Week before school

The Monday before school starts our city pool has what they call a Super Summer Splash for all season pass holders and guests. Basically what that means is everyone is free. They have hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, cookies, crackers, and drinks. It is a mothers dream FHE and no cooking all in the same night. They also do a raffle. Everyone who goes writes their name on a piece of paper and if your name is called out during the night you win one of the prizes they have. So you hope you get picked towards the beginning because you get to pick from all the stuff. This year was the first year that no one in our family got picked. We usually have at least one maybe 2 people picked. Oh well, Luckily the kids didn't really care. I think they care more if one of their brothers or sisters get picked and they didn't. So maybe it is for the best.
Jon was gone on Wednesday and Thursday. He and his business partner were in Birmingham, Alabama doing some electrical work for the temple there while they were shut down for 2 weeks. While he was there, I was at home dropping kids off at Scouts, Activity days, shoe shopping, taking Connor to middle school to meet his teachers, taking Brenton to school to get him all situated (Thanks Christa for coming over and watching the other kids for me.). On Friday, Connor had his yearly Dr's appt. I thought this was a good idea one month ago when I made the appt. but forgot how crazy the last week of summer is. After the Drs I had to take Talmage, Kennedy, and Payton to meet their teachers. That night we dropped Brenton off so he could go on a Scout overnight camp out. Then after dropping him off, the rest of us went boating with a family from church. I will post that next with all the fun pictures. On Saturday, we went to another lake and celebrated my niece Mikayla's 12th birthday and then picked Brenton up from his camp out. What a crazy week. I didn't even mention the other running around to pick up school supplies for Brenton. The other kids had a list online so we got them earlier, but Brenton got his list on Wed.

Happy Birthday Kennedy

On August 2nd, Kennedy turned 7 years old. Since her birthday was on Sunday, we went out to eat for lunch at Golden Corral so we could start our fast right after eating lunch. Since we have church from 9-12 we like to fast from lunch to lunch. That way we can come home from church and pig out. The Tady's, Bugee's, and us have rotated what we call break the fast. Each Fast Sunday we take turns eating at one of the three peoples houses since we are all in the same ward. This month just so happened to be our month and was on Kennedy's birthday so we had break the fast at our house only with the Tady's because my mom, dad, Morgan, and Taylor were on a 2 week trip to China. A few hours after we ate we invited Jon's parents and his brother and family over for the birthday celebration. Sorry, but I wasn't about to cook for 8 more people plus worry about birthday stuff. The Edward's couldn't make it.

Kennedy once again wanted an American Girl doll for her birthday.

She wanted Gwen. Chrissa's friend (that is the one Payton got).

She wanted a cake with sour skittles on it in the shape of a flower and butterfly.

It was a fun time, and a lot less crazy with 2 families missing.

Happy Birthday Kennedy!!

The Beach!

On July 23rd we went to Callaway Gardens. We started out about an hour later than we had hoped. We got stuck in some traffic for 45 minutes. There was an accident on the highway we were already down one lane because of road construction and then with the accident we were down to only one lane. So instead of taking just under 2 hours it took almost 3 hours. When we finally got there we found our usual picnic spot and ate lunch. Then we headed over to the butterfly garden center. I love this garden. They have some pretty awesome plants and flowers that I would love in my yard. I could stay and enjoy the garden for a long while, but this place is very humid and hot so about 10-15 minutes is about all we can handle. This is the first time I got so many great pictures of butterflies. Usually, I only get one good one each time we go.

Next, we headed over to the beach. The kids kept saying "the beach" like Mr. Bean does in Mr. Beans Holiday. That was the last of the summer free movies we saw. By the time we got there it was peak hotness. So the water felt wonderful. The kids started off by making a sand castle with the help of Jon.

Payton getting water for the sand castle

Talmage and Hayden building a sand castle

Brenton, Talmage, Payton, and Hayden working on the sand castle

A few hours later we headed over to the train. Last year, the train wasn't running so we wanted to make sure we got it in.

The train

Kennedy, Hayden, and Payton on the train.

Brenton and Talmage on the train.

After the train ride, we went back to the beach for some more water fun. A while later the clouds were getting real dark. I started gathering our things together and folding up the blankets in case we needed to make a quick get away. A few moments later it started raining and then there was a real loud thunder and the life guards made everyone get out of the lake. Then we took our stuff and ran to the car. We threw the stuff in the car and headed over to the showers and changing room. By this time it was raining like crazy luckily we were all in our suits so it didn't bother us. After our showers and getting changed, the rain was starting to slow down a bit but thunder was still in the air. The kids weren't ready to go yet so we checked out a few things we had never done before because we go here in the summer and everything there is to do is all outdoors and way to hot to do in the summer. The rain cooled things down at least 10-15 degrees. When we got to the vegetable garden the rain had stopped all together. This garden is huge. They have every kind of veggie you could think to grow here. They sell some and use some in their restaurants. Our favorite was the benches with grape vines shaded them. I would love to have something like this in my yard. After this, we were starting to get hungry for dinner so we decided to leave and find a restaurant on our way home. We had great traffic on our way home.

