Summary

Warning: picture overload. This post is a little bit of a purge, I mean, summary.  'Just trying to catch up.

Like I said before, we did take a quick road trip to Arizona to see Grandpa, but other than that, we just spent the summer hanging and playing.

One fun day the girls spent playing and swimming with cute friends.

Here's Bailey showing off some pretty tricky maneuvers in the wading pool. Those are some mad skills.

Grandma Bailey is wonderful and comes to spent the day with us in Logan as often as she can manage. My kids LOVE having Grandma come and love the attention! This day she brought candy and Bingo. My sister and her kiddos were here, too and sweet Grandma had them all playing. Rachel and Bailey were die-hards and played long after everyone else was done.

Our Pioneer Day (July 24th) was a fun one! We started the day watching the parade in Logan. Steve worked a closing shift and was able to join us.

Bailey has come to adore parades. She was anxiously awaiting the action.

One part of the parade she can't get enough of is the "parade princesses." Check out that wave.

After the parade, Steve had to go to work (bummer), so the kids and I went to the park for a big 24th celebration. Rachel's preschool class had a little reunion, so we went there first, then headed to check out the rest of the festivities. After having the obligatory snow cone, we joined our first "Family Fun Bingo." It was hysterical! It was a giant bingo game, but they stopped after every handful of numbers they called and played games. It was total audience participation -- games, contests, etc. So stinkin' funny. We had a blast and became tight with everyone at our table.  :) It really was loads of fun and my girls even won some pretty impressive prizes. Next year, we're totally there... and on the front row!

We ended that evening by meeting Steve at a little Chinese restaurant. The kids LOVE Chinese and it was a good way to end a super day. (Look at those sweet, tired faces.)

To fulfill summer tradition, we made the trek north to the Pepperidge Farm factory and Caspers ice cream. We had some super yum shakes and watched Bailey and Rachel do some serious sugar rush dancing.

Of course, living by so many great parks, we made a point to visit many times. We are seriously so fortunate to live by some fantastic, safe, clean, and super fun parks.

One afternoon the kids came with me and the cub scouts to the fire station. Yes, I said cub scouts. That's material for another post and another day...
Matt and Bailey took a little try at "driving" the engine. It was actually pretty funny 'cause we'd visited the fire station on campus another time during the summer for a fun activity sponsored by USU. My kids waited so patiently for their turn to sit in the driver's seat. They were literally climbing in when a call came in and we had to clear out. It was pretty cool for them to see everything happen and everyone spring into action, though. So, when we went with the scouts they were all talking about their other experience and just 2 minutes after they got their turn, the engine got called out.
(So I have to back up and say that it wasn't really funny, like "ha ha" funny. Someone in trouble is never funny. Ironic may be a better word.)

Rach took a spin on the fire pole.

As the summer was coming to a close, we headed to the "big city" to do some back to school shopping. The girls were NOT enjoying waiting for Matt to choose shoes and entertained themselves with my camera. This is Bailey doing "praises." (Yep, Steve taught them all that when they were all just little tiny. He enjoys his Gaither gospel music a little too much. )

Also with the end of the summer comes the county fair. Always a good time. The girls got to don tiaras and try out the princess carriage. Last year we won tickets to the Cache Valley Civic Ballet's Sugar Plum Tea. (It coincides with the Nutcracker). We entered again...come on, lucky ticket!

One of our last days before school started, we went to Ogden and spent the day swimming at a super duper fun aquatic center where my nephew worked as a lifeguard. We played hard and wore ourselves out. When we got back to Logan we went to a favorite pizza place dinner. (The pizza is pretty good, but the ham and cheese salads are what dreams are made of.) Poor Rach sacked out on this bench while we were deciding what to order.

Then at the booth. Sweet little sun-kissed, sleepy face!

Bay stayed awake - barely.

This was like the third picture I tried to take of Steve and Matt. Steve would smile, then open his mouth right as the picture snapped. Gross. Boys...

