Monday, June 30, 2014

Summer Days in June

Eating outside! The fam got me a new outdoor table and chairs/bench for my birthday that we finally assembled this month. In this pic the littles and I were eating lunch during the bigs' last week of school (and our last days of calm before all 4 were home all day!)

We finally made it to the big, brand new aquarium and it was gorgeous and huge and fresh and completely jam packed with people!

Afternoon playtime at the reservoir. The water is quite cold in June but tons of the neighborhood kids are still in school (year round) so it's not as busy up there. And my crazy kiddos aren't phased by the temperature one bit! They come out shivering and frozen with blue lips but all we have to do is go sit the piping hot car for a few minutes and they warm right up!

Hiking activity with the YW. We actually hiked up the paved trail to the reservoir for a devotional which ended up being a really fun outing together.

Another huge youth activity: Where's C.O.W? This year (3rd in a row) was the best yet! I'm finally figuring out the logistics of this thing and even found a great PDF to copy and slightly modify with great ideas and graphics=huge time saver.

Krista and Johnny moved back to Utah, and Maggie and Mary made plans to be in town for the same week. We made the most of family time starting with this fun surprise baby shower for our cute Mary. I love these sisters of mine and how much fun we have together. All of us carpooled up to the shower together in one big minivan and had a happy, hilarious ride hanging out as just the girls :)

 While Bob was in town the brothers arranged a boys' lunch date, moving Tom and Jess into their new house in Sandy, and a date night to see the comedian Ryan Hamilton. We ended our date night with this silly LeBaron faced #ellenselfie.

 And before Mag had to head back to SG we had Sunday dinner together at Draper Park. With this many cousins we fit really well in a huge open space with lots of grass and roaming space for all these darlings.

 Luke and I found Anna and Elsa at Wal-Mart for some upcoming potty training motivation

 A little creative play time making elephant toothpaste, moon dough and craft stick cobra weaves (Bentley nailed this! It was hard to figure out but he stuck with it and made some really long weaves that exploded into the air as soon as he let go of the last pressure point. All fun Pinterest finds of course!)

 Murdock Canal Trail ride with our ward friends the Adams. We met up at Thanksgiving Point to start out on the trail and realized Joseph had loaded up all the bikes and helmets and gear, except for his biking shoes! Instead of turning around to go grab them he just went for it in his flip-flops! Luckily the trail is mostly flat and we only rode for an hour or so. Sounds horribly uncomfortable but he is such a good sport and it made for a great story!

 I got a serious haircut and chopped several inches off. I was feeling really done with long, hot hair which kept ending up in a knot or ponytail anyway. Plus I'd been growing it out since I was pregnant with Luke and just wanted a change.

 Cares had one of several summer sleepovers with her 2nd family. Sometimes those Horsleys just need 2 sisters around instead of 1 :)

One of my YW slipped in a wading pool at a family water party and broke her leg (only 10 days before girls' camp!) She was hurt badly and pretty heart-broken to be missing camp so I made her a little "package of sunshine" (orange sunshine since I like it more than yellow :) to help brighten her mood. It's always fun to gather up and deliver this kind of thing—girly gifts are always the best!



Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Father's Day 2014

 For Father's Day this year I worked on a project I have had in mind for years now. It was compiling our own pictures to go along with the church's Family Proclamation. Cec did this for Chad a while back and I loved how hers turned out so I borrowed it and recreated it on Shutterfly. It's a pretty addition to our stack of scrapbooks (family history!) and I hope my kids will use it on Sundays and to help them learn about and study that inspired proclamation. 

  a few pages from the book

We were lucky to spend the evening with my parents and celebrate Grandpa Sherm—a dad and grandpa we totally adore.

We love all the great dads in our lives, and feel especially thankful that Joseph is such a loving, serving, adventurous, playful, and involved father. My kids are so connected to him and have great relationships with him because of it. Luke is in his "mommy only" stage right now but Joseph is nearly an adequate substitute when I am not around :) Good, solid, hardworking and moral men are not easy to find these days and I feel so blessed knowing my little family and I are regularly surrounded by them.




