ROLLY POLLY

He did it...Ace has a new trick! My fat boy is so fancy!

GO buddy Go!

Sunday Flower

Our home is surrounded by rose bushes and vines. The kids have started a little tradition called "mom's sunday flower". Each Sunday morning as we are loading into the car, they pick a flower for me to wear to church. Today was an orange rose with hints of pink on the edges of the petals.

Today, I let the girls dress themselves. (a bit daring, I know) They even got to rummage through my jewelry and pick out all their accessories.

(Tee was a little sad he couldn't wear any of the earrings.)

Summer 2010

I don't want to bore you with numerous pictures, so I'm just going to post a few to highlight our

summer. I've also included links to Kara and Rachelle's blog, since they BEAUTIFULLY described the summer's best events. (who am I kidding...most of you who look at my blog,already look at theirs, too...I don't want to be redundant)After arriving in Utah, we stuck around for a couple of weeks and then headed to FLORIDA for the rest of the summer. We had to leave Tyler behind because of football and the house hunt. We REALLY missed him. But we did manage to bring him down for a way too short weekend visit.

First there was Crystal River and the scallop hunt (for a more eloquent description of the trip the trip, click here and here)

The prize.....SCALLOPS.

scallop and boat time

pool time

hotel time

Dinnertime (sans kids...thank you babysitters)

Trip # 2 was Jupiter for some deep sea fishing! (again, for a more interesting description, click here)

pool time

dock time (these two are the best of buddies...we love AUSTIN)

Fishin' time

family picture time

Dinner time (again, sans kids, thanks to our babysitters)

sister time (seriously people...be jealous...I have the most amazing group of sisters)

The rest of our Florida time went as follows....

there was lounging in grandma's bed.....

there were a quite a few errand trips...Target being a favorite....

there were a couple of late night adults only outings...a few movies and a raucous night of bowling where Tyler put on a clinic for the rest of them.....

there was some napping (I found her upstairs with a clutch of pacies under her arm, passed out).....

OF COURSE there was some swimming.....

And then the day before we left, there was some birthin'....yup...one of the mamma zebras had her baby...so stinkin' cute!

Our 2010 summer was a busy but AMAZING summer. I'm not sure who had more fun...the kids or me. A lot of the joy I get as a parent is seeing my kids have a blast. And that they did. Living away from my family is hard, but this summer as replenished my stock pile....actually...who am I kidding....two days after being in Utah, I was super sad about not living there with all of them. Thank heavens for "girls trips" in the works...gives me something to look forward to.