A Bunch of Summer photos

Man oh man did summer fly by!! I hope my kids feel like summer wasn't a waste.  We didn't do a lot of the things we wanted to.  Work, soccer & illness got in the way (first part of the summer was spent with fevers and strep throat!).  I'm excited to get back into school, routines & schedules.  But summer is fun, getting to do whatever, whenever, sleep in and stay up late.  Here are some pictures from our summer!

 Mal & Whitney are little twinners! 

Jamie & I love that they are such good friends.  

Will & Sophie chillin' on my bed watching Mickey Mouse.

We took the kids to City Creek twice.  They love it!  But, how can you not?

 Jamie watched Mal & Sophie while we went to a ReAL game with Jared's cousin and her kids who were visiting from Florida.  It was an AWESOME game & we had great seats!

We rented a bounce house for a family reunion with the Carter side of the family.
(My mother-in-laws side).  The kids we totally entertained.  This fabulous foursome are the 2009 babies - Sara, Kadee, Casey & I all had babies that year!

Pictures below from our trip to the zoo.  We have a zoo pass, and it's best to get there right when they open, get it all seen in a couple hours and get home in time for lunch.  Which is exactly what we did!

 These two photos are really the only good ones I got of the 24th parade.  Sara & Fred saved the spot this year, and we headed down around 5:30.  First stop was to get breakfast at einstein's.

 The next 4 photos were from our lemonade stand day! Emma & Rylee made homemade rootbeer, lemonade, and I made some chocolate chip cookies for them to sell too.  It was a scorcher! But they stayed out all day (glad to have my big umbrella for soccer) and I think they made around $60.  To help the little ones cool off we put on swimsuits and turned on the hose.

I decided to take the kids to lunch one day.  We went to Sweet Tomatoes.

The next 6 photos were our trip to Cottonwood Heights.  We got there at 4:30 and stayed until close at 8:00.  Ashton went off the diving boards over and over, and Conner went down the water slides over and over!  By 6:00 Kelsey was bored & ready to go home.  Such a teenager.

 We went to a fancy-schmancy "gala" at the Salt Lake Country Club for a Bonneville Realty thing.  We got to spend the night with Mom & Dad, which is always fun.  Bonneville Realty even bid & won on some silent auction items!  The dinner was great - I took a picture of the menu.

 The last Saturday of summer was spent at soccer & a BBQ & swim party that night with some families in the ward.  Sophie got moody as the night went on and she felt feverish.  When we got home, around 9PM, I took her temp & sure enough she had a fever.  What a trooper to swim and play!  She even smiled when I took her picture!

I think that's about it! Summer was also busy with soccer tournaments, but that's a post all on it's own!

4th of July 2012

We went to Sandy City's 4th of July celebrations like we do every year!  It's a fun tradition.  We pack drinks & snacks, Jared walks over to Chick-fil-A for our dinner, and we sit, visit, look at booths, watch the parade, etc.  The weather was great too, not too hot & there was a nice breeze!

  

Sophie wasn't sure if she liked the fireworks.
She kept going from Jared to me to Emma.

  

Kelsey's & Emma's Bedroom Redo

I decided that while Kelsey & Emma were gone to camp I wanted to paint their room & rearrange the furniture.  They had to be at the church by 7AM on Monday morning.  As soon as they were gone, I went into their room, took everything off the walls & moved all the furniture into the middle of the room.  I thought this would leave me plenty of room to maneuver around, and bring in a ladder (they have a high ceiling), but not so much.  It took me all of Monday & some of Tuesday to get it painted.  A big 'THANK YOU" to Monica for coming over around 10:30 Monday night & helping me crank it out faster.  She's a pro.  And she's tiny & could get around things easier than me. =]   The walls were done Monday....actually early Tuesday morning (Monica & I painted until 1AM), then Tuesday I spent the day touching up the trim, ceiling & doors.  The new wall color really helped lighten up the room! Plus Seth installed a larger light for us.  So nice to have handy neighbors! The Bergman's are great.  Anywhoo - I knew that doing this would help the week go by faster for me, which is what I wanted.  Ashton was a ton of help with the kids & even cleaning the house! Way to go Ash!  I couldn't wait for Friday to roll around.  They were supposed to be home around noon.  

I had to take a picture of all their books.  They have SOOO many books!

Kelsey's bed/side of the room

Emma's bed/side of the room

This picture makes it look really yellow, but with more light it's "creamier".  I love it! Their beds have never been parallel to each other, they were always "L" shaped, with one going under the window.  I like it this way much more! .  

This bookcase was always horizontal.  But to have the beds parallel I had to move it vertically.
I like it this way a lot more!

While Jared & I were out looking for bedding for Kelsey & Emma's "new" room, we decided to check out a furniture store that was closing.  They had this bunk bed, last white one left, at a great price.  We've promised Mallory a bunk bed for a long time, and really that room is so small we don't really have a choice, the beds have to be stacked! Mal & Soph were so excited, and Sophie has been great at staying in her bed during the night and for nap time! They also inherited Kels & Emma's "old" bedding, which I got last year when Kelsey was gone to camp.  I may be getting myself into trouble here!

Kelsey is FOURTEEN!

Kelsey's 14th birthday fell on a Sunday this year.  It also was the day before she & Emma were headed off to girls camp! We had some close friends & "the grandparents" over for a dinner of Kelsey's choosing, cake & ice cream.  Kelsey wanted Jared to make Cafe Rio salads.  It was awesome.  He's made it before, but it was even better this time.  She also asked for Jared's Mint Grasshopper cake.  It also is to die for!

Isn't she so pretty & grown up!?! =]

We only had 3 candles!  Ooops.

We planned a party for later that week, Friday.  She invited her friends through facebook & text.  One friend was gone to camp, another had something else going on, the rest never replied! Turns out most of them were out of town & either didn't have their phones or never checked facebook.  BUT, she did have her best friend Candice come.....and Dallen.  (Shhhhh....she has a crush on him!) They had pizza, red velvet cake & ice cream, and went to LaserQuest for some laser tag.  Even though it turned out to be a much smaller group than she had hoped for, she had two pretty great friends there & I think she had fun!

Mallory's Year End Recital

Mallory has been taking ballet with a friend in our ward/neighborhood.  She loves it, and was pretty excited for her year end show.  She was a little shy at the winter recital, but she did much better this time.  She also took a tumbling class, and we are thinking about trying out gymnastics! 

Aubrey & Mallory