No One Blogs in the Summertime!!

No one blogs in the Summertime!!  We are all too busy having fun, right?

For me it was certainly the case.  I have sworn that I was going to make it a great Summer and I believe that I have.  The kids will be going to a traditional schedule which means NO breaks...ugh.  I knew that I had to make the most of our time together.  This blog is my journal...helping me to remember the little details.  Here is a little piece of the tail end of our fantastic summer. *I am still working on my 5k post*

July 14-15 my Uncle Phil came to visit.  He is one of my mom's four brothers.  He is so nice, it was great to visit with him...it makes me miss all my big family down south!  Sunday the 15th after I got off of work, and they got done with church we went to have breakfast at Mimi's.  YUM! I love this picture of two sets of brothers and sisters! AWWW. 

The girls...and um, one boy. 

I was a bit annoyed because there were lots of cameras...no one knew where to look!  People say that Sarah and I look alike...I don't see it. 

After lunch, we headed to Midvale park for the annual Gonzales reunion.  I love love love that the family still gets together!  I feel like I know Matt's grandma's siblings better than any of my own grandparents' siblings.  They are the nicest family ever and I love going every year.  This is Matt's grandma's sister Anna and her brother Gene.  Anna looks SOOO much like Matt's grandma...it makes me miss her so much.  She has been gone 13 years but I still remember her voice.

 Tina and Greg chillin'.

 

Lauren loves every chance she gets to hang out with her cousin Bella. 

 Cute Bella...with LOTS of lipgloss on! I think that Bella looks like a blonde version of Lauren.

 They had face paint there....but no one to paint it...so I did my best.  I am NOT an artist.  This is my best butterfly. Those are are Lauren's hands...I painted her nails the day before.

Jamie wanted a spider...can you tell that is what it is?!  LOL.

 My cute hubby, I am still LOVING those glasses.  What a hottie!  Lauren is pouting because she hasn't won a prize yet from the family prize drawing!

I wanted a picture of the kids...and of course...Leo had to crowd in.  Here he is with 4 of his 5 grandkids. Not the best pic...and Bella was playing with dental floss...hmmm.

I have no pics of this...but later that day we went to my nephew Zander's birthday party...the kids got to swim and Zander seemed to love what we got him.  We went back to my mom's house...visited with Uncle Phil some more...the kids showered and we headed home....five minutes later...Jamie was out!!!

July 18th was "Take Your Kid to Work Day" at work...this is the only pic I got.  Cute Lauren eating in the lunchroom.

June 21...I worked and during work I re-connected with a long lost friend, Beth.  Remember her?  It has been fun getting to know her (again) and catching up on what we've missed.

I can't remember what day this was..but check him out.  It always makes me laugh..who in the world could sleep like that.  It CAN'T be safe!

July 25th I took PTO and took the kiddos to the pool.  I invited my next door neighbor...she had her niece and nephew so I told her to bring them along.  Denise is so easy going and sweet.  She is a teacher, so she has summers off...so we took advantage of her time off too!  **I forgot to mention that Denise and I took an adult dance class at the kids' studio.  We had so much fun dancing...and I say for two moms of two-we kept up with the young girls pretty darn good!  I was always so sweaty...and so happy!**  Here is Lauren and Denise's niece Noa.  We all had done fireworks together the night before.  I LOVE being such good friends with all my neighbors!  I am never moving and they better never move either!!  My one complaint about my phone's camera is that outside-I can't see how the pictures turn out.  I was mad when I got home to see Lauren's hair in her face...but...what can ya do.

 Lauren jumping off the diving board-she is a daring girl and a pretty good little self taught swimmer!

 Dancer Noa...look at her FLY!  She is such a cutie pie...one year older than Lauren.

 About to jump off!

 Jamie also has a blast with Everett.  They had breakdancing classes together this year and got to be good buds. They love to wrestle.

 
 Everett is one year older than Jamie!  What a perfect pair of sibling friends for my kiddos!

 I am kicking myself...I didn't get any pics of Denise and I...nor any of her twin girls!

Matt barbequed a lot this summer.  This is my absolute favorite!!  Healthy too!

 I was leaving for work one day when I see this truck across the way and these people are emptying out their trash!!!  Boards, hoses, chairs!  Literally LITERING...er...DUMPING.  I was so mad.  I tried to get a good pic..

They followed us out!  I guess I shoulda been more scared, but I was too mad.  I think those jerks thought it was funny! If you recognize these clowns...give them a good "tsk tsk"!

July 28th my work paid for our entire family to see Batman. We could have seen Ice Age, I left the decision to Jamie and he chose Batman.  Here are the cutouts they gave away...my kids were sad we didn't win..but TWO people on my team won $50 Gift Cards-so that was awesome!