Blueberry Picking

One Monday in July is always reserved for the annual FHE blueberry picking. I wish I knew how long we have been doing this but, it has been over 6 years because I remember doing this when we lived in our other house and we have been in this house for 6 years now (wow has it really been that long??). It is usually us and the Bugee's and Tady's. Once in a while others would join us. This year it was only the three families. Hayden was the only one to stay close to me the other kids would jump from one bush to the other picking berries.

Hayden with his blueberries

After picking blueberries, we go to the little playground and let the kids play a bit while we break out the refreshments and drink. The kids always look forward to this every year.

Hayden on tractor this is the first time they had the tractor out.


Hayden on tractor

Connor

Talmage

One last Hoorah

On July 10th, we headed off to the zoo since our zoo passes expire the end of the month. We made sure we got to the zoo as close to opening time as possible since we will be outside the whole time and it doesn't take long before it is too hot to be out unless of course you are in a swimming pool. Here are a few of our favorite things we saw. The only thing we weren't able to see were the otters. They were cleaning out their area when we passed by. They are one of the stinkiest animals at the zoo.

Payton's favorite the lion monkey

This was a rare treat to see the alligator everytime we look we never see anything but turtles in
the alligator exhibit.

Happy 4th of July

I guess I could save some time by just posting last years 4th of July because we do the same thing every year. We went to the to the city pool about 30 minutes after it had opened for the day. They always have hot dogs, chips, lemonade, and water available for everyone for lunch. Then they do the same games they do every year. This is the last year that Talmage will be in the kiddie pool for the coin search. The kiddie pool was for 5 and under. All the other kids lasted only about 2 minutes and they were done. Talmage however kept searching another 5 minutes after and found a lot more coins. The money didn't add up to a lot because they put lots of pennies in the kiddie pool and not very many pennies in the big pool. He still had enough to buy 3 things at the snack bar so he was happy.

Hayden picking up a coin

Talmage and Hayden searching for coins

Talmage looking for coins

Brenton swimming for coins


Talmage noodle racing

Brenton noodle racing

Talmage doing his biggest splash. He knew he wouldn't win

because he was one of the youngest kids, but had fun anyway.



Talmage doing his smallest splash. He was quiet upset

when he didn't win since he was one of the younger kids. You will need

to tilt your head. I couldn't figure out how to turn it. Sorry:(



Brenton's smallest splash which he won 1st place.

way to go!! Sorry, but you'll have to tilt again.

While I was going through the pictures to see which ones I wanted to post, I was thinking to myself how come I have no pictures of the girls swimming for coins or doing the noodle races and then it dawned on me that Payton and Kennedy spent the night at their cousins the Edward's house. I took me about 5 minutes to realize that. I guess I really need to get caught up because I wouldn't want to forget somethings. They went swimming at their cousins neighborhood pool and Kennedy decorated her scooter while Payton decorated one of the Edward's dogs and leash and their girls and my girls were in their neighborhood parade (yes, they have a huge neighborhood with their own fire station, chapel, a couple pools, a nice size lake). Payton and Daisy (their dog) won first prize for the pet portion of the parade. She won a $5.00 gift card to Bruster's ice cream. They met us later at my parents house for dinner. After the splash contests we went home to give Hadyen a nap. Then we went over to my parents house for our traditional bar-b-que hamburgers, potato salad, corn on the cob, chips, watermelon, and the kids favorite IBC Root beer. We took the dessert with us and ate it later while waiting for the fireworks to start because we were all so stuffed from the yummy dinner. Christa painted all the girls toe nails red, white, and blue with the big toe having a firework on it while we were waiting for the fireworks to begin. The girls loved it.

Payton, Lorin, and Kennedy playing a serious game of go fish

Talmage getting a drink

Brenton and Hayden playing bubbles

Hayden and Eliza playing with bubbles

Hayden ready for baseball

I didn't take any pictures of the fireworks this year, but our favorite one was a smiley face firework. The fireworks were great and then we headed for home and went to bed because we were wasted from another long long day.

Here we go again

Connors last day of extended school year was on Monday, June 29th. Since swim lessons are over, we were all able to go to the free movie day. Since we had so much fun last year, we decided to go tubing in Helen on Friday since the men had a day off because the 4th was on a Saturday. We had a bigger group go this year. We started out early. We wanted to get there as close to opening time as possible because being a holiday weekend we figured it would be crowded. This year the Tady's, Bugee's (minus Morgan because she has summer schedule at BYU-Idaho and Taylor because she was in Provo, Utah for EFY and Basketball camp), Edward's, and a friend of Christa's and her kids.

Most of the tubing group minus Christa's friends and Christa and Preston

This year we were able to do the longer route since we have had a good amount of rain fall lately. I went with Hayden on my lap. Brenton went by himself and the other kids were tethered to an adult. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to float down the river. It was very relaxing. When we got out of our tubes at the rental place, we took one look at the line and it was crazy long. It was a real hot day mid 90s. We were so glad we went first thing with no wait to pay, get your life jackets and tubes, and wait for a bus to take you up stream. After tubing, we ate some lunch and some headed off to Cheri's house while the others went to the main part of Helen to grab some fudge and look at a few of the cute shops. Then we all headed over to Cheri's house to celebrate Olivia's 9th birthday. We had dinner over there followed by watching their neighborhoods fireworks. Not sure why they were doing it a day early but it was fun. We got home way late and we were all exhausted.

