Just A Fun Afternoon

I love Summer for a lot of reasons. I don't know why I want to go and have picnics and go to the canyon more than normal, but I do.

We had a picnic today at a local park. The kids love to be outside, even when it is scorching hot.

They also love when they can have a whole apple all to themselves. I don't usually let them. They were in heaven.

Classic Hunter. He puts more food in his mouth and then looks like a chipmunk storing for the winter through the whole meal.

Cheese!

This picture isn't posed, Lincoln was sitting like this forever just with his cookie almost in his mouth. Hilarious!

We have the funnest little place that is close by. The kids love to go there. This is a big draw from Palmer. They have a 4-wheeler game that he loves. He is only aloud to play for 15 minutes, but he loves it!

Fun toys all over! They could play in this place forever.

Too bad it is only for kids. I'd be right up there with them.

Hunter loves the basketball court. He can bounce the basketball longer than any kid I have seen.

Little pretend store. Lincoln likes to organize it. I wish he'd do that to our house.

Summer Fun At Last

It has taken us a little while to get into the swing of Summer. Finally it has happened and we are now ready to swim and play for the next few moths.

A friend invited us over to her house to ride bikes through the sprinklers. The boys had a blast. They thought it was the coolest idea ever. It was pretty cool!

Exercise and water-great combo.

Even Hunter had a great time.

There is nothing I love more than to see my kids laugh!

Lincoln is a little obsessed with water. He wouldn't leave the poor sprinkler alone. He really had a great time.

Eating outside, one of the best parts of summer. Thank you Kirsten for an amazing time!

In Case You Missed It...

For all of you who missed the KJZZ interview (shame on you :) You can still catch it on kjzz.com. It is actually the first thing that pops up. So don't worry, you didn't miss anything.

KJZZ "Home Team"

Yet another choice experience I have had with being Mrs. Utah. KJZZ invited me to come and talk a little about being Mrs. Utah and my plans with my platform and nationals. Everyone was so fun and kept us all laughing the whole time. Here is our family with Denise Druce, Vanessa Cheney and Danny Allen. They put us right at ease.

Randy Harmon was on the same show that I was, so I got to meet him. He is as nice in person as he is on the commercials.

T.V. set. Very interesting to watch it all happen.

The boys got to come with me. They were a little wild, but they had a good time watching everything.

Josh and Lincoln waiting for me to go on.

Finally over, the show was so much fun. It was another neat experience.

FHE With Grandpa and Grandma Swenson

A true Mrs. Utah. Josh's grandmother is the most amazing woman. Josh and I lived in his grandparent's basement when we were first married. We love them so much and have so many wonderful memories with them. They were some of my biggest supporters when I decided to do Mrs. Utah.

Grandpa Swenson is having surgery tomorrow, which we are all a little worried about. He is an amazing man. It is rare that they are in SLC, so we thought that we would visit them. I brought my crown and sash to show them as I knew they would get a kick out of it. They did!

Leaving the hospital I couldn't help but snap this picture. What a cute daddy with his boys. We really are lucky to have him.

We have been working on overcoming the deer in headlights look that Hunter always gives the camera. As you can see, we aren't quite there yet.

The Boys at the Red Cross Softball Game

The kids had so much fun at The Red Cross Softball Game!





They thought playin' in the dug out was pretty cool.

What a Smart Boy

Palmer is unusually smart. I know that every mother thinks that of their children, but he catches things that I can't believe. We are always telling him how smart he is. I think we may need to cut back, we are creating a smart monster :)

Today I was looking for Hunter's blanket to put him down for a nap. Palmer was downstairs where I was looking for it.

Me: Palmer is Hunter's blanket down here?
Palmer: No
Me: How do you know
Palmer: Because I am a smart boy.

It was too cute not to post. But he's getting a little cocky about all of his smarts. :)

The Most Amazing Experience

I was honored to get the opportunity to volunteer at the Red Cross Amazing All-Star Game. It truly was amazing. Right when we came in we saw baseball legend Vernon Law and Scott Nielson. The were so nice to our family, really great men.

Sara and I were in charge of the silent auction table. She was the neatest woman. She is a doctor of internal medicine, just returned from a mission to Brazil and now she volunteers at the Red Cross. I really enjoyed getting to know her.

Here is a line up of all the All-Stars. Each on of them had played for a different team in Major League Baseball. This truly was the best experience! They were all so nice.