It was a fantastic summer. Like always, it went far too fast, but it was wonderful. I love having the kids home and just playing. It was good -- time filled with family, friends, sunshine, water play, parks, staying outside late in the evening, gardening, sleepovers in the living room, bbq's, and so much more unstructured goodness. Love it.

swimming lessons

One of the many highlights of the summer was swimming lessons at the aquatic center. Rachel had taken lessons for a few years and loves it, but this was Bailey's first run with lessons. I was actually going to wait until next year for a few reasons. One is that although the lessons start at 3, Bailey was barely 3 and seemed a little young still. The biggest reason is that she had been going through a whole separation thing and had basically been my little velcro baby. She wouldn't go to nursery at church and she really just didn't like to be left with anyone but me. I didn't imagine she'd even want to do swimming lessons. She went with me (remember the whole velcro thing?) the day I signed Rachel up for lessons and literally begged me to let her try lessons. Knowing the the fee was nonrefundable and knowing how she would barely let me out of her sight, I was skeptical. Being a sucker for my little girl, and a sucker for a learning opportunity, I signed her up, too.

Both girls were super excited the first day of lessons. Rachel jumped right into the pool. (Well, acted like she was going to jump, but at the last minute, dropped to her bum and slid into the pool.  For the record, she was jumping for real after a few days.) She was in heaven and loved every minute. Bailey was another story. The happiness turned to doubt. The doubt to fear. The fear to terror. Yep. It was sad. She cried the entire half hour. Now, it wasn't screaming-weeping-wailing crying, but crying all the same. In fairness, it was a lot of whimpering, but she was trying to be so brave. I so wanted her to be successful and she wasn't freaking out so I watched. I figured as long as the teachers still seemed okay and the other kids weren't wigging out, I'd wait. My sweet girl did it! She made it the whole lesson. (I have to interject here that her teachers were amazing and I was very impressed with them.) At the end of the lesson Bailey got out of the pool, smiled through her tears, and told me she liked swimming lessons. Go figure.  The next day it took her like 2 minutes to warm up, then she was as happy as a clam for the rest of the session of lessons. Go Girl!

I had to put this picture in even though Bay's hand is covering Rachel's face. Notice Bailey's choice of footwear. Nice.

We were so proud of our girls. What a fun experience it was for both of them and what a huge hurtle Miss Bailey overcame! Love those silly, wet mugs!

More Summer

Every summer it's the same, so I don't know why I act surprised when it zips past as fast as a blink.  Although we didn't necessarily do a lot of big, exciting things, we found lots of fun activities to keep ourselves running.  It's become a family favorite to "camp out" and watch the Logan 4th of July fireworks. Some fun friends met us to watch this year.

Sometimes waiting for the fireworks is the hardest part, but the kids did great. Treats and our portable dvd player = quite pleasant wait time.

The fireworks were great and we had a blast.

Also in July, Steve had a birthday! I LOVE birthdays. Steve doesn't so much. He's actually kind of a birthday Scrouge. Okay, in his defense, it's mostly HIS birthday he doesn't like. He goes along wih all the craziness for the kids' b-days, he'd just rather forget his own.  So this year was no different. He had to work  and no one at work even knew it was his birthday. The kids and I swung by the ol' dollar store to get banners, window markers, balloons, and treats. We decorated his car at work in hopes that his coworkers would see and realize it was his b-day. We filled the car with balloons and a banner, stuck a big banner on the back bumper, spread a big sign on the dash, and of course, wrote on all the windows. Along the back window I wrote, "It's my birthday, No big deal." We giggled our heads off imagining Steve driving his car all the way home. He HATES attention and we certainly created an attention-getter.
When he got home that day and told me what happened, I was crying because I was laughing so hard. Apparently his boss caught him on his way out the door and asked him if Steve could give him a ride. Steve, completely unaware of his spiffy ride, agreed.  (I was already laughing at this point.) He's not a very good story teller when it comes to his own embarrassment, so I didn't get details (though I tried) of the moment of realization. I just imagined them tossing balloons around so they could even fit into the car. Then, Steve drove this guy to a furniture store on the north end of town via Main Street.  I couldn't have planned it better because Main Street was PACKED with people lining both sides getting ready to watch the Cache Valley Cruise In parade. (I snorted at this point. Please, stop! I was begging him to tell me whether he got any waves or honks, but he didn't think it quite as funny as I did.) Apparently he dropped off his boss (who was a really good sport), and high-tailed it home by way of the most obscure path he could find. 
I really think he liked his birthday car. :)

On the 4th of July, we went to Hyrum for the parade. Good times. I love small town parades.

