Summer Week 8

Rockwell went to Wyatt's birthday party on Monday. 

It was penguin-themed and all the activities involved penguins, which Rockwell loved. Wyatt drew a big penguin for them to play Pin the Beak on the Penguin.

 

They rescued toy penguins out of ice.

They played a game to see who could melt an ice penguin the fastest, using whatever they rolled on the dice when it was their turn.

Caitlyn made a super cute penguin cake for the party. I am so impressed with how cute it is, and Rockwell said it was delicious too,

They played with the new game that Rockwell gave Wyatt for his present.

And they watched Penguins of Madagascar. Al got the boys amazing baskets of treats and toys too, which they enjoyed during the movie. Rockwell had the best day celebrating his best friend's birthday by spending the whole day with him. Thanks for a fun party Al and Wyatt!

Damon has reached one of my favorite milestones of a child's life this week. He can pump himself on the swings!! We're all very proud of him, and he loves this new freedom. The kids have spent a lot of time swinging this week.

It was cool and cloudy on Wednesday, and it felt wonderful! Rockwell was over playing at Logan's house, and Damon and Tessa got in the hot tub while I worked on emptying our garden boxes. It even rained for a few hours, and I just kept working through it because it felt so nice to work in the cooler weather. It makes such a difference!

Rockwell had a scrimmage game against the other U11 Provo Fury team Thursday night. It was so much fun to watch a game again! 

I pulled out my camera right as Rockwell scored a goal, but sadly I was taking pictures and not videoing. You can barely see him at the right of this picture. That was the kick that shot the ball right into the net. :)

He played really well, both on offense and defense. His foot work is really improving.

Paul asked Rockwell if he would mow our lawn this week because Paul has been swamped with real estate and his college classes the past couple weeks. I know he loves to mow the lawn and wishes he could have the time to do it just like he likes it every week. I know that was hard on him to turn it over to Rockwell, but I'm glad he found a way to take one thing off his plate. Rockwell did a great job on it.

When he was finished, the kids played in water and rode bikes while I worked on the garden boxes again. Look at that nice lawn!

We celebrated Pioneer Day at Katie and Ben's this year with the Loosli and Nielson families. Amarie and Ataiya came too.

We had a bbq and swam for hours. It was a really fun night. I love that us girls are still best friends, and that our kids all love each other too.



We watched fireworks in the pool, until some big ones were really close and Tessa got pretty scared. That was our cue to leave. :)

Summer Week 7

We had such a fun week with Lori, Cody, and Elena in town! I told my family about Follow The Flag, and they wanted to see it too. We went there on Sunday evening and hiked up to the flag.

We spent a while looking at the flag and listening to it flying in the wind. Grandpa Ham led us in The Pledge of Allegiance before we headed down. 

Everyone came over to our house for dessert and visiting after that.

Based on the sounds coming from the basement all night, I think these girls had a good time! :)

Monday night, we went to the Scera Outdoor Theatre and saw Willy Wonka. It was really cute.

Tessa gave Hallee this dress at her birthday party earlier that day. It was so cute that I bought one for both the girls, so now they have matching dresses. :)

We spent Tuesday afternoon at South Fork with the family. Tessa and Hallee play at their garden every time we go there. They plant seeds that they find, and water them. They were so excited when they went to check on their garden and it was full of flowers. I think half of Tessa knew that the flowers were not because of the seeds they planted, but half of her really wanted to believe that they were. I want her to stay young and innocent for as long as she possibly can, so I was totally fine with her believing in a little magic. :)

The kids all had a great time playing in the river and playing games with their cousins.

The weather was very pleasant up there, so I only spent a little bit of time in the river. The water was too cold for my liking.

Mel told Cody and Jonah that she would give them each a dollar if they stuck their heads in the river. They didn't hesitate and ran right over there! :)

When we were at my parents' house on Wednesday, I noticed my old bike from when I was a teenager hanging in their garage. I asked my dad if anyone uses it and he said that nobody does anymore. So I asked if I could have it. :) Paul was in the neighborhood showing a home the next morning and brought the bike home in his truck. I have had so much fun riding it with the kids every day since then! Tessa and I have gone on a few bike rides around the neighborhood, and I took all the kids to ride around the church parking lot one morning. 

Rockwell and Tessa had fun climbing the tree at the church.

Paul has been ordering a lot of masks for the school year. Tessa loves this one and wears it around the house with her cat ears.

Matt decided to drive back up to Utah Friday after work, and then drive home with Lori and the kids on Sunday. They canceled their flights for Wednesday and stayed for a few more days. We were all so excited to spend more time with them. I got to go up to Sundance with them on Saturday and do the zip line tour. Paul was proctoring the ACT test at the high school, so he wasn't able to come. We were all bummed about that.

It was so beautiful up there! Everywhere you looked, it was just gorgeous.

After we got our gear and safety training, we got to ride the ski lift up the mountain to start the tour. That was peaceful and beautiful, and we got to see deer and Stewart Falls. We all enjoyed that part of the tour.

There were four zip lines, plus a trainer one. After the first one, we rode another ski lift up even higher. The last three zip lines were super long! We carried our own gear in a back pack, and the guides would hook us up on each line. We controlled our own speed by pulling down or up on some handles above our heads. It was different than any other zip line we've done, but it was kind of cool to control our own speed.

The third zip line was really steep and it was hard to stop at the end of it. Elena, Matt, and I all crashed into the springs at the bottom because we didn't slow down soon enough. By the time I tried to slow down, I had my handles all the way up and it didn't really do anything. It didn't hurt at all, we were all laughing when the springs stopped us, but the guides ran over asking if we needed medical help. :)  It was so funny to hear Matt say, "I'm coming in hot!" as he crashed into the springs. Elena and I were still laughing about not being able to stop ourselves, and we thought it was so funny to see Matt do the same thing. It was so fun to do the zip lines in such a beautiful place, and to spend the afternoon with the Ham's!!

We went to Al & Keith's house that night for dessert and visiting.


Matt brought Maizy with him, and the kids were so excited to meet her. Damon thought she was so funny sleeping in the crack of the couch. We're sure going to miss having Matt, Lori, Cody, and Elena here!