 Earlier that day my AWESOME old neighbor Bree colored my hair!  She does it all!  She is amazing!

July 29th...my mom has a BBQ to celebrate my sister, Ashley's 25th birthday and my niece, Alysia's 22nd birthday.  Look how grown up Lauren looks in this picture!

 Jamie and Zander are best little buds...it is so cute!  Zander follows and copies Jamie all day!!

 The birthday girls blowing out their cupcakes!  I was bad with pictures....again!  This night I found a new game Song Pop...that could have led to the picture problem...

Not so funny.

 August 1 was my parent's 42nd anniversary..so I took PTO so they would have a day off.  Denise and I decided to take the entire herd out to the zoo.  We were so spontaneous this summer!!  Jamie and Everett.

 Lauren and Noa.

 Emily and Olivia.  They are the cutest things.  They got so messy at lunch!

 Twins get lots of attention, everyone at the zoo thought they were adorable!

 How many monkey's do you see?  Here is our fun little gang. THREE sets of siblings.  SIX times the fun!

 Four little birds?

 The new Polar Bear exhibit was really neat.

 For some reason, Jamie wanted to carry Roarbert the Lion around.  What cute pals!

 The babies wanted to walk and the big kids started acting like babies...so everyone got a turn. Silly Lars!

 Of course we rode the carousel! Jamie and Lauren.

 
                                                                                             Noa.

 I got to hold one of the twins...I think I had Olivia.

 Pretty blue eyes and baby cheeks.

 Visiting the wooden elephant...Jamie is ready to run.

 Of course Lauren is the daring one.

 Jamie and Roarbert on the train.

 I think I hatched a Jamie!

I feel like a jerk that I didn't get any pictures of Denise and I on ANY of our journeys.  None of our dance classes...and not of any on our trip to Leatherbys.  Next time I see her-I AM GETTING A PICTURE OF HER!  

 That night we celebrated Oreo's birthday. Here she is playing with her new yarn!  I should have taken pictures of the party that Lauren planned.  Matt and I were SHOCKED at the thought, creativity and ingenuity that my little girl demonstrated. She made a cat shaped pinata, had treats set up, had a book about Oreo she had made, she had signs and decorations (all completed while I was, um, sleeping that morning).   Later that night I got to talk to my Bestie Heather Lyons for an hour on the phone...I miss her so much...she moved to Denver almost a year ago!  Boooo...

 That day we also found Jamie's Halloween costume.  I had to snatch it up before it got sold out..and for $10-it was a steal.  He already has Batman PJs...so I thought he could just wear sweats underneath..and WALA!  Now...if Lauren was only as easy....

 I also got brave that night and decided "what the heck"...I will try and cut my kids' hair...can't be that hard, right?  I didn't get Lauren's before and after...but here is Jamie's.
                                                                        BEFORE: (note Batman PJs!)

                                                                        AFTER:

 August 4th I found the coolest koozie thing for my water bottle my Bestie Misty had gotten me.  I LOVE this thing!  Very handy when watching the kids swim.

 Doesn't she look smart?

On August 7th I found out that Lauren's teacher would be Mrs. McKinnon...here is her class list. 


August 10th the kids and I were thrilled to go to Payson to go visit Misty and her family.  They took us up to the Grotto..it was a fun little walk.  All the kids loved it.  Awesome!  Here is Lauren and Melia...and Jamie and the twins, Aaron and AJ.

 Crossing bridges.

 Our little adventurers!

 The waterfall.  It was FREEZING cold!

 Lauren was trying to be daring.

 Some really nice stranger lady tried to help Lauren get closer.  People in Payson are very nice!

Mr. Adam wearing the kids' hats!  He was such a good sport!

Big old cheeser from James!

That nice Payson-stranger-lady offered to take a group shot of all of us!  AND it is true, we all fit into the Sapphire bullet (Misty's van).

Misty and I.  I just ADORE her!  She is such a good friend to me.  There isn't a day that goes by that we don't talk/text/message each other.  We both love to read and we both love music (although we both have different tastes).  She is funny and sweet.  She is soo creative.  She is a goody-goody just like me.  She loves me for me.  The only thing I HATE about her is that she lives so far away.  It takes me like an hour and a half to get down to see her...grrr!

Lauren and Melia (she has so much attitude-if you couldn't tell!).  

Where we hiked. If you haven't been and you are in Payson...check 'er out!

After the walk, they took us to Adam's family farm.  NO ONE TOLD US THERE WOULD BE KITTENS THERE!  Lauren was in heaven and they were sooo cute!  She called this one "Plum" because it was as sweet as a plum.

