It all started on the 3rd of July when we went to the Riverton parade to support Rick in his float duties. **(tangent) Our stake has a float this year and its been a lot of work for Rick. He's in charge of the sound and he took his job seriously. He also just helped in general and has been a motorcycle escort to the parades because it is a flippin huge float. (Pictures to follow) We won 1st in Murray and Sandy and there was no judging in Riverton.** Rick's mom always sits at a friend's house on the route and then they have a BBQ afterward. So we joined them. (I should say the kids and I. Rick was there for most of the parade, but duty called.) It was SUPER hot and windy too. Aunt Teri kept buying the kids popcicles and we drank a ton of water too. They called Rick because someone had bumped the mixer and the sound didn't work. He jogged in the heat for a half a mile to flip a switch and jogged back to sit with me and the kids. What a man! Anyway, we had a great time and the kids got tons of candy. Then Rick's mom, sister, and friends came to our house and did a few firecrackers. We got here about 10 and Annie said to me, "Mom, I'm tired. I'm going to bed." I asked if she wanted to stay up for firecrackers and she said "No. I just wanna go to bed." She took herself down and got ready. I just gave her a kiss. Carlyn on the other hand wanted to stay up as late as possible and was up til after 11.
We woke them up about 8 on the 4th. The days of going to the breakfast early morning are gone for now :) Instead, I made pancakes and we ate them while waiting for the parade to start. We always meet our friends Joel & Jessica and their daughters at a certain spot. Carlyn and Jensyn have done this since they were little and I'll be sad if it ever stops. They are 2 weeks apart and good friends. We love the Murray parade and especially enjoyed the overcast day. Rick took off to escort the float to another parade so we chilled at home. I know they have fun stuff at the park, but we've never made it, and while I feel a little bad, we have a really fun family day starting at 2, so I don't feel too bad. We went home for naps instead. We always go to my aunt Emily's house in Kaysville for my Grandma Potter's birthday party. It is the one family party that keeps going every year no matter what. As many family members come as possible. I have a lot of cousins and most of us have kids now. There are a lot of great grandchildren (70 or something.) We always have a big potluck and my Dad cooks BBQ turkey. Mostly we just eat and visit. Next we headed to my house and were getting ready to go to Murray Park for the fireworks. It ended up that we ordered pizza and watched from across the street. It was fun, but I did miss going to the park.
The 5th is my other grandma's birthday. Grandma Hilton loves to go out to eat so my Dad took the whole family out to eat at Village Inn for breakfast. That's 12 adults and 12 kids! Thanks Dad! Every one else went to my parents house, but we stayed home for Sunday, spent time with Rick, and prepared to go camping. The first picture is Annie teaching Lindsay to cut pancakes. Then Gma Hilton saying her pie is too much. The last is the 4 cousins that were born within 4 months. So cute!
The 6th is my mother-in-law, Linda's birthday. We enjoyed visiting with her for awhile Sunday evening and I stupidly forgot to take any pictures, but we had fun anyway!
The 6th is my mother-in-law, Linda's birthday. We enjoyed visiting with her for awhile Sunday evening and I stupidly forgot to take any pictures, but we had fun anyway!
The 7th is my Dad's birthday. We went camping at a tiny lake called Boulger Lake up Fairview Canyon. It was so cool and nice up there. If not for the mosquitos, the tent ripping, and the kids screaming all night it would have been a perfect trip. (I'm NOT exaggerating. They would take turns crying or screaming all night until 3:45 when I gave up because we were freezing and I hadn't slept anyway. I loaded them in the van and drove to my parents house.) We had a combined birthday party for him and Anneliese. Annie really got all the attention though and Dad didn't seem to care because he got his cupcake. :) She was very gracious and loved each present.
We did survive the night by finishing sleeping at my parents house and made it back in time for lunch. Then we piled in the cars and drove to Electric Lake where we took turns in the rafts. Annie was the last grandchild to not have a turn and ended up with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa wanted to fish and took his time so she got a long turn and was very chatty, according to Grandma. We had dinner in Fairview and headed home very dirty and tired.
We did survive the night by finishing sleeping at my parents house and made it back in time for lunch. Then we piled in the cars and drove to Electric Lake where we took turns in the rafts. Annie was the last grandchild to not have a turn and ended up with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa wanted to fish and took his time so she got a long turn and was very chatty, according to Grandma. We had dinner in Fairview and headed home very dirty and tired.
The next day we visited the grandma's with my sister and then she flew home. I miss her already. But I'm really glad she got to come. A year and a half is too long!
We took a day to recover, then went back to my parent's house where all the kids had a "carnival." They had a hose on the slide with a pool at the bottom, a blow up pool, the ladder ball game, and horse shoes set up. It was a blast. The next day we went swimming at Snow College which is always a favorite of mine. Darren was a little fish. He floated by himself in his lifejacket and kicked and splashed. I couldn't believe it. The girls were fish too, but Darren's not done that before.
I came home again for Sunday and we celebrated Anneliese's birthday starting off with pancakes and eggs. At her request we had lasagna for dinner. In the evening, we had Rick's family over and went to the park for cupcakes and presents. The kids had a blast and Darren showed off how well he walked with the walker toy.
We like to drag birthdays out as long as possible so we had a little friends party for A the next day. It turned out to be sets of sisters at the party. Each older one was 4 and Annie was the oldest younger sister turning 3. She had requested a Brown party, so I put out a brown tablecloth, got pink & brown streamers and balloons and tried my best to have a Brown theme. We played a couple games then had a story about the color brown and had a bear hunt and decorated chocolate cupcakes and did snaps and had presents. The kids all played in the play room at the end and there were no fights so I consider it a success. :)
Here are a few other pictures of family fun.
3 comments:
GREAT pics!! I'm glad we are able to be part of your summer fun. :) I'm still very impressed with the parade float Rick worked on.
Your blog has not been picking up on my google reader. I guess I have some catching up to do. Looks like you have had a very busy month.
WOW...that's quite a busy month. It looks like a ton of fun though. It's so fun to get together with family :)
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