Summer Time Splash and some birthday presents too

Thursday July 26th we met up with some of the sister in laws and cousins at the local splash pad. It was a hot afternoon!

That night we had a little family party for Austin since he was having a friend birthday party the next day.

Bronze Swim Meet

Dallin and Austin participated in the bronze swim meet on July 25th, (yes, this was a very busy week). Due to thunderstorms the meet was delayed an hour and a half but when it finally got underway it was beautiful with clear skies and hot!

Dallin had a lot of fun hanging out with the other boys in his age group.

All of the six and under kids swam in this meet. Austin had a lot of fun too.

Dallin had a little trouble with his flip turns on backstroke. We figured out later that it was because this was a meter pool not a yard pool. That definitely makes a difference when you're counting strokes!

Dallin was in the last heat of the last race of the day for his breastroke.

He was neck in neck with the kid in the middle (who's head is underwater for this pic). The kid beat him literally by a hair. I was screaming my head off! It was so exciting. Dallin got a PR for breastroke, even in a meter pool!

Pioneer Day Extravaganza!

On July 24th Cameron ran her first 10k, 6.2 miles! 

She ran it with her long time friend Ryker Barton. They finished together in 1:07:58! That's better than my first two 10k finishes! It was so inspiring to watch them run in. I got all choked up. Ryan and I also ran the Speedy Spaniard. Ryan finished with a PR of 47:28 and I also finished with a PR of 57:27. Personally, I was amazed at myself. The only time I have ever run that fast was for 3 miles on a very flat course. I was thrilled but it was early and we had a busy day ahead of us...

We quickly headed home and picked up the rest of the family and crowded in along Center St. to watch the local Pioneer Day parade. Our hometown parade is a little shorter on floats then most other parades.

But the kids love it because all the entries, no matter what they're driving, throw out lots of candy and popsicles!

Cameron was even in the parade this year with the kids that won the TERRIFIC award. The poor girl just ran 6.2 miles and then she had to walk another 2.5! In flip flops no less.

We didn't stay for the whole parade because Ryan's family was meeting at Lincoln Beach for a day on the lake. We ran home and grabbed lunch and snacks, chairs and umbrellas, swimsuits and who knows what else and headed to the beach.

Poor Uncle Stu hurt his back. Good thing I had my extra comfy lawn chair.

Uncle Rich took families water skiing out on the lake. When it was finally our family's turn the wind picked up and created waves to big for skiing. We still had plenty of excitement when the waves crashed over the front of the boat and drenched us all.

It was a great day but I have to admit I was grateful for the thunder and lightning that showed up just after dinner. The rain sent us scrambling to load all of our stuff but it was nice to get home and rest a little before the fireworks.

Uncle Stu

On July 23rd Ryan's sister Deb and family came to Utah for a visit. They stopped in on Monday afternoon to say hi. Uncle Stu went straight into the living room to make a phone call for work and Evelyn climbed straight up onto his lap and began handing him books. It's been quite a while since she's seen Uncle Stu but in this house, everyone's family.

Travel and Tourism

The week of July 15 Ryan went to Japan for work. While he stayed in a nice hotel...

and ate at places like this...

and this...

 and toured places like this...

I got to brave the week with five kids. On Tuesday we made our way to the South Towne Expo Center to see all the floats for the Pioneer Day Parade. We went with Aunt Jacque and kids, and Aunt Nikki and kids. It was great to see all the interesting floats but we waited in line for almost an hour just to get  animal balloons and Eden's face painted. Crazy but fun.

Sunday Best

My little girls grow up so fast (physically). Evelyn is taking after her big sister Eden. But unlike Eden she has no hand me downs from her big sister. I gave them all away before I knew I was going to have one more. So Evelyn gets all new dresses and to be perfectly honest, I don't mind one bit. This is one of my favorites.

Weekend Getaway

For the weekend of July 13 and 14th Ryan and I got to go to Park City with the NKP's (New Knowledge Partners) for Novell. Ryan's cousin Elise stayed with the kids and took all five of them to a swim meet at the local pool. She did a great job! And so did the kids! Eden and Austin won several of their heats despite the chilly morning.

While the kids swam, Ryan and I played at the Olympic Park in Park City. It started out chilly and only got colder and wetter as the day wore on. But we still had a lot of fun.

We even did the ropes course in the rain!

The best part of the day, though, was getting to do the bobsled run! We went over 60 mph down the track. The g-force was really intense!

We ended the day with a really nice dinner before we headed home. I love Park City!