Another cute little kitten.

This little one was my favorite, if I could have taken one home-this would be the one!  I love how it was half black and half orange right down the middle!  Love the long whiskers.

This may look like a kitten-but this is actually the momma cat!

On the "Rindy Farm" there are cows and corn.  Here are the boys trying to feed the baby cow.

Adam and Misty were busy shucking corn for supper, the boys had fun feeding the...um..."shucks?" to the cows.  I saw a bull up close and personal.  They are big and scary and apparently mean.  There were lots of flies around.  Adam and Misty have super defenses and it didn't even bother them-I probably looked like I was having seizures with all my swatting and dodging.  

We had yummy farm corn, literally called "sweet corn" I learned.  We had hamburgers and jello salad and cookies I brought.  SOO good after a hard day of play.

We got the kids settled for bed and Misty and I stayed up talking...just like sleepovers I used to have as a teenager.  I even bored Misty to sleep with a story, lol.

The next morning, Misty fed us breakfast and we were off to see her and Adam play some softball.  I learned that Payson is pretty passionate about softball, and church (I think it is a law there that you have to be able to see a church at all times in the city).  It was great to see Misty do what she loves to do and they are pretty darn serious about it too.  I am so glad she didn't ask me to play-I would have embarrassed myself by hitting myself in the nose with the bat like I did when I was a kid. I got to sit in the shade and relax and get a little reading done, it was quite pleasant.   We had some lunch-then we headed home....I took a nap when I got home...EXHAUSTED from so much fun.

I can't remember when...BUT this summer we got some fish and a fish tank.  It all started at West Valley West Fest fair, I won a fish...so we got a bowl.  We named him Stripezeez.  Then we thought he was lonely so we got him a friend-Dash. Then Stripzeez died so we got a bigger tank with a filter and bubbler.  Dash looked lonely in that big old tank so we got him some friends-Gulliver, Finn, and Tiger.  Then about a week later....we went to the pet store and Matt fell in love with a fish that looked like it had a mo-hawk...we bought him and named him Mr. T.  I also begged to get a sucker fish to try to keep the tank cleaner-Jamie named him Thunder.  I have never had fish so it has been fun to watch them and to keep our tank decorated.  I also find the sound of the bubbling water-quite soothing.

I actually cooked a meal or two here and there...see mom, I can cook!

For the last few years we have had a tradition to go to Park City.  The kids love it and Matt and I have fun too.  SO on August 16th we headed up there again.  Here I am in the car...waiting for Matt.

Lauren and I are ready to go!!! Hurry up Matt!  We stopped at Paradise bakery on the way up.  YUMMY!  We checked in and let the kids swim for a while.  No pics, dang.

After swimming we went to the "must eat" place of Main Street Pizza and Noodle.  Nice I got a pic of the sign but not of the family!  DOH!

After dinner we stopped at Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory and got caramel apples, stopped by 7-11 for drinks and we watched Ms. Congeniality.  Good times!  We were up early the next day and ready to ride the rides.  Here we are taking the tram to the top.  Matt and Lauren.

Jamie and I.

Lauren had to be a driver for her first time ever.  She was a bit slow-but she did it!

My cute family getting ready to ride the roller coaster.  It was nice going in August..much cooler and much less crowded.

I snapped a few shots along the way.

After the ride, we got some Dippin' Dots.

Look at my handsome fella!  What a great sport.  He really spoiled me this summer and either let me do or took me to do everything I wanted to do.  Thanks for everything Matt!!

We walked up Mainstreet...just to see the sites.

And we rode the air conditioned free tram back down!  Ding ding.

Smiles all aboard!

Lauren really wanted a picture with the bear....even though she looks reluctant.

Looks like the bear is patting Jamie on the head!

Matt thought this would be funny!  It looks like the bear is sniffing my hair!

After our walk...we stopped at Squatters...I LOVE LOVE their Tilapia salad.  SOO good.  I don't know why my camera was blurry.

Matt and I had an race early in the morning on August 18th so my parent's agreed to watch the kids overnight for us.  We took advantage of our alone time by going to Leatherbys...and then I came home and napped for a few.  THEN we were about to go out to see a movie when there was an Emergency at work...we both rushed in and were there for a few hours. Luckily everything was okay. We still made it to a 10:00 showing of The Bourne Legacy.  It was pretty cool and I enjoyed my time snuggling with the hubs.  He was even nice enough to stop me by Walmart so that I could get my midnight copy of the best movie of all times...THE HUNGER GAMES.  Here is my pendant that came with it.  LOVE IT!

