Happy Labor Day Weekend

My one, maybe slightly unreasonable but not really, request before starting this weekend. Without which somebody may have been stabbed and/or drowned in my tears. I win. The world wins. My thighs and muffin top don't... but I'm happy now. 

Other Summer Adventures Part 2

We saw the USA soccer team play at Rio Tinto with a big group of friends. We took up a whole row. It poured with rain for the first twenty minutes, then got really hot. It was a blast though and USA won :)

                 Mountain excursions:

           Took a drive to mirror lake.

Hiked to twin lakes with the Christensens

Enjoyed time at the Powell cabin with Christensen's  and Jackson's. The males even cooked half of breakfast! 

Free movies in the park! One was at Snowbird so it counts as a mountain excursion. Cute little Packer loved ghost busters but it proved too much excitement for his little body :)

                    Other:

Steven and I had fun babysitting McKell. I told her to take a picture and she would put my phone to her face :)

Oh the games we play. Do you like steven's bocci throwing technique? We also got bored one night and came up with endurance games; like balancing on the exercise ball :)

     We tried Greek food; not too bad.

Natural history museum and adorable nephews!

And there were brand new baby quail by our place! So tiny and fluffy! There were like 15 babies. I love quail, they crack me up when they run :)

                     Storms :) 

That about sums up this longish summer summary!

Other Summer Adventures

School has now started and our summer break has ended. This means back to school (meaning work) for me, and back to traveling all over the valley for Steven. We had such a great summer and I'm struggling to let it go. Also, I need to catch up, so here is the rest of our summer summed up: 

                    Wheeler Farm

This big truck was awesomely hauling the little truck :) 

Technically these were Memorial Weekend, but I might as well put them here. 

                      Birthdays:

In Steven's family Caroline, Ryan, Chip, Sarah, Annie, and his mom, DeAnne, all have summer birthdays, but I guess I thought only Caroline's was worth taking a picture of...

In my family Jameson and Katie's birthdays are both in summer, and I didn't take pictures of them either. However, their adorable little Packer turned one and I got plenty of pictures. Since he's a mix of both of them I'm counting it as a win :) 

             Weddings and Showers:

       A high school friend got married.

My cousin, Albert, married his bride, Alyssa. We were in Oregon during their wedding, but I made it to her shower. Toilet paper wedding dresses, complete with tp thong :) 

My other cousin, Kaylee, married her man, Thane. Her shower got a little crazy.

It poured in the middle of the reception, but it didn't last long, and, Double Rainbow! 

It was great to have Nanny and Poppa in town for a lot of the summer.

Another high school friend had a baby shower.

                      Animals:

    Best four animals at the aquarium :) 

                       The zoo! 

                 Haegen did this :) 

                 To be continued.......

Yesterday

      This lady stopped by to say hello.

                        I saw this!

I got to hang out with this adorable little man while mama had some good birthday r&r (Happy Birthday Kathryn!!). 

And I got to take my cute niece, and brand new kindergartener, out to lunch.

          We ate our happy meals,

     and made faces in our ice creams.

She picked out some treats for her family at Schmidts, and one for Grammy too. We took it to Grammy at work and 'scared' her several times (meaning we would 'hide' and then jump out when she was completely not expecting it at all..).

Then it was a quiet afternoon at home with the hubby.   A good day :) 

4th and 24th Festivities

Neighborhood breakfast. He's so patient with me :)

        Family BBQ with the Chitty clan

               Festive face tattoos

           Chitty clan, including Cicily

It was so great to have Nanny and Pappa in town for the first part of summer!

Slip n slide! Thane would throw the little kids who didn't get the concept of running and sliding on your belly. Mckell especially loved it.

We had a surprise birthday party with cake, hats and presents for our cousin Kevin. Poppa may need to have that looked at....

                          Merica! 

Steven and I decided last minute to catch the Murray fireworks display; they did not disappoint.

                           24th!

We stuck with the Powell family tradition of watching the days of 47 parade. DeAnne saved an awesome spot, as usual.

              Love this one Sarah took 

Floats,motorcycle cops, Pres. Uchtdorf, and Popsicles.

      I liked the sequence of these shots :)

            I love this cheeser face!

We had another delicious BBQ at my parents, and later watched pioneer-ish shows with Jameson and Katie. 

I'm very grateful for this country we live in, and this awesome state, and all those who have paved the way to make them what they are today. 

Happy 4th and 24th of July!!