Tracy Aviary

 Ashley and I took all (10) of our kids up to Salt Lake to Tracy Aviary this week.  It was a really cute place.  The kids saw lots of interesting birds and the older kids really enjoyed the show about bird eggs.

 Keagan, Makayla, and Lila

These kids are all so sweet and love each other so much.  Lila is especially fond of Makayla and followed her around a lot.

 I kept trying to take a picture of my kids on the spinning thing, but I ended up with about 6 pictures with Keagan and Kaiden dead center.  Good thing they are the cutest twins ever.

We had a picnic in Liberty Park afterward and then found one of the coolest splash pads ever!  I have no idea why I didn't take any pictures, but you'll have to believe me when I tell you it was awesome.  We can't wait to go back with Ryan.

Ashley and I also took the kids to Seven Peaks water park last week for the first time this season.  No pictures, but it happened.  Jack loved the one slide we did, I didn't like it because it made me dizzy, and Sunny cried at the very thought of it and waited for us at the bottom.  

I predict many more trips there this summer.

Nolan Park Splash Pad

Not super exciting, but I want to document it anyway.  This is a new splash pad just a mile from our house.  It is not super awesome by any means, but the kids still like it anyway. Earlier this week Kathy and I took the kids over to play and then Ryan and I took them again the next morning.

Springville Art Festival

Back at the beginning of June, right after Sunny's crazy recital week (which I will blog about one of these days) we went to the Art Festival with Aunt Julie, Aunt Sarah, Nana Blair, and lots of cousins.  I took just Sunny, Lila, and Griffin with me and we had a blast.

Face painting was the clear favorite with my crew.  They really wanted balloon animals, but we didn't have time to wait in the line.  We walked over to a booth right after I told the kids we couldn't do it, and a nice lady walked up and asked G if he wanted one.  He was thrilled...I love nice people :)

At the festival, the kids went around to different booths and did art projects.  For each project they completed they got their special card punched and once they got so many punches they could trade the card in for a prize.  I think we ended up doing 7 crafts.  It was really fun and definitely something we will do again.

Silly Lila

Lila is the queen of crazy outfits.  I particularly love the hat in this picture because it was 100 degrees that day.  She changed into this because she was "too hot" in her swim suit

And...if Cam will stay asleep long enough, I'm going to start blogging all of our summer adventures so far.  Stay tuned.

Fire

A couple of days ago a fire was started on the mountains behind our home by some people out target shooting.  These are all taken from my back porch, and don't really do justice to how big and scary the fire looked at times.

On the second day of the fire, it began burning out of control and several neighborhoods nearby were evacuated.  That brown building you see in the picture is the fire station.  Right behind it is one of the main roads in our town. Most people on the other side of that road and to the east had to go.  The evacuation line was about a half a mile from our house.

I spent the whole morning getting prepared.  Making sure I had an emergency kit for me and the kids, and gathering pictures and important documents in case we had to leave.  Luckily, we never did.  We just got a lot of smoke and some falling ash.

In this one you can see some of the orange flames.  During the night the whole ridge would glow orange and you could see hot spots all over the hill.

As of today, the fire has burned over 6000 acres and is 40% contained.  The fire fighters hope to have it out by the 26th.

Swing Set

Okay Mok, here it is.  Pictures of the kids on their fabulous new swing set.  They LOVE it. The neighbor kids LOVE it. and we LOVE it.

Leave it to Griffin to immediately find the highest/most dangerous part of the set.

Gman loves the swing.

Sunny thought the monkey bars would be her favorite, but now she can't decide what she likes best.

They have already been outside everyday playing with friends and having fun.  We love having our nice swing set and look forward to even more hours of enjoyment playing on it!

Thanks Mok and Pok. We love you!

Garden

My first harvest of the year! They are very small because they were choked out by the enormous brussel sprouts, but they were delicious.

This must be the perfect garden spot.  I swear I don't do anything special...in fact, I  do the opposite of that.  I just throw a bunch of things in and hope they grow, and grow they do!

My brussel sprouts are out of control.  They are so huge.  I hope they are ready soon, because I am ready to eat them.  I have onions all around them, but they aren't doing fabulous because they are so crowded.  I have one Roma tomato and it is doing great.  I probably have 20 green tomatoes right now.  They are getting big and it will be so fun to pick and share with the neighbors (since I HATE tomatoes with a passion).  In the back are 2 little cantaloupe plants that aren't doing much of anything, and then I have a ton of pumpkins. This picture was taken last week and they have grown a lot since then.

The kids and I really enjoy this little garden!

9 Month Stats

 I took Cameron to the doctor for his well-check yesterday.  Ironically, he is not well, he has a rather annoying cold/yucky eye thing going on.  Turns out he also as fluid in one of his ears, but it is not infected, so we will just hope it goes away.

Other than that, he was great.  No shots and a happy kid.

 At 9 months Cameron is:

18 lbs 10 ounces = 30th %

29 inches tall = 71st%

18 inch head = 68th%

 He is still the smallest of my boys, but is growing well, and is much bigger than his sisters were at that age.  So good for him!

And the other kids stats, so I can remember:

Jackson was 19lbs 8oz and 28.5 inches

Sunny was 16lbs 7oz

Lila was 16lbs 14oz and 27.5 inches

Griffin was 20lbs 2oz and 28 inches

Zoo

 Yesterday we went to the zoo with Mimi and Bear.  It was so much fun!  The kids had a blast and the heat didn't seem to bother them much at all.

 Griffin was Bear's little buddy.  Anywhere Bear went Gman was right behind him.

 All the kids had huge ice cream cones.

Josh and Jess were working, so we brought Henry with us.  It was his second time in a week.  He was such a sweetie the whole time.

Thanksgiving Point Farm Country

 Mom and I took the kids to the farm today.  It was a beautiful morning and we loved spending it outside.  We got there right when it opened and it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.

 Jail Pics!

 Cameron loved the baby goats...and the big ones for that matter.  He let them lick all over his fingers.

 A little tiny black baby goat came over to him and I think Mom got a picture.  It was so cute, but I didn't want Cameron to hurt him, so I didn't get a picture.

 Cam also loved walking along the fence.

 These next pictures are a big deal people.  Prepare to be very excited.  These are Sunny petting a goat.  She did it all on her own...no coaxing or bribery was involved on my part.

For those who don't know, Sunny is terrified of animals.  Petting zoos, in the past, have caused her to melt down to the ground in a screaming fit.  She is freakishly terrified.  Well, not anymore.  My brave little girl has conquered her fear.

 Jack on the big horse.

 Lila was a little nervous at first, but she really wanted to ride that "unicorn." 

 And another huge milestone.  She rode a horse.  Yes, she pet a goat and rode a horse all in hone day.  And even more importantly, she LOVED it.  Afterwards, she told Mom and I that she was scared, but she sucked it up because she knew if a 2 year old could do it, so could she.

 Words cannot describe how proud I am of my sweet Sunny girl.

 And of course, Mr. G., who was not about to be outdone by his big siblings.  He hopped right up and loved ever minute.