Pioneer Day

We are so lucky to live in Utah, where July 24th is one of the biggest holidays of the year. For those of you non-utahites July 24th is Pioneer Day. Doesn't sound exciting? Well, imagine you are 5 and the day invoves a big parade, all kinds of cool pioneer activities and the loudest biggest fireworks of the summer! Get the picture?

There is so much to do it is really hard to choose. We started our day at Liberty Park watching all the floats from the parade make their last circle.There were so many cool ones, but this is the only one that stopped long enough that I could snap a picture with the boys.

Then we walked across the park to the aviary (free that day) and checked out all our feathered friends. Michael was the navigator...

The boys had a ball. They laughed at all the different birds and we stood in front of each cage FOREVER before I could pursuade them to move on. One can only stare at a vulture or a magpie for so long! The whole time Daniel kept saying, "Nonner Titten!" Which translated means, "Another chicken," I tried to stimulate his 2 year old brain by telling him all the birds names, but he would have none of it. They were ALL chickens!

I am not sure who was more interested, the boys or....

the birds... these little cuckoos stared at the boys for a long time, following them as far as they could along the fence.

It was so hot, but we had a good time. Then it was off to the house for a yummy lunch and a lesson in pioneer candy-making. The boys wanted to make taffy. I have never made candy before, but last year I got a candy thermometer and was excited to figure it out. How hard could it be?! HARD! It looked so shiny and pretty in the pot that I thought I was on a roll. This part was too hot for tiny fingers so I had to do it.

Then after it cooled a little it was time for a good old-fashioned taffy pull. The candy was still pretty hot and Michael was the only one brave enough to touch it. I think his favorite part was rubbing slimy butter in between his fingers.

I wanted to snap a pic of the actual pulling, but it happened so fast and my fingers were too sticky so this is the best you get.

The neighbor boys came over right as we were finishing up so we gave them a taste. They said thank you, but I'm not so sure they liked it.

My sugar-monsters LOVED it.

It didn't turn out like taffy, though. It was hard and tasted more like butterscotch candy. Oh well.

After our pioneer "treat" we packed up and headed back to the park for a picnic and fireworks.

I didn't get any pics of the fireworks, but here are the kids trying to set the record for the world's longest glowstick chain.

Now aren't you wishing you lived in Utah?

"And the Rocket's Red Glare..."

I am so behind in posts... There have been 2 trips to Boise, several fun outings, and so many cute little boy moments that have happened since last I typed. Maybe I'll get around to covering all that in a later post, but for now, here are the 2 biggest highlights of the last month (both happen to be on the same weekend). Oh, I stole the photos off Stacy's blog...Thanks photographer-extraordinare!



We spent the 4th of July at my brother Jim's house, since they have a yard and we only have a community mud pit! My parents and sister Stacy's family were along for the ride. I think we overwhelmed them with children. The sun and the noise were too much for John and Jay, who spent the afternoon napping in the shade.


When he WAS awake, John did what he does best... look at those baby blues!

The kids had a ball playing in the kiddie pool, running in the grass, riding bikes, and...mowing the sidewalk. Notice the helmet, it's a dangerous job!

Thank you Andrew, for passing down those blue-eye genes!

The shiner was aquired earlier in the week when the boys were building a bridge out of a boxspring mattress (ouch!)

Of course there were fireworks and sparklers. I always wonder how my kids don't set themselves on fire with those things!

Blue-Eyed Blessing

The second big event of the summer was the next day. John finally had his baby blessing. Can you see the giant red mosquito bites? It's because the baby acne had all cleared up! Still a cutie.
Mommy says, "Don't love your brother so hard!"

They put on a good show, don't they?

It all goes by too fast!

Why not!

I'll be really sad when they get too old for stuff like this!

...snips, and snails, and puppy dog tails...

John is almost 7 weeks old. CRAZY! He is such a happy little guy. I have desperately been trying to catch a picture of his sneaky little grins, but so far not much luck. He's still pretty darn cute even in a serious mood. Here he is annoyed with me for holding the camera in his face...not a fan of the flash!

This is John franticly looking for his older brothers after hearing them talk.

And...he found them!

This weekend we took a quick trip up to Layton to visit Great-Grandma Withers. Zach thought it was so funny to hold his hands like that in EVERY shot! The boys are HUGE fans of Great-Grandma, mostly because she is super cool, but also partly because they always score some candy and a little toy to take home. This time it was peppermints and bubbles! We left right before the they started getting roudy, so Grandma still thinks my kids are so well behaved. Man, we have her fooled!

Then we zipped over to the park to play in the fountains before it started to rain.

The Ants Go Marching...

With 3 tornados and one mess-maker in training, you can imagine the disaster zone that awaits me after every meal. There is enough food on the floor to make me wonder if anything actually lands in the mouth. Seriously, the pile I sweep up 2-3 times a day would feed an ARMY...of ants! Yes, we have a slight ant problem. I am constantly whipping out the RAID and sweeping up thier tiny carcasses. So gross! Both my neighbors have complained about these little terrors, so I'm not blaming this problem on my horrible housekeeping abilities. I hate coming down the stairs in the morning to find some crumb my broom let escape the night before, half devoured and crawling with ants. The boys, however, are not as horrified with our little houseguests.... whenever the house gets quiet and the boys have disapeared, I know right where to look. They love to lay on the kitchen floor and "play" with the ants. They give them names and crush up bits of cereal to feed them. I try to tell them how gross ants are, but they don't believe me. Even though this is REALLY embarassing, I think it's kind of funny too, so just visualize me blushing as you scroll down...










Michael tiptoed downstairs the other morning before we woke up to take a picture of his little friends....










GROSS!!!!!!!!