Summer, Summer, Summer (part 2)

The summer ended with Parker's 3rd birthday. We had a little family celebration, which Parker thought was great. I can't believe how fast time seems to be going by...it truly is bitter sweet. I miss my cute little, chubby babe that I could burrito wrap and snuggle, but it is so fun to hear him talk and see his little personality (most of the time :) and he is so excited about preschool. So, on we go to another fun and exciting phase of life.



One last hurrah before real life starts and we all head home and start school and schedules. It always goes by way too fast. Thanks mom and dad for a great summer!



Oh yeah, we did a little bit of this (work), this summer too. :)

****The Big Day****
Kurtis and Haylie

August 12, 2010

I think the girls and I might have snuck away to do a little shopping.

Lake Powell. Between all the weddings and parties we still had time to squeeze in a week at Lake Powell. For the first time in a long time we had some scary weather. It rained quite a lot and it was pretty cold, cold enough to be grateful for the sweatshirt you always pack but never end up needing. One day we were there the winds started picking up and there were white caps on the waves out in the bay. Some day campers next to us had to come take shelter because of the high winds blowing sand every where. But we had some good tie downs and our boat held strong. I am really proud of all the kids. They all tried knee boarding, water skiing, tubing and cliff jumping at least once. Brandon is quite the little daredevil...he got up on the knee board and started doing 360's without anyone telling him and he was jumping off the high cliffs with uncle Jerry and uncle Jordan. Emma got up on both skii's and kneeboarding and after a lot of talking, ok let's be honest, BRIBING, Caitlyn gave it a good try. She is now enjoying those Calico Critters she got...thanks Aunt Alli. We played lots of games, played in the sand, and even got to ride on some Jet skiis (thanks Paxton and Kara). All and all it was a great trip, but we missed those who weren't there this year! Thanks grandpa for all your hardwork!

Haylie's bridal shower. As always, good food, good people, good fun.

This is Grandpa's summer pride and joy. Yes, he grew it all by himself.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E...BUT SUCH GOOD FRIENDS!

The climb. So we decided to try something different this year and took the kids to hike Mt. Timpanogas. Grandpa came with us and THANKFULLY grandma stayed home with Parker---If you can't tell from the picture, I made it (barely :) and can't picture having to carry Parks up the mountain, since most nights he can't even make it up the stairs to bed without me carrying him (ok so he might be SLIGHTLY spoiled). But, it was a great time and the kids were real troopers, Brandon and Davis practically ran the whole way up the mountain. The cave at the end was really great and it happened that some people from our part of Indiana were out visiting Utah and taking the tour at the same time...man it's a small world.

You've heard shop til you drop? Well this summer it was PLAY til you drop. This would often be the case. Parker just konk out totally exhausted in the middle of playing.

Welcome to the Wild West. Grandma (and grandpa) like to throw a little party for the kids. This year it was the wild west. They made some tasty grub, got to dress up like a cowboy/cowgirl, played some games (including a sunflower seed spittin contest), panned for gold, traded in their gold pieces at the trading post, and even learned a little line dancing. The kids always have so much fun, thanks grandma and grandpa!



My Grandma and Grandpa were the Grand Marshals of the Pioneer Day festivities, so we got to get up Xtra EARLY (notice Tyler sleeping) to see them drive by in the carriage in the parade. Hey we even got to see a group of missionaries parade by! Amazingly it was still blazing hot even though it was so early and I think more cotton candy ended up ON parker rather than IN him.



Pioneer Days Rodeo...I think our favorite parts were the bull riding, mutin bustin, the rodeo queen contestants, barrel racing, and the motor cross demo at the end. Oh, and of course all the yummy treats, gotta love the ginormous snow cones.



Happy Birthday, Grandma Nanny!
What better way to celebrate 93 great years than a little pizza pool party. We love you Grandma!

****The BIG day*****
Amy and Tyler
July 16, 2010

Summer, Summer, Summer (part 1)

I debated the best way to blog our summer in Utah. And after feeling very overwhelmed because of the HUNDREDS of pictures taken, I think the best way is this...One long post in chronological order with just a couple of my favorite pics from each event. I know it may be boring to some, but I am thinking about posterity.

The long awaited day came and we went to see Toy Story 3. Of course the kids LOVED it and of course their favorite line and most often quoted, "Hey I thought I told you kids to stay out of my butt," by Mr. Potato Head.

Oh, he wishes...

Another favorite thing: the coaster cars. The kids spent hours of time outside riding around in circles. And the girls got a special treat...making jewelry with Aunt Gyla...fabulous!


My birthday...oh yeah, when you get this old it's just another day! :)

July 4th equals parades, "fishing," and swimming. We got to spend it with both Matt's family and mine, but unfortunately, not Matt...still in Tennessee. At the end of the day we got to see a couple of different fireworks displays from grandma's house. Although, I think most everybody fell asleep before they were over.

This is one of their favorite pastimes, hanging out with Aunt Amy.

Night swimming...yep...just in case we didn't get enough swimming in during the day we always had night swimming. Actually, some times we did both...swimming ALL day and NIGHT! As you can see, they usually lasted in their swimsuits WAAAY longer than me.

Happy Father's Day! The kids and I got to celebrate Father's Day with grandpa. We cooked him a yummy breakfast and after chruch we went out to Grandpa Blaines for a visit which happened to include some scrumptious marshmallow roasting.

