Weekly Review - August 9-15

I am so happy this week is over, and I am happy that the kids get to start school on Monday. It was a very long week, and I need a break for a minute.

Sunday, August 9 - Wendy had a little hair salon set up in my parent's kitchen. Kaylee and Gabby both got their hair cut (as well as several other people). Kaylee just got her hair a little bit trimmed, Gabby got about 3-1/2 inches cut off in the back to get rid of her wispy hair and even it all up.

Monday, August 10 - Wendy, Nic, my mom and I took kids to the zoo on Monday to see the new baby giraffe, and the baby snow leopard, and the bird show. (While we were there a baby elephant was born but it was in the building and we had no idea.)

Tuesday, August 11 - We got stuff done around our house. Got things cleaned up, played outside, rode Kaylee's scooter in the garage...all sorts of fun (and not so fun) stuff.

Wednesday, August 12 - Once again we hung around our house getting stuff done...I didn't get a picture for today. But I liked this picture of Marla so much from Monday that I thought I would share it again...enjoy.

Thursday, August 13 - We went to "Meet the Teacher" at the girls school before lunch. It was nice chatting with their teachers. On our way home we stopped at a toy store and while we were looking around the kids found some funny dress-up hats. Here's a picture of Kaylee in my favorite dress-up hat with wig.

Friday, August 14 - Since the girls start school on Monday we decided to do one more final fling and go to the Gateway fountain to play. That has been one of our favorite spots this summer. While we were at the Gateway we went into Build-a-Bear and let each of the kids build something as a back to school thing. Kaylee built a pink unicorn, Gabby built a pink fuzzy bear, and Roman built an owl. We had lots of fun with Wendy, and Nicola, and Bobbie and all of the kids.

Saturday, August 15 - It was my sister's wedding anniversary so Marla was babysitting her kids. We turned on a build-a-bear game on the Wii and they were having all sorts of fun.

Oh what do you do in the summertime?

I know that Watermelon is a summertime favorite...but Marla may have taken it a bit overboard.

I'm going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

Recently the zoo has had a few baby animals make their appearances. A baby giraffe was born 10 days ago, and a baby snow leopard was born in May but just recently moved out where people could see the cub. We went with my Mom, Wendy (and Roman), and Nicola (and her kiddos), and Nic's friend Bobbie. We started with the elephants and rhinos (one of the elephants is being kept inside until she has her baby).
We ate lunch and then went on the conservation carousel...one of the kids favorite things.
We went to the Bird show...
Then it was off the see the baby animals. We started with the giraffe...then we took an ice cream break, and then to see the sleeping baby snow leopard.
The kids were totally exhausted. While we were standing in line for the train the kids did not want to stand anymore.On our way home from the zoo Gabby zonked out and Kaylee (usually doesn't stop talking in the car) was very quiet all the way.

Weekly Review - August 2 - 8

I have really been slacking on taking a picture everyday. I need to make sure I get a picture even when we are at home all day.

Sunday, August 2 - Kaylee looks forward to Sunday night every week. That means America's Funniest videos is on. Everyone else loves that show too!

Monday, August 3 - My princesses dressed up, played school, and played Barbie...while I played housekeeper.

Tuesday, August 4 - I scrubbed bathrooms, swept, mopped, made beds, and didn't take any pictures.

Wednesday, August 5 - After getting the house the rest of the way clean I headed up to my parent's house to hang out with Marla for the night so she wouldn't have to be home alone. I babysat Savannah for a little while when I first got to my parent's house.

Thursday, August 6 - Wendy and I were going to take the kids to a new water park but the weather looked very questionable. So, we met up with my friend Nicola and went to Liberty Park and played for free instead (I think it was a lot more fun than the water park would have been).

Friday, August 7 - We played at home, played with neighbors, did some stuff around the house, and didn't take any pictures.

Saturday, August 8 - The kids went to a primary activity at my parent's church today. They played water games and had lunch with their Papa, and had so much fun.

Liberty Park

Yesterday Wendy and I were planning to take the kids to the new water park next to Wendy's house but the weather didn't look very promising. So, we got our friend Nicola to go to Liberty Park with us to play in the water there instead. It was free and sounded like fun.

I decided to go a little early and let the kids have a picnic before the others met up with us. Kaylee, Gabby, and I went to Quizno's to grab some sandwiches. While I was waiting for them to finish making our sandwiches I filled our drinks and put the lids on them. I went to reach for a straw and I knocked my drink over and it spilled everywhere. Before I could even respond there was a firefighter that had been eating lunch that jumped up and asked the guy at the counter for a cloth to clean it up. He was so nice and helpful and cleaned up the whole mess and helped me with organizing my drinks. Kaylee asked him if he was a Police officer and he told her he was a firefighter and Kaylee said "You're really good at saving people." He gave the kids each a junior firefighter sticker. The other firefighters he was with offered to help me out to my car, and held the door open for me. I was a little embarrassed but extremely thankful for all the help and the amazing helpful West Valley City Firefighters.

