Big Shoes!

I had left me running shoes out and Tanner came over to me and said "Look at me!  I wear big shoes!"  It was so sweet.  He had the biggest smile on his face.  It cracked me up seeing him trying to walk around in my big shoes.  I love these sweet little moments that help me realize what life is about!

Super Hot but still FUN!

 We went to L with Angie, Sammee, Mikayla and Ashtyn.  Angie and the girls have season passes so they've been dying to have us come and spend a day with them at L.  It was one of the hottest days of the year (103) but we had to get our day in before Chase starts football next week.  The sun zapped me so around 5:00 I perked up and was able to have some fun.  Tanner fell asleep in the car on the way down so when we got there he was still a little sleepy.  His first ride was "Bulgy the Whale" and I thought he would be so excited.  I think he was still waking up because he looked at us like we were crazy and he didn't crack a smile the whole ride.

There were only a couple of rides that Bridger could go with Tanner.  He's finally reached the height limit in the main kiddy area.  

Tanner LOVED the train!!!!  He had the biggest smile on his face the whole ride.  I think he would have been content to just stay on the train ride the entire day.

Tanner's other favorite ride was the "gun" ride.  He'd get off of it and say "Again! Gun! Gun! Gun!"  He probably rode it 6-7 times!!  He loved the gun!  The first time he didn't figure out how to press the buzzer but after that he pressed the whole ride.

The boys were a good sport and went on a few of the bigger kiddie rides with Tanner.  I love this picture of Chase with his arm around Tanner.

Luckily the line for the boat ride was really short.  Tanner liked driving the boat and ringing the bell.

Matt, Ashtyn and I chose not to go on Cliff Hanger.  We didn't want to walk around in wet clothes for the rest of the day.  Chase, Bridger and Mikayla went on the ride and got soaked!!!  But they loved it!  It was so hot everything dried out except for their shoes.

It was so hot some got slushy drinks.  Tanner liked Ashtyn's drink the best and she was sweet enough to share her drink with him.

Tanner was barely tall enough to go on the Music Go Round ride.  I was worried he would get sick but he laughed and smiled the entire ride.  He thought it was so much fun!

They were more strict on the water ride so Tanner couldn't go but Sammee, Mikayla, Chase and Bridger went.  They were disappointed because they hardly got wet.  The line was too long otherwise they would have gone again to get wet.

While the big kids were on the Bat, Bridger took Tanner on this little water ride and he loved it!  It splashed just enough on them to cool them off a little.

While the big kids were riding the big roller coasters, I took Tanner on the egg drop ride.  He barely met the height requirement but I was worried that he was too little.  He looked a little scared at first but when it dropped he started to laugh and he giggled the rest of the ride.

Tanner loved driving his first car.

Bridger asked if we could go on the Farris Wheel while the big kids were on Samurai.  I've never ridden the Farris Wheel at L so I said "sure! Why not."  (Luckily the line was short).  Just as we were about to board, they had the wheel go around and around.  Tanner stuck his little arm past the gate and kept yelling "Stop!"  It finally stopped and was our turn to ride it.  It was an amazing view of the park.  I just didn't like looking down and I didn't let the boys move.  Other than that I really liked the ride.  While we were on the this ride, we could see Matt, Chase, Mikayla and Ashtyn riding Samurai. When we got off it, we met back up with our group.  The first thing Matt said was "my phone fell out of my pocket during the ride!"  Once I got over the shock, we pulled out my phone and used "find my phone" to locate Matt's.  It was out in the parking lot and luckily it was not cracked.  Just that morning I had Matt put on a screen protector.  He thinks his phone flew 50 feet up in the air and then landed in the parking lot.  Luckily it didn't hit a car and luckily it still works!!! We had a great day with Angie and the girls and Ashtyn.  We're so glad they've moved home so we can spend more time with them.

First Time at the Drive In

One of the things on our summer list was to go to a drive in movie theater.  The boys had never been and I hadn't been since I was a kid.  Maddie and Chase were texting so at the last minute, Mylissa threw her kids in the car and met us there.  We watched the movie "Secret Life of Pets."  The kids really enjoyed it and thought it was funny.  Mylissa opened up the back of her car and Chase, Maddie and Caleb stayed in the back of that while Mylissa sat in a chair just outside of her car.  Matt drove his truck so Matt and I, Bridger, Julie and Tanner were in the back of his truck.  Caleb kept going back and forth.  We brought our lounge chairs and set them in the back of his truck and then the little kids sat in front of us on blankets and pillows.  We had such a fun night!  The weather was perfect! I think this will be a new summer tradition.

My Little Helper

 Whenever I'm cooking, Tanner climbs up on the counter and wants to help me.  He especially loves to make yummy things so he can lick the beaters.  I was making brownies and he was helping me.  Afterwards he licked the beater.  I think he got more on his face than in his mouth.

Tanner got a pair of hand me down pjs from Caleb.  He loves to wear his spiderman pjs.  When he wears them the says "Caleb?"  

