The 4th of July

It rained most of the day on Saturday, ruining our morning plans. It let up enough in the afternoon to head off to a BBQ. We went over to the Pearsons' house and joined in their neighborhood celebration. There is a hill behind their cul-de sac that with a few sheets of plastic and a long hose was turned into a Mega Slip 'N' Slide. The kids also decorated bikes and scooters and had a parade. We ended the night with fireworks. There were some close calls that reminded me why I usually only enjoy fireworks set off by professionals from a safe distance. And we won't get into the story involving Jared almost killing us all. My favorite story of the night is courtesy of Katy. Almost every year since I was 12, I've made a flag cake for the 4th. The traditional white cake with strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream to look like a flag. (My family expects it now. A few years ago, at a picnic spent at my parent's, I decided not to make it and my sister and brother were very upset) Saturday morning, I made the traditional cake to take with us the the picnic. The kids filtered in and out of the kitchen and familyroom as they went about their day. Later, we were at the picnic in line to get our food when Katy suddenly gasped. "Mom, look at that cake! Someone made it look like a flag, thats so cool!". Jared and I just stared at her. Really Katy! She was even more impressed when I told her that I made the cake. We'd like to know where she's been the past 9 Independence days, and where she was while I was making the cake. She did carefully critiqued the cake to make sure there were the correct amount of stars and stripes. Fortunately, I made 13 stripes in the correct order, but she was upset that their were not exactly 50 spaces in between the blueberries for stars.

Bella was unsure of the slide at first but then went more times then the other girls. She had a blast. I love her 4th of July swimsuit she was given even though its not very modest. (click on the pictures to see a bigger version)

Katy is always up for some fun and enjoyed the thrill of going downhill. It beats our little slip n slide on our flat backyard.

Xandy was a speed demon on her first and last slide. She did NOT enjoy getting grass on her and spent 10 minutes picking all the pieces off.

The parade: We didn't take our bikes because Jacob had taken a long nap which made us late. I thought they were doing the parade first, so we figured we'd already missed it. Luckily, there were enough spares that the girls participated anyway.

Fireworks at the arch

Before we left on our long vacation we enjoyed a busy but fun 4th of July week-end. On Friday we ventured into St. Louis. After a quick trip to Costco, we met at Jon and Elise's house to pack a picnic dinner. Then, in true summer style we went to eat dessert first. We wanted to try the famous Ted Drew's custard. The "original" custard shop of St. Louis. It was good, but I'll take Bobby's anyday. Then we headed out to stake our claim for prime grass spots to enjoy the fireworks. We met up with the Pearsons and all the kids had a blast. (There were 3- 8 yr olds, 3- 6 year old girls, and 3 -under 2, not to mention Bella and her friend Elijah). The Counting Crows were playing a free concert before the fireworks. They were set up along the river and we were on the arch grounds, but they had a HUGE screen they broadcast the concert to. It was an enjoyable evening even though the clouds kept spitting at us and threatening to erupt ay any minute. Fortunately, it waited to erupt until we were home and safe in bed.

Jon and Elise

Paul, Katy, and Levi
Elijah and Bella
Ivy and Jacob
Aria, Xandy, and Megan

Heidi and Bella

Jared, Joseph, Rochelle and little Isaac

Jared and I (we look pretty funny since we're laying on the ground and Jared took the pic)

Sprinkler Park

I have pictures from the 4th and our family reunion, but I can't figure out how to select which pics to download on my mom's computer. Since I have over 700 on this memory card, I don't think she'd be too happy if I downloaded them all. I do have some pics that I took with her camera though.


We went to a B-day party for a friend the first day we were back from the reunion. It was at a local sprinkler park.

Tommy, Julie, Katy, Jenna, Xandy, and Bella

The next Monday, Jared called me at 4 pm right as I was starting dinner, doing the evening "tidy" of the downstairs, and starting FHE prep. Don't ask why I was attempting to do this all at one time. A more organized mother would have had her children "pick up" as they went along, would have already planned FHE days ago, and would have a gourmet dinner already in the oven, but we are talking about me here. I start all these things at the same time, an hour before my husband is expected home. I run around like a crazy lady and then collapse on the couch seconds before the garage door opens. Anyway, I was in the middle of this craziness when the phone rings.
Jared: Connel and Laura have tickets to tonight's game and wondered if we want to go. Can we go, or do we have other plans.
Me: Tonight? As in I'd need to have a babysitter here in an hour and a half?
Jared: Yeah, will that be a problem?
Me:thinking (Um, have you ever tried to get a babysitter last minute?)
Fortunately, I had just been talking to one of the girl's favorite babysitters at church the day before. She had told me she was free most of the week. I crossed my fingers and called her house, and miraculously I had a sitter within seconds.

Then I braced myself for the inevitable coup that would arise when the kids found out we were ditching them on FHE night. Much to my surprise, they were much more excited with the prospect of having Sarah come over then they were disappointed the FHE would be moved to Tuesday. They only uprising came, when Xandy found out who we were going to the game with. She thought she should get to go in my place. Who does she think she is anyway?

The last time Sarah babysat was the night of the huge storm. My girls had left books outside before Sarah got there and remembered them during the storm. Sarah didn't let them go out, which was good since lightning actually struck the house behind us. I did give them quite a scolding since they were brand new books and I'd specifically asked them NOT to take them outside. When Bella found out Sarah was coming she ran outside and put everything away. I had to laugh. Guess she didn't want a repeat.

