Seven Peaks

One of our "end of summer" activities was to head to Seven Peaks Waterpark.  We get in free with our Pass of All Passes, but we hadn't made it out there yet this year so Mike took a day off work, and then we packed up the family and headed down there.

On a side note, did you know that I worked at Seven Peaks throughout high school & college?  I started as a cashier, front gate operator & tube rental employee and eventually worked my way up to Customer Service Manager.  I basically lived there for four summers of my life.  I have lots of great memories associated with that place.  But unfortunately, I was a little disappointed when I walked in the front gate.  I felt like it has gone downhill quiet a bit from what it once was when I worked there.  The wave pool kept breaking down all day, the artificial turf was peeling up everywhere, there were strange odors from time-to-time, and it just didn't feel very clean.  It made me really sad.  That place was immaculate when I worked there.  But, despite the not-so-good changes, we still had a fun day.  Here's Connor at the end of his ride down the Vortex...

Sadly, that was the only action shot I got all day.  Mike & I took turns going down the slides with the boys all day, while the other parent stayed with Cohen & Vivvie...and you really can't take a digital camera on a waterslide--hence the lack of pictures.

We did get some pictures at lunch--which, by the way, we had to eat outside the park.  Apparently, you can't take your own food into the park anymore.  That's a change from when I worked there--and a lame change at that.  So, we had a little picnic on the grass right outside the front gates.  Several other families were camped out there too.  Here's the boys eating their ding dongs...

Viv was an obvious fan too...

Same with Cohen...

After lunch, Mike, Connor & Vivvie left to drop Connor off to Mike's parents so they could take him on a little trip to San Francisco.  I'll have more on that in my next post--but let's just say that he is a very lucky boy & I might have been slightly jealous that he got to spend four days in one of my favorite cities.  But, more on that later.  While they were gone, Aiden, Cohen & I had fun going on some of the more mellow slides & hung out in the kiddie & wave pools.

When Mike & Viv got back from dropping Connor off, we spent a few more hours at the park & then called it a day...

Overall, it was fun.  There were lots of things about the park that disappointed me compared to how it once was, but we were still able to have a good time.  We just made sure we showered really well when we got home.  Haha!  --Lindsay

Tour of Utah

School started for Connor & Aiden today. Cohen starts tomorrow. My house is so quiet! I don't even know what to do with myself. I only have two kids to take care of until mid-afternoon! I've already done all my housework for the day, and even cleaned my dusty china--just because I could. I keep waiting for the boys, along with half the neighborhood kids, to come running in the door any minute asking for popsicles. It's so weird to not have them here! But, my purpose in jumping on here today was not to write about the 1st day of school. I still have a few more "end of summer" posts to write first. One of those posts is about the Tour of Utah...

Every year, there is a professional bike race that goes through the entire state of Utah (sort of like our version of The Tour de France).  The race is about two weeks long total.  Since my dad is a big biker--and Mike is now becoming one--we love to go cheer the riders on, and give them fresh water bottles, when they finally get up to the Wasatch Front.  I couldn't go this year because it was on a Saturday afternoon and I had to work, but Mike & my parents took the kiddos up to the race.  And Mike even remembered to take a few pictures!  Miracles do happen, folks!!!  Here are the kiddos, and Nana, waiting for the bikers--cowbells in hand...

Here they come...

Viv & her Nana waiting for the next batch of riders to arrive...

Bike races are always fun to watch, especially when the scenery is this gorgeous!  I live in a beautiful place...

It made everyone excited for LOTOJA which happens in just a few weeks. It will be Mike's first time riding it. He & my Dad are doing a relay. Hopefully, Mike survives!  --Lindsay

Sleepover For Six

The last reward that the boys wanted to work toward for their "best summer ever" was a BIG sleepover. My boys have sleepovers all the time--probably one or two a month--but this sleepover was going to be special because *each of the boys* got to invite a friend to sleepover (including Cohen who hasn't ever had one of his friends sleep over yet)! Usually, Connor & Aiden take turns having one of their friends sleep over...so the thought of them *each* being able to invite a friend made them super excited! It made me, on the other hand, super nervous! I thought for sure that with six boys all sleeping in the family room, there wouldn't be much sleeping going on.