 I had to work and Chase and Bridger were in charge of babysitting Tanner.  I told them I didn't want Tanner watching tv all day.  I made them a list of things they could do with Tanner.  While I was at work, Chase sent me this picture and said that Tanner finger painted it with the color wonder paints.  Chase asked him if he wanted to send mom a picture of it and Tanner said "Yes!"  Chase and Bridger are such good babysitters.  Tanner loves his brothers.  I dropped Chase and Bridger off at the S's to play and when Tanner realized that he wasn't staying to play with his brothers he started to cry.  He cried and said "My brothers!!!"  and then "my Chasee!" and "my Bridgee!"  He cried all the way home.  I went to the car wash and he fell asleep.  As soon as I pulled into the driveway he woke up and looked around and started to cry and say "my brothers!"  He just wants to do everything that they do.  He loves being with his brothers!

Temple Road Trip

 I have the opportunity to work with the Lauels in our young women group.  When we were planning our summer activities, the girls requested to do a "temple trip."  They wanted to spend a day seeing the temples that are relatively close to use and do some baptisms.  So we arranged for a temple day.  The girls arranged to get work off.  We left my house at 9:15 and headed first to the Provo City Center Temple.  Margo arranged for the girls to do baptisms at this temple.  I have one young lady that is not a member yet so we just waited outside and had a great time getting to know each other better.  I'm so impressed with her faith and her desire to learn about the gospel.  We learned the story behind this sculpture, just before the sculptor began this he learned that this baby was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.  At first he didn't know if he should still use the little girl but then he decided that in heaven she will be perfect.  I love this picture of my girls because they look so happy. They are amazing young women who are so strong and are making such great choices in their lives.  I'm so proud of them and I love working with them.

 When the girls finished their baptisms, we found some shade and ate our sandwiches.  Towards the end of lunch, a security guard came over and told us that you can't have a picnic on the temple grounds.  Luckily he was really nice and let us finish our lunch.  Who knew?  Then we drove over to the Mount Timpanogos Temple.  We just walked around the gorgeous grounds and peaked in the waiting room.

Our next stop was the Draper Temple.  We walked around the grounds and peaked inside the waiting room.  The girls enjoyed the beautiful view overlooking the SL valley.

 Next we crossed over the valley to the west side to visit the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.  We walked around the grounds and when we peaked in the waiting room a temple worker said that it wasn't very busy right then and asked if the young women would like to do baptisms.  Three of our girls without hesitation said "yes!"  A couple of our girls were really tired and worn out so they waited with me.  It was super hot so while we were waiting, we drove to a new Nielson's custard that just opened up and got shakes.  Yummy!

One of our young women had never seen the Salt Lake temple and she really wanted to visit it and temple square.  So we made that our last stop.  We walked around the ground but we couldn't peak in the temple waiting room because the temple was closed for a couple of weeks for cleaning.  But the girls still enjoyed looking at the temple and enjoying the beautiful grounds.  We had some great discussions on temples.  We had assigned each girl a temple to learn about so when we got to a temple, the girl would share what they had learned about the temple.  Then Margo brought a book about temples that gave a lot of information about them so we were able to learn about other temples too.  

We couldn't have asked for a better day.  What a spiritual high!  We didn't get home until 10:30pm!!  It was such a great day! I love these girls!  

Chase at Scout Camp

Chase and Matt had the opportunity to go to scout camp at the same place.  Chase went to scout camp and Matt was on High Adventure at the same place.  They went to Camp L and had a great time.  Even though they didn't do the same thing, they were able to camp by each other and still see each other throughout the week.  Matt even spent a day with Chase instead of going on the overnight wilderness survival night.  Luckily Chase wasn't backpacking in because his pack was very heavy but he was able to fit everything he needed for the week.  They left Monday morning at 4:45am and came home Saturday afternoon around 3:00.  (That's a long week of camping!)  Chase got along with everyone and strengthened some friendships.  Matt was able to bond with his teachers.  He was dreading the campout but came home with a new outlook on life and was very positive about the whole experience.  We have a great group of young men and leaders!

 This is just Chase's group.  Chase is in the very back row second to the end on the right side.  Chase worked really hard on merit badges and came away with 7!!!  He's doing a great job of working on the merit badges to get closer to his eagle.  One of the challenges Chase had to do was "Polar Bear Springs."  You have to stay under this freezing cold waterfall for 10 seconds.  Chase did it!

Fun with Friends

Easton came up and spent 5 days with us.  We went to a neighborhood pool party.  The boys played on their electronic too much!  Finally I got mad at them and told them to play a game.  I came downstairs and Easton was teaching them how to play "Ticket to Ride."  Even Tanner was playing.

We went to another pool party at our friends house the Morris'.  Matt had a UNAA meeting there and families were invited too.  The boys took a basketball camp in Smithfield on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 9-12.  The Summers' boys came too which made it so fun for all the boys and it was nice to carpool.  On Tuesday after the camp, I took the boys to a jumping place for a couple of hours and they were worn out by the end of it.  They had so much fun!  Sweet Tiff invited them up for a late night on Wednesday after mutual.  The week went by so fast.  We took Easton home on Friday and stayed the day at Shan's helping her around the house.  Bridger has missed Brody so much that we invited him over to Shan's for a few hours (sweet Belina rearranged things so he could come).  Bridger was so happy to spend some time with Brody.

Unfortunately Tanner got the flu while we were at Shans.  He threw up on the way down and had a fever.  I had no idea otherwise I wouldn't have brought him.  We're hoping the Lord blesses us for all the service we do and no one will get sick.  He's been so miserable.  He just lays on the couch and snuggles with us.