We had a great time at the game even though the Cardinals lost 11-0. I enjoyed that loss, in comfortable weather with great friends much more than the win in extreme heat with hot, tired children. A park a few blocks from the stadium is filled with little arches for the all-star game this month. We stopped and took a few pictures.

This was my favorite of the arches since it has Chief Wahoo on it

If we had been a little further back the capital buildingwould've been completely under the arch

Sizzlin' Summer

The next week was a scorcher with lows barely dipping below 90. Needless to say, we spent at least part of everyday at the pool. Tuesday was so bad, that our enrichment was moved inside and several people collapsed from the heat at the Refinery. Now, they start work an hour earlier in attempt to accomplish more before the heat sets in. Jared has to go an hour earlier too and we LOVE having dad home at 5. Although he's not so thrilled with starting at 6am. Saturday, our good friends, the Pearson, gave us tickets to the Cardinals day game. There were only four so we bought and extra one to get in and then all squeezed into 4 seats. The heat index was over 100 and we were in direct sunlight. Jacob took of his hat and shirt during the first half of the first inning. The nice man behind us felt bad for the kids and bought them all icecream bars. Good thing Busch stadium lets people bring in coolers. They also had stands set up with free cups of ice. We made it about 6 innings, all of our drinks, and over a dozen cups of ice before we left. The heat got the better of us. When it turned from "I'm really hot" to "I feel kinda funny" we knew it was time to leave!

Bella and Mom

Jacob and Dad

Katy and Xandy (Love their "I'm miserably hot" faces)

We left and headed over to Paul's (Jared's cousin's son) baptism early and cooled off in the air-conditioned car and changed out of our sweat soaked clothes in the church. We had a fun evening visiting with Jared's aunt and uncle, Jon and Elise, and their family.

Funny how is was Paul's special day, yet I don't have any pictures of him.

Bella, Megan, Xandy, Ivy, and Katy- the girl cousins

An early pioneer day

The third week-end in June, Jared had Friday off. He went golfing with a friend in the morning. When he got back, we decided to head to the zoo for the afternoon, even though it was in the high 90's. We picked up Jared's cousin's daughter, Megan on our way. She is the same age as Xandy and they have lots of fun together. We got to the zoo to find out it had closed at noon in prep for a special event later that night. So we decided to check out the science center instead (I love that its all free here). I'm not sure why I don't have any pictures of this. The girls had fun exploring the exhibits. Jacob stayed close by since he was terrified of the life-like T-Rex that moved and roared. Then we picked up some pizza's and headed to join Megan's family at her home. Jon and Elise watched our kids, while Jared and I headed to the temple.

The next morning the girls had a primary activity. The activity had been scheduled while I was in the presidency. Since the president and I were both going to be gone in July we decided to plan the pioneer activity a month early. The new presidency opted to keep it as scheduled. The girls took the neighbors with them. There were sack races, pie eating contests, handcart races, butter making, and clothes washing. Even though it ended up being pretty hot outside, the girls had lots of fun. They've been very interested in pioneers ever since we went to Nauvoo last year. Oh, and their cute outfits were made by my talented cousin Miranda!

Bella and the "log cabin" Xandy and Kindyl

Katy and Baylea

Katy competing in the pie eating contest

Raging Rivers

The girls earned a lot of fun rewards through their school's reading program this past year. In addition to the monthly personal pan pizza they also earned a kids meal at Subway, a kids meal at Denny's, Free six flags tickets, and free Raging River tickets. Noticing that our summer was already filling up, we decided to head to the waterpark Raging Rivers the second week-end in June. Our neighbors thought we were crazy. They said that the water would still be too cold. Obviously, they've never lived in Cleveland before. We actually preferred to go before it was 100 degrees outside and the lines were crazy long. The night before, Katy started complaining of an earache. I ran to Walgreen and bought some ear ache drops and told her we'd go to the doctor first thing in the morning. We woke up, and Katy said she felt better, so we bypassed the doctor's office and headed straight for the park. We took earplugs and a swimming cap and told her to keep her ears dry.

We had a blast. The park was not really big, but that was even better for our family. Katy was big enough to go on everything and Xandy was only too small for one ride. Everything was pretty close together which was great for little legs. Jacob and Bella loved the little kid area which was full of shallow wading pools and waterslides just their size. The older girls had a blast in the wave pool and older kid play area. Everyone, even Jacob (on his parent's lap of course) had a blast on the long winding water slides and in the lazy river. The waterpark was right along the river and it was fun to look out and watch all the boats while waiting in line. When we finally had our fill, we decided to head home. While I took the girls to change, Jared and Jacob went to the car. Jacob fell asleep while Jared moved the car to the gate. We woke him up to change him and eat a snack. He fell back asleep on the way home (about 6:30). When we got home, we again tried to wake Jacob up. Jared and I were heading to Bobby's custard for yummy treats and a free summer concert. We didn't want him waking up right when we got home and were ready for bed. We weren't successful in our attempts to awaken him but he ended up sleeping until 7:30 the next morning. He really played hard at the waterpark and was completely exhausted. The next morning Katy woke up in a lot of pain so I took her to the express care before church. She had an ear infection and a ruptured ear drum. I felt horrible, I should've taken her in instead of to the water park, but she assured me that she was fine and had a great time the day before.

There was a sign in the children's area that was probably the most effective "watch your children" sign I've ever seen. It worked for me, no way I was leaving my children unsupervised. I don't need another living creature to potty train and pick up after, nor do I need my children any more hyper than they already are!!!

Eating a picnic lunch