After a Sleepover @ Grandma & Grandpa's...

Lastnight we had our first family dinner at my parent's new home. I left early to meet Mike & some friends to go see the Simpson Movie (very good, funny!) so the kids stayed the night at my parents. My sister's kids stayed over too and they all had a great time! These pics are of my girls later today when we got home from picking them up. Rylee is knitting (my mom taught her how a year or so ago and helped her start a new project this morning) and Jenna is sleeping (I found her like this in her own bed, she must have been very tired because she rarely takes naps and usually not in her own bed). The boys said they couldn't sleep very good because they woke up at 3:30 am and could hear Grandpa Gary snoring for an hour, from the other room. Grandma told them next time to get up and wake him up and he would stop. They thought it was pretty funny. I am just glad they had fun and behaved themselves so they can do it again. They are excited because they get to stay for a few days in a couple weeks while Mike & I go to TX.

Rylee, our gymnast!

Rylee is a weirdo! (she gets this from her dad) She is also a gymnast. She officially moved up to team/level 5 in June and it is a whole new ballgame. She goes 4 times a week for 3 hours each time. She is getting so strong! I try to get her to flex her "guns" for people but she usually won't. She is also sooooo close to doing a standing back tuck, which Mike has been giving her a hard time about learning. It is fun to watch her get better & better each week. She is awesome! and I can't wait until her first competition. Isn't she so cute?!?!

My Ipod!

I love my ipod! I may have blogged about this awhile back, but I don't care, I am so in love with my ipod! Mike got me the video ipod for Christmas (THANKS!!!). We love music, all sorts of music, anything from rock & alternative to country & pop! I have a wide range of artists on my ipod. I have also downloaded some episodes of Dora the Explorer for Jenna. My ipod is always in my purse so I have it whenever I feel like some music or when I might need it. This is Jenna today while we were at Rylee's gymnastics. I also have some games on it, Tetris anyone? I play that when things are slow at work and studying is putting me to sleep. It is a great boredom buster!

1 more week...

I can't believe I only have one more week of classes and finals for summer semester! It has been hard getting back into studying, arranging schedules, prioritzing, etc. I am glad I am doing it, it will be sooooo worth it when I am all done. I figure it will be a little easier in the fall. The semester is longer so classes are not so fast paced. The kids will be in school so I won't have to worry about where they are and who is with them as much. And now I am more in the swing of things, so hopefully a little less stress. I am still going to have to work on the prioritizing aspect. I feel like I have neglected the kids & Mike too much this summer.

They Have Arrived!

My parents got here late Tuesday night, for good! Wednesday the movers & the truck arrived at their new home in Layton to unload. How nice to have people pack your stuff, load the truck, haul the stuff, (across the country) and unload the stuff. After the movers finished we helped unpack boxes and put some stuff away. (I also tried to get mom to throw some stuff out or DI it.) It was so fun to hang out with my parents, how nice it will be to do that on a regular basis. They moved 11 years ago when I was pregnant with Rylee (their 1st grandchild) and now they are within 20 minutes of 7 of their 10 grandkids. Tomorrow night we are all going over for dinner and to celebrate some birthdays, it will seem weird, but will be fun! Welcome home mom & dad/Grandma Susie & Grandpa Gary!

Distractions

Lastnight I was trying to study when a thunderstorm started. It has been so hot and dry here for months, I can't remember the last time it rained. The kids & Mike & I went outside to enjoy the cool, yummy smelling rain. It actually pored pretty hard for about 10 minutes or so. The kids decided they wanted to run in the rain and I had to grab the camera. Can you tell how hard it is raining?
When it stopped we went back in, the kids put on dry pj's and I tried to study again. Mike informed me that One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was starting in a few minutes. It has been on tv lately but we keep turning it on already in progress. So I decided spending time with Mike, enjoying one of our favorite pass times (watching movies), was more important than studying.
Luckily work was a little slow tonight and I got some studying in there.

Exercise

So a few months ago I had a physical assesment and started really working out regularly. I was down about 10 pounds and then slipped into my old habits of being lazy. Actually I don't think it's lazy it is feeling unmotivated and overwhelmed and life being too busy, etc. I went a few weeks with only a couple days of real exercise and starting feeling it. I decided I had to change now and try to get back into a routine of some sort and so far this week so good, 2 out of 3 days exercising. I have never figured out why it is so hard for me to stick with it. I feel better when i exercise, I looke better, but I just can't seem to stay motivated. If anyone has good suggestions, I am open for anything.

Rylee, the babysitter

When school got out Rylee told me she wanted to start babysitting. I told her there were probably a few of my friends who would love to have her babysit. She made her own business cards:

Rylee's Babysitting
And her lovely assistant Mandy
Need to get out of the house?
Kids giving you a head ache?
Well then just call Rylee
to set a date and time or
Just to have her do it right away

She passed these out and has actually been making some good money and getting some good experience. I try to make sure I am home when she is sitting in case she needs to call me and it is always for people jsut a couple blocks away. Her babysitting class this week has been good too. She now has an official babysitting kit and learned some first aid and CPR.

