More of July...

Here are a few more pictures of what has been going on in July. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera to the 24th festivities so I have no pictures of that night, but here are a few from the ward Bike Parade/ Breakfast.

Kenzie zooming on her scooter- I think that she thought it was a race, not a parade

Cameron on his bike (again, going as fast a possible)

And even Abby got involved. She can't peddle and steer at the same time, so I opted for the scooter. She isn't any speedy gonzales, but she did finally finish the parade. GO ABBY!

And on one particularly HOT Saturday we pulled out the slip n' slide. We all got a turn slipping' down the slide. Yes there were even pictures of Pug and me sliding, but I thought I would spare you those awful picture. Instead here is Pug enjoying the sun (Abby took this one, not too bad).

Abby prefers to walk down the slide.

Cameron making it to the end.

Kenzie having a splash!

July...so far

Okay, so here it is the middle of July already!! At times it feels like time is going so slow that August 20th will never come (that would be the day that the kids go BACK TO SCHOOL!), then when I think about all that has happened and what day it actually is it amazes me how fast time flies. Here are a few pictures of what we have been doing the last few weeks.

On July 3rd we went to the RSL game with some of our good friends the Walton's. They had a fireworks show after the game that all of the kids enjoyed. On one of the MANY trips up to the bathroom, drinking fountain, etc. we saw Leo the Lion. Abby didn't want to get close at all to Leo (even though she absolutely loves him...from a distance) so I have a picture of Kenz and Cameron with him. It was a good game- no win, but I will take a tie over a loss!

The next day, on the 4th, we went up to visit and spend the day with our friends the Naccarato's. I dropped Pug off at the Gateway on our way up so that he and Tony could watch the new Transformer's movie. Melissa and I had fun hanging out, talking, going to see what their new house will look like and buying stuff to make homemade frozen yogurt (which by the way was AMAZING!). When the boys got back we had a great BBQ. Good food, good friends, good fun!! Then we did a few fireworks- thanks mostly in part to Melissa's brother-in-law Andrew, thanks!! The rest of them were heading over to Davis High to watch the fireworks. We, on the other hand started to head home. Lets just say that with a way late night the night before and a big day of fun in the sun my kids and I had had enough fun for one night. Abby and Cameron were both asleep before we hit the freeway. Kenzie was able to see a bunch of fireworks from the car as we drove home.

Abby has been into posing lately. Here is one of them from that night- silly girl!

Abby and me with a sparkler.

Cameron lighting a firework.

Kenzie lighting a firework.

The Naccarato and Stoddart Clans.

I have also recently introduced my kids to the fabulous life of creamsicles. As you can tell they enjoyed them...

Abby maybe a bit too much.

Then last night we went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple dedication. It was really beautiful, and the spirit you can feel by the temple is always so peaceful. Abby favorite part again was the Chandeliers.
After we went through we stopped by one of Pug's friends that live about 2 streets away from the temple. The kids we so excited! Brad let them all sit on his motorcycle. For any of you who don't know Abby absolutely loves motorcycles!! Kenzie and Cameron like them as well. Thanks Brad for letting them sit on you motorcycle!!
Cameron and Brad

Kenzie and Brad

Abby and Pug

A Near Brakedown

For those you you who have kids in school, you will know exactly what I am talking about. Those who don't yet have that luxury will soon find out. Anyways here is what happened yesterday...
The night before the kids would not go to sleep. We put them to bed at their usual time 8:00. Well, by 9:30 they were still up, still being naughty. I really don't know what time they went to bed because i was done with it and locked myself in my bedroom. I was hoping that because they went to bed so late that they might sleep in- just a little. Not to be. At 6:45 the first little bounder comes in. i try to ignore her and pretend that I am sleeping. That worked for the first 5 minutes until the other two came in. So, I send them downstairs to watch TV until I can face the world. As they are going down the stairs McKenzie starts yelling that Abby is wet- yes, her diaper that she wears to bed still the tab had broken sometime during the night. She was wet her bed was wet and the jammies were wet. So much for staying in bed. I get her cleaned up, put the sheets in the washer and turn around just in time to hear McKenzie and Cameron screaming and yelling at each other- for who knows what reason. I put them both in timeout for 5 minutes.
Lets just say it went down hill from there. Attitudes flying, tempers fl airing, tears flowing. By lunch time I had had it!!! I screamed and yelled at them ( and felt like dirt right after). Luckily I always make them have a quiet time right after lunch. Abby sleeps and the other two either read or play quietly by themselves for about an hour.
So i called Pug and told him that I needed the night off. Before I packed up the kids and drove to Pugs work I really tried to be good and play a game with them. Cameron was crying because his pawn was sent home (we played Trouble) and he didn't want to play any more because it wasn't fair, McKenzie was yelling at Abby because she moved her pawn, Abby was crying because she didn't get her turn...
I was more than ready to drop them off! It was really nice. All I did was walk around a bunch of different stores, looked at EVERYTHING without kids crying, took myself out to dinner, and plain did just nothing.
When I came home I was nice and relaxed. I was able to do so much thinking about ways to fix these problems. One of the things that I decided I was going to start doing is maybe 2 nights a week after the kids go to bed I am going to go out walking. So, if there are any other moms who want to go walking with me without kids let me know (I don't have an exact day or time yet). Hopefully then I will be able to deal with my kids a little better the next day.