Kruizin Khora

This was just too cute not to add here. We got Khora a tricycle for her birthday this year. It took her a couple weeks to get the peddling motion down, but now she just leans back and goes. She can make it all the way down the block without help. I still picture her as a tiny little girl who is too little to be able to cruise anywhere. She's proving me wrong though and is constantly on the go. It's a good think though because she has an older sister and two older brothers to keep up with. She loves being with them and when they are away all I hear from her is "Where is Baby?" (that's what she calls Afton.) Or "Isaac come home." Telling me that she wants Isaac to come home and "Where Jacob?" She wants to keep track of them.


The kids thought this was funny because she ran into me. They like to see that action over and over. And if this weren't enough, she wanted to get on Afton's bike with training wheels today so I put her on and . . . she was off on that too. The brakes were a bit of an obstacle for her so I think she's still better off with her smaller tricycle, but we'll see how long this satisfies her. Next thing I know she'll be wanting her own car . . . .

Tee Time

Dennis and I actually went out on a date in the middle of the week and in the middle of the day for that matter. Dennis had a tee time scheduled with work work friend last Wednesday at 1pm. They needed another member so I agreed to come along. It's been a couple years since I've even picked up my clubs, but I was excited anyway. I enjoy golfing. The afternoon was wonderful. You could tell that I haven't played for a while, but good to just be out with my honey!
Yes the ball is still on the ground after my swing. Nice picture Dennis, like I need proof of my talents. Dennis bought me some bright pink balls to use. For some reason he thought I might need help finding my ball, or maybe just seeing it when I swing. I didn't help this time. (hee hee)

Nice form!

Cruizin around at 5mph in a golf cart is quite fun actually, when Dennis would let me drive;0) There was something about running over grasshoppers that got me all excited!!

Independance Day Activities

This year we were in Ogden for the Fourth of July activities with the Markers. Friday night we celebrated Grandpa Marker's birthday with homemade pizza and homemade ice cream. Some of the kids talked some of the adults into going to Rolling Hills park to throw the frizbee and football around. Dennis had a pretty sore arm. That night when it got dark enough we lit off our $20 worth of fireworks combined with a other donated ones. We could also see a couple firwork shows going off in the valley below. I love fireworks!!!

We couldn't have asked for better weather on the fourth. It was overcast and cool in the morning for our hike to the park as well as all the activities that Kevin and Kaeli had lined up for us. It was all good fun!! Of course the highlight for me was the couple's three-legged race. I've been talking Dennis and I up pretty good since we are the champs at the Fayette 24th races for the past three years. Kevin and Kaeli nearly made me eat my words. Thank goodness Dennis stuck his chest out at the finish line for the photo finish! Granpa Marker's call let us keep our title. I have rub it a little more and point out the fact that Kevin and Kaeli are about 10 years younger than we are!

It was a good weekend!

Typical Day

Today is really a typical day at our house this summer. The boys got up before I did this morning and helped themselves to some cereal so that's what we all had. I tried to pick things up a bit in the kitchen before making my way outside to work in the yard. The kids floated around the yard a bit, worked on getting their daily jobs done and piano practice started. Today Jacob volunteered to mow the back yard so I helped him unload the bag. I turned the sprinklers on in the front yard and watered my grow boxes. Khora helped me out a bit before making her way to the neighbors yard and the comfort of their big shade trees.
Eventually the kids found their way to our other neighbors house to jump on their trampoline or playing out it the orchards with their friends. What is it with kids and tramps anyway? I've been trying to talk Dennis into letting us have one in our yard so I can at least monitor their play, especially the younger kids, namely Khora. Anyway, I did some organizing in our storage room and then cleaned the chinchilla pen. I put a bread mix in my bread maker. To me that counts as homemade, if it gets cooked at my house.
For lunch I fixed grilled cheese with a side of home canned peaches and pears. Then came my favorite part of the day, Quiet time. Everyone in a separate room doing something quiet. No screens on, just reading or resting, or playing quietly. I love it and it is never long enough. Today Jacob had piano lessons. After that the kids have free time doing what ever they want. Khora usually hangs out with me.
I hooked up the trailer to my bike and road down the block to get the mail. I prefer to ride my bike instead of walking or heaven forbid, running, because it gets me there faster. As I was thinking about this I realized that this is a typical thing for me because I tend to just focus on getting there instead of enjoying the journey.
Right now Isaac is playing with Khora outside for a while so here I am at my laptop blogging and watching episode IV of the Star Wars series. Dennis should get home in the next 30 minutes or so and this is a lucky Thursday, its free from city meetings. There is dinner to think about sooner than I'd like, then Pack meeting at the church I would like to get the kids to bed before 9:30 tonight.
At some point today I need to get to the grocery store since I didn't get there yesterday. and that's about it.

Otter Creek

The day after Father's day Dennis, my dad, his friend Floyd, and Isaac woke up early and took off for a fun day fishing at Otter Creek. Dad seemed to be the only one with any real luck catching anything, but you know what they say, a bad day fishing is still better than a good day at work. Here are a couple pictures from their trip.

And this is usually what happens at the end of such a fun filled trip!

Train Ride

Usually on our trips to Ogden we pass the big train on the commuter rail either going or coming to SLC. We told the kids that the next time we went to Ogden we would take to train. So we drove to SL, bought a family pass for $12.50, had lunch at Crown Burger then I dropped everyone off and headed up in the van. We needed a way around Ogden and a faster trip home. We met at Union station in Ogden and took the kids to the three museums there. The train museum, the gun museum and the car museum. It was a fun and relatively inexpensive activity for the whole family.

Midday Movie

Yesterday afternoon, the kids and I went to city hall to watch their weekly midday movie. We missed the first couple this month due to other conflicts, but we were excited to finally get their. It was simply a projection on the wall of the old gym, and even though it was a classic movie we've all seen a couple dozen times, it was a fun atmosphere with all the other mom's and their kids laying out on the mats with their blankets and pillows. This has been a summer event that the city put together for their boredom busters activities. They had popcorn and capri-sun for the concessions. We also invited a couple friends to go with us. It was fun to have Dennis pop in a couple times throughout the movie as well. I've been really impressed at the things the city has been doing with their recreation programs. They have provided a lot of fun family opportunities. We're also trying to complete the summer reading program. We usually sign up every summer and do lots of reading but just don't seam to keep track of it. We also have Santaquin days to look forward to the end of July. For the third year in a row, we're heading the geocache event and then this year Dennis is also putting together a mountain biking race. We're looking forward to all the fun events this summer.