our summer so far

This is our summer list. We have pulled two things off of it in the one month that we have been off of school. No worries, we have had plenty of fun (aka: lazy summer days), AND we have lots to do in the coming two months. I know that Justin is so excited as I ramble off all the great things we (I) have planned... 

Just to know... we've had homemade cookies on the back patio, played games, watched birds build a nest above our front door (again), enjoyed sun-ripened strawberries, trying our hardest to get reading in, made moon sand, gone on nature walks, watched plenty of t.v., bought sugar cereal, gone on bike rides, and spent lots of time in our garden enjoying the produce.

lagoon, mountains, drive-inn

Justin took a few days off from work and we decided to kick off summer exhausting ourselves. But it was worth it.

Justin's mom took Rudger for most of the day so that all of us could ride the big rides at Lagoon together. Levi was just barely too short to ride all of the rides. So with big shoes and spiky hair we fixed that and he rode on all the rides, no problem. I still can't believe that those three big (little) kids rode almost every ride. Colossus and wicked included. I remember not even riding the colossus when all my friends were riding it. I stayed on the very safe Carousel with Cami.

This day was too fun. We went running from ride to ride laughing and full of so much excitement. 

By the time Grandma brought Rudger back we were all dying to see him. We smothered him like crazy and then he got to jump on a few rides with the brothers.

The older kids wanted to ride a few more big rides before going home, so Rudger and I rode some of those very safe rides. This train ride right here began his first favorite toy obsession. Trains. (I caught him mid-choo-choo-sentence)

The next day we headed to the mountains for four-wheeling, dirt, hot dogs, smores, nature, and peach cobbler.

 (thanks for the egg carton nature hunt idea Cami!)

How I felt after riding the four wheeler down the mountain with huge cliffs on the side.

So sorry there are no more pictures from our adventures (enter sarcasm) But we did go to the drive-inn to see Maleficent. Good show and fun night. Except for the fact that we missed the first 20 minutes because the fast food place was so incredibly slow AND a couple of ladies smoking away not even aware of how many children were at the theater....

tooth fairy

The boys were sitting around the counter doing a puzzle and Levi was telling his brothers all about his super loose tooth. I can't remember the conversation they were having, but it made me laugh and I had to capture the moment. Taylor was telling him something about how he shouldn't just pull his tooth out cause it will hurt.

The next day we were sitting in church and for the first time in forever (your're welcome for getting that song stuck in your head) the boys had a little bag of cereal to eat after the sacrament. Again, we rarely take food, not even for Rudger, because we think they can sit through three hours of meetings without having to eat something. Anyway, Levi turned to me and pulled out his tooth. He told me he was eating away when all of a sudden he bit on something hard, he thought it was super hard cereal. But he figured that couldn't be it and pulled out his tooth.

Later at home the boys were having some really deep discussions in their bedroom. Levi came tromping out and very matter of factually said to me:

"Mom, tell me the truth. I know that the tooth fairy is a girl. So, is the tooth fairy you?" 

I started laughing hysterically inside. Then I smiled and told him the truth. Because, after all that is what he asked of me.

(Seriously, if you know Levi...this stuff is so like him and keeps our family very much not boring. We die at how this kid rolls.)

our dads and our kids dad

Happy Father's Day to this man! He's pretty awesome and takes his job as husband, father, provider, and protector very seriously. I love him for that.

And we both had some pretty good examples of how a father should be. 

welcome summer

It's here and we couldn't be any more excited! On the last day of school we had a water party for all the kids in the neighborhood to kick off summer the right way. A bucket of water, squirt guns, popcycles, a gum ball machine, suckers, tootsie rolls, and some watermelon is all you need for at least a couple hours of fun. Oh how I adore all these kids. (Big bonus: my sister and her kids came to enjoy the fun for a little. Talk about people I adore)

The party continued into the night with a neighborhood Luau. Rudger had no pants on and he jumped his heart out. There was a pretty heated hula-hoop contest. There was some super tasty food. There was an impromptu dance party. There were no mosquito bites. And there was a very late bedtime. Just how summer should be.

And even two days later this is how we all felt.