Parade Time

One of our most favorite things to do every summer is go to the parades. We have a specific spot we go every year for each parade we attend.  It's fun to sit back and relax while the kids fight for candy.  At this particular parade Kate was pretty sad she wasn't getting any.  Her sisters and cousins soon helped out and she had plenty!

Belt it out Baby!

My favorite thing to do in the car is listen to Kate.  She is either singing or saying something extremely funny.  The other day we were all driving down the road when my phone rang.  My ring tone is "I Don't Want This Night to End" by Luke Bryan and Kate knows every word.  When my phone rang she began belting out the lyrics with my ring tone.  I answered it in the middle but Kate just kept on singing, "She's lookin' so damn hot!"  We all started laughing so hard I couldn't even talk on the phone.  I guess that's what I get for having a ring tone with a swear word in it!

Rotary Dial Phone

One of our favorite times of year is during our city days.  This year we decided to try something new by visiting our city museum.  To be honest, I didn't really expect much.  But when we got there we were pleasantly surprised to find a hands on museum that the kids loved.  They let them try on all the old hats and hoop skirts as well as play with the phones (which by the way made me feel really old since it the rotary dial phone was from my own childhood).  Then we went around back and saw the one bedroom pioneer home and into the barn to milk the life size cow and take a look at the real two headed calf.  Yes real!  They also had a few pioneer games and activities.  I think we will add this to the list of festivities for next year too!

Lilah Ann

All year Lilah had loved going to Miss "Bickie".  It's been a tradition in our family to go to preschool at Miss Vickie's the year before you start Kindergarten.  Lilah gets to cheat and go two years.  She was so cute at her graduation and knew every word!  You would never notice that she is a full year younger than all of her class mates.  She learned so much this year she just might be the star of the class next year when she gets to experience Miss Vickie again!

Hundred $ Smile!

Jeremy always says that Neeley is great at the commitment pattern he learned on his mission.  So good in fact that he can't wait for Neeley to work for him in sales when she gets older.  She wont take no for an answer and if it is no, she finds a way to negotiate something else that works.  So one day Jeremy promised to take her to the movie.  Several weeks went by and Jer hadn't had a chance to take her so Neeley started her commitment pattern on him.  Through that, he committed to take her to the movie that week!  He even took it a step further when she made him promise by saying he would give her $100 if he didn't take her THAT week.  Well, Saturday afternoon rolled around and it became evident that they were not going to make it to the movie.  Neeley started razzing Jer just as he drove by the bank.  He pulled in, went up to the ATM and started to withdraw money.  Neeley just chuckled, never thinking he would do it.  When Jer passed her five crisp $20 bills she laughed and passed them back to him, sure he was teasing.  When he handed them back to her and said, "I gave you my word.  I mean it, you can keep it!"  She tilted her head back, gave the biggest grin with her eyes squinted shut.  She was elated to have the rest of the money she had been trying to save up for new glasses.  What she didn't know is that we were going to get her the glasses anyway.  It just made it way more fun to give her the money this way!  Now whenever dad says, "Give me a $100 smile!" we get one just like that day.  AND, whenever Jer promises anything, they know dad will follow through!

Bye Bye K!

All school year Kayla has been singing multiple songs preparing for her kindergarten program.  Our favorite is "Peas and Carrots" and she has sung it so much that Lilah and Kate know it now too.  She looked so cute up there as a flower.  We are so proud of her completing Kindergarten!  She is a great reader and loves to learn!  Thanks to Miss Thomas she had a great year!

Phoenix

No doubt about it, we needed a get-away.  What better place to escape to then Phoenix?  My brother was kind enough to let us stay at his home in Mesa while he was away.  The girls loved having a swimming pool right in the back yard!  We loved having such a beautiful and spacious place to stay and felt right at home.  Other than shopping and swimming we didn't do a whole lot but the girls loved every minute of it!

GSL

We started out the summer with a perfect day of adventure to the Great Salt Lake.   It was too cold to swim so we didn't even think about bringing our suits.  A picnic was the perfect way to start our adventure and we found just the log to sit on while we ate.  Then it was down to the water to explore.  After getting brave enough to pass over the line of gnats that surrounded the water we ventured in.  The salt stung our legs but wasn't enough to keep all of the girls from getting soaking wet.  By the end of the day Kate and Lilah had abandoned their pants and Neeley and Kayla were wishing they were small enough to follow.

All Made Up

Kate, someday you'll put makeup on and feel self conscious about it.  Someday, you'll wonder if everyone will notice.  Someday you'll want to know how to do it just right.  Someday you'll wonder if you are beautiful.  But today?  Today you know you're beautiful.  Today you know you did a great job. Today you know we all noticed!

All Smiles!

For months Neeley has been coming home from school singing patriotic songs they were practicing for the second grade program.  When it came time for the program we couldn't wait to see it and were glad that both sets of grandparents were able to come and see her performance.

If you know Neeley, you know she has this special gift of following rules and doing exactly what she is supposed to do.  That is why when we saw her constant smile throughout the entire program, even while singing, we knew they must have told them they needed to smile.  She smiled through the first song and just kept on smiling long after most of the other kids abandoned their grins.  She looked so cute up there, her smile was definitely contagious!  After the program we told her how good she did at smiling and she told us what we had suspected all along: They told them to smile and even held up a sign the entire time to remind them to!  Neeley, with that smile you really stole the show!