We started out the night with a movie, along with treats, drinks & THREE kinds of popcorn--movie theatre style popcorn, cheese popcorn & marshmallow popcorn.  They were all really yummy!  Here's all six of the boys--plus Vivvie--enjoying their treats & popcorn while watching the movie.  Connor invited his friend, Hayden.  Aiden invited his friend, Justin.  And, Cohen invited his friend Tyler...

After the movie, it was about 10:00 at night.  We told the boys it was time to go to sleep, turned off the lights & headed upstairs to go to bed ourselves.  I thought for sure we would hear them down there talking & laughing for the next couple of hours--but they totally surprised me!  All of them were out within 10 minutes.  Yay!

Unfortunately, they made up for their good going-to-sleep behavior by waking up at 6:45 am.  Oh well.  You can't win them all, I guess.

We finished off the sleepover with the kids' breakfast of choice:  Chocolate Chip Eggo Waffles.  Yummo...

It was a great little reward to end the summer.  I'm so glad we did our "best summer ever" this year.  I know it will become a yearly tradition for us.  Can't believe school starts this upcoming Tuesday!  I think that was the fastest 81 days of my life!  Wish it could last forever.  --Lindsay

Art Day Camp

Each summer, a neighbor of ours holds an Art Day Camp at her house. Every afternoon for one week, the kids go to her house to learn about different kinds of art & artists, and then they work on art projects of their own.   All three of my boys were old enough to attend this year & last week was finally their week.  Lisa, the gal that puts together this art camp, was nice enough to pass along a few pictures from the week, so here they are.  Here are the all the boys with the group they did Art Camp with this year...

They learned the techniques of watercolor painting...

And sketching...

Plus they made lots of fun little projects too--like mini chalkboards & homemade chalk, hand puppets, magnets, and lots of other things.  Here's a picture I took of everything they came home with.  This is Cohen's pile.  The other boys had already strewn their stuff all over the house by the time I finally got around to taking a picture of it all...

All of the boys had a great time...and so did I!  Right after the boys would leave, I would put Vivvie down for a nap & then I was able to actually get something done without interruptions for a few hours! It was heavenly!! Definitely the perfect thing to do at the beginning of August when summer starts to get a tad boring.  Thanks for doing it Lisa!  The kiddos loved it & always look forward to it each summer.  --Lindsay

My Block Parties Were Never This Awesome

When I was little, our neighborhood would hold block parties now-and-then. We'd always have a barbecue and then play some silly games, like who could hoolahoop the longest. They were awesome. It was a great way to help neighbors get to know each other a little better, and have some fun at the same time.  I have fond memories of those parties. But man, my childhood block parties don't hold a candle to the block parties my kids will remember.

Our friend & neighbor, Melissa, puts together a block party every year.  It's actually just for the 25 or so families that live closest to her.  We have a huge neighborhood (like almost 200 families huge), so inviting everyone would be totally crazy.  Luckily, we live just right around the corner from her, so we always get the coveted invite.  Each year, Melissa makes this block party bigger & better than the year before.  She always makes some heavenly barbecue of some sort & then feeds it all to us, but this year she got some serious entertainment for us as well.

First of all, the fire department showed up & gave all the kids a tour of the firetruck...

They loved it--especially when the firetruck drove off with lights & sirens blazing.  They were all mesmerized!

As if that weren't enough, next a magician showed up to entertain us some more...

He was awesome!  Not only was he a great magician, but he was quite the comedian as well.  Both the kids & adults were literally LOLing.

So, as you can probably see, it was a step up (and a large step at that) from the block parties of my childhood.  I mean, how can you beat a magician?!?  It was quite the awesome party!

It was a great night!  I just love my neighborhood!!  I know I've said it before, but this is the best neighborhood on the face of the planet.  I am lucky to live around so many awesome people.  Thanks so much Melissa for planning such a fun little party each year.  We always look forward to it!  --Lindsay

One, Two, Three Strikes You're Out

We took the kiddos to an Orem Owlz game one evening last week. All their games are free with the Pass of All Passes, so why not?  Right as we walked in the door, we saw Hootz & Holly, so we had to get a picture...