We got there early, but still didn't get a great spot. Go figure. Who'd have thought Hyrum would be so popular. A good friend was there with her family and invited us to sit with them. Thanks, Guys.
It was a fun parade -- even if Bailey did get a little torked at the "big boy" who "stole her candy."
(For the record, he just got there a little sooner.There was no real candy thievery involved.)

There is a little park and splash pad near where we live and we had really hoped to make it there much more than we did over the summer. We did manage to go a few times, though, and the gals really enjoyed it.

We are very excited about the LDS temple being built in Brigham City. It's been fun to see a little bit of the progression of the building as we pass by when leaving or returning to Cache Valley and we are eagerly anticipating the open house and dedication. When we heard that the Angel Moroni was being placed on the top of the temple, we decided to go watch. We found a little spot on the tabernacle grounds and waited in the drizzle with tons of other people. The weather was tricky and the wind was too strong for them to safely place it how and when it was planned, but it was  still a good time. We visited and had some really cool conversation about temples. After a bit, the kids were tired of waiting so we walked a few blocks to the home of my friend's sister. They had invited us to stop by and have lunch. We ate and the kids had lots of fun friends to play with. We were getting ready to leave for home when we walked outside and saw them finally placing the statue on the temple spire. It wasn't what we'd planned - to see it from a block and a half away, but it was still neat to see. 'Can't wait for the openhouse.

Summer Stuff

Wow! So I need to share something here. I hadn't posted anything for quite a while (before that last post) because summer was busy, but also because I was so frustrated with Blogger. It was so slow and I couldn't get things to post like I wanted. Thank heavens for my 12 year old. He simply pointed out that I was using the absolute dinosaur version of Blogger. Yep. I knew it had been updated, but I didn't realize it was THAT bad. Uh huh, it was that bad.  After tech support stepped in, I decided to try again. Nice. (Thanks, Matt)

After we got home from our Arizona trip, my sister and her family came to spend some time with us. We had lots of fun plans --which we mostly had to change due to the weather and rain. So we really just spent lots of time hanging out and playing. The kids rode bikes, watched movies, played wii, made a sweet fort out of refrigerator boxes, and had a blast. They live less than two hours away, so it's not like we never see them, but it was just so good to have time.

A few days after they headed back home, my cute niece from California came. She had come to Utah with some family and we were lucky to get her for a few days. Matt enjoyed hanging out with her and my girls ADORED her. She was a very good sport and didn't seem to mind having two adoring fans hanging on her about every waking second.
One afternoon we headed to the dam to enjoy some sunshine and feed the ducks. It ended up being pretty funny 'cause those darn ducks are so spoiled and fed waaay too much. They didn't want anything to do with the bread the kids were throwing to them. They were so disinterested, in fact, that it ended up being more like the kids throwing the bread AT them.

We couldn't have an out of town visitor without introducing her to Aggie ice cream. Sooo good. Lemon custard...Mmmm...

Another ice cream adventure was the phenomenon of the Kitchen Sink at Angies. I love the way the light from the window is shining -- looks kind of like a halo. Heavenly.

We made our best effort, but didn't quite "clean the kitchen sink." They gave us the bumper sticker anyway. :)

On our last evening, that sweet gal painted the girls' nails. We loved having her with us!

Arizona

Back in June we took a road trip to visit Grandpa in Arizona. First and foremost, we were missing Steve's dad and always love to see him. Secondly, we were seeking sunshine. For those of you who don't live in Utah, or those who may have blocked it out, Spring here in Utah was wet, cold, and wet. After weeks of trying to stay warm and dry, I turned to Steve and said something very similar to, "If the sun doesn't come out soon, I'm going to have to go looking for some!" Within days we had planned a quick trip to Arizona about 3 weeks later. Wahoo!

Grandpa introduced us to his favorite Chinese Buffet. YUM! It was so good! We all left with our bellies bulging and a bit more pressure on our snaps and buttons than when we started.

