this country, what this nation has gone through and what we can accomplish as a people.  I know there are lots of problems in our government and with our country right now.  But I also know it will all be okay.  There's also a lot of good around still.  And as long as there are some righteous people, this land will be blessed.  One of my favorite songs - "And there ain't no doubt I love this land...God bless the U.S.A!"  I hope He will bless this land...Happy Independence Day!