Monday, June 16, 2014

3 Recitals, 1 Weekend

Crazy weekend for our little family! We'd already had 2 days up at Kingsbury for dress rehearsals earlier in the week and thank goodness for carpooling friends so we could share those drives. On Friday evening we sent Olivia up with London and her family, got Luke situated with Addie babysitting, and then took Cares and and Bentley up the street to Bean's very first piano recital. We had to have him go very first and then bolt so we could make it to Kingsbury by 7:00 pm.
 

 
 Bentley with his awesome teacher (and our friend from our ward). It's been really lovely to have him walk home from lessons since they're just up the street!

 The boys playing their duet. Bean had his parts 100% memorized but Joseph needed the music since he hadn't practiced quite as much as Bentley ;)

 We raced up to the UofU and got there just in time for Livs' performance. Her piece was like the 4th one of the night so we knew we could not be late! She was golden up there: knew her steps so well and danced with all her heart. She is a particular little lady and likes only what SHE decides to like. Luckily ballet fell easily into her good graces and she is a happy student and performer.
 

 I always die over how grown-up and beautiful she looks with make-up on! But I like her little best :)

 Luckiest little girl to have Grandma Bobbi and Grandpa Sherm come see her dance. She opted for a "gum boquet" instead of real flowers (like Bentley chose for his recital prize...and then Cares wanted the same thing after she danced too! My kids crack me up and they really love gum (especially since they're doing no candy for the year).

 No one prouder than big sis

Love these two.

Then it was back over on Saturday afternoon for the older girls' recital. These ladies sure love getting dolled up for these performances:

Backstage and ready for their jazz piece choreographed by Miss Laura (Driggs) 


 
We grabbed this pic after they were all done and still wearing their costumes from their ballet piece.

These dance recitals seem like so much effort for just little grade school girls and yet they are pulled off beautifully by the studio. We are doing ballet at UDA again next year to try and really stick with something for several years. I know my girls both adore performing and have never once complained about heading off to class, but I would like to see their technique growing more in a year than it has so far (namely for Caroline who is getting old enough to have the kinesthetic awareness and body control to really work on her form. We'll see how this next year goes. Cares is adding in tumbling and letting go of jazz (she loves it but we only have so many dollars for dance classes!)






Monday, June 9, 2014

Cares' Luau

Caroline is such a fun girl and she loves to plan things. When she has a party coming up (or anyone does for that matter) she asks to browse Pinterest with me so we can gather up ideas and get loads of inspiration for decor, activities and food. As we thought of ideas for her party this year I'm pretty sure Hawaii was fresh in her mind and we decided on a luau!

 
We made a yummy dinner with some of Cares' favorite treats including grilled chicken and pineapple

My parents dropped by and helped me get the girls' hibiscus tattoos on. And thank goodness for my mom's stash of luau gear that we happily borrowed to decorate and set-up for the night.

 decorating flip-flops

 making up hula dances

 the limbo!

of course we needed some shave ice too :)


 We always love having cousins around

A picture of the whole group
These ladies were so easy and loads of fun—Cares is lucky to have such stellar friends!



Sunday, June 1, 2014

Also in May

 After our trip to Houston the little lady was needing some special attention so Joseph took her on a daddy date complete with Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcakes and playtime at Boondocks. Our Livs was sure sweet about letting us leave her home (she does love staying at Grandma Bobbi's!)

 Cares and I went to Maddie's Tanner Dance performance up at Kingsbury Hall

 Kindergarten orientation for Olivia!

 School 5k and carnival

 We got shave ice to remind us of Hawaii :)

 Survival kits for my 2 graduating laurels

Pictures and costume prep as recital time drew near

 Little 2nd grade art show and fundraiser up at the school

 Biking date in matching gear

Outdoor pool days returned!!