Notice that there are no pictures of us actually eating. Too busy stuffing our faces to stop and snap any photos. Now, I have come a looong way when it comes to buffet eating. Before I became a Foster, I did not really enjoy buffets. I didn't hate them, I just didn't really like them. I mean, people put things on the same plate that shouldn't even be in the same meal - like mashed potatoes and lasagna. Eeew. I was the kind of kid who couldn't let my food touch on my plate, so you can understand my distaste of the buffet-style cram-it-all-on-your-plate thing. Well, Steve's family are the ultimate buffet fans. They're the type of folks who go at the end of lunch so they pay lunch prices, then stay and eat dinner. They plan vacations around buffets. Seriously. I am happy to report that although I am not a gal who goes at the tail end of breakfast (at breakfast prices) then eats leisurely while they change to lunch fare so I can grub on scrambled eggs and fried chicken in the same sitting, I have definitely come to appreciate and enjoy the buffet. I mean, if I can find something that makes my whole family happy, then it's certainly a good thing!

During our trip, we visited a giant electronics superstore. Matt was in heaven! I normally don't take pictures of every shopping trip, but the girls found this giant "Angry Bird" and wanted a picture.

The last time we went to Arizona, we went to this really fun park with fountains and a sort of splash pad. The kids really wanted to go back. Last time Bailey didn't want anything to do with the water, but this year she was the first one in the water and the last one out.

Another thing the kids were really looking forward to was lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. It was inside this big ol' outlet mall, so we did a little back to school shopping as well as a really cool lunch.

Bailey wasn't too keen on getting anywhere near this elephant. It took a minute to assure her it wasn't real so she'd get in the picture.

So my camera was experiencing some technical difficulties during our trip and the flash was being very temperamental. (Probably 'cause it's getting old and is nowhere near top of the line...) I didn't get very good pictures while actually inside the restaurant. It was super fun, though. We sat right underneath this giant parrot and the kids just kept laughing about being afraid it was going to drop it's stuff in our food while we ate. :) Matt was trying to tease Rachel and told her to be really careful with the banana that came with her lunch because he thought he saw some gorillas eyeing her. It totally back-fired and instead of upsetting her, she thought it was hysterical and choreographed quite a few "be jealous of my banana" dances. Kooky kids.

We made our traditional trip to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

The retail store is always fun to browse through. The girls found some sweet froofy stuff to try out.

...Complete with yippy dog.

That afternoon we went to the cemetary to visit the graves. Steve's grandparents on both sides are buried right by each other.

Rachel was only a year old when her great uncle Donnie passed away, but she knows all about him and how much he adored all the kids.

Bailey -- just chillin'. :)

We were able to get tickets to see the Arizona Diamondbacks play. Chase field is amazing! There was even a playground for kids, complete with huge TV screens above the play structure so you don't even have to look away from your kids playing to watch the game. It was sweet!

Grandpa and Matt eating ball park hotdogs and talking baseball: priceless.

We topped off a very full and fun day with a trip to Mary Coyle's ice cream parlor. Steve's family has been going there for at least four generations. It almost closed down this last year and was saved at the very last minute. They make one mean caramel cashew sundae!

During our visit, we also headed to the Mesa area and visited Steve's great aunt. It was cool for the kids to meet their great, great aunt. She was a total kick in the pants and we had a wonderful lunch with her. She bought the kids a fried ice cream after they ate lunch and told them that next time we visit, she'd buy them ice cream to start off lunch. :)

We then spent the afternoon in Scottsdale where Steve's dad grew up. Old town Scottsdale was a blast. A whole store full of westernwear, boots, and hats. Sweet! I'm not sure what Rachel was doing here, but being cheesey! (Do ya love the giant stain on her shirt? She got to pick peaches at Great Aunt's house. She came inside so proud of herself and clutching those sticky, juicey peaches to her little chest...)

Old Town Scottsdale was really cute - a little tourist-y, but cute.

Remember that sun we went looking for? Found it! :)

Grandpa remembers going to this ice cream parlor as a kid, so we decided to visit. It's called the Sugar Bowl and was apparently just as he remembered it. A little bit of trivia: Bill Keane who created the comic strip Family Circus, was from that area. In his comics he shows the family visiting an ice cream parlor called the Sugar Bowl. Yep, that's this very Sugar Bowl. Pretty cool. :)

It was a super fun trip, but just went by far too fast! We loved being with Grandpa and appreciate his hospitality! We loved the sunshine and loved, loved the company! We certainly are looking forward to next time.

On the way home we stayed in Las Vegas to break up the drive. Steve found a raging deal on a hotel. (Another obsession - next to buffets...) And yes, we sure did eat at the buffet.

When we got home we were tired and happy! Thanks, Arizona for the heat and sunshine! Thanks, Grandpa for a wonderful time!