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!