A Summer Recap

Summer.

Is it really over?

Ya... It's September 22nd... I guess it really is over.

This summer flew by so fast. We've had some really good times, and some sad times that put things back in place and give you a new perspective on life and the experiences you want to have and share with others while we are here. I know they help us learn and grow, but I don't like it. I'll just say that this summer had about 5 too many funerals... I am so thankful for my forever family. I am so thankful for the knowledge that 'the end' isn't the end. 'The end' is a beginning. A new beginning. I am thankful for the opportunity that I have to be a mom... To raise my sweet little boy... I hope and pray that I am doing a good job... That I am teaching him and helping him learn and grow. Sometimes I really question that.

Well, on that kind of depressing note... Um... here are a few random pics from the rest of summer.

I love taking pictures of my little man sleeping. This one made my heart happy.

This boys LOVES water!

We developed a pretty good family yard work system. I would mow the lawn, Matthew would weed-eat, Parker would push around his mower and eat popsicles, and the dogs would lay in the shade... and try to steal licks from Parker's dripping 'sicle.' How did I end up with the hardest job?

We had quite a rainstorm one afternoon and Parker obviously loved the end results.

Sunscreen anyone?

Tyler and Carrie left us for Hawaii. :( This was the morning they left. So sad.

But they are loving life right now, so I'm glad they are happy.

Maybe someday we will be able to go visit them.

I found Parker like this at 4 a.m. Poor guy. I think he hates his bed.

Well, there you have it! A few random pictures from a bittersweet summer.

Oh, and one super good thing - we are completely done with the pacifier! Yay! I went to visit my family at the end of August, and Parker was a BEAST about going to bed. He would throw his paci out and then scream because he wanted it back. I get fed up, and when we got home somehow they all got 'broken.' I snipped the tips on all of them. Evil, I know! But I'm glad we are done with them. I was tired of trying to keep track of them.

Christmas in July!

So since we had the big 'Stomache Flu of Christmas 09' pandemic, we decided to have a Christmas do-over. We went to the parental's house in Wyoming over 4th of July weekend and had a ball.

The big weekend opener was the Freedom Fun Run on Saturday morning. Everyone except Rory (he was at work, but let's face it... he's too LAZY to run a 5k... LOL!) ran it. Including Mom & Dad!

Way to go, team!

Park and Caity

Rikki and Leslie

Us and the 'cool' prizes we won... Yeah...

After the fun run we showered (thankfully) and went on a scenic drive and picnic. We even got to see the campsite that helped lead to the disengagement of Rory and Psycho-Face. Good times. Haha!

After the drive we stopped and ate at a park and played.

It looks like someone hit the eject button! :)

Awww!

The next day was Sunday! Look at these two cuties! We didn't even have to plan and buy the same suits... It just happened. BTW - It is sooo hard to get these two to pose for the camera. They are BUSY boys!

Me, Rikki and Parker. We are waiting for the fireworks. Just so you know, Evanston fireworks are AWESOME! Since it is right over the border from Utah there are several firework stores that sell 'the good stuff' so I think they donate quite a bit to the city show. Plus all the U-tards that were in the parking lot lighting their own... It was a fun (but cold) night.

Monday was Minnetonka Cave and Bear Lake day!

Cait and her boys.

The cave entrance.

Some of the formations.

The family after the tour.

Rik and Les - waiting for the pizza to arrive. So this pizza place was really good but interesting. We ordered a GIANT pizza for all of us. It must have been pretty impressive to the group of Asian people at the table next to us because they actually got up and started taking pictures of our pizza. Weird? I think so!

I have such beautiful sisters, don't I?

Little man swimming.

Um...

This is the last picture I took before my camera got dropped in the water!

Me and Mom.

What a fun weekend! I wish that Matthew would have been able to go. He misses a lot of family stuff because of work. Especially around holidays. :(

California -or- Bust!

Oh my goodness! I don't know if I can squeeze a whole week of fun into a blog post! We'll see how this goes...

We went to California in June with some of Matthew's family. Everyday was so much fun. We bought the City Passes from Costco which included three days at Disneyland, a day at the San Diego Zoo, a day at Sea World and a day at Universal Studios. We also spent a day on the beach. Since Parker was under 3 we didn't have to buy him a pass, which was very nice - especially since he was too short to ride over 80% of the rides at the parks. :( Oh well... Maybe in a few years we'll be able to go back.

Here are a *few* pics from our adventure. I think that Sea World was Parker's favorite stop... Mine too!

Splash Mountain

Eeyore, Parker and Matthew

Us in front of the castle

Waiting for Casey Jr.... He loved this ride! (Shocker!)

In line outside of Captain EO... That is the WEIRDEST film ever!

(And yes, Matthew is wearing a Shrek watch... He stole it from Parker's happy meal.)

Space Mountain

Paige and Me @ the beach

Parker did NOT like the water... It scared him.

(I know this is bad, but I was happy he didn't like it. He is usually obsessed with water and I was worried about him running in by himself.)

@ San Diego Zoo... That's a BIG bear!

We got early admittance into the park one day. I'm not sure getting up that early was worth it, but I was glad to get this picture without 10,000 people walking around in front of it.

Buzz Lightyear! Parker was THRILLED to see Buzz in person. We had a hard time even getting him to look at the camera because he was trying to push the button to make Buzz's wings pop out or yelling, 'High Five, Buzz!' It was so cute. I'm so glad he got to meet Buzz.

@ Sea World waiting for the Dolphin show to start... Once the Dolphins started jumping Parker giggled non-stop for the whole show. It was so fun to hear him and watch him having a good time.

Sea Lions - Their show was pretty funny. I really like (tame) Sea Lions... Probably because we swam with them while we were on our cruise.

Me and a Starfish. I'm not really sure if I was supposed to pick it up out of the water. Don't worry... I hurried and put it back.

The Shamu show was AMAZING!!! I don't know how on earth whales can jump this high! It was so awesome to see. Parker was asleep and we woke him up to watch it. He LOVED this one too.

Our little family

These guys were SO COOL! It was fun to watch them. The show they were part of was kind of pointless, but really pretty funny.

I wish my flash would have been turned on!

@ Universal Studios - Posing w/ Bart and Lisa

Us & Shrek

(As a side note - we watched that the other day... DIRTY! Parker is not allowed to watch it again!)

Some of the Madagascar crew

Little man was waaaay less than thrilled for this picture!

All take a bow and the day is OVER!

Sorry to the family members on the trip who did not make the pictures in this post... Limited space and time, ya know? ;) If you wanna see more pics I have them posted on my facebook page.
We really did have a fun trip (for the most part...). It was very busy. There wasn't a day there without one of the big attractions or the beach, so I totally understand the feeling of 'needing a vacation from my vacation!' Maybe that is mostly because the drive home was HORRIBLE! Let's just say that Utah doesn't really know the best times to have construction. I'd say that on a Friday night taking the interstate down to one lane going into Salt Lake is a bad idea, ya? We were stuck in traffic for 3 hours and only went about 50 or 60 miles. Not cool, Utah. Not cool!