Vacation Continued

Yes, I know I'm a slacker. Doug's vacation seems like forever ago. Doug's cousin owns a few horses and his wife took us over to go see his horses. They were the friendliest horses I had ever met. We were unable to ride them, and I think I enjoyed the horses the most, but it's the thought that counts, right? We fed them lots of weeds and lasted as long as we could in the heat.





We also took the kids on their first train ride. Well, not really a train, TRAX, but they'll never know the difference! Charlotte loved it. Ben thought it was wonderful because he was able to sit on Mommy's lap.


Here's Daddy and Charlotte on the train.


We took the kids up to Temple Square. We've been here 10 months now and just finally made it up there. We took the tour of the Conference Center and the Visitors Center. Charlotte, through the whole thing, kept asking when we were going to ride the train again.


This one is my favorite

Between Doug and I our kids didn't stand a chance of being able to open their eyes for pictures.


Here's Charlotte in the gardens


Here's a great picture of the Temple that Doug took.

You know you made something good when

Happy Kids

A little while ago a friend of mine stopped by with her 2 month old baby. Both of my kids were in heaven. Ben was just giddy and kept asking to hold the baby. Of course, the baby was actually just laid on Ben, but that didn't matter. Charlotte was very good about holding the baby. You can see that the poor baby wasn't too excited about the whole thing.


Doug had a week off a while back. We're poor, so we didn't do much. But we did go bowling. The children loved it. Thank goodness for bumpers and the rolling ramp.

Ben now thinks he has to squint whenever we take a picture to get ready for the flash, so we have to try to find creative ways to get him to keep his eyes open. Doug did awesome at bowling and we all had a great time. Grandma Donna was also with us that week and we loved having her around.

Happy Belated Father's Day

Happy Belated Fathers Day to all you Dads out there and all you wonderful uncles and grandfathers. We are blessed to have many wonderful "fathers" in our lives. But by and large the best Father is our Daddy.


He always finds time to be with the kids and makes them feel important. Family has always come first in his life and my kids and I know that.


When he comes home from work he can't wait to see the kids and hear what they've been up to. He gives me breaks from the kids when he knows I need it. He doesn't put "his" time before us. I am so grateful to have him in my life. My kids wouldn't be the wonderful little people they are without him. Thanks Daddy!

Singing

Charlotte has found a songbook her size and has decided to lead us in music. She makes up her own songs, it's the cutest thing. This one is her favorite song to sing.



Ben's squinting because he doesn't realize it's the video and not the camera. He's bracing himself for the flash.

Here's Ben enjoying the wonder that is coolwhip.

On the top of his head is a scar from where he fell off the concrete steps. It happened in slow motion almost, but luckily didn't do too much damage. On Thursday he knelt down on a manhole and gave himself 2nd degree burns down 75% of his shins. He was so brave. He cried for about thirty seconds and that was it. Me, I would have been screaming forever.

Here's a pic of the bandage we have to put on his leg. I'd show you a pic of the burn, but it really grosses me out. I could never be a nurse. I'm so proud of people like Erin who do that for a living.

I've tried rather unsuccessfully to update our blog page. I guess all I can say is I gave it an honest effort. We're just plugging along here. Doug's math class is kicking his butt, but he's over halfway there. It's too hot and I can't wait for fall....I think that's it!

found it!

Here are Sam and Charlotte finger painting. Does cleanup and prep for this always take longer than the actual process?



Here's younger brother Isaac sliding down the mattress, a favorite pasttime.



Ben is the only one who will really run through the sprinklers. The other kids pretend, screaming as they get sprinkled with the least amount of water. But Ben gets in there. He loves water. We often turn on the hose outside and he'll water the lawn for 10 minutes or so. I know, good for the grass too. As Charlotte prefers to run bare bumed through the sprinklers, we don't have too many pictures of her available.



Here's our ever faithful guard kitty

Ben's up gotta run

We've lost the camera...

I can't find the camera and I don't want to update unless I have pictures to add. We found the best park in Riverton. It has 10 slides and 8 swings. Charlotte was in heaven. I've been taking a typing class and so now of course I can't stand typing without the backspace key...We've inherited a stray cat whom we've named Bobcat. He's 10 times sweeter than Maddie, though I think Maddie's realized now she has competition. He's not allowed in the house, but he's there almost every time we go outside. Do you think it could have something to do with the fact that we feed him almost every day?


Doug starts an AutoCad class this week, 4 hours a day two days a week. Not looking forward to it. We're very excited to be staying here in Alpine for another year. Looking for places to live is miserable, especially with a cat. We'd like to congratulate Marjorie and Mike Godek on the arrival of little Claire. She already has more hair than Ben does.

I've found a new favorite show. Jon and Kate plus 8. If that show doesn't make you feel better about your life, I don't know what will. Plus the kids are just so darn cute.