Kenzie is 11!

This cute kid turned 11 yesterday!  She is our little pre-teen, so 11 seems about right, actually, but still! 11! 

 Blowing out candles on the mini bundt cakes she helped make.

Gasping with excitement at the giant glass owl her friend Skyler picked out for her!

Cameron was excited for a birthday party.  He got every last drop of ice cream out of his dish!

Kenzie decided to go to Airborne Trampoline Arena for her birthday party.  She invited just two of her closest buddies and they had a great time.  Parker and Cameron were happy to get to go, too.  It was hard to get any decent pictures with everyone bouncing around perpetually, but I liked this one of Cameron jumping in to the foam pit after Parker.

The girls played dodge ball for the longest time, but here's Kenzie after she jumped in to the foam pit, too.

I had packed a little cooler in the car with juice boxes and water, but the girls still said they were hot after all that jumping, so we stopped for some shave ice before heading home.  Kenzie, Brynlee, and Skyler are cute girls and I'm glad Kenzie has some good friends.

Parker couldn't wait any longer to give Kenzie the present he had picked out (a little stuffed raccoon Kenzie had begged for at the store and a little set of animal figurines to paint).  Cameron happily yelled, "Happy Birthday!" to Kenzie several times, too, and delivered his present of a crystal-growing kit and pixy stixs with a, "Here yous go!" 

 Kenzie chose yet again to head to Chuck a Rama for her birthday.  I think the kids all love the freedom of picking what they want (like 3 slurpees) from the buffet.  

Finally after dinner Kenzie had a chance to open her presents from her grandparents.  She was thrilled about every single thing - everything from the giant box of crayons to the little sketch pads to the digiOwl got a big goofy grin.

When she thought she had opened everything, Mom & Dad pulled out their present - this giant Lego mall set.  It got the reaction we were hoping for, though.  She did a little jig and gave us big hugs.

Happy Birthday to my Kenzie-baby.  She is a great helper and a sweet kid.  

Executech Summer Party

Saturday afternoon we headed out to Sugarhouse Park in Salt Lake for our first summer party for Daddy's work.  The kids were quite amazed.  

It was hard to get Cameron to eat anything before going to the bouncy house and slide!  I think he ate a french fry and one bite of strawberry.  He bounced so much that the workers monitoring the bouncy house knew him by name!

He did leave a few times, however, to play the fishing game to win prizes...

...or to get a balloon "laser gun" - he was very irked when it popped later! 

Kenzie tried to act all Big Kid and claimed she didn't want a balloon animal, but then the lady made her a "teddy bear riding a unicycle playing basketball" and she changed her mind.

Timid Parker didn't get any higher than this on the climbing wall, but he sure tried.  I was impressed he tried something new, and I'm fine with having a cautious kid. 

 Kenzie's team about to lose at tug-of-war.

 Taking a break for popcorn.  We had hamburgers and hot dogs, and popcorn, and candy, and cotton candy, and cookies... no wonder the kids had so much fun!

 Parker wanted to get his face painted like a cheetah.  It got a little streaky later when he cried about his balloon sword popping, but for the most part he enjoyed it all day.

 Kenzers also claimed she didn't want her face painted, until I told her she could ask for an owl on her cheek.  Then it was neat.  Kenzie and Parker were both excited to learn this is an annual event for Executech to have a summer family party.  They were all pretty tired by the time we grabbed one last drink and piled into the car with all their treats and prizes!

Brothers

Just for fun, here are both boys wearing the same outfit, Parker in March 2013 and Cameron this afternoon.  Both so cute.

An Attempt at Culture

 Cameron in his sunglasses with his backpack on, waiting for the concert to start.  We took the kiddos to Brigham Young Historic Park for the free concert, which tonight was a group of bagpipers, drummers, and Highland dancers.

 Kenzie kind of pretended she was just along for the ride, but she watched quite intently and said it was fun.  Parker was interested, too.  Cameron eventually wound up playing games on my phone to keep him quiet because he was quite antsy.  He couldn't see very well, and was quite tired, so we'll give him a pass this time. 

A short clip of the performance.  It was fun to do something a little different for us.

Afterwards we walked around the small park for a minute.  Parker was very interested in the water wheel.  We also had to read all the historic markers before we left.

I thought this was sweet of everyone walking off into the sunset.  They're a fun group to spend my Friday evenings with!

