Pioneer Day

July 24th was Pioneer Day.  I love remembering our pioneer ancestors and the courage and faith that they displayed.  We had a fun little Pioneer family night on Monday and then we were all sick on and off for the entire week.  That put a damper on the plans I had made to do some other pioneer activities.  Bummer.

Saturday we attended our Stake Pioneer Celebration.  They sure know how to put on a party!!  (I really wish there were a few pioneer related games though!)  After we filled up our bellies with delicious food and checked out the photo booth we headed to the dunk tank.

Honestly, this is what the boys were looking forward to more than anything!  They really wanted to get dunked!  They waited in line for a very long time to do it too!

Last year William had a broken arm so he didn't get to participate in the water activities.  He was really excited to go on the water slide as well.

And in addition to the fun water games there was plenty of sugar to be had.  Pie, cupcakes, homemade rootbeer, cotton candy, and sno cones.  Henry decided he didn't like cotton candy.  He said "it's gross."

James said that he's the Statue of Liberty.  He's so crazy.  He also was a sticky mess after the melty sno cone (it was HOT) and cotton candy... so I made the three big boys take another swim in the dunk tank to rinse off!

While they were doing that Henry went on the little slide over and over and over again by himself.

Rich was working the dunk tank for a little while so I took the boys to see the fire engine.

Luckily Lydia slept through most of it and we kept her cool.  I couldn't believe that we stayed the entire 3 hours!  We really had a great time... and it's becoming one of our favorite summertime traditions.

Summer Bucket List: Fluffernutter Sandwiches

One thing the boys wanted to try this summer was a "fluffernutter sandwich"--a peanut butter and marshmallow creme on toasted white bread.

It definitely goes on the "treat" list but I think most of the boys liked it.  William, however, loved it which was surprising since he claims to hate peanut butter!  He is now constantly asking for more.  I'll be glad when we run out of marshmallow creme!

Lydia--9 months

Oh I can't believe Lydia is already 9 months old.  Before we know it she'll be 1!  She is such a sweet little girl.  (Unless she is mad... and then she is a n g r y !!)  She's usually happy as long as she can see someone near her... she does not like to be left alone!  She's been trying lots of new food but gets especially excited when she sees me pull out a bag of yogurt melts.

James is really so sweet with her and always willing to help watch her and keep her happy while I get things done.  And William is great at getting her to laugh.  I really really love baby laughs!

And Lydia has a funny little happy dance when she's happy or excited.

She has decided that she still doesn't want to crawl or roll over but I have a feeling it will be soon and then nothing in the house will be safe!  She also hasn't been a great sleeper lately but hopefully she goes back to her old good habits soon!

Lydia is so fun to have in our family and her older brothers just love her.  I still hear comments about her being a baby doll (one kid was surprised to see her move because he thought she was a doll!) and kids especially make comments whenever we're out about how cute she is.  I overheard one little girl tell her mom, "that baby is my friend."  The other comment I hear often is how well protected she will be and how she'll never have a boyfriend with all those big brothers.  Ha!

Lydia is such a sweet addition to our rowdy house of boys.

July Fourth

Our Fourth of July was pretty low key.  We watched "National Treasure" during the afternoon (to stay out of the heat), grilled for dinner, and had rootbeer floats for dessert.

Then for the real treat... fireworks!  The boys had a great time playing with some small fireworks that Rich picked up.

Lydia and I hung out on the grass while the boys played with fire. She's just so cute (even in the less flattering pictures) that I need to share all the pictures.

The last thing we did were sparklers.  We are mean parents and don't let them stay up until it's dark!  One day I guess we will.... but it wasn't this year!

After we took baths and got into bed we let the boys look out the windows and watch some of the fireworks that were going off around the valley.  We have a pretty good view from upstairs!

We sure are grateful for the wonderful country that we live in, the people who defend it, and the freedoms that we enjoy.

Summer Bucket List: Water Balloon Fight

One afternoon we filled up a few hundred water balloons.  We had a pretty good system where the boys would take turns filling up the balloons and I would tie them.

We tried to throw them up on the parachute... but that wasn't so much fun according to the boys.

So then we put our buckets into each corner of the yard and let the fun begin!  Everyone ganged up on William and we all ended up pretty wet!

It was so much fun that we'll probably have another water balloon fight before the end of the summer!

Anderson Dairy

A few weeks back I was working on some field trip ideas for the preschool co-op I'm doing next year for Henry.  I was asking James about his trip to the Anderson Dairy and while we were talking all the boys decided that they would want to check it out.  Later that week we headed down there.

It was a fun little trip... and you can't beat free ice cream at the end!

I'm glad we took the chance to something different and fun!