Thursday, July 31, 2008

Take a Walk on the Wild Side

One hot Saturday this month, the kids, Jen F. and I went to Liberty Park for an Animal Planet Family Fun day.  We saw a wild animal show, a dog show, played games, went down an alligator slide and got our pictures taken with the animal of our choice.  It was very fun (and very hot). My favorite part was eating lunch at Hires afterwards!  

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

A Cousin's BBQ

We had a fun family party at the Ashby home with our cousin Michelle Bagnall and her family. They were here visiting for a few days from Arizona on their way to Idaho.  Laura and J.D.'s yard was beautiful and the food was delicious.  It was so fun to visit and catch up on the latest news from our cousins.


These red-faced kids are Max, Rosie, Trey, Will and Bud.  Trey and Bud were a little shy at first, but then had a great time playing.  Laura got out a Lacrosse set, which the Bagnalls enjoyed playing.  Later, Coleman got a hold of one of the sticks and chased the other kids around with it.   We had to confiscate the Lacrosse game after that.


The kids are getting drinks after running around.  But, what is a heat wave for us, is cool weather for our Arizona cousins.


These two little guys actually got along really well.  They only had one altercation over a white plastic chair (of course there were twenty other chairs around).  They are such funny boys.  This is a picture of Brady eating Sara's yummy chocolate cake.  He enjoyed it just as much as the rest of us; we just had to restrain ourselves from shoving it in our mouths as fast as we could!



Jono is pouring water on Bud's face, I'm not sure why.  Coleman seems really amused.  This is a cute picture of the white-haired boys and their pretty pony.  Macy was happy to lead them around the yard.



It's Firework Time!  As soon as darkness began to fall, we all moved to the front yard for a front row seat to Corey's firework show.  (Who knew he was a closet piromaniac!)  It was a fun show and all of the cousins loved it.  Will loved it with his hands over his ears and Brady loved from outside and inside the house. 
 



Thanks everyone for a fun night!

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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Take a Shake Break

We had the busiest day of the summer this week.  In one day we crammed in summer math worksheets, reading, a swimming lesson, 2 tennis lessons for 2 different kids at 2 different courts, playing with a friend, junior golf, laundry, ironing, running errands with the kids, and Coleman being naughty (make that extra naughty).  Just before bedtime, Jono realized we needed to make some copies at Kinko's.  I jumped at the chance, "I'll go, you put the kids to bed!" and I was out the door before Jono realized just what that meant.  Instead of driving to Kinko's, I drove straight to Wendy's for a strawberry shake!   (I got the idea from Leslie Andrus' blog about how yummy the shakes are).  The shake looked just as good as the picture on her blog with whipped cream on top and 2 cherries; and yum, it was so good!  I parked my car in the shade, turned on the radio and just chilled for 10 minutes.  It was so great!  So, my advice to all you busy, busy, stressed-out people is to take a shake break!


One evening when we were outside, we noticed Coleman was awfully quiet.  After investigating, we found him in the window-well.  Our first thought was what a great place for him, but then he crawled out.  He is such a funny kid!  Below are Bud and Coleman after an outdoor haircut by their dad and being squirted off with the hose.  They are laying on the cement to get warm.



What kind of Mom makes her kids do schoolwork in the summer?  A mom who is also a teacher!  Everyday Bud and Rosie do a math worksheet and read to me from a novel.  Rosie likes it and Bud hates it. They have the weekends off, of course, and holidays and birthdays. Lucky Bud; this month he had a birthday and two holidays.  As you can see, Coleman doesn't like to be left out, he does his "homework" also.


This is the mattress from the trundle bed and the kids love to ride it down the stairs.  It doesn't go very fast, but they have been entertained with it for hours!  This is a picture of cute Rosie before her tennis lesson.  She loves it!  


