Summer lovin'

I knew a four month summer sounded long. And as much as I love my kiddos, they are of course, by nature, very high maintenance. So I was smart and filled up our days with stuff and activities and friends. But when the rest of May and then June flew by, and we were quickly approaching the start of our vacations, I was surprised how quickly time was passing. I figured it was smooth sailing from there on out and school would be here before I knew it.

But we've had a long, grumpy week. Preston is busy at work. The kids are starting to pick at each other, and whine, and tattle about the most ridiculous stuff nonstop, and not listen. And then I can't be productive; that wears on me. And so I get frustrated (and yell). And out of this not so fun week (where I wish I could be prouder of myself) I found perspective on what my lesson needed to be for Relief Society in a couple weeks -- Developing and Teaching Self Mastery. Something I need, something my kids need. So here's to hoping I can apply what I'm learning through my studies over this next little while so that our remaining summer weeks aren't so grumpy, but become happy again.
Speaking of self-mastery... like I said the kids have been very busy this summer...

Brynn finally turned seven and I've been waiting for this birthday because then she would finally be old enough for me to enroll her in the First Tee Golf class. Yep, she goes to golf every Tuesday evening for an hour and a half. And the beauty of it all?!... PJ takes her so he can get a little practice in himself - rough deal ;) She enjoys it and says she can't wait til she can go play with daddy. She's also informed us she needs us to buy her her own clubs... not sure I can afford two people loving this hobby. She'll have to wait.


And both Brynn and Tyler have gymnastics on Thursday evenings.
Tyler was 4 when he started earlier this summer. And after his first class they called and asked if I wanted to bump him up from the Kinderkids class (for 3-5 year olds) to a Boys Level 1 (for 6 and older). I thought that would be a good idea. And I don't regret the decision... but let's just say you can definitely tell he's younger. He struggles with his focus, attention, and not goofing off. But he is learning...

Brynn has been loving gymnastics and practices SO hard all the time at home to perfect her cartwheels and handstands. And she's getting quite good.

She was struggling with her handstands a bit ago and PJ decided to show her how it was done.
Now I've always been impressed with my hubbies athleticism. In my unbiased opinion he is great at whatever he does. Very talented. So to see him waiver and worry about trying to get his feet above his head and not succeeding was shocking... and slightly hilarious to watch.

Don't think he sent Brynn the message we wanted too - apparently handstand ARE scary :)

These are just some pictures from when the boys were helping daddy build Brynn's baby doll crib...

...I came out to check on them one time and found Tyler, drill and screws in hand, working on his own little project. Apparently PJ feels that Tyler now has enough experience in woodworking to let him handle the power tools all by himself.

Kate's been very busy too of course...

...the last pictures is to show her curls.

And the good thing about staying busy is that it wears them out...

11 months!

Kate is such a good, fun, easy baby. She still just has her four teeth. And yesterday she and I went to take the other three kids to the dentist and they saw her crawling around with those teeth and they said it was time for her first dentist appointment. So they squeezed her in right away. You could tell she didn't love the dentist putting the tooth brush in her mouth or rubbing her gums with his finger. But she just scowled at him with her special scowl and didn't even cry. And he said her mouth looks good! I've never been so on top of one of my babies dental visits before. Way to go me ;) At least now they are all on the same 6 month schedule for visits. She has become very steady and balanced while standing on her own, which she likes to do. And she had a busy month and got spoiled on vacation with everyone holding her and playing with her. But Aunt Laura and I made sure she practiced her walking skills. And she would take two or three steps between us but nothing new or amazing. But the day after we got home she decided to start doing even better. Excuse the very dirty onsie....



She likes to walk down the hall just touching the wall with her one hand. Here's hoping she decides to take off running soon because the summer outdoor crawling can't be good for her pudgy knees.
Her favorite food is yogurt and yogurt melts. And she just loves her bottles.
We've realized she loves to dance when there is music.
She adores her daddy and screams at him when he gets home until he pays attention to her and picks her up for cuddles. They like to rub it in my face but I'm OK with that because she does cuddle with me too. Hopefully she stays that way for forevers...

We build on each other...