We went to bed late...and were up early the next morning for our 5k.  Again...no pics, grr.  This 5k was a fundraiser for one of Misty's high school friends.  He is now a South Jordan fireman and got injured.  It was my second race...but Matt's first.  I was hoping to beat my first time...which was 43 minutes...but I didn't.  Matt finished ahead of Misty and me....he didn't want the jogging grannies to beat him...BUT they beat us..well..me...Misty should have probably finished with Matt.  I was a bit dissappointed with my 45 minute time....but at least I finished..and it is all for good fun and exercise, right?  After the race we went straight to Kneaders to put back on the calories we burned off with some French Toast...to die for.  Matt, Misty and I  visited for a while, I just love Misty.  Then we picked up the kiddos from my parents and came home for a...you guessed it...a NAP.  I swear I don't nap often!  Just when I have had too much fun, I guess.  We got two T-Shirts for the kids as reminders.  Woo hoo.

Wednesday August 22 Matt took PTO and I used my off in lieu day to head to Lagoon.  We had great discount tickets from work.  It was a PERFECT day to go!!  There were hardly any people there and it wasn't too hot.  We got to ride pretty much every ride we wanted to!  I love Lagoon soo much!  My sister had gone on Saturday and sent my mom a picture of my nephew on the boats...and my mom put that picture on her computer.  Jamie INSISTED that he ride the boats first and that we send the picture to my mom so that HE could be on the computer.  He cracks me up!  Lauren was a bit sad because she couldn't ride the boats anymore.  I remember that sad day when I was too big to ride it as well.

After the boats we rode the Tidal Wave...always a good tummy tickler.

Jamie was not quite big enough to ride all the rides-so Matt and I would talk turns taking Lauren on bigger rides and the other would take Jamie on the kiddie rides...everyone wins!  Here is Jamie in his space copter.

He even rode BULGY THE WHALE!  This makes me think he really will be my baby forever!!

Lauren warmed up for the Rocket by riding the Lady Bug Drop.

Lauren was so excited to FINALLY be big enough to ride the Rocket.  Seriously, I was more nervous than she was!!  I have to tell this story real fast...Lauren rode the White Roller Coaster with Matt and then rode with me right after because the line was so short.  We go all the way to the top and I hear her say "Oh S&%@" I was shocked but I was laughing so hard...I couldn't be mad.  If that doesn't tell you that your little girl is growing up-I don't know what does!

Jamie on the Helicopters...he wanted the camo one.

He also got to ride the Red Barron...Lauren actually made it just in time to join him.

We also were able to tour Pioneer Village.  We saw a bunch of cabins and toured the circus exhibit.  Here is Jamie next to a picture of the world's shortest man.  HA!

We also saw the coin exhibit with early pictures of Utah towns.  This picture is for Misty....a Payson lover!

I think one of the kids' favorite things was running around the fountain.  In retrospect we probably shouldn't have let the kids do this because Lauren came down with a cold the next day...I am sure from being wet!

Matt thought that it was hilarious to see them get all wet!  I was not as pleased....and as we sat next to the kids on rides-we would get wet by association. After riding the Jet Star 2 with Lauren-I looked like I had peed my pants!

Oh boy!

We also rode the big ferris wheel...what a view!

SEE...I was there too!  Me and Lars. Best buds for life!

My cute little man.  Later that night he said to me "Mommy, I will try to stay your little boy forever"  I almost busted out in tears right then and there.  When he fell asleep on me later that night as we were watching TV, I just couldn't move him!!!  I am so blessed with such a sweet boy. 

We just HAD to have our Lagoon corn.  SO YUMMY!  "Sweet" corn!!!

We also took time to see some animals....this Elk was so cool.

The kids had a blast crashing into each other on the bumper cars. 

The last ride of the night...Lauren and I rode the big swings.  I felt like I was flying!  

The next day at work...I felt so BLAHH...sad and I didn't know why.  I think now it was because I was so sad that all of our summer fun was over.  I have had such a fun and memorable summer!  I didn't want it to end.  I also don't do very well when I don't have anything to look forward to...and I don't have much more planned.  ALSO...when Lauren is in school-I don't see her very much and it is very hard on me.  As a full-time working mom, (and really ANY mom can relate) we all make sacrifices-we all do what we need to do for our families....it isn't always easy and it isn't always  FUN...but we all do what we think is best.  ONE more year and I am hoping to go back to the day shift...then Matt and I can be more on the same schedule.  I look forward to dinner together every night and being like a normal family.  One more year until Jamie is in First Grade!  I can DO it!!!  Hopefully reflecting on our fun summer adventures will help me make it through. Thanks to all our family and friends that helped make Summer 2012 one for the books!!