"Make-It-Monday" Paintings

Thanks to the powerofmoms.com, and a couple other mom's examples, I decided to do a little "Summer Camp" for my kids.  I know what your thinking...it's not as structured as it sounds. :)


The premise is that the kids (M&J) have certain things they have to do each day (jobs, practice, reading, writing, etc.).  Once those "have-to-do's" are done, we get to do something fun in the afternoon.  Each day has a theme.  They are as follows:


Mon- Make It Monday
Tues - Take a Trip Tuesday
Wed - Wet Wednesday
Thurs - Thinking Thursday
Fri - Friend Friday


For more info on all of this go to www.powerofmoms.com 


I started this last week and it really has been great.  The kids do their stuff.  They don't get bored.  They are using their imaginations and not forgetting all they learned in school all year.  I feel some semblance of order, but enjoy the relaxation side of summer.  And I feel like I am being the kind of mom I want to be.  PRICELESS.


Today, for Make-It Monday, we painted portraits.  The kids enjoyed it, and I love to see their imaginations on paper.  :)

They are pretty good artists if I do say so myself. :)


Oh...and one more fun surprise of the day...we got a piano!!!  

I have wanted one of these for a VERY long time!!!  It is used, I plan on painting it, and so it didn't cost much money (as far as piano's go) but it will be a great learning piano for our family.  It works great!  We are very excited.  Morgan and I will be starting lessons soon. :)  Hooray for a new adventure!

We have a nest in our tree!

This little lady has made our tree a home...

We have been watching her for over a week.  This is why she has hung around.

What a neat thing for the kids to see.  We can't wait until they hatch!  So fun!

Celebrating our Special Dad

I hope all you dads out there had a great Father's Day and were spoiled rotten by your loved ones.  This guys certainly was (or at least I hope he thinks so):

Here is what we did:


1.  Encourage him to go run one of his favorite races...the Wasatch Back Ragnar!  For those of you who don't know, it's a 197 mile relay race throughout the Wasatch mountains.  It can be brutal.  There are 12 people on your team, you run through the night, and even though all the "legs" are hard, Trev's was really hard!  As it should be since he is in great shape and always up for a challenge.  He ran a total of 17 miles, 10 of which was in the middle of the night!  Then he got up and ran up the actual "Ragnar" hill.  Just seeing it makes most runners, and everyone else, want to cry. :)  Trev had a great race and loved it!  His team did awesome!  They ranked 56th of out 1092 teams.  In the Co-Ed division they placed 17th out of 688 teams!  They rocked it. :)
2.  Let him come home to a nice clean, quiet house to rest after...while the kids and I went to Jake's Tball game and picked up my little sister in Price.
3.  Had him sleep in on Father's Day only to be woken up by the cutest kids in the world. :)

4.  Showered him with gifts, some handmade with extra love, and other's more practical and necessary...like an appointment for a 1 hour Massage today. :)  Something every dad finishing Ragnar the day before should have. :)

The kids made him a nice little book and filled out info sheets about their dad.

I made him the slideshow in the previous post.  These are some cute shots I did of the kids to really express our love for Trev.  (Thank you pinterest peeps for the idea!)

5.  Made him a Father's Day breakfast...Dad's choice of course.  (Quite different than what my Mother's Day breakfast requests were.:)

6.  What else did he want?  A little quiet time in the hammock out back to work on his Sunday School lesson.  He got it. :)

Until I came out and smooched him for a bit. ;)  That was on his wish list too... :)

We sure love and appreciate this guy.  Happy Father's Day babe!

Happy Father's Day!

Wishing all you great dad's out there a Happy Father's Day!  Thanks for being who you are and being their for your families.  We couldn't do it without you!

Here is a little slideshow honoring the special dad in our home...Enjoy and have a great day!

A birthday trip south to see Brian Regan

For Trev's birthday this year, we took a trip down to St. George.  Trev thinks Brian Regan is sooo funny and he just happened to be at the Tuachan Theater ON Trev's bday...so we went. :)


Originally, we were going to be alone on this trip, but after being gone for a few days in Vegas and Phoenix just 3 weeks prior, we decided to bring the kids along.  Plus a nanny...my cute little sister. :)  


It was a fast trip but a very nice little getaway.  Here is what we did in picture-form:


Ate at Red Robin.  A treat indeed...we don't take all the kids out to eat very often.  So they thought it was pretty great.  Thankfully, Red Robin is kids-friendly. :)

We stayed at the La Quinta, swam, and ate a yummy waffle breakfast.  The kids were in over the moon about this as well. :)

This little gem was my early Mother's Day present...a "purse-camera" bag for my new machine.  Isn't it gorgeous???

After swimming, Jess and the kids ate pizza and hung out in the hotel room, while Trev and I went to meet up with our friends who were also there for the show.  We had dinner together, chatted, and then headed of to our show.  

These are the girls I run with.  Or ran with anyway. :)  This year we have all kind of been doing our own thing, but I have loved every mile we have ran together.  Combined we have run 17 marathons!  I am sure once those babies come we will be back in training. :)  Seriously the BEST post-baby diet ever...train for and run a marathon. :)  Try it next time. :)


Brian Regan was absolutely HILARIOUS!  I literally was tearing up because I was laughing so hard!  It was a great show, and a great night.


The next day we woke up and headed to Zion's National Park.  Trev and I love Zion's and couldn't wait to take the kids.  We rode a shuttle around to see the sites, then hopped off at a trailhead that lead to a waterfall.  The kids did well for the most part.  It was beautiful.  I wish I had pictures but my camera battery was out by the time we got there and I left my charger in Colorado. :(  


After the hike, we had a picnic lunch, then headed back home.  But wait, the fun was not over yet...


On our drive home, this crazy lady started following us.  We tried to shake her, but she tailgated us for over 100 miles!  We even pulled off on a random exit hoping she would continue on and get away from us...she DIDN'T!  She FOLLOWED us off the EXIT!!  She was yelling at us to pull-over...ummm yeah right pyscho!  So we call the cops and the Highway Patrol pulled her over. :)  The kids thought it was AWE-SOME!  After all the fun we had, they said THAT was the best part of the trip. Go figure. :)  Kids.