24th of July

Scott and I had a fabulous 24th of July. We started the festivities early by having my niece and nephews sleep over Friday night. I failed to get any pictures of us swimming, making snow cones, or enjoying the Owlz baseball game. But I did get pictures of this...

Clay--mesmerized by the movie "Sandlot."

Faith and Cole were mesmerized too. I don't know if you realize how happy and proud this makes me. :) Also, notice that Cole made his "bed" on top of the coffee table. Funny!

Saturday, we took the kids to join the rest of my family at the parade in Spanish Fork.

Adorable, Dora-loving Katelyn showing me her sucker. Her hand has done some miraculous healing. The week before, the doctors were thinking she would need skin grafts, and here she is not even needing her bandages anymore. What a blessing!

The cutie boys--Clay, Kyler, and Rylan. Boo U!

The beautiful girls--Mikayla, Faith, and Katelyn. I love Katelyn's gentle wave with her wounded hand.

Cole with his best friend, Erlacher.

We had a BBQ lunch with my family, and then we had another BBQ with Scott's fam for dinner.

We did sparklers and fireworks with Scott's nieces and nephews--Matt, Josh, Lauren, and Megan. For the record, Lauren's braver than Megan. :)

Then we headed to the infamous "Cud-de-sac of Fire" near Sam's childhood home.

The fireworks were fun, but I especially enjoyed the background music.

Scott and I ended our Pioneer Day festivities by watching the movie "The Parent Trap." We were totally inspired by the song "Let's Get Together" being played during the fireworks. Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Family Reunion in Vegas

We had a fabulous reunion with my family in Las Vegas for a few days in the middle of July!

On our way to Vegas, Scott and I stopped in St. George to see my adorable niece Katelyn and my brother-in-law. They were only able to come to the reunion for one day because poor Katelyn had severely burned her hand and had daily appointments at the wound clinic. Sad!

Our first evening there, we enjoyed dinner together and autographing each others' beach balls.

Each morning (and several evenings) we enjoyed the huge pool and 5 hot tubs.

The kids loved playing in the pool and lounging on the rafts.

And they had a blast on the fun water slides.

The pool was beautiful and miraculously cool considering how crazy hot the weather was.

I'm not sure how Scott could stand to be in the hot tub during the day.

My mom planned lots of fun crafts and activities for the kids.

Our delicious fiesta food.

The kids loved the pinata. Ay caramba!

We had a very loud and fun karaoke night.

We spent a day at an indoor amusement park--the Adventuredome. Joseph and Cole were buds on the Ferris wheel.

Jen and Ashley look happy, while Jason looks like he's hanging on for dear life.

Clay, Christina, and Camo rockin' on!

Cheesy Rylan was absolutely obsessed with this ride. And Clay liked it too.

Sweet Katelyn showed interest in some guy's stuffed lizard, and he just gave it to her. This happened 3 times that day. What a charmer!

Cole, Jason, and Kyler loved all the rides.

The whole gang waiting to watch a circus act.

One last ride on the Ferris wheel with Scott and Cole.

Another fun craft for the kids.

Mikayla rocked the limbo contest.

Joseph won part of the hula contest.

And Mikayla won the other part.

The scary pirates after they found their treasure. Arrrgh!

A delicious Hawaiian luau.

My mom and Melissa doing a flute duet for the talent show.

My mom and I played together too.

Don't ask me how I ever convinced Scott to perform the infamous "Pickles for Breakfast" with me, but I'm pretty sure he earned some points with my fam.

The kids all shared some amazing talents both separately and as a group.

My mom and we sisters did a fun lip sync.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a wonderful reunion! It was a ton of fun!!

Catching up

Yeah, it's been awhile since I blogged, so I thought I'd do a little catching up.

The 4th of July was a fun-filled weekend event...

We had a BBQ and watched the fireworks with Scott's fam.

We watched the parade with my fam.

I enjoyed a chocolate-covered frozen banana. Yum!

We did sparklers and fireworks with my fam and my sister's in-laws.

The grand finale firework cost $40. Yikes!

I scored 100% on my karaoke machine for the first time on my own. I've been trying for years...

Yes, I am "a excellent singer." Gotta love the grammar. :)

Scott got older...

We celebrated by going out for sushi, although I couldn't eat any.

Scott helped me make his chocolate zucchini cake. We all enjoyed eating it, and he enjoyed opening his gifts of small kitchen appliances.

Scott's niece Lauren turned 3 on the same day.

It was a great start to a great month. More to come...