Unfortunately, Matt was in TN working for the summer so we didn't get to celebrate with him in person. Even though we missed him over the summer and he "says" he missed us ;) he really liked Nashville. Among other things, he made some fun friends that introduced him to some authentic Indian food, spent time doing some service projects, and even got to check out some local honky tonks.

Just keep swimming...Oh yes, we went swimming in Grandma and Grandpa's pool ALMOST every day.


Amy's bridal shower.

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day was great this year with breakfast in bed, gifts from Matt and the kids, teaching a lesson AND giving a talk in church (I know, Happy Mother's Day to me). It was a great day and I am very blessed to be a mother. Oh, and I got this funny in my email in honor of the occasion that I thought would be fun to share.

THE NEXT SURVIVOR SERIES
Six married men
will be dropped on an island

with one car

and 3 kids each

for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports
and take either music or dance classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must

take care of his 3 kids;
keep his assigned house clean,
correct all homework,
complete science projects,
cook,
do laundry,
and pay a list of 'pretend' bills
with not enough money.

In addition,

each man
will have to budget enough money
for groceries each week.

Each man
must remember the birthdays
of all their friends and relatives,
and send cards out on time--no emailing.

Each man must also take each child
to a doctor's appointment,
a dentist appointment
and a haircut appointment.

He must make one unscheduled and
inconvenient visit per child to the Emergency Room.

He must also make cookies or cupcakes
for a school function.

Each man will be responsible for
decorating his own assigned house,
planting flowers outside, and keeping it
presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television

when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.

The men must shave their legs,

wear makeup daily,

adorn themselves with jewelry,

wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes,

keep fingernails polished,

and eyebrows groomed

During one of the six weeks,

the men will have to endure severe
abdominal cramps, backaches, headaches,
have extreme, unexplained mood swings
but never once complain or slow down
from other duties.

They must attend weekly school meetings

and church,
and find time at least once to spend
the afternoon at the park or a similar
setting.


They will need to read a book to the kids each night

and in the morning,

feed them,

dress them,
brush their teeth and
comb their hair
by 7:30 am.


A test will be given

at the end of the six weeks,

and each father will be required to know

all of the following information:
each child's
birthday,
height, weight,
shoe size, clothes size,
doctor's name,
the child's weight at birth,
length, time of birth,
and length of labor,
each child's favorite color,
middle name,
favorite snack,
favorite song,
favorite drink,
favorite toy,
biggest fear,
and what they want to be when they grow up.

The kids vote them off the island based on performance.

The last man wins only if...
he still
has enough energy
to be intimate with his spouse
at a moment's notice.


If the last man does win,
he can play the game over and over and over
again for the next 18-25 years,
eventually earning the right
to be called Mother!

Welcome Baby Crew

The newest addition to our extended family, our new nephew/cousin...Crew William Taylor. So sweet!

The Blue and Gold

Our first ND Tailgate experience...the Blue and Gold game. The tailgating was fun and the game was good too, oh all except for the cold and rain.

Spring Break

We stayed and played in Iowa over spring break. We made a trip to the park and played with our bubble wands from Easter.
We were there about 30 minutes before it started pouring buckets of rain, by the time we gathered everything and loaded into the car we were sopping wet! Also, no trip is complete without a stop at the Children's museum. This time there was a cool aviation exhibit which the kids had fun exploring and testing their skills as a pilot.

Gotta Love the Midwest

Matt came home from our weekend in Iowa while we stayed back for our spring break. This is what greeted him when he arrived.
At first we thought that some of the teenage kids were playing a trick on us, but when Matt inquired of the neighbors they said that there had been some pretty strong winds that weekend that could have easily flipped our tramp over. Luckily, it looks like the wind just lifted it up and set it down in the same spot, only upside down, instead of crashing into someones house and causing some real damage. It kinda looks like it won't ever be the same, huh?

Happy Happy Birthday

We celebrated Matt's birthday while visiting Iowa and he had some yummy (at least he thinks so) crab legs, courtesy of Aunt Jen's recent trip to Alaska.

Easter

We got to spend Easter with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Jamie in Iowa. We did all the usual festivities like coloring easter eggs, hunting for them in the morning, finding baskets, and eating a yummy dinner. This year was a special treat and we got to listen to General Conference on Easter Sunday and were able to remember the real reason we celebrate...the resurrection of our Savior. I love it when Easter falls on Conference because it really becomes a time of reflection of all we are blessed with and a time to commit to be better in the coming months.

Superhero

Parker loves getting dressed up, and isn't afraid to mix superhero legends. Here he is at BatKnight.

Mr. Lego

While the girls went to American Girl the boys made a trip to the Lego store. They make it look so easy, but lets face it...not so much.

The Bean

It was FREEZING cold, but this was kinda cool.

Here's the Deal

OK, so I had all these big plans to update over the summer so when we got back for the fall and winter festivities I would be able to just post as we go. Well, that would have been a great plan, except for my computer crashed....completely losing the hard drive...including all my pictures! AARGGH, to say the least. We were able to recover most of them (after a lot of time and money), but needless to say I was a little disenchanted with my computer, we had a love hate relationship for a while. But it is true what they say, time heals all wounds, and I am back and ready to start updating, so even though these posts won't be of current life events, they happend, and I just can't bear to skip them and not record them. And two HUGE lessons learned from this little experience 1. Don't believe the commercials...macs really aren't superior to PC's and 2. BACK-UP BACK-UP BACK-UP, so much easier and costly to back up your stuff on an external hard drive than to try recover everything after it is gone.