I know, I know...

Okay, well my idea of keeping up on this blogging stuff didn't work out, so here are a few pics of what we have been up to the past few weeks...

The first Thursday of the month (as usual) we go to the Thanksgiving point farm and the zoo. Forgot to take pictures at the zoo, but here is Abby on the horse at the farm.

But on the way to the farm I had a little mishap. See that thing sticking out of the tire? Yeah, that would be a kitchen knife. Yes you read right, a knife! I was in the Ranches, almost to the Maverik when all of a sudden my car started to rattle- very loudly! I pulled into the business park across from the gas station, check the trunk to see if something was rattling in there, opened Abby's door to see if she had dropped something. That is when I heard the low hissing sound- a flat tire!! Luckily Pug wasn't too far away and was able to come to my rescue. Of all the things to run over, who know it would be a knife!

We went up to Deer Creek with our friends the Walton's for some fun on the water one Saturday too.
Here are the little girls have fun in the water faucet.

Here is Cameron and Pug out on one of the wave runners

More of the crew waiting to go out.

Every Tuesday in August Thanksgiving Point was offering $2 admission to any of their venues. So the last Tuesday in August I went with Melissa and 3 of her kids to the dinosaur museum. It was very crowded, but the kids had a blast!


Pug took Cameron to the monster truck, along with his dad, brother-in-law Matthew and nephew Nathan.

We went out to dinner with some of Pug's mission friends, the Cahoons and the Dennisons.

Kenzie and Cameron started soccer (don't ask why I only have a picture of McKenzies game and not Camerons- I will bring my camera to his next game)

Abby learned how to ride her bike.

Abby started Preschool with Teacher Jenny- even though Abby missed the deadline by 8 days Jenny was more than happy to take her.


Cameron's first day of 1st grade.

McKenzie's first day of 3rd grade.

August- in a nut shell

Okay, so August has been a little bit busy. It is hard enough for me to remember to blog when the kids aren't here, but when they are it is near impossible (which would totally show in the lack of posts this summer). So here is a quick recap of what has happend so far.

The first weekend in August Pug and I were able to take off for the night to the Daniels Summit Lodge. It is about 20 minutes outside of Heber. For those of you who have never been there- well it is beautiful up there. Pug's work was doing a 4-wheeling trail the following day and we were lucky enough to be given this room for free. Here are some pictures of the room.


This is view from the balcony.

The next day we had a friend drive our kids up to us (thanks Nancy for watching them Friday, and thanks Tim for driving them up to us). Then we were one of one two SUV to take the trail- all the rest were 4wheelers or motorbikes. And the Durango did amazingly!

There was also the meet the team day for Real. Pug was able to take McKenzie and Cameron along with him and his dad. Here they are with Leo.

McKenzie swam her little heart out in swimming lessons and has moved on to level 4.

Cameron is a great swimmer and will hopefully be in level 3 next year (he has to do the front stroke and back stroke a little bit further- we are working with him on it)

And of course for the first Thursday of the month we get to go to the Thanksgiving point Farm and the Zoo for free.
Cameron and Abby petting a baby pony.

This time they decided to ride the carriage instead of the ponies.

The Stoddart and Naccarato kids in the boat at the zoo.

This baby giraffe was only 6 days old when we saw him/her (I can't remember what it is)

It is kind of hard to see, but there is a baby snow leopard playing with its mommy here.

We also went camping last weekend. My mom was in town so we all decided, why not? So Thursay we all headed down to Payson Canyon and camped at Maple Lake. Thanks Mom for being willing to watch my kids so I could go celebrate my birthday!! My kids stayed Thursday night with Mom, BJ and fam and Heather and kids while I went out to dinner with the Naccarato's. Then I came down Friday and stayed until Saturday. Lets just say my kids were DIRTY!
Here is Cameron and his cousin Trevin (whose birthday is a day after mine, happy #5 T-Bucket!)

Abby in her favorite place- the dirt.

My brother brought up his raft and my brother-in-law brought up his canoe. So before we left, and before it started to rain, the kids all got a ride in a boat.


So, there is what has happened so far. August is not over and there are still many fun things to come- first days of school, soccer. I will HOPFULLY be able to be more on top of this blogging thing now.

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.

A Chop Job

Well, I finally did it! The girls got their hair cut. Now granted, McKenzie has had her hair cut numerous times- she is like me, grows it long and then chops it short. But this is the first official haircut for Abby. A few months back I did give her a little trim, but only to even it out. I finally was just tired of the fighting when it comes to brushing her hair. My girls have very fine hair that if it is not done and has a TON of hairspray it will not stay. So, I know from experience that short hair is easier to take care of, but they look so cute when it is actually fixed (even if it only lasts about an hour).
Here are the before pictures. Nice long hair...


And the after, about 8 inches later...


Thanks Laurie! You do great work.

Yellowstone!

Last weekend we were able to take the kids-and Pug's parents- to Yellowstone! We also went with Pug's sister Julie and her family. On the way up we stopped at Idaho Falls and walked through the Temple visitor center. It was a great break and who doesn't love the feeling being near a temple can bring. The kids absolutely loved the park. The first day we went in were had only gone about 5 miles when we were stuck in a buffalo traffic jam. What a great way to start the trip. The kids were thrilled! They loved all of the geysers and hot springs and paint pots. There is so much to see and do I think that we decided that next year we are going to go again and add at least one more day to spend in just the park. I had so many pictures I could decided which ones to post, so you get a slide show this time! Enjoy!