4th week of June

I have been dreading this post not because it was a bad week just the opposite. We had Father's day, 2 birthday's, and an anniversary to celebrate on top of everything else. So to start the week off was Father's day. Since Jon had started joining me jogging Mon-Fri, he has been complaining of his shoes bothering him while running. His shoes are just regular sneakers nothing special. So he said one day over a week earlier he wanted to get some running shoes. So next time I was in Kohl's, I looked at their shoes. I didn't realize how many variety and brands of running shoes there were. I thought they would have about 4 to choose from after all this wasn't a shoe store. They had about 20 to choose from. So I bought a pair and had the kids give it to him a week before Father's day. Being Jon and just going out and buying things without an occasion I didn't want to take that chance so I bought them early before he did. It is hard enough to find the perfect gift for whatever the occasion may be and now I have the perfect gift I wasn't gonna let him ruin it by buying the shoes. On Tuesday, we had the missionaries over for dinner. It has been months since they have come for dinner. Since I am in Primary they hardly ever pass the calender around to us so that is why they haven't been over. So on that rare Sunday we got the calendar in Primary I jumped at the chance to have them over.
Wednesday was Payton's 9th birthday. She has been waiting for this day ever since Kennedy had her birthday which was 10 1/2 months ago. She has been talking about getting an American Girl doll since Kennedy got one for her birthday last year. She wanted Chrissa who is the girl of the year so once 2009 is over Chrissa will no longer be available. I think she wanted her because she looks the most like her.

Payton with Chrissa


It has been a tradition of ours to let the birthday person pick the place they want to eat for dinner. Payton picked the American Girl Bistro. So I called and made a reservation for the two of them and me to go their for dinner. Then I got the price of the meal. Each person gets an individual appetizer, main course with 2 sides all for the low price of $15.00 per person. Are you kidding me? Yes, kids over 5 pay the same as adults. I forgot to mention that that price didn't include drinks they were another $1-2. Luckily with the help of my sister Christa we were able to talk her into going to a fast food restaurant for dinner and the Bistro for dessert and if she picked that option Christa would come with her 2 girls. It didn't take her long to decide that was a great choice 2 restaurants, and her cousins could join her for dessert.

Payton and Kennedy at Steak N Shake

Sonoma, Payton, Kennedy, and Eliza

American Girl Bistro

Payton with her Smore ice cream dessert

Since we were having a girls birthday night out, Jon got McDonald's (Connors favorite restaurant) and rented a movie for the boys to eat and watch for Connor's birthday which was in 2 days.

Thursday was Jon and my 15th wedding anniversary. Holy cow has it really been that long. Looking back it has and feels like that long. After Talmage's swim lesson, Jon and I decided to celebrate during lunch. We went to the Peachtree diner. I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into their yummy cakes so that is why we went for lunch. After lunch, we went to Hobby Lobby and picked up a wedding present for this Saturday. It was a nice get away from the kids.

Friday was a busy day. Besides being Connor's 11th birthday Jon and I went to the temple in the morning to do sealings. My parents, Christa and Aaron, and Cheri and Preston were also there. We were doing sealings for family members. The past couple months we have been getting all the names we had ready for this day so we could do all the sealing in one sitting. The most special one was my great grandparents on my dad's dad side were sealed to their son which was my Grandpa and my dad's dad. The spirit was very strong in that room. This will be the last time for 15-18 months that we will be at that temple. Our bishop wanted each member to go every week if they could this month. Jon went four times and I went three so I feel great about that. After the temple and lunch, since Cheri and her family were already in town we decided to do a family birthday party today for Connor and Payton. Payton doesn't really like cake. She wanted me to make Yo Yo cookies like the ones at the bakery at Publix. So I bought the chocolate chip cookies from the Kroger bakery so they could be all the same size. I did make the yellow frosting and frosted two cookies and smashed them together. Then dipped half the cookie in melted milk chocolate. They are so yummy. She loved them.

Connor opening presents

Payton and Connor with their cookies instead of cake

This week was Talmages last week of swim lessons. He did awesome and listened and did everything Miss Andrea wanted him to do. The thing he was most excited about was being able to swim down to the bottom of the pool and pick up things off the bottom. I will miss taking the kids over to Christa's pool four days a week and just kicking back with the Ensign while the kids play with their cousins and have a great time. Yes, I am still keeping up with my goal even after school has been out to read the Ensign cover to cover. I don't know when I am going to find the time now that swim lessons are over.

Talmage doing the back stroke

Talmage with Miss Andrea

Saturday, we decided to bring the whole family with us to a wedding reception. It was at the church and wasn't only for adults so we thought why not. The kids had a great time playing with the bubbles and eating the yummy food.