I guess I’ll start with this: My sister noticed that our old house in Virginia had been for sale. I’ve always fantasized about going back and visiting the house, but this was nearly as good (cheaper and less invasive). It’s been heavily remodeled and expanded since we were there (about 25 years ago).

Here’s an interior shot of the living room area (my favorite spot as a kid). I’m not going to post all the pictures, but the interior has also had some substantial upgrades. For example, the window behind the computer is now a door leading into a sun room. Seeing these pictures brings back a lot of good memories, but it also reminds me that things change and the past is truly gone (that may sound sad, but it’s really not).

July is officially the hottest month on record for some parts of Utah. What better way to cool off than a trip to Seven Peaks? Sometimes all I can think about is how lucky we are that we have access to these wonderful resources.

A trip to Bear Lake with our friends, the Bazinets. Boating, playing in the sand…

… swimming, exploring…

…campfire cooking and games. [I hope Fran will hop on here one day and expand my captions a bit, but I’m sure everyone gets the idea]

New summer activities: swimming lessons and signing up for football

My kids are so cute! Claire created a runway and had a fashion show (it was “girls only” so I’m lucky to have these pictures!).
Sometimes the kids build forts without my help- I think these are the ones that they get the most excited about. A lot of times they even sleep in them together. Living room camping is pretty cushy.

Missie, a Meridian high school friend, was in town so the Sabins, Jim and I went to visit her for a bit. Always fun to take a stroll down memory lane.
A few days later we celebrated Pioneer Day and lit off what was left of our Fourth of July fireworks. I probably would have gotten a few more aerials, but we were leaving on a trip the next day (more on that soon).

Iron Man 3 came out so the Hughes family hit the theaters. It was a pretty late show but all the kids made it though. IM3 didn’t disappoint- quite a blast.

Fran hosted her niece Natasha’s bridal shower at our hose. I was in the office putting together list basket (on the right) of party favors and it sounded like everyone was having a great time. Congrats Tasha!

Mother’s Day was on the 12th this year. The kids all made cute cards for Fran (I bought a cute card). Despite my protests Fran decided she wanted a new sewing machine. She’s such a good mom that we decided to oblige her.

Look at those kids! So full of mom-love. In the afternoon we went to see some more moms (my mom & grandma). We ate together, visited and played at the local park. Thanks to all the wonderful moms in our lives- we love you!

We decided to start a family puzzle. It took us a few days of work but we got it all together! Claire & Mike were really helpful and put some pretty big chunks together. Remember: Build the puzzle edges out first. Then sort the remaining pieces by color. When you cry don’t get the pieces wet or they won’t fit correctly. Here’s our finished puzzle. 

I’m sure ever parent thinks they’re kids are the cutest. But have your kids every put socks on their ceiling fan? Maybe this is more bizarre than cute, but I got a kick out of it. And watching toddlers do grown up things is adorable. Here is Chloe helping me clean one one of my cars (she did a great job).

Also of note is this picture of five cubic yards of dirt. If you only need a few bags full, don’t buy this much to get “free delivery” because it may very well end up spread across your driveway (a not cute characteristic of our kids).
Fran’s parents came to visit and we took them to Ruth’s Chris. A delicious meal with delightful people – them, not me, of course.

Mike decided he wanted the car to look like a Lamborghini Aventador. We cut out the shape with a band saw and then sanded it down.

Mike hand sanded the car body, we sealed it and then added weights in the rear of the car.

Mike painted the car orange and then we added details by hand with acrylic paints.

We polished the axles and wheels and added graphite everywhere we could think of. Here’s the finished car- it turned out to be more like a graphite-covered monsterghini (sort of reptilian) but it was still pretty slick.

We checked out the competition and it was pretty fierce. The Derby officiator was awesome. He had made his own track and had electronic timers accurate to 1/100 of a second. No arguments about who finished where! Each car ran three times (down the three derby tracks) and the time was averaged. Winner was the fastest overall time. We came in thirteen out of sixteen.

Here are the final standings and the times to beat at the next Derby.

The other day the kids decided to mix some blue chalk with pain and become smurfs. I think I’d like to be a Smurf – they seemed to be having a great time.  I gave Chloe her first piano lesson (mostly she hit my hand and said “No!”).
And then my computer decided to break. As soon as I hit the power button the fan would come on full blast and the laptop would shut off. I surmised the computer thought it was overheating and decided to take it apart. I gave it a good cleaning and it seems to work fine now. I love taking things apart, just for the record. But, for the same record, I don’t like it when things break.

We had a marathon game of UNO the other night. This is the first time I can recall Gabe playing with his own hand of cards. He needed a little help but did pretty well!  We’re just waiting on one more now- although she certainly tries to play.

Fran and the kids went on a hike up to Donut Falls (well, to the trail head anyway). The scenery was gorgeous and the kids had fun but they weren’t dressed for the conditions and sustained numerous snow scrapes from falling info holes (and probably from being kids).

We took the kids to Hogle Zoo. I hadn’t been there in a few years so I was excited to go back. Unfortunately they have about a third of the park ripped out for a new exhibit coming next year (I wish my ticket had cost a third less). No train, no playground and some of the animals were in weird spots. They did add a few new things though like a sleeping polar bear and lots of detours. We also made the mistake of going during spring break – crowded!

There was a lot to do and plenty to see. Despite a lot of whining (not all of it was from me) we had a [mostly] good time. Here are a few of the animals we encountered (the brown bears were playing in the water and were quite cute).

The same day we went to the Zoo we decided to see a movie. We rounded up the kids and went to see GI Joe: Retaliation in 3D. I thought it was a fun action flick, but half our crew fell asleep.

The weather is finally warming up a bit! Mike pruned some of our Aspen trees (for money, of course- although he was really excited about the clippers). And now the kids can finally use the new swing set without getting muddy (I finally took a look at it- pretty cool). Best of all five kids can cram around an iPhone to watch Netflix.

We filled our days with puzzles (Fran and I started a 1000 piece puzzle. We got the edges put together, and that might be good enough for me- I am deathly afraid of 1000 piece puzzles), games, movies and meals. I like to think we have wild crazy fun, but puzzles and Jenga don’t seem to give off that vibe.