Veterans Pool...

Yesterday before my sister and her family headed back to my parents house for a couple days(and then home to Texas) we(me and the kids and my sisters Jennifer and Jamie and their kids) decided to go to Veterans Pool in Provo. Those of you that haven't been there I highly recommend it! It has an awesome(big) kid area(better than Seven Peaks in my opinion), a regular pool and two large tube slides for adults, it's really clean and really cheap(0-3 free, 4+ $3.00.) So it only cost me three bucks for the three of us because the kids were free. They are really strict on the little ones wearing swim diapers(which I like) and you can buy one there if you don't have one(they ask you when you enter.) They also clear the pools every two hours for 15 minutes to test the water(and recommend you change diapers, get snacks, etc.) It was great because we all took some pictures and then emailed them to each other-so I actually have some with me in them. We had a great time and I will definitely be going back soon!

Jamie and I and the girls-my sister Jennifer bought them the little outfits they are wearing(so cute! Thanks Jen!)


Jennifer and the girls-Claire wasn't too happy because it was nap time.


My favorite picture of Maddy-this is pretty much how happy he was the whole time!

Maddy had the most fun of everyone. It was his nap time but I decided to go and see how he did. He went nonstop down this slide probably a hundred times(I'm not exaggerating.) It was nice because the water was so shallow that I didn't have to be right by him. He had SO much fun! Until the part when we had to leave. He was the last one in the pool(in our group) and I pretty much had to drag him out. Once we got in the truck I think it hit him how tired he was and he fell asleep on the way home(which he hasn't done for probably over a year.)


My favorite picture of Avery!


Avery also loved it. Her feet could touch the ground and she would try and scoot away and would laugh when I splashed water in her face. It was also her nap time but you would've never

known.

This is when we were leaving and Maddy started throwing a fit because he didn't want to leave so I started swinging him up and down to distract him. He was laughing until I stopped...

...and as you can see he wasn't happy about leaving!


Maddy and Dallin had the best time together. They would race up to the slide and come down right after each other and then splash each other(and anyone else in their way) on the way back up to the slide.


"Splash"


The girls trying to escape...


Maddy's favorite place to be...he is still taking about the slide today. I really like this picture too!


The kid's cousins(Claire, Carlee, Little C. Dallin.)


I like how you can see all the water falling down on the kids in this picture.

Just hanging out...

Thanks Jen and Jamie(and kids) for such a fun time. Jamie we will have to go again soon-Steve wants to go with us(and Ben.) Jen we will miss you guys so much and can't wait for you to come again! Thanks for all the memories!

Hosts or Guests?

My sister and her family drove out from Texas and stayed with us 6 nights over the last week and a half. It was so fun having them stay with us especially since we usually only get to see them once a year. They were great guests and made us feel like their guests. My sisters husband Clarence is great cook and made us lots of yummy food. He grilled up steak and veggies one night and ribs another night. Two mornings he made us a good old southern style breakfast which included eggs(anyway we wanted them), sausage and of course grits(which I found out I really like-so does Maddy.) My sister Jennifer also made a spaghetti dinner. She also watched the kids one night while Steve and I went out for dinner(we haven't went out alone for months-seriously!) It was nice to eat dinner with no distractions. When we came home she had fed Maddy, cleaned his room, got him ready for bed and was rocking him and reading him a story. It was the best! Maddy also loved having the kids here because it was like a nonstop play date for him. Of course we also watched some movies downstairs including Transformers(which everybody especially loved because of the sound and graphics.) Jennifer has spoiled the kids rotten always reading to Maddy and holding Avery nonstop. Avery got to the point where as soon as Jennifer picked her up she would be grinning ear to ear. We had a great time and can't wait for them to come back.

Clarence cooking us some yummy food...

Maddy's first time playing video games...

Maddy and his cousins playing...

A Trip Down the River...