If you're thinking Holly looks like she's a little peeved, you would be on the same page as me.  Is this the creepiest mascot ever, or what?

Our free seats were on the grass, which wasn't a bad thing.  We had a great view of the game...

Plus, when the boys got tired of watching, they could just roll down the hill...

We had a few rolling collisions throughout the night.  Like this little lovely right here.  How does that grass taste, Connor?

Here's a triple collision.  Luckily, no visit to the ER was required...

When they were done rolling down the hill, the boys did other fun activities--like sitting on each other...

And of course, wrestling...

Playing some air guitar...

And doing their best impressions of me.  Aiden put my sunglasses on his head, pushed his bangs to one side & proudly announced, "Look Mom, I'm you!"  Actually, he was pretty darn close...

Then they danced to the Chicken Dance...

And wrestled some more...

Viv made a friend.  The entire evening, this little girl kept sitting down by Vivvie & talking to her as if she was her BFF...

Unfortunately, the Owlz lost by one run.  But, after the game, they let all the kids in the audience run the bases.  Here's Connor...

And Aiden...

And Cohen...

We got home at about 11:00 pm that night & all the kiddos slept like logs for the next 10 hours. It's going to be rough adjusting back to a normal schedule when school starts next week.  {{Sigh}}  --Lindsay

July Dates

Well, here we are in the middle of August & I'm finally getting around to posting about our July dates. One of these months, I'll actually post about our dates the same month that they actually happen...just not this month.

Last month, Connor went on his date with Mike.  They went down to the Orem Trafalga.  They had grand plans of doing the batting cages, go carts, etc.  Well, Connor wore his sandals & apparently you can't wear open toed shoes on any of the things they wanted to do.  So, instead the went to one of the XD movies they have there (where your seat moves to make you feel like you're part of the movie) and then they went miniature golfing on the glow-in-the-dark course.  The only pictures Mike took of their date are the three blurry pictures you see below...

Yep, that's all I got.  From what I heard, they had a good time--even though they didn't end up doing what they had planned.

Aiden went on his date of the month with me.  He wanted to go to the fun center by our house.  We started with some miniature golfing...

He's such a poser...

See what I mean...

After miniature golfing, we headed inside so he could climb the rock wall 39 times...

After what was probably his 23rd climb, one of the employees came over to tell him that it was probably time to let someone else have a turn with his harness.  Aiden whipped out his charm & seriously started flirting with this girl...

And, wouldn't you know it, he got to keep climbing...

I'm in serious trouble with this one when he's a teenager!  After climbing, we rode the Frog Hopper a few times...

Then finished the night with Laser Tag.  I think the last time I played Laser Tag was on a date while I was at BYU--probably 13 years ago.  If I remember correctly (which of course I do), I pretty much rocked that game of Laser Tag.  So, I was excited to prove to the world that I still had my mad Laser Tag skills in tact.  Well, wouldn't you know it, my gun wouldn't work.  I couldn't figure out for the life of me why I could aim right at someone's vest & couldn't kill them.  Finally, toward the end of our game, I realized that my gun's laser wasn't working.  My gun was making the sound effects of shooting, but not actually shooting.  Lame.  Well, I have next time to prove how awesome I am at a game of Laser Tag.  Because I am.

Cohen went on his date with Mike this month.  They headed over to the fun center too.  They started with a round of miniature golf on the indoor glow-in-the-dark course...

Then headed outside to do some of the rides.  I love Cohen's face in this picture...

And, those were the only two pictures Mike took of their date.  As you can tell, Mike is not the best at remembering to take pictures.  See, Mike is basically my oldest child.  And--like any child--when he's having fun, all he thinks about is how much fun he's having.  The thought of pulling out the camera to document these moments of fun rarely crosses his mind.  Hence, the lack of pictures on his dates as compared to mine.  Oh well!

So, those were our dates for the month of July.  I'm so glad that we have started this tradition & are sticking to it.  It's so fun to get one-on-one time with each of our boys!  --Lindsay