August

I finally found a cute setting for my dining room table. Thank you IKEA. I copied it completely and I really like it.



FAMILY PICTURES, KIND OF
So I found a photographer on Craigslist that was doing photos for free to build up her portfolio so I jumped on the chance for free pictures. We met her downtown one Saturday morning, or so was the plan. She never showed up and didn't answer her phone. She emailed a few days later saying that she had had her baby early. I guess if you are going to have an excuse for not showing up, that's definitely one that no one can get mad at. BUT - I sure wish I'd known she was pregnant so that I could have maybe had an idea to why she didn't show. Any other mother knows how much time is spent finding outfits, getting everyone ready the day of, and it made me so frustrated that we were left with no pictures in the end. We tried to capture a few of our own, here's what we got:


BABY SHOWER
My friend Becky's little get together before she delivered her baby. I love girls nights - especially when Cheescake Factory is involved!
CLASS WATER PARTY
I teach Primary, which is the young kids at church. I team teach the 4-5 year olds with another lady. We decided to have a summer water party in my backyard. It was a blast.
CAMPOUT
We had a big campout for church one weekend and it was a great time! One friend set up a zip line for the kids, we played Family Fear Factor, slept in a tent on a VERY cold night, listened to coyotes for hours in the middle of the night (I hate that I'm such a light sleeper sometimes). It was heaven for my boys, all 3 of them. They live for the outdoors. We only went one night which for me, was plenty.
DATE NIGHT
I love date night. I say that a lot, but it's true, I really love date night. We went to a simulated golf place one night. It was a lot of fun. Then we went to a restaurant we had a gift card for, Flemings, which, to me, was overpriced and blah. We won't go back - except for their bread. I can't remember, but I'm sure we made a trip to the grocery store that night as well... of course!
MOVIE NIGHT
I was watching a couple of Jake's friends (twins) one night while their mom was at a meeting. We had a movie night - the kids loved it, especially Cooper.
CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

It's a cute little place, grocery store, trains, bubbles, dancing, play place, vet, fire truck.

SPICE RACK
I love this spice rack. Perfect solution to save space!
STUFF
Some mornings Jake wakes up before the rest of us... this particular day he didn't quite make it to our room
Our crib was recalled...yay! Ours was looking pretty worn. We had to put Cooper in a pack 'n play for a couple of weeks. He quickly found out how to climb it, so we were anxious to get the new crib before he'd figure out how to climb in and out of that one
Sweet boys
David and Max gave Jake their rescue heroes that they used to play with. He absolutely loves playing with them!
We've been thinking of getting Jake a bike just his size and one day, while on a walk, we passed my friend Babette's house. We were talking and she mentioned they had a bike their son had outgrown and asked if we'd want it. Of course! And it's just his size, and he loves it!
ZOO
Another trip to the zoo

JULY - Edwards, Vicks and Girls Camp

Edwards' Family Reunion
We went to Wesley's parent's house for the reunion this year. Here are some pictures:

Cherry Days: In North Ogden they have the Cherry Days Parade and festivities. I loved it! I want to do it every year! We went for a breakfast first, then headed over to a park to play before the parade. At the parade, there were sky divers, floats, a fly over, tons of candy thrown by the floats - we loved it! Side note: while water skiing, Wesley's mom pulled her hamstring really bad. My mother-in-law is the most fit lady, she never stops! She had a goal to hike 100 miles this summer and I believe she was getting close until the hamstring incident. I know she hated it, but with all the moving around during Cherry Days, it was best that she be in a wheel chair instead of limping around all morning. She inspires me. I want to be like her.
Too cool

Swinging from the apricot tree
Ice cream
Family
Swimming
Water slide in the backyard, oh and watermelon...yum!

Wesley's parents
Fourth of July: We had our own little fireworks show. I never grew up with fireworks or anything of that sort. I remember living in California and it was illegal to do your own.

The kids got to each help light the fireworks this time and it made a nervous wreck. Everyone else was all calm and collected so I tried to keep my cool. But when Jake wanted to have a turn, I had a hard time with it. I am that kind of person that thinks of the absolute worst things that can happen...ALL.THE.TIME. It's exhausting really. So this really made me nervous. Of course nothing bad happened and everyone had a great time. After doing our own little show, we put the kids to bed and most of the adults headed over to see the fireworks show at the high school. This middle picture is my favorite - I have gotten a few shots before of Jake and Ella hugging and cute Ella giving this sweet smile to Jake. The two of them are quite the pair - they are like brother and sister. I can see them growing up to be best friends. It was a great 4th of July!

