Welcome to our ool

(Don't you love the way the retro action looks on this picture!)

A few weeks ago I did some Photoshop work for the wards young men president. He needed some pictures taken of some art work and a collage made from that and some other pictures that were taken on the boys high adventure. In return the kids and I were invited to use their pool. Today was the perfect day. It was hot but not too hot. Paul  said it didn't get into the 90's today. I think it did.

I love pools. When I was growing up I spent every summer in my grandparent's pool. Being in the water in second nature to me. This is one of my favorite things to see. Look at that. Doesn't it look inviting? 

The kids were so anxious to swim. 

I brought both cameras with me today. The underwater camera is not the best camera in the world but it is so fun. 

I love this picture. Do you know how many times I've sat on the bottom of a pool and looked up to see this. I'm tickled to have "caught" it. 

We had a really nice time. We were there almost three hours and I took almost 400 pictures! 

I showed Emma my stylin' pool do. 

She tried it too. 

Then we played with water and hair some more. 

Then I started taking pictures of myself. I decided I wanted an underwater picture for my facebook profile picture. This is the one I chose. 

I sort of like this one too. 

I have a bit of a sunburn but it's worth it. We had a great day. 

Finally!

Several of us have been wanting to have a girl's night out. We've been planning on seeing Eclipse since late April. Well planning a night out is hard work. There are a lot of schedules to coordinate. On Tuesday I ran into Kari, Maria and Rees on a walk and they asked when we were going to see Eclipse. We decided to try for this week. I knew the cub scouts were going to Camp Jeremiah Johnson and would be gone all Friday morning. I asked if anyone was up for a morning showing while the boys were away. Miraculously everyone could make it!

We got to the theater bright and early, so early in fact that it wasn't even open yet. Rees and I took the girls with us. Emma loves Jacob and was totally excited to go.

It was a good show but there were a couple of parts where I wanted to cover Emma's eyes and ears.

We had a lot of fun even though the trip was a little rushed. (We had to be back in time for the boys so we couldn't get lunch.)

One of these days we will have to have a true night out with dinner and everything but for now a little vampire loving and time with friends was just what I needed.

Paul had a Birthday, Shout Hooray!

This weekend we celebrated Paul's birthday. Sunday we made a special dinner for him. It was tri-tip, twice baked potatoes, pasta salad and corn on the cob. We were all very anxious to give him our gifts but he wanted to wait until after dinner.

As soon as dinner was over we put a few candles on his birthday cookies and sang Happy Birthday.

There weren't enough candles for me to get the traditional candle blowing, puffed cheek picture. Dang it. I got him some ties to go with some shirts that he got at the outlets a while back.

Andrew got him a memory foam pillow.

And Emma went with me to get this book that he's been wanting for a while. 

On Monday we celebrated some more with some lunch, cake and ice cream with Paul's family.

His sister got him this book. He loved it! His other sister got him a card with a gift card that we are totally excited to us.

On Sunday while I was making Paul's dinner I got burned. I was baking bacon and when I opened the oven and reached down to pull out the shelf it popped and got me on the inside of my left arm, all over my shirt and my neck. I have six dots on the inside of my arm that are barely noticeable. My neck hurt the worst and even blistered a bit. Emma reminded me that we had an Aloe Vera plant and once I started using that it felt a lot better. Now I look like I have hickeys. Lovely. I know this isn't a flattering picture but Emma wouldn't stop taking pictures so I stuck my tongue out at her and it happens to show my burns pretty well. 

I hope you had a happy birthday honey. We love you very much! 

Proud to be an American! (Part Two)

We headed down to Provo last night for the Stadium of Fire. We didn't buy tickets this year so we headed to the Marriott Center to hang out and wait for fireworks. Of course I had a bunch of goofy 4th of July garb for the kids to wear. I love Target's one spot. 

This year Andrew has been in charge of lighting fireworks. The boy is a pyro. We have to keep an eye on him. He's been carrying the lighter all around the house.  

Here is Emma channeling her inner Karate Kid (She's never even seen the movies) She is starting to look so grown up. It won't be long before she will want to be with friends instead of family. :(

Matt, Ben and John followed us down and decided to hang with us. There was so much traffic, it took forever to get to BYU. I'm not sure they thought it was worth it, but we were glad they were there. 

Andrew tried to stink us out with more smoke balls.

Aren't we cute? Okay don't answer that. 

The kids are so goofy. 

 

This is why I go to the Stadium of Fire. I LOVE the roar of these jets. It rocks my world. We really didn't think we were going to get to see them this year.

The show started at 8:00 p.m. We drove through traffic to get there in time to see the jets. Well eight o'clock came and went. We could hear the music and the crowd cheering. 8:15 came and went. I was getting very sad. 8:30 came and still no jets. They  usually start the show. All of a sudden we could hear the Star Spangled Banner. I started getting excited. I knew they would come and sure enough. We saw them way off in the northern sky. I was soooo giddy. The sound, oh my goodness the sound. I was like a kid. The traffic, the waiting, the sitting in a parking lot for hours, these jets made it totally worth it. 

We passed the hours till the show with fireworks, sparklers and chatting. 

Oh and of course by taking pictures. 

I love this picture. Look at the intense look in his eyes. 

A little later in the evening D, J, M and M showed up!

Who can resist sparklers?

No 4th of July is complete without glow sticks.

Then it was time. FIREWORKS!!! I love watching fireworks. 

The cousins were so cute watching them together.

And here are the adults. We had a good time. Thanks everyone for joining us!