Big girl for a day!

My tiny Becca has been too short to ride any of the big slides at Wet 'n Wild this summer, so she's been staying entertained at Wet 'n Wild Jr and riding the little slides with Jake.  She's been saying all summer that she wishes she could ride the big slides with Emma.  Well, lucky for her, she stood extra tall today and got an orange wristband which meant she could ride most of the big slides with Emma.  She was THRILLED!  She was jumping up and down excited that she could finally go try out the big kid slides.  She's technically still a little short, but she got lucky today with the girl that measured her - probably because she still had her flip flops on when they checked her height - so next time we go, she may not be so lucky.  But she made the best of her orange wristband water park visit and rode every slide she was allowed to... some more than once...

The slide below is one of the more extreme rides in the park - and Becca rode it TWICE and loved it!  That girl surprises me all the time.  Who knew?

Flags, Friends, and First Steps

I'm so excited that the Summer Olympics have started!  I love watching the diving, swimming, and gymnastics.  Ben's parents threw a great opening ceremonies party at their house this past weekend - Carol hung tons of flags to decorate...

One of Becca's most favorite friends, Landon, moved this past week.  We were all really sad about it.  We had one last playdate so Becca could properly say good bye.  The kids played at the house for a little bit, and then we went to McDonalds for lunch and to play.  My kids felt extra special because I actually got them all their own happy meal - that never happens.  :)

Guess who's started walking!  Claire has been taking her sweet time starting to take some steps.  She still won't walk unless prompted to.  She's 14 1/2 months right now - so our latest walker yet.  I think she's just so used to having older siblings pick her up and take her around the house, that she hasn't felt much drive to do it herself.  :)  But she sure is cute!  

A Surprise Visit to Utah

I took a rather spontaneous trip to Utah this past week - I woke up one morning and thought to myself that it'd be fun to take the kids for one last summer Utah visit, especially with Pioneer Day around the corner... so I talked to my dad and let him know my plans to come up the next week and that it might be fun to just surprise mom.  I figured she wouldn't suspect a visit - particularly since this would be my first time ever making the drive to Utah with the kids by myself.  I'm 30 now, so I'm a big girl to make the trek on my own right?  (with my AAA card in hand, of course).   The drive to and from Utah went so well.  The kids are such good travelers.  Emma helped a lot, opening up fruit snacks for Jake, and picking up Claire's blanket when she'd drop it.  We stopped only 3 times both ways (about once every 3 hours), and made record time.  :)  We beat my mom to the house (since she does her temple laundry calling on Friday afternoons), so we hid my car, and dad and Sarah acted like things were normal when she walked in the door, while the kids and I hid in another room.  I sent Jake out to quietly come up to grandma and say "hi".  When she saw Jake, she was quiet for a moment, and then says, "Jake!!" And then starts screaming repeatedly (a high-pitched happy scream) as she finds us all in our hiding place.  It was really fun.  :)

Saturday morning we went to the Draper Days Parade (a lot of the pictures in this post were swiped from my mom - she got a great new camera for her birthday earlier this month, and I'm happy to benefit from it).

My brother and me...

Watching the parade go by...

Lining up for otter pops...

After the parade, we enjoyed the community festivities going on at the nearby park...

The girls loved the pony ride, but Jake made this face the whole time - he was very nervous, but he did willingly get on the pony, so that's improvement for him (comparing to past pony rides when he was younger)...

Playing on the playground- although warm, it was such a treat to be able to play outside without being in a swimming pool.  Hooray for Utah summers!...

Claire loves playing in wood chips...

Watching the horse trainer show...

Becca didn't want to sit too close to the horse...

And Jake didn't want to sit long enough for a picture...

Later that afternoon, we took the kids to a new splash park - 

But most of the time, the kids just wanted to play on the big playground right next to it... it had some unique play equipment...

That night dad offered to stay home with the kids, and the rest of us (me, mom, Sarah, Aaron, and Stefani), all went to see Batman.  What an awesome movie!!  And I get to see it a second time this weekend with Ben, since he hasn't been to see it yet.
Sunday was relaxing and nice - we went to church, played some games, took a walk, and ate good food.  On Monday, dad once again offered to watch the kids, while mom and I had a mommy/daughter lunch date to Cafe Rio and for a little shopping.  It was so fun.  That afternoon we took the kids fishing - our outing to Silver Lake was short, as it started to really downpour on us.  But Jake didn't fall in the lake this time, so I call that a success.  :)

Tuesday was our last day, so we were extra busy with activities - Mom and Dad got a zoo membership, and we ended up spending 5 hours at the Hogle Zoo - it was great!

