Bowling - Summer Week 8

Dad had the day off for the 24th of July. We went to lunch at Costa Vida, bowling at Fat Catz and then a BBQ at Crit & Kalli's house.

Children's Gardens - Summer Week 7

We had a lot of fun with our Ashby cousin's at the Thanksgiving Point Children's Gardens.

Eden - Summer Fun Week 6

We went with the Roberts family to Eden. We had never been to this area before. It was so beautiful. I have so many pictures that I am trying to consolidate into a few.We had such a blast, that I don't want to skip anything.

We rented a great cabin that had plenty of room for everyone. It had a nice yard that the kids could go out and play most of the day.

We went over to Snow Basin and played Frisbee Golf. We let the kids just go for it, then the adults played behind them. The kids could only throw it about 2-10 ft, so it was very entertaining to watch. It took most of them around 50 throws to get to the basket. This was our first experience with Frisbee Golf. We had so much fun that I want to find a course around here and go again.

We played Minute to Win It Games

We had Smores on the BBQ

The grown ups had a Badminton Tournament

We went to Pineview Reservoir.

The lake was really high, I would guess 8 feet higher than normal. This is the largest beach area we could find. Pretty slim.

I think the majority of the time was spent on the trampoline.

I will probably get in trouble for posting this video, but the kids love it so much, how could I not?!

The kids had so much fun being with each other. I think we will have to go back again another year.

Chinese Students

We had a great opportunity to house two 5th grade students from Shanghai, China. Coco & Linda stayed at our house for 4 nights. There were 24 students staying at various houses throughout our neighborhood. During the day they went to classes at Providence Hall and then on field trips to Clark Planetarium, Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum and the Copper Pit.

We took them to a pizza buffet at Rock Creek Pizza Co. and swimming at our pool.

We held Family Home Evening with a lesson on Choosing the Right. We gave them each a CTR necklace. Understanding that they aren't allowed to talk of other religions at home, we wanted to give them a universal message of making good choices. After our brief lesson we played Bocci Ball and had ice cream cones.

We left for vacation while they went to Yellowstone and Moab. When we got back they stayed with us for one more night before taking them to the airport. This was such a great experience for our kids. They learned that it doesn't matter where someone is from, we are all the same inside, in this case - boy crazy tweenage girls. :)

4th of July - Summer Week 5

This week began with me being called as the new Primary President in our ward. We have over 250 kids in our primary right now. Crazy! I am excited though. I think we are going to have a lot of fun.

On Sunday night my former roommate Tamsen and her family came to dinner. They moved to Phoenix two years ago. It was so much fun catching up with her. I've missed having her around. After they left we were watching the neighbors across the street light fireworks. One of the aerial fireworks with multiple shots tipped over and started shooting into the crowd across the street. It was very scary. An 11 yr old girl, Kaitlyn, got some pretty bad burns on her fingers that later turned into a staph infection.

On Monday we went to Grandma Roberts' house for a lunch BBQ. The kids played on slip n' slides, sprinklers, but best of all, they had a giant water fight with super soakers. It would have been perfect if the weather were a little warmer. Crazy that on the 4th of July it wasn't that warm outside.

After Grandma's house we went to our neighbor's the Cundiff's house. They hosted a BBQ for several families in the neighborhood. We had a lot of fun until the very end when we were watching fireworks. I have come to refer to it as a terrifyingly miraculous experience. The exact same thing happened this night. The aerial firework tipped, or exploded out the bottom making it tip and started shooting into the crowd. Only this time we were in the middle of the war zone. A few minutes before this happened Cassidy came to me and told me that Whitney had moved to the front. I had been moving her back because I was so scared from the last night. She really wanted to be by her friend. So she slowly kept moving closer. I watched her for a minute and was debating about whether it was worth the fight. I suddenly just had the feeling that I had to move her. I got her attention and I was in the driveway just starting my plea with her to stay back when I saw a firework land on the ground on the other side of the house. I grabbed her and Grant and covered them as things were exploding on the ground around us. Aaron was on the side of the house with Cassidy and Lindsey trying to protect them. There were probably 50 people in the crowd and the only injuries were two girls got minor burns when the firework landed on their blanket. The blanket was destroyed, but saved them from serious burns. Before I moved her, Whitney was lying on her stomach next to where these girls were. It would have been in her face. It was a miracle in so many ways. I am very grateful for Heavenly Father's protection of my family and our friends. I am so glad I listened to the prompting to move Whitney. All of the kids slept in our room that night. We were all shaken by this experience. We will probably never watch fireworks again.

Symphony, Bike Parade & More - Summer Week 4

We started this week off at Taylorsville Dayzz. Grandpa Ashby is a Vice Chair over the events. They usually have the Utah Symphony come one night, followed by fireworks. It is a lot of fun and a great way to have the kids experience a symphony without getting bored. They love to dance and enjoy the music. This year Grandpa gave us a ton of food vouchers and some tickets to the carnival. The kids were able to go on a few rides each. Whitney finally went on a Farris Wheel. Something she has always wanted to do. We had so much carnival food we were all sick. We never buy food at these things because it is so expensive, but with our food vouchers and people kept giving stuff to Steve, we had more than we could eat.

This week was also my birthday. Aaron gave me these flowers along with a new swim suit, dress, shorts and hair dryer.

After a quick breakfast of cinnamon rolls (my favorite), we headed out the door to our neighborhood patriotic bike parade. It started up by the reservoir. It is a very steep hill to get to the starting point. I didn't think the kids could make it up the hill, so I drove two bikes and the kids to the starting line. Poor Aaron had to ride his bike and the empty trailer to the top. He made it, barely. We are so out of shape!

Grandpa Ashby helped to decorate the bikes & trailer the night before when Aaron took me out to dinner for my birthday. They looked a lot better than if I had done it, wise decision on my part!

After the parade the firefighters came and hosed down the kids. Cass & Linds where soaked!

After we cleaned up from the parade we took the kids over to my mom's so that Aaron and I could go to his BYU MBA reunion. He had a great time reconnecting with classmates. I was bored out of my mind. Aaron felt bad for dragging me there on my birthday so he decided to take our family to see Cars 2. We never take the kids to a movie in a theater unless it is a $1 theater. It was a lot of fun.

For dinner we were trying to find something between Thanksgiving Point Theater and our house. I remembered that IKEA had Free Kids Meals July 1-4th so we took the kids to dinner there. I love their Swedish Meatballs!

Kind of a random, unique way to spend a birthday. I had a great time being with my family.