Racquetball, Tigers Blood, and a little too much sunshine

We started the day up at USU playing racquetball! My dad took us up, taught the kids the basics and we played for 1 ½ hours. We played cut-throat on 2 different courts and had such a great time. It was an adjustment for us tennis players, but it sure is cool to hit balls off of several walls.

(Marisa and Bob)

(Tyler serving)

(Kayla)

(Grandpa and Alayna)

My new nickname is “The -poster -child -for -why -you -should -always -wear -sunscreen -even -though -its -super -cloudy -outside -and -you -are -slightly -chilly -and -are -in -the -water -most -of -the -time”. This afternoon, we went with the family to the Logan aquatic center AKA pool! We spent almost 4 hours there. The kids went off the diving boards, and down the crazy slides. We did laps in the pool and tread water. We had fun snow cones and my favorite flavor was “Tigers Blood”. I know that sounds really weird but it was really quite tasty! Not sure how to describe it. Anyway, we all ended up a little red, but apparently the sun was mad at me for some reason and went all postal on me. Im more purple than red. Id like to think this will turn into an amazing tan (even though my legs are still white) , but Im not sure that will happen…I bet I will look like a giant beet for our family pictures.

(Kayla going off the high dive)

(Kayla doing a pike off the high dive)

(Alayna eating her snow cone)

(Tyler eating his snow cone)

(Marisa soaking up the sun)

This evening we went back to the theater to watch more wipeout. Once again, It is pretty awesome watching it on the big screen. The younger kids got flashlights and played “hide and seek” in the theater. Then we had yummy strawberry shortcake for dessert and played “Imaginiff” again for game night.

(Bench in front of the theater)

(Kayla in one of her new outfits)

(Watching Wipeout)

(Hide and Go Seek crew)

(Brooklyn LOVES having Alayna walk all over the theater with her)

On a funny note: Tyler has had mosquito bites out of control. I swear he emits some sort of sweet brownie fudge sundae smell or something? To make it worse, he is a little allergic and so each bite seems to swell up to the size of a baseball. Anyway, we found out today that he has named them all: Big Buddy, the Trouble Twins, USA and Australia (because they are located on opposite sides of his legs) and little John (cant remember the rest). What a goofball!

(Tyler with Brynnlee-the cousin, not one of his mosquito bites!)

USU, roller skating, and Sub-Zero

Bob took Alayna, Kayla and Tyler to go roller skating this morning while Marisa and I slept in (hallelujah for summer!) and did the giant loads of laundry we have already created. The kids got to play in the pool outside for a little while today, but the water was pretty cold.

(How Tyler skates…)

(Kayla is tired of smiling for pictures)

Grandma and Grandpa took us on a quick tour of Utah State University. They showed us all around the music department thinking Marisa and Kayla may be interested in coming here for college. We went up to watch part of the rehearsal for the American Festival Chorus that my parents sing in. They are preparing for a huge concert next week. We got to meet their director, Craig Jessop, who conducted the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for 11 years. Now he is the Dean of the music part of the college (I think I have that right?)

(at USU)

(Marisa in the USU orchestra room)

Pictures outside the art building:

Then we went with Jonathon to this new ice cream place called Sub-Zero. It was SO cool! They totally make the ice cream in front of you with liquid nitrogen!! It was so yummy and very fun! Then we went to the theater again and watched a DVD of the comedian Jim Gaffigan with Jonathan. We were rolling!! Then we came home and watched another DVD of him. His take on fruitcake, bacon, and hot pockets are priceless!

Shopping, food, and a movie theater all to ourselves

Another fun and busy day. We started off the day with a family walk (although Alayna and Tyler were still asleep when we left). We walked around the farms out here for almost an hour. Once again, it was perfect weather!

(Notice Kayla protesting having to take another picture??)

