Summer Instagram

I didn't take a ton of pictures for the summer of 2013.  I am not quite sure why, but at least I have Instagrams.  McKay came up to me and asked me if I would take his picture with these soccer cones on.  Of course I would!

My mom, sisters and sisters in law, threw a baby shower for my sister Michelle for her first baby.  His nursery was a safari theme, so we decided to throw a safari themed shower.  She was living in California, but I tried to give her decorations that she could take home and use in his nursery.  She named him Callen, so that is the name on the mantle.

 We made applique onsies for Callen to wear.  We just had lots of fabric that people could trace stencils and then they ironed it on the onsies.  It was such a fun project and Michelle had some new things for the baby.

 The boys took a few golf clinics, so they wanted to try "real golfing".  We went late when we knew that nobody would be behind us.  Even then it was pretty rough.  We didn't even get through 9 holes before it got too dark to play, but we all had fun!

 In swim team the kids were challenged to swim 1 mile.  It is 66 laps and Palmer and Hunter completed it.  It took about 2 hours and were pretty proud of themselves.

 We spent lots of time at Seven Peaks.

 One day the boys and I filled up lots of water balloons to throw at dad when he got home from work...

 Blueberry cream scones I made for a tea party with my sister and nieces (my nephews made an appearance as well).

 The 2nd triathalon the boys did that summer.

 I made pie from scratch one Sunday and NONE of my boys would touch it!  Josh and I ate it all.

 Last golf clinic of the summer.

 Watermelon lime Popsicles that we made.  

 We took the boy to Clearfield's version of "Anne of Green Gables, the Muscial."  I really want to get as much of the arts into my boys' lives as possible.  Especially since we are so immersed in sports at our house.

 Palmer earned this book light at piano and he felt pretty good about it.  He brought it to the play and read during intermission.

 This girl that played Anne in the play and she was amazing.  She was just like the girl in the movie.

 Buzz Lightyear had a hard day.

 My friend and I decided to do a couple of art classes with our kids.  We taught them them about several artists and different elements of art.

 Our family went to the Davis County Fair rodeo  We always love rodeos.

 Poor McKay gets dragged around so much, it's a good thing he has such a great imagination.

 We made homemade ice cream for the first time of the summer.  It turned out so yummy!

 We need to branch out to more flavors.  We made chocolate and then a few weeks later made roasted caramelized banana.  I am excited to try out more.

 We went to breakfast at Kneaders a few times with dad over the summer.

 We hiked Cecret Lake and had breakfast of nectarines and bagels up there.  Some how I missed taking pictures.

 Hunter asked me to put a towel on his head "like the girls" have.

 We pulled taffy with the boys and their friends.

 I took the boys school clothes shopping, I lost them pretty quick to the baby shows playing in the back of the store.

 Hunter lost his first tooth.

I was called into scouts with Lincoln (only for a few months), and we did an outdoor cookout.

USU Family Day

 We are big fans of USU sports, but especially football.  It is always so exciting toward the end of summer when football is getting ready to start.  USU family day is so fun because it marks the beginning of football!

 First we watched the team play a scrimmage game (but the boys really went to the top of the stadium and played a game themselves).

 After the game people are invited onto the field to get the player's autographs and to play around.  The boys didn't really care about getting the autographs, they were more excited about playing where the players play.

 Luckily there were some redshirt players that were around to play with the kids.  The one if the red jersey was Jordan Brown, one of the quarterbacks and he was so great with our kids.  He threw the ball to them and even McKay got it a few times.

He let Palmer wear his helmet and was so nice to take a picture with our boys.  We were so impressed with him.  It was the perfect way to get excited for football season!

Last S'mores of the Summer

 The last summer days we tried to fill as full as possible of our favorite summer things.  S'mores are definitely one of those favorite things. 

 As we sat around the fire and talked with each other, I couldn't help but be sad that those moments would be a lot fewer and more rushed

 I got some scary camp fire stories from the internet and we sat around sharing spooking stories and eating our s'mores. 

Lincoln is always a sweetheart and makes me perfect golden brown marshmallows.  He's a keeper.

Rocket Launch

 I bought this rocket at a yard sale and I knew my boys would be so excited about it!  We went to the school and had our own private rocket launch.  

 Just as I predicted the boys were so excited about it.  

 Even McKay was super excited about it.

 Palmer also earned a remote control helicopter that he earned for reading minutes over the summer (our boys set goals of how many minutes they wanted to read for the summer and he achieved his goal).

As the summer was winding down I really cherished these last days of not having a crammed schedule and having beautiful warm days