I got to sit and talk to Vernon Law in the dugout while he signed some baseballs for the auction. He told me some really neat stories. He was an amazing pitcher he won the Cy Young Award when they gave it to only one pitcher in all of Major League Baseball. He also led the Pittsburgh Pirates to victory in the World Series in 1960.

I got to be the "ball girl." It was so fun. I took baseballs to each of the pro players to have them sign. It was a really fun experience to get to talk to each of them.

I have no idea what this picture is of. The two players on the left are Dale Iorg and Scott Nielson. Don't ask me what I am doing.

Red Cross All Star Game

I am volunteering at this tomorrow. It should be so much fun! It is at the UVU Stadium and everyone is invited! The admission is free. I think they will be auctioning off baseballs signed by pro baseball players.

It is Thursday June 12, 2008 at 6:30 pm. UVU Stadium, Free of Charge!

Imagine taking a swing at a ball pitched by a legendary pitcher or pitch to a major league big hitter. Players from the Pittsburgh Pirates, Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Socks, Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees have volunteered to support the Red Cross by playing in Thursday's game.

Proceeds from the game and concessions will help fund your local Chapter of the American Red Cross

A Full Moon

Lately Josh has been playing on one of our friend's softball team. He has just been filling in for whomever isn't there for the night. He has really enjoyed it, as have the boys. They love going and watching daddy. Well, there is just one problem with this great scenario, the bathroom is really far away. I am embarrassed to say that may times we take the lazy way out and send our kids to the light pole close by (I know this is way too much info, but it is a funny story I couldn't resist telling). So yesterday both boys needed to use the facilities. Our friend was over there with her kid helping him and mine followed. For some reason it didn't cross my mind that Lincoln had never used this new method of going and I looked over to see my little boy's bottom fully exposed to the entire softball team.
I was so shocked that I yelled "Lincoln!" and anyone who missed the first show, got the second. I ran over to him as fast as I could. He was so confused as to why I was telling him to pull up his pants (we have a modest method of doing this). The entire softball team was in an uproar including the umpire! When dad got off the field his only advice was that next time Lincoln wanted to moon the players he should do it to distract the other team when they were in the field. Good advice....

Eagle Mountain Parade

Today I got to be in the Eagle Mountain Parade. I have only been in a parade one time and I was very young then. It was so much fun. It was much more fun because Kelly King Anderson (left, 1st runner up), and Jill Smith (right, 2nd runner up), were able to come and be with me.

We were a little worried about all the rain, but it cleared right up for the parade. The wonderful people on the parade committee worked so hard, I know that there were many prayers answered.

Here we are with our sweaters on, it was pretty cold at first. But we still had so much fun! The funnest part were all of the little girls who told us how pretty we were. They all loved the crown and "princesses."

Here are Kelly and me waiting for the parade to start. I have been blessed with so many wonderful experiences already. I am really grateful for this amazing chapter of my life.

Mrs. United States Ad Page

This is what will go in the program at the Mrs. United States pageant. Chad Braithwaite at Faces Photography took the pictures and designed the ad page. He is truly amazing!

Interview on KJazz

This is exciting to me, so I thought I would share it. On June 17th, I am going to be interviewed on KJazz channel 14. I am not sure what time it is, but it is on the show "Home Team."

Andrea's Tag

3 Joys:
* Adventures with my family-basically anything where we are out of the house!
* Accomplishing goals-for me and any of my family
* Shopping and chocolate covered gummy bears (how shallow is that?)
3 Fears:
* Losing a loved one, or not being there to see my family grow up.
* Spiders
* House Fires
3 GOALS:
* To get "Project Lemonade" going strong.
* To not humiliate the state of Utah or myself in the Mrs. United States Pageant (see obsessions).
* To finally get my house organized from our move.
3 CURRENT OBSESSIONS:
* blogging-my computer in general (sorry Josh).
* Mrs. United States Pageant.
* Fashion-as usual
3 SURPRISING FACTS:
* I hate most green salad (except CPK)
* I love to cook but never do because my kids are so picky!
* I enjoy ironing...I still don't do it, but I enjoy it for some odd reason.
3 PEOPLE I TAG:
* Amy P.
* Holly T.
* Nancy B.
And anyone else who would like to!

Family Night at the Fitness Center

For F.H.E. tonight we went to the pool at the fitness center near us. We had a great time.

The "duckie slide" truly was the highlight of the entire trip to the pool. The kids loved it and played for the entire hour we were there on it.


I am not sure if I really want to go down!



Hunter loves that slide!


Hunter loves to splash!

Got to love that duck!