This weekend we jumped at the chance to get back in the car... okay not really. After our drive home from North Carolina the previous weekend (which ended up being 16 hours on Saturday and then the last 4 hours on Sunday) we were all kind of tired of being in the car. But the Peterson's were up by Chicago at Jon's home in Naperville and we couldn't miss the opportunity to see them. So on Friday morning when Preston got off his 24 hour shift we forced ourselves into the car to make the drive 4 1/2 drive up to see them - which was totally worth it!
After relaxing and talking for a bit we headed over to the pool...

Parker, Brynn, Mia, Kate, Abby, Dylan, Tyler

The older kids went through the torturous swiming lessons in Arizona together. But because of that they all love to swim and are just like fishies. So they had a good time...


Then Jon's parents were SO sweet to watch all the kids while we went out to dinner. We had reservations at a restaurant called Meson Sabika. It was a beautiful place that offered a unique taste of Spain. And you don't order an entree, but rather rounds of small dishes that are shared among all. So we got to taste a little bit of everything. Loved it! And it was fun for PJ to order us food that he had on his mission. We also spent some time driving around viewing the architecture of Naperville and strolling the river walk. Lovely date night :)
The rest of the night was a little long as we were both up with kids who went to bed late cause of their sleepover - and they were up with Parker who was sick and there was a storm that kept Brynn up and nervous. So we got a late start to the day. But once we pulled ourselves together we headed over to Lego Land Discovery Center...
Very cool Lego creations...

And we got to learn how Legos are made. And watch an always entertaining 4D movie where the kids were grabbing at thin air and ducking from flying objects and inspecting the ceiling to find out where the wind and rain and snow was coming from ;)

There was even a small ride or two and a play area...

And after a late lunch at Red Robin we had to say our goodbyes and head home cause Preston had another 24 hour shift starting first thing Sunday morning.
During our 4D movie the Lego characters had a motto they kept saying, "We build on each other!"... Seemed like a perfect theme for our weekend and our friendship with the Petersons.

***Jill has much better pictures of this weekend that I hope to update this post with - hint hint jillybean ;)

Family Pictures

Annette hasn't had all of her family together in almost 4 years (would be 4 years this October). But all 5 of her boys and their families were able to make it to the Outer Banks for this family vacation. So we (the girls, not so much the guys) knew we had to get some group photos while everyone was together.

The 5 brothers...

Dallin, Preston, Travis, Brandon, Gavin

The matriarch...The whole clan...

Top Row: Dallin, PJ, Jessica, Travis, Brandon, Gavin
Bottom Row: Laura, Kate, Kelly, Dylan, Tyler, Brynn, Austin, Lauren, Annette, Heather (Gavin's fiance)

Grandma and her grandkids...

Austin, Dylan, Brynn, Kate, Grandma, Lauren, Jessica, Tyler

My family...

Preston and I...

As we walked back from the pier I told Preston how much I'd loved this week and how I was starting to feel sad that it was ending and that we'd have to leave and head back to normal life. He looked straight ahead and so matter-of-factly said, "I like our normal life". My husband, while he is a very passionate guy, he doesn't exactly show a lot of emotion or sentiment. So while that may seem like a passing comment to some, to me it was one of the sweetest things he's said...
It was a good week. But just a small part of a wonderful life that I'm very thankful to be living.

A Lighthouse

I think, no I'm actually pretty darn sure, that we picked the hottest day of the week to venture out and sight see. But we wanted to check out a light house while we were there and so away we went. There were pretty strict rules about who could climb the 248 steps to the top and who couldn't. So here were our climbers...

(Tyler, PJ, Brynn, Lauren, Travis, Jessie, Austin)

Dylan was actually pretty bummed that he couldn't go to the top with daddy - he didn't meet the height requirement - so Uncle Brandon was sweet enough to walk around the base with him while they waited for daddy to come back down...
Brynn climbing up the unairconditioned stairs...
At the top!...
View from above...
View from below (with a zoom)...
It actually didn't take them very long at all to make the climb or the descent.
And since we were all sweaty and hot, we stopped off at the Conery on the way home, for some refreshing ice cream...

Heather was nice enough to share some with Kate :) She was all hot too you know even if she couldn't go to the top (weren't allowed to carry anyone).
Glad the kids could see something new!