On Saturday we took a trip down the Provo River. Jamie, Dallin, Shalane, Justin, Jennifer, Clarence, Carlee and little C all came too. We had a pretty fun time although we had a few obstacles along the way. Steve, Maddy(What were we thinking?) and I were in a raft together. Just a little tip to any of you who do this in the future-don't take a 2 year old-he cried almost the whole time and wanted to sit on my lap which made it hard to row. We had quite a few encounters with the branches and trees on the sides of the river and some big rocks that we got our raft centered on. All three of us got smacked in the head by each others paddles We also couldn't seem to get away from a huge group of highly wasted kids. I must admit they did make our ride quite a bit more entertaining. Finally by the time we were done(go figure) Steve and I had a pretty good rowing system down and Maddy had stopped crying. My plan was to not get wet-we were pretty soaked by the time we got out.

Here is a picture of most of us(minus Clarence, little C, Jamie, Dallin and Avery) before we loaded up and went on our way.

After Clarence got all of the rafts blown up at Vivian Park we piled everyone into Steve's truck, 6 in the truck, 3 rafts, 1 tube, and 4 people holding them down in the bed. As we were driving Steve said "I better not get a ticket." We kind of all joked about it and said we would all pitch in to pay for it if he did. As we turned into our entrance to the river a cop was waiting right there. He just looked at us questionably(as we all held our breath) and fortunately went on his way.

We were the first to finish and couldn't get over to the side fast enough so Steve had to jump in the river and push us over. Can I just say I'm glad he's the man and not me-that water was ice cold! My brother Justin was on the single yellow tube in the picture and he came in with us.

Shalane(the single rower), Jamie, Carlee and Dallin were the next to come in. Carlee and Dallin were sports, even laughing when they got wet. Dallin was upset for the first 10 minutes of the 1 1/2 hours of the trip. Then he began to have fun and even told his mom that it was the best day ever.

Clarence and little C were the last ones to make it. Clarence was slowed down from rescuing a family(with 4 kids) that had flipped over. He even got out of the raft to let a mom in and swam in the ice cold water! What a man!

The men of the group. Thank heavens we had them-I don't know how we would've done it without them! They pretty much had to pull everyone in.

My sister Jennifer insisted on staying behind with Avery so I could go down the river since it was the first time for me(they go down the river in Texas where they live a lot.) She also took pictures as we came it. Thanks so much Jen! You are spoiling the kids rotten and I'm worried when you leave Avery is going to expect all the attention you are giving her.

Smiling...Giggling...Laughing...

Maddy's favorite part was playing on the playground and in the sand at Vivian Park after the river trip...

The kids left completely filthy due to Maddy throwing sand on them. If you look closely you can even see dirt on Maddy's nose. Needless to say they rode home in their diaper and underwear and then went right into the tub.

Small Swim Lesson...

Today we took the kids swimming again. They had a lot fun and as you can see Avery loved being in the tube. It was nice because I didn't have to hold her the whole time. Steve decided to give Maddy his first unofficial swim lesson...

They were taking turns blowing bubbles in the water. It was pretty funny and they were laughing so hard. I really like this picture!

Steve teaching Maddy how to kick his legs.


Maddy and Avery watching Steve dive off the diving board.

Maddy tried to put on Steve's goggles and told me he wanted to go swim with Daddy-who was swimming laps with his client.


Maddy enjoying his blue raspberry snow cone after swimming.

SYTYCD 4.4...

The remaining six couples performed two routines each again tonight. My hands down favorite of the night was Jessica & Will's Contemporary routine choreographed by Tyce Diorio. I posted the video above(pictures aren't available on the Fox site yet so I thought this would be just as good if not better-you will need to pause the music on my playlist so they aren't both going at the same time.) I actually think I might go add the video's to my previous SYTYCD posts as well. :) They were barely dressed and danced intertwined nearly the whole time. Here are some of the ways it was described on the show: "Garden of Eden," "The connection between a man and a woman," "Art, music, and bodies coming together, "Erotic," "A moving human body of art." Those were all better than I could come up with myself. It really was a very sexy number and both Jessica and Will did an amazing job! It was performed to the song "Silence" from the Unfaithful Soundtrack. Very appropriate because there was a lot of silence during the song which is what made it so amazing. The choreography was amazing and Tyce has really caught my attention(may be a little competition for Mia and Mandy?)