After everyone left, we stayed an extra day to go water skiing. Normally we all take a turn with Wesley's parents and take their boat up to Flaming Gorge. We weren't going to have time this year so we just took a 1/2 day and went to Pineview. We all loved it. Especially the boys, they take after daddy. On our way back we went to eat lunch at The Oaks which has a pretty view of the river.
GIRLS CAMP
This was a very busy visit. I had girls camp (I was the camp director) from July 12-14. Wesley's family had their family reunion 4th of July weekend. We wanted to visit with my family in there as well. Throughout my service as camp director, we found that Wesley had to travel a lot. It was so funny how he had to travel on the days where I had something big happening. Both times I had all the girls over at my house for certification or for cookie dough, he had to go out of town. That was a struggle but we got through it. We found out a month or so before camp that Wesley had a sales conference the same days as girls camp...just our luck again! We had no idea what to do with our kids! My parents were supposed to be traveling that week and Wesley's parents had company that week, so we couldn't fly either parent in to watch the boys. Finally, we decided to drive to Utah for the reunion, then I'd come home the weekend before camp. Then I'd fly back the night we got home from camp since Wes would be traveling I didn't want to leave my parents with the boys for too long. It was a chaotic and crazy week but it turned out alright. We were so grateful my parents canceled their plans to watch the boys - what on earth would we have done?

We had girls camp at YMCA of the Rockies, Snow Mountain Ranch. Girls Camp was the most challenging yet most rewarding calling - I ate, slept, breathed camp for 6 months. I didn't even think that once I got there, I'd be able to have fun. I figured I'd be too busy directing, but I had a blast, and I think the girls did too. They were the most amazing girls to work with. I learned so much from them. They are so much more mature than I ever was at that age. They amaze me. Here are few things we did:
Danced.
And no car was ever empty, each car had girl piled up on girl in every section of each car.

The theme was S.T.A.N.D. : Stand Tall and Never Despair. I had thought of this when I heard a quote from President Thomas S. Monson, while speaking to the young women in a general broadcast. He said, "You be the one to stand for right, even if you stand alone." And for some reason that struck me. I thought about how at that age, peer pressure is all around and how often you have to choose between doing good or being alone. And that's how the theme came about. One of the ladies that helped with camp, Mandi Earl, came up with the cute idea of STANDing in shoes, and the shoes we fill, or the roles we fill. She came up with this super cute t-shirt idea too. It brought everything together so well! See t-shirt below:
Kickball - We had the ball field reserved and as we walked up, a group of boys were there. Their leader told them to get off the field so we could have it. They walked off and sat at the bleachers to watch the girls. They were cheering them on the whole time, it was funny.
Skits and funny faces
Rollerskating - some were much better than others, enter Mike Malm as you can see below. Seriously, how does he do that? There was also ping pong, volleyball, basketball, foosball, horseshoes, minigolf.
Morning devotionals and scripture/journal time.
Crafts - we made blocks and headbands and necklaces
Zipline and Archery

The hike to a waterfall... and only one injury our entire stay! It was a great time!

VICK VISIT

My dad turned 61 and someone made this cool hamburger cake for him, it looked so real!
I'd never been on a motorcycle so I asked my brother Jeremy for a ride. He insisted on me wearing a helmet but didn't have an extra so I borrowed my dad's bike helmet. We went around the block and it was so much fun! Why have I not been on a motorcycle before? And these are his kids on the back of his bike, and no, they didn't get to ride.
Kangaroo Zoo - jump house. We love going there when we visit my parents
OTHER STUFF
Cooper is a stinker most of the time, but we still love him.
And I love when Jake just falls asleep at random times in random places
I thought this was funny - Wesley works with the 12 and 13 year old boys at church and attended scout camp this year. Did I mention that this was a week before the reunion? Yes, everything fell within a few weeks of each other. Anyway, he showed me a picture of his tent - being help up on one side by a bunch of rocks.

GOING PRIVATE

Ya, I guess I'll finally do it - I'm gonna go private! So if you'd like to keep up with us and our updates, leave me a comment with your email.

JUNE

Just lots of random stuff that I can't even remember what was going on - but I want to remember the pictures in years to come, so here they are:
My COoper - with the most gorgeous blue eyes and brown hair

JakeI just love watching babies devour watermelon...I had an activity with the girls before girls camp. Wes was out of town so the boys joined us, luckily it was in my backyard.

Along with being the Girls Camp Director, I am also a teacher in Primary, where the kids go after the sacrament. I teach the kids that are 4 turning 5. There are 2 of us teaching the same age and we combined our classes a few months ago. We have the best time - I am loving teaching this class and sad that the year is coming to an end soon and I won't be teaching them anymore:( We had a primary activity where we went to the temple for a tour of the grounds so my family joined us - here we are in front of the temple
I love this picture - We have underwear on our heads but don't worry, it's a fresh new pack, never used.
Grandma Edwards reading to the boys
Backyard fun in the sprinklers


For the girls camp fundraiser, they decided to sell cookie dough. So one morning, we all split up into different houses and made cookie dough. It only took about 4 hours total. My house had all the oatmeal dough, oatmeal chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and oatmeal butterscotch. Here are some of the girls and moms that came to my house. It was so much fun!
Sadly, Wesley was out of town again this day, so my boys joined us. Look at these cute gals mixing dough and holding a baby on the other side... so cute!
This is my co-teacher at church for the 4-5 year olds, Beth. She's so much fun, I love working with her. Here she is with her daughter making some cookie dough.
I know you must be thinking that it was ahuge mess, and I agree, it was. The hard part was that Wesley was out of town and we had company coming in the next day...so I had a professional come in and clean that afternoon. I was wiped out from making all that cookie dough so it was a nice break. the poor cleaning lady though, she said she mopped the kitchen floor 5 times, bless her stinkin' heart!