Family Week

We are starting to wind down our summer which means and end to our weekly themes. I can't believe this is the last full week of summer! It went by way to fast!

This last week we talked about families. We did some fun things like reading these books: We also put together our own family trees.We ended the week by having a fun extended family camping trip which will come in a later post.
Yesterday we enjoyed a nice relaxing family day at home. The girls played and played which hasn't happened in awhile. They rediscovered their dress ups and had a blast. They also made these "temple necklaces". Sophia somehow got the idea in her head and wouldn't stop until it was executed.

These girls crack me up!This is random but we made these cute banners at our little card group last week. Apparently banners are in right now. It was so fun to make and I think I'm going to do another one for Halloween. So fun!

Fun with Cousins and Such

We were so lucky to have some of our cousins stick around Utah after our reunion in July. The little sweetie on the left had a birthday last week and we all celebrated in style.It was a luau party and it was so fun! We were all greeted with lei's and wonderful Hawaiian music. Her mom ordered the cutest cake ever from the most delicious bakery! I love the hula girls on the side.My SIL put those small glass pebbles in the bottom of the pool and the trick was that you had to pick them up with your toes. The kids loved it!Here's Mabes with my brother Derik (the birthday girls' dad). Apparently I caught him mid-sentence. Sorry about that Bud. The girls also got to play with cousins for a little bit at Grandma's house yesterday. They of course made sure to do their favorite thing which was feeding their neighbor's goat Blackie. We also attempted to get a shot of all 6 girls! I seriously can not get enough of that sweet Bubs and her awesome poses. This shot really is not much better. It was seriously a challenge.We finally gave up and asked them to all make a funny face. For Lilly that meant to still keep your face down.Last week Doug went to Youth Conference. We missed him a lot and were more than happy to welcome him home! I love the sign Sophia made. Here's a close up of our family on one of the pages. I love our eye colors. I especially love that Lilly has yellow eyes.On this page she did some of Doug's favorite things which apparently includes laughing. She also did nothing but dinosaurs on one of the pages because I guess those are his favorite too.Today Sophia asked if we could play Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I told her that if she could figure it out (because I'm an awesome lazy mom like that) they could play. I love what she came up with! She even drew and cut out individual tails. Finally, my mom found the CUTEST Halloween countdown calendar pattern that we just had to make. She was very very nice and kind and supplied me with the fabric by this awesome local designer named Riley Blake. I made it though and it was really fun but took A LOT of time. I love it though and can't wait until October! Halloween is absolutely one of my favorite holidays and this just might be my favorite Halloween decor item!

Gross, Grosser, Grossest (and one Good)

I'm writing this mainly for my memory (not really sure it's something I want to remember - but the last part's good at least).

So yesterday we got home from playing with friends and I knew that my kids needed a bath. I also knew that the lawn needed to be mowed and that there was impending rain. It may come as a shocker to anyone who knows me, but I'm kind of a multi-tasker (in case it wasn't obvious). Anyway, I threw my kids in the bath and told Sophia to watch everyone and that I was going to go mow really quickly. I should probably win Mom of the Year for this one. Sophia really is good at watching Mabel and I wasn't too worried about it.

Anyway, we have a cherry tree in our backyard that has been dying for the last few years. We attributed it to old age and the fact that sometimes trees die. The grass grows right up to the trunk (really bad for trees, I know) and so I bumped the tree as I was mowing around it. Right then out of a crack of the base of the tree millions of earwigs came pouring out. It seriously was like a scene from a PBS special on earwigs. It was so gross! Those suckers seriously just kept on comin. I did not take the picture above (I didn't want to remember this experience that much) but it was pretty close to that gross. I screamed, freaked out and then ran to get the bottle of insecticide concentrate. I totally poured the whole bottle all over them and down the crack. I'm pretty sure I managed to give myself an early death from exposure but there was absolutely no time to measure and fill the sprayer with water.

Doug of course happened to be at Youth Conference and was not around to witness this wonderful scene. I was trying to do him a favor by mowing so that he wouldn't have to when he got home today and this is what I got. No good deed goes unpunished right?

I immediately came inside and texted him about the fiasco and my body was seriously crawling for hours. So creepy. I realized that we've had them in our house more lately but once again, I attributed that to the fact that sometimes you get a bug or two in your house. I've since realized there's a freaking infestation in our backyard and that it may be more of a problem that I thought! I have a brother-in-law who works for Stewarts Pest Control and he said that they've gotten really bad in the past few weeks. I can definitely attest to that.

Anyway, so after I came inside I realized that my kids were dressed in jammies and playing (except Mabel who was crawling around naked). I forgot that they had been in the bath and I wondered if the jammy fairy had stopped by and gotten them all dressed. Sophia said she washed everyone's hair, got them all out and got them all in jammies (except she didn't know how to get Mabel's diaper on but she did get her a diaper and jammies - side note: she has since made me teach her how to put Mabel's diaper on because I'm pretty sure with a mom like me, she knows the opporunity will arise again when she needs to get her baby sister dressed). I seriosuly was looking around to see who had helped them. I was so amazed and so proud of her. I can't believe how much she is growing. I'm pretty sure I'm ready to leave them with her the next time I go to the store. JK. Kind of.

She's Famous!

(Okay Stacy, please forgive me for posting this! I should have asked first so I hope you don't mind!)

My awesome friend and neighbor Stacy who has a blog (or two) and who builds her own furniture and who goes on TV all the time was featured in the Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. I'm so proud of her (and totally jealous - not because I wasn't in the magazine but because I'm not that talented!). Anyway, she totally deserves it and I'm glad that other people are recognizing and appreciating her talent. It's in the August issue in case you haven't seen it yet. And Stacy, seriously don't forget the little people when we come to a book signing (or something) someday!