My next favorite was Katee & Joshua's Bollywood routine choreographed by Nakul Dev Mahajan. It was the first time this type of dance has ever been performed on the show. It was very fun to watch and I think they were the best couple to debut it. Katee looked beautiful all jeweled up.

Another fun one to watch was Twitchington's Krump routine choreographed by Lil' C. It was completely gangster and Kherington did amazing(quite surprising because she is such a sweet girl.) She really got down and dirty with this one.

It's too hard to pick bottom three because there are only 6 couples left. With the exception of Comfort & Thayne(neither of theirs were very good in my opinion) the couples either performed two pretty good routines(Chelsie H. & Mark, Courtney & Gev), or one great routine and one not so great routine(Jessica & Will, Kherington & Twitch, Katee & Joshua.) So I'm not going to predict the bottom three, I'm just going to predict who goes home:

Comfort & Thayne-I think it is their turn. They danced their styles of dance this week which were Hip-Hop and Contemporary and they just didn't measure up. I totally agreed with Nigel that I wish someone else could have danced their Contemporary routine because it was beautiful-they just didn't connect with it or each other.

I am excited for next week to see who everyone is paired up with when they all get switched around. It will be fun to see how they all match up and who really steps up.

Best 4th of July Ever..

My entire immediate family and their families(all 21 one of us) were together for the first time in several years. We spent the 4th of July together at my house. It was so nice to all be having so much fun and not have anyone missing. We quickly got a family picture while we were all there and surprisingly enough it turned out pretty good. Then we grilled up some buffalo burgers(provided by my brother in law Justin) and hot dogs. We also had all the fixings including baked beans, macaroni salad, veggie tray, fresh fruit and my dad's yummy dutch oven peach cobbler with ice cream of course. As you will see in the pictures we had tons of fun riding motorcycles, chatting, dancing, being silly and of course watching the fireworks. I had the best time and hope we can keep doing this in the years to come!

Three of my siblings: Shalane(Laney), Jennifer(who came out from Texas along with her family) and Shawn. They were being completely crazy and seeing who could get the silliest pictures.

Avery wasn't feeling well at all and my brother Shawn was giving her some lovin...

Some of the bike action(we all had our turn.) My sister(in the pink shirt) is the proud owner of one of the bullet bikes as well as my brother Justin and the cruiser belongs to my dad. Our neighborhood was pretty quiet(I think every one was at Stadium of Fire) so hopefully we didn't disturb too many people.

Some pocket-bike fun. One of them is not like the others...

Maddy's plastic bike proved to be the most dangerous...

Steve took Maddy and I for a ride. At first Maddy was a little nervous but he ended up really liking it.

I really like this picture-I rarely get a decent picture of me with my eyes open.

My adorable niece Claire(Boo Boo.)

Maddy was a little overwhelmed with so many people at our house. He also got his finger slammed in the door(as you can see there is a bandaid on it.)

My niece McKayla enjoying her peach cobbler...

Another favorite picture...

Everyone hanging out...

It was nice to have so many people to take turns with baby duty. We even let Avery stay up past her bedtime...More fun times...as you will see as the night went on we got more and more silly...

Dancing and silly face contests...

My sister Jamie broke out her singing and dance moves(to her Lemar song from Madagascar.) She stole the show...if you notice in the first picture her husband Benny is right behind her and is completely oblivious to her mad skills. Apparently he has had several private viewings...

My sister Stacy and her cute little family.

"Who likes candy?"

A little sparkler fun for the kids...while we patiently waited for the real show.

Some goodies in black and white...

"Cheese!" Maddy was my little buddy all night long. I really like this picture too.

One last big boy/little bike race. My niece McKayla starting them off...

Maddy and Steve waiting for the big firework show my neighbor Ryan puts on. Probably my favorite picture of the day!

Some of the pretty fireworks we saw right from our lawn-Thanks Ryan for the great show-it was the perfect ending to the perfect day!