We came home and raced to meet Diana at the mall for a shopping day. Bob stayed here with Alayna and Tyler and then they went to Sonic and out to play at the arcade for a while. Anyway, we spent about 6 hours out shopping! We went to one of our favorite stores “Head over heels” and spent quite a bit of time there. We found so many cute things and I finally branched out a bit and got some adorable skirts. We also went to DownEast Outfitters and I think we might be done school shopping for Marisa and Kayla. We went to Jamba Juice for lunch (one of our favorite places) and a new place called Einstein Bagels which had these amazing sandwiches on thin bagels. Then we went back to the mall to finish shopping. Diana found that Dillards still had some prom dresses out, so we went to look for fun. We found them on clearance!!! So, Marisa and Kayla both tried on dresses for a while and we found a prom dress for Marisa. It was an almost $200 dress for only around $50! So, we were very excited about that find! Then we made one last stop at Shopko where Marisa scored 2 new pairs of jeans and we FINALLY got Tyler some Sunday shoes, a size 10 (he has been wearing a size 6!)

(The prom dress we got)

(What we did while the girls tried on clothes)

We went to the Red Fox pizza (or called something like that?) to get stuff for dinner. Since the boys are looking for people to cater events at the theater, the owner gave us free drinks and samples of bread sticks and some cinnamon rolls to die for! I also tried some chicken artichoke pizza which was surprisingly good! I might point out that we “had” to sample homemade goods from another group of ladies yesterday who will be baking for some of the theaters main events. They had homemade cinnamon rolls (regular, apple-cinnamon, and white chocolate raspberry which quickly became my favorite food ever!) They also had these amazing brownies, cookies, and carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. It may be hard for Bob to get me to leave!

(Waiting for the pizza)

We spent the evening all together at the new theater where we had a family talent show. Marisa and my dad played the violin,

Alayna did some cartwheels,

and Brielle was going to dance, but I think it was a little too intimidating. But she sure looked pretty in her blue dress!

Then we watched the premiere of Wipeout on the huge movie screen. It just doesn’t get better than that! I told Bob he needs to work on getting us a flat screen that size to put in our house. Then we got to stay after to see “Alice in Wonderland”. It’s so cool to watch a movie when you have the whole theater to yourselves. We enjoyed the movie a lot. I liked it because it was so different and you really can’t lose with Johnny Depp.

(You can sort of make out the wipeout hosts on the screen)

Misc PIcs from tonight:

(Alayna and Elijah watching Totally Spies on the big screen)

(Marisa in movie theater lobby)

(Like Jonathans shirt?)

(Joe and Hailey- she kept trying to pop his bubble)

(James and Brooklyn)

(Brynnlee wanted to dance with Jonathan too)

(My mom and dad!)

Tennis, S’mores and a Smokin’ camp fire

Monday, June 21, 2010

We had a great Father’s Day. We spent the time enjoying family and playing games. The kids played Book of Mormon chess and later in the evening we taught everyone how to play Mexican train. We also discovered some new fun games “Would you Rather” and “Imaginiff”.

(Playing Book of Mormon chess and Book of Mormon Guess Who)

(Playing Mexican Train)

(Tyler and cousin Brooklyn)

We started out today by going to the Logan Tabernacle to hear their noon series with some guest opera singers. I also dropped off my wedding ring to be repaired. The prongs had moved and the diamond was loose, so they will repair it by Friday before we have to leave. Then we went as a family to play tennis on the high school courts. The weather was gorgeous-abundant sunshine but only about 70 degrees. We came home and helped set up the fire pit in my parents back yard. Then we set up the sprinklers and pool for the younger kids and the cousins came over to play.

(Tyler, Alayna, and cousin Brynnlee)

(Alayna and cousin Brielle)

(Kayla and Brynnlee)

(My brother Joe, Alayna, and cousins Hailey and Elijah)

This evening, we had a fun party at the fire pit. Grandma spent time trying to teach Tyler to start a fire with batteries. They got close, but eventually started it with a lighter. Our kids helped built the perfect teepee fire starter. We had dutch over potatoes, salads, hamburgers, hot dogs, and s’mores of course! It was a fun, relaxing evening where the kids threw rocks into the water, while we adults got to hang around and talk. It was a perfect day to celebrate the 1^st day of summer!

Bob spent the evening at a surprise birthday part for Pete Mitchell held at the Hillman's house. He was able to visit with many old friends from the Macomb Ward and he had a great time.

(Driving to the firepit)

(Driving to the fire pit)

(Sitting on logs at the camp fire)

(Trying to start the fire with batteries)

(Success!)

(Alayna found a walking stick)

(Marisa, Kayla and Brooklyn)

(My brother James and my mom)

(Kris and Brooklyn)

(Jonathan and Kayla roasting hot dogs)

(Marisa and my dad)