After my lovely Quizno's visit we headed to Liberty Park and as soon as I pulled into the park I saw a playground with a splash pad. So, I found a place to park and we set out the girls towels under a tree to use as a picnic blanket.

My kids hadn't eaten much when Wendy and Nicola got there. I felt bad that they had to sit and wait for my kids to eat before we could do anything. We headed over to the water but it was kind of getting windy so the kids weren't so sure about playing in the water. The splash pad was WIMPY!!! It was tiny and had basically nothing. But, it was free so...it worked. It was right next to the playground and the kids had fun on the playground.

After a few minutes we decided to go find the rides and stuff at the south end of the park. On our way to the rides we found what we had been looking for all along...the REAL water play area. It wasn't wimpy and lame...it was cool and fun (and dirty with leaves and stuff...oh well). We found the Seven Canyons Water Fountain! It is a fountain that represents the 7 canyons throughout the Salt Lake Valley and the rivers in the canyons that all flow into the Great Salt Lake. So, each canyon had a little stream that represented the river and then there was a big wading pool that was the Great Salt Lake.All the kids together at the "Red Butte" fountain area

Sitting in a fountain in the "Big Cottonwood" fountain area

A waterfall fountain in the "Little Cottonwood" canyon fountain area. That was the coolest area of the fountain.

After a while we convinced the kids to get out of the fountains with words like "Ice Cream" and "Carousel". The sky was looking questionable all day, but as the kids were eating ice cream the wind was picking up and the sky was looking grey and the storm was starting to move in. After the kids were done we let them go on the carousel before heading out to avoid getting caught in the storm. It was pretty windy but it never really rained.

On our way home from the park the kids kept asking if we could go back to the park as soon as the storm was over. After I told them that no matter how much they kept asking we weren't going back after the storm, we would go back another day. So, then Gabby said "Well, then, can we go to the Mall?" I just busted up laughing and talked to her about the mall for a minute. Yes, my 4 year old loves going shopping at the mall.

Weekly Review - July 26 - August 1

Sunday, July 26 - After House-sitting for Wendy for the weekend I went home, and I discovered how easy it was to make freezer jam. I made peach freezer jam with peaches from my parent-in-laws house.

Monday, July 27 - Kaylee and Gabby helped me make Chocolate Chip Cookies (With chocolate chips from See's Chocolate). Kaylee wanted to put in an egg, and she did an amazing job cracking the egg and putting it in all by herself.

Tuesday, July 28 - After discovering how easy it is to make freezer jam I really wanted some raspberry jam. So, I went to the produce stand and bought a half-flat of berries and made some raspberry freezer jam. It turned out so good, and absolutely delicious.

Wednesday, July 29 - Last week we sent my cousin's cute little boy a birthday present (they live in Texas). They got it in the mail today and after he woke up from his nap they got on Skype so Kaylee and Gabby could watch him open it. They had fun playing on Skype.

Thursday, July 30 - My sister-in-law hosted a cousin's camp out in her backyard. The girls slept in a tent, and the boys slept on the trampoline. My kids had so much fun they wanted to stay the next night too.

Friday, July 31 - After the cousin camp out the kids were playing in the morning. The girls were playing dress-up and school. (Love Gabby's hair!)

Saturday, August 1 - Marla, Kaylee, Gabby, and I went to the Farmer's Market (Yes, we have been to the farmer's market almost every week this summer). After going through the market the girls really wanted to play on the play ground. Then they got snow cones and ate them while watching all the kids playing on the playground.

Cousin's Backyard Campout

My amazing sis-in-law organized a backyard camp out at her house with the cousins. Not all of the cousins were able to stay for the camp out, but everyone was able to be there for a fun BBQ Thursday evening.

The little girls were having fun dead-heading the daisies and dramatically falling backwards when they popped off a flower.

When the kids were getting ready for bed the girls got in the boys sleeping bags on the trampoline and Alex and Connor jumped them around in the sleeping bags. They thought it was so fun.

The boys slept on the trampoline, and the girls slept in the tent on mattresses.The only problem was that the girls wanted to stay up all night and didn't even go to sleep until after 11:00.

First thing in the morning Gabby was up even though she did NOT get enough sleep. Jess made us an amazing pancake breakfast and then the kids played. The boys could be found playing the computer and the Wii, and the girls were off playing school and dress-up.