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Saturday, July 12, 2008

Bud's 10th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Buddy!  We started off the day with a visit from Papa Donut, a big box of donuts and birthday money for the birthday boy. Bud had instructed us the night before to hide all his presents and after he found them, Papa Donut pulled a swiss army knife out of his pocket to help cut the ribbons.  Bud got many great gifts; the best was a huge Indiana Jones lego set from Grammy and Grampy.  He spent many hours this day and the next putting it together and all by himself he build an awesome crystal skull jungle set.  He also got a Nintendo DS Indiana Jones game (can you see the theme here) and a note for a shopping spree at the Utah Bookstore.  He also got 10 bucks, because he is 10 years old.
 
 
Bud's friend birthday party started that morning at 9:30 am, when Jono took Bud and five friends miniature golfing at Pebblebrook. Appropriately, the birthday boy won the round and had a hole in one to boot.  The boys had a great time and Jono bought them all a soda pop. Then, they returned home for a game of flies up with Jono.  They got very hot and sweaty!     

Next, we broke out the silly string.  The boys decided they needed strategy and quickly separated into teams.  After whispering their game plans, the stringing began.  It was chaos for about 3 minutes and they got even more hot and sweaty.  Jen F., Rosie and Coleman joined in for the fun.

After, we took a break for pizza and more soda pop.  We sang Happy Birthday to Bud and ate brownies.  Bud opened his presents and got more money, a Jazz shirt, a wallet and golf balls from Adam and Amanda.

By now the kids were ready for a break, and they went into Bud's room to look at his legos. Imagine what six sweaty 9 and 10 year olds smell like in a small space.  It was so stinky!  The party soon ended, a very fun 10 year party.





The next day, we had Bud's family birthday party.  Bud and Will started arm wrestling and soon others joined in.  I took on and Bud and am relieved to say I can still beat my son.  Jono and Jonny arm wrestled next and Jono beat him easily.  (I'm sorry Jonny, but it's true.)  We ate pumpkin pie and Bud got a cool Q20 game and more money.  (He got so much birthday money that Jono put most of it in Bud's savings account.)  Another fun party!  The only thing missing were our sweet Grammy and Grampy, but we were all thinking about them and are so proud of them.  







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Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Jen F's 21st Birthday Party

We had such a fun party celebrating Jen's 21st birthday! Andrea made an almond torte and we put a sparkler on it while we sang Happy Birthday. We hope Jen made a fabulous wish. She opened many great gifts; the best was a camera from Grammy and Grampy! (it was a present from Pittsburgh.) She also got a DVD, a headband, a ring, a new dishbrush, purple nail polish, a Target giftcard, and an Old Navy giftcard. Happy birthday Jen, we love you!





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Friday, July 4, 2008

4th of July

Happy Birthday America!  We celebrated the 4th of July two nights.  We had a great time at the Bee's Game.  We ate peanuts and skittles and cheered on our team.  We all loved the spectacular firework display after the game.  It was a fun night (and a late night for the Oettli children who are used to going to bed early!)  





We also celebrated with Papa Donut, Adam and Amanda.  Jono grilled his famous burgers and we had yummy fruit and Gordon's favorite onion dip.  For dessert we had German chocolate cake, yum.  It was a great meal.  After dinner, we did fireworks in our driveway.  They were the best fireworks!  Our giant box lasted for almost an hour and were so big and bright.  Everyone young and old was very entertained.  I read in the paper the next day, that the firepower limit has increased and so the fireworks are better than ever.  We all loved it!


Rosie loves her Papa Donut and he loves her also!   Below is everyone watching our firework display.  I think we are the only family who does fireworks when it is still light outside!

This picture is a perfect example of each child; Bud likes fireworks but  is still a little nervous, Coleman likes them, but from a safe distant and Rosie is just thrilled with them.  The kids are sitting on Papa Donut's car.  He is giving this car to Bud for his 16th birthday!





How exciting!  Our firework box came with three big sticks for each child to hold.  I couldn't believe that Coleman was brave enough to hold it, there were a lot of sparks coming out of each one.  Happy Birthday America!





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