Pretty Kitty

Peter is surprisingly patient with the 18 month old member of our family.

Picture taken on July 8, 2012

Little Mommy (and more reunion fun)

Usually in the morning when Evelyn wakes up at the crack of dawn we give her a bottle and turn on some cartoons that she watches for all of 5 minutes before she starts running around the house waking everyone up. On the morning of July 6 I walked out to find this...

After finishing her bottle Evelyn arranged all these dolls and then sat back down and actually watched tv with her babies. It was amazing and super cute. She's such a good little mommy. She is obsessed with baby dolls and does everything from sharing her bottles with them to changing their diapers while hers is getting changed. Mostly, though, she likes to get them undressed. She'll come up to one of us and hand us the baby and say, "Out" which means, take this baby out of it's clothes.

I just love the position of her hands as she hold this baby. She's so gentle and loving.

For our Gilroy Family Reunion that day we went to the Lindon pool and then back to Breanne's house for dinner. It was fun. The kids had a blast playing in her big backyard.

July 4, 2012

For Ryan's birthday I got him a bike rack that could hold 5 bikes. We decided to go for a family bike ride on the morning of July 4th up the Provo River Trail. We got 5 bikes on the bike rack and Evelyn's trailer and Austin's bike on top of Ryan's car. I was pretty impressed.

It was a beautiful day and a nice ride up to Bridal Veil Falls.

After cooling off in the falls we rode up to Vivian Park. It was a little tricky trying to take this picture with my phone while riding a bike with one hand in a cast. Good thing I didn't crash. I just love the view of all my family riding in a line. It's pretty long.

After we got home and put everything away we got back in Ryan's truck and headed up to Nikki's for a 4th of July family party. There was a lot of yummy food and Austin had a blast learning to play volleyball. But it was nothing compared to the fun of Adam's Amazing Fireworks.

The kids played around with family fireworks for a while. Then at 9 pm Adam asked if he could start his. I said, No, that he needed to wait until it was dark. I could tell he was a little antsy to have some real fun but I still made him wait.

Finally at 9:30 pm I told Adam he could get started. First he brought out these long sticks and handed one to each of the kids. It took as all a freakish moment before we all started screaming, "Get out from under the trees, DON'T point that at Jack, move away from anyone else and POINT YOUR FIREWORK UP!" Whew. It was a little stressful because these sticks launched 6 rapid fireworks 150 feet into the air. They packed quite a punch and I think a lot of us parents saw trees burning, or even kids burning, in our minds eye.

Still, cool fireworks. Sorry about the fuzzy pictures. My phone has a very weak flash and doesn't do well in the dark.

Then Adam brought out "the grand finale". It was a huge box that launched half a dozen fireworks 300 feet or so with a boom! We all hoorahed and clapped and Adam sat down. Then a minute later he stood up and brought out a bigger box and said "now for the Grand finale"! And there was even more booming! It took my breath away. Well, he did this 5 times! And each box got bigger with more booms. I've seen an illegal firework or two in my time but nothing like this! It was so impressive. We decided that we're inviting Adam to all the Fourth of July parties. (Since I guess this is the kind of party he usually has at his house in CA for the fourth).

Evelyn enjoyed the show for about ten minutes before she fell asleep on Ryan. She had quite the day and there was no amount of booming that was going to keep her awake for another minute.

Tennis Anyone?

Cameron is always willing to try something new. Last January her bff Breanna talked her into playing indoor tennis. Cameron enjoyed it so when Breanna asked if she would play with her this summer Cameron was game. What we didn't realize was that this meant that twice a week Cameron would swim from 6 - 7:30 am and then play tennis from 12-2. She is one tough cookie.

These pictures are from one of her matches on July 3rd. She played doubles with the girls on her team since the other team didn't have enough players. She appreciated that since she doesn't feel confident enough to play on her own. I'm sure she'll get there, though. Breanna has decided that they will be playing tennis with the Junior High this fall. Cameron's really looking forward to it.

Gilroy Family Reunion, Hogle Zoo

The week of July 4th we had our Gilroy Family reunion. Sunday July 1st we got together for games and a spiritual thought at Nikki's house. Then on Monday we all went to the Hogle Zoo.

I don't know who was crazier, the kids or the animals...

or the moms.

The new Rocky Shores area was really impressive. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the polar bear, he was a doll.

This picture really freaks me out. I'm so glad there's a glass wall. I hope it's really thick.

Good thing those bears had their own lunch.

We finally made it to the bird show. I can't believe we saw it without Ryan. He's a total bird fanatic and he's been dying to see this show (while actually sitting in the audience and not peering over fences).

Cameron Takes The Cake

Cameron made this cake for her friend Emma's 12th birthday party. 

Most of her friends have already turned 12 so it's getting harder for her to go to 11 year old activities when she doesn't have any friends there. She's the youngest in her year and was so sad that she and one other girl were the only ones out of all the girls this year that had to miss Girls Camp. Even all of her friends in the Stake went. I was so proud of her for being strong and not getting too sad about it. I know it was hard for her to hear about how much fun everyone had. Only a couple more months and she will be 12 and get to join in all the fun.

All Dolled Up

Evelyn's hair is finally long enough for piggy tails. It's super cute.

I wasn't sure how I would manage one more hairstyle on Sunday morning but fortunately Cameron has it all figured out now. She did these cute piggy tales.

Aaronic Priesthood Camp

Ryan and Dallin attended a Stake Aaronic Priesthood Camp from June 21 to June 23. The first night they climbed a nearby hill and watched the sun set.

The next morning after breakfast Dallin presented Ryan with a cupcake he had secretly made before they left. He sang Happy Birthday to Ryan. Ryan said he got choked up that Dallin would be so thoughtful. They had a lot of fun doing activities together that day and came home Saturday tired but happy.