My Boys

Here are the boys at their different classes at the park. Noah was suppose to do Tennis but decided he would rather do the arts & crafts. Cole is taking watercolor and drawing. He is our artist, I guess that left handed/right brained thing is coming into play.

Jenna's Hair

Jenna got her haircut last week. (Thanks Michelle!) The first pic is of her being silly, i kept telling her I wanted to take a picture of her haircut and this is all she would do. The other one (don't know why it is sideways, sorry) is actually from today, isn't her hair cute?

CARS!

Here are some pics of the kids with their favorite cars. The boys were soooooooooooo excited! They kept running from car to car and telling us which kind it was with their eyes shining!

Sorry!

Sorry! for not posting more often. Life has been crazy, which really isn't an excuse, but you know...It's 12:30 am and I should be sleeping, but I got home from work a little while ago and am not too sleepy, so I figured now is as good a time as any to update my blog.
I guess the easiest way to update is give an overview of what we have been up to and then I can post some pics in other posts. A couple Saturdays ago we took the kids out to the Miller Motorsportspark to see some Mustangs. My boys, all 3 of them, love cars and hot wheels, but Mustangs seem to be the family favorite. They had over 1000 Shelby, Colbras, GT40's etc on display. They had originals, one of a kinds, etc. We all had a great time!
We have been swimming a few times the last couple weeks as well. It has been sooooooo hot and it is a great way to cool off a little.
The kids have been busy with their rec classes and summer school. This week has been especially busy for Ry, she is taking 2 classes (babysitting & cooking) at the Orchard University of Summer Fun. I have been busy with school ( I had another midterm in my biology class and got 106 out of 100, the highest score in all 3 of her classes ) and work and chauffering the kids when I am home. We have missed the last couple Wed. playgroups because things have been so busy.
Last Saturday we finally had time to use our Clark Planetarium memberships and went to see Mystery of the Nile on the Imax screen. It is a great movie.
That is really about it. Nothing too exciting, but busy and good!

Swimming

We are so excited! They opened the outdoor splashpad at our new rec center this week. We went swimming twice this week to cool off. We decided to join the new rec center a few months ago when it opend and opted to not get Cherry Hill passes this summer. The kids were a little bummed about that, but we can't afford both and with my school we don't have as much time anyway. The rec center is closer and almost the same price for all year with racqetball, weights, etc to use as well. They have a nice olympipc size pool inside as well as leisure pool & a lazy river. With the weather being so hot we were patiently waiting for the outside area to open. It is a lot of fun! They have a little pirate ship with 2 slides and a tunnel. They have a splash area with water spraying up and water cannons to squirt others with. The deepest water outside is 3 feet which is nice because Jenna is totally comfortable there. I think we will be there a lot the rest of the summer. YEAH!

JULY 4th

We celebrated the 4th of July for 2 days this year. North Salt Lake City always has their big celebration on July 3rd. We use to be able to watch the fireworks from Mike's parents house but since they moved Mike's mom has rented a pavilion at a big park near their old house to party at instead. We (mike's family and extened family, inlaws, and friends) bbq'd at the park and played until dark and then watched the big firworks. It is always a lot of fun! On the 4th we slept in (missed the ward breakfast, too tired) and then just kind of hung out all day. Lastnight we went to the cul-de-sac behind our house to watch fireworks with lots of friends and neighbors. The last few years the families who live in the cul-de-sac have all gotten together to light off their fireworks together. We were invited this year and it was awesome! There were probably about 60 people their. Everyone brought some fireworks and treats to share. The kids had fun watching with their friends.

Fun at the Park

I forgot to post some pictures from the kids summer rec. classes at our local park. They finished up their first session last week and will start the next one next week. This week they have a break from summer rec and summer school. Jenna was in the Creative Play class and this picture is of her playing duck, duck, goose. Cole did arts & crafts. Noah did archery and Rylee did tennis. They are all trying something new the next session except Jenna, they only have the one class for 4 year olds.

Fun Week

Well, this week seemed to be a little less crazy. I had a quiz everyday in my biology class and have another one tomorrow as well as a test in math. Mike worked a lot, late everynight, but the job is done and so hopefully we will see him more. Wednesday for playgroup we went to play at the fountains at the Gateway and then we met Mike and my sister Krista for lunch at Training Table, one of our favorites (yummy, cheese fries!). Friday Rylee went to see the Nancy Drew movie with her best friend Daisy and the boys went to see Fantastic Four with Daisy's mom and brothers. Jenna had her friend Tate come over to play while they were at the movie and I studied. Friday night we went to a fundraising dinner for a man in our ward, Sergio, who is in need of a kidney transplant. Everything was donated, the facility, the food, the band, etc. They had a live and a silent auction that everything had been donated for as well, so all the money went to his transplant fund. It was a lot of fun. Saturday Mike was finally able to rest a little. Then we took the kids to see the new movie, Ratatoullie, and it was pretty good. We had to stay after to watch all the credits to see our friends name. He works for Disney/Pixar as an animator. He worked on Cars as well. Lastnight we came home and just hung out and then crashed. I took the night off which was nice, we were all able to get a good nights rest. We are looking forward to this week and all the 4th of July celebrations!