First Day of Swim Lessons

Today was Cameron's very first swim lesson!  He was so excited!  I got Parker's old flip flops out of the closet for him this morning, and he took them out of my hands, sat down, and said seriously, "I can take it from here."  (He had a hard time walking in them, and said, "These flip flops are kind of flippy!")

  

Last year Cameron was very jealous of Kenzie and Parker, so he was beyond proud to get to have a swim lesson, too.  He was too shy to tell his instructor his name, even, but he listened to his instructor and jumped in to him and splashed and kicked and did everything he was supposed to.  He didn't want to get out when he finished!  Parker was very sweet, he put sunscreen on Cameron this morning and told him all about how much fun swim lessons are.  Parker has always been the timid one in the water, but he really tried hard today, too, and worked on floating and putting his face in.   Kenzie, of course, is the little fish.  This will be her last year of swim lessons so I had her re-take the freestyle class just for better form.  It sure was weird to not have anybody sitting with me as we watched, but luckily my neighbor happened to be there at the same time so I had someone to visit with.  Here's to summer!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my cute husband. He is the fun parent (here he was last night making hot chocolate on his little stove).  

A bonus picture.  It is not uncommon to have both boys literally hanging off him (or sitting atop him) when he's playing a game on his phone to relax for a minute.  They sure look up to their Daddy, which I think is quite adorable.  

Summer Vacation So Far

 Here's my cute assistant at our yard sale this morning.  I told Kenzers she could have 20% of our earnings, and she helped me by hauling all sorts of things out of the basement, setting it up, and providing change all morning.  She is not a morning person, but she got up at 6:30 this morning to help me.  She definitely earned her cut!

 This cracked me up yesterday at the park.  The kids love to play this game where you have to tap the buttons when they light up.  Parker looked like he was being a ninja running around.

 Parker reading a card from Grandma Susan to Cameron.  "Gramma Susan just give me a note!" he kept saying.  They all think getting mail is so exciting.

 Eating an ice cream cone in the back yard.  Cameron loves his little chair.

I laughed about this.  We went to the library the other day to find something to do besides watch TV, so the kids found the ipads at the library and sat down to play games!  At least they did check out a stack of books, too!

Summing Up Summer

It doesn't get better than this to a 3-year-old.  Hanging out in the back yard in just his Pull-Up, eating a pudding pop.  

My Birthday Date

 Yesterday Chris and I got the chance to go to Salt Lake and celebrate my birthday.  I had planned to go to see a few outdoor sites, but it was raining like crazy!  We stopped for dinner first at Maxwell's.  When I ordered pizza, the waiter said, "Do you want a slice or a whole pizza?"  What kind of a question is that? 

After dinner, we were too late to visit the spots I originally had wanted to see, but the rain had stopped.  This turned out to be a great time to wander around Temple Square because the rain had scared everyone away.

 Taking a selfie by the SLC Temple.  We were married there almost 13 years ago!

We wandered over to the Beehive House since neither of us had taken the tour of Brigham Young's home in several years.  We were the only ones in there, so we got an individual tour from the sister missionaries.  

On our way back to pick up the kids we stopped at Leatherby's and split a giant sundae.  It was a fun way to celebrate my birthday.  Here's to my 33rd year!

Hanging Out with Grandma Susan

The kids were so excited to go to McDonald's (or "Fitz-donalds" as Cameron calls it) to celebrate their last day of school on Friday.  Grandma Susan even treated them to ice cream cones, too, which made the day even more special.  

Playing Kerplunk.  I don't think they stopped playing games the entire weekend, except maybe for Parker's baptism. 

 Okay, they did read a lot of books, too, and went to the movies to see The Jungle Book.  

 More games before church on Sunday.  Here they're playing Headbanz.  Cameron was very helpful and just shouted out what everyone was!  When Grandma Susan went home yesterday, they all complained they were bored!

Parker's Baptism

A couple of good-looking guys!  Saturday was Parker's baptism day.  He was so excited. 

I had to take some pictures of him with his grandparents before we left for the church, so here he is with Grandma Arnold.

Parker and his buddy, Grandpa Arnold.

Parker and Grandma Susan.

Kenzie and Parker.  Cameron was running around somewhere at this point.

Here's Cameron.  I loved the hands in the pockets look.  

More of Parker and his Daddy, who baptized and confirmed him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  

 Here we all are!  Parker had lots of friends and family members come to support him.  We are proud of him and his decision to follow our Savior's example.