My kids love maps and brochures..

And they love carousels even more...

The new polar bear, otter, and seal exhibit was wonderful.  This polar bear was the star of the show that morning - he was doing the backstroke and flipping around in the water and smiling through the glass at everyone repeatedly...

Claire loves Grandpa...

The seal show was very entertaining...

We also went the bird show at the zoo - I've seen it many times, and it's always fun...

Feeding ducks...

Petting a really big snake... I was impressed that Becca would touch it - in the past she would have been too nervous to - yay Becca!

The always popular zoo train...

That evening I thought we needed to do something Pioneer-ish, for Pioneer Day, so we had a stick pull...  Jake was nice to help me out... those girls are strong :)

It was a close matchup, but in the end Jake had Stefani beat :)

Fireworks!

It was a great Utah visit, as always - thanks family, for hosting us last minute.  :)

Skating, Monsoons, and Birthday time!

More summer happenings: We went roller skating for Family Home Evening last Monday...

Emma was especially fun with the roller skating - she's much better than the last time we went last year (it's been a while).  At one point, she made her way around the rink and then came over to see me (I was taking turns with Ben sitting on the side with Claire) - I asked Emma how she did, and she says "I did great!  I only fell 3 times!"  I love her positive attitude!

Claire flirted with everyone as they skated by...

Another splash park visit - this was also the last day babysitting Blaine - the splash park was a fun way to celebrate with him on his last day as an only child.  :)  His cute mommy had a baby girl the next day!

My cute pink ladies...

The kids with their buddy Blaine...

We finally started up swim lessons last week.  I've been a little slow this summer to sign them up.  All the travel at the beginning of the summer break threw me off of my routines quite a bit.  The kids were very anxious to start up more swim classes.

Jake surrounded by ladies - he's very used to that :)

Becca's all business in her goggles on her kickboard...

Emma's in swim lessons too, but I haven't been able to snap a decent photo of her in action yet. In addition to swim lessons, we've spent some time lately swimming in our fun neighbor Karen's pool.  She's so nice to let us come swim whenever we want - and it's so great that we can just walk down the street to get there...

Ben got off of work early one day and was able to come to swim lessons with us - it was very hot for those of us not in the pool.  He kept dumping cold water on Claire and then spiking her hair up...

Speaking of water on our heads... it's been raining some lately!  I really really love monsoon season.  The rains just come out of nowhere and sometimes it will really downpoor... then it will just stop.  It's exciting whenever it rains in Arizona, so the kids like to go run and play in it whenever they get the chance...

They definitely didn't need sweaters... but 85 degrees is cold for these little Arizona bodies... :)

That same day, the skies quickly cleared up, so we went ahead with our plans to attend the water safety activity they had going on at the local pool - after the class and games, they got to swim for free...  The lifeguards did a skit on safety rules at the pool and around water...

Then they were prepped for the obstacle course...

Jake's favorite part was saving the drowning lifeguards with the pool noodles...

Time to swim!

And of course, eat snacks...

I had my 30th birthday last week!  Wo!  Ben really spoiled me with some lovely gifts, so I took some pictures :)

I was excited to throw away my old oven mitt and hot pads and replace them with these nice new ones...

You know you are a real adult when you have nice silverware.  I put all of our old flatware (that we got when we were first married) into a ziplock bag and stored it away in case we ever need extras, but I'm hoping that the 12 place settings Ben got will be plenty.  Isn't it so nice?!  I am so excited - you also know you are a real adult when you get excited over flatware...

And I got 2 new endtable lamps for our bedroom.  Our old ones were broken and weren't always turning on and off like they were supposed to.  It's so fun to replace old things with NEW nice things!  

I also got a really cute summery necklace and matching ring from my cutie Ben, as well as these beautiful pink roses...

Ben made his very own chocolate sauce and raspberry sauce to put on top of my decadent chocolate cake - this was in addition to the delicious dinner he made for me and the kids...

I told you he spoils me right?  That weekend we went on an awesome birthday date - to the Yard House for dinner, and then to see Cirque du Soleil!

This is us waiting for the show to start...

Trying on goofy hats and masks...

Kooza was really unbelievable - the video below shows our very favorite act... I was gasping and half-covering my eyes the entire time...

Thanks to my amazing husband for treating me so well all the time... especially on my birthday week!  :)  I felt so loved by my family and friends too this past week.  My parents funded a fun shopping trip and pedicure outing just for me - and I got more great gifts and a delicious angel food cake from Ben's family.  What more could a girl want?!