July 24th Festivities

Arianna was able to ride on the TaVaci float for the fourth of July parade. She had a blast, but by the end of the parade they were hardly singing. They said their throats hurt! It was fun watching for her and of course the rest of the kids loved all the candy they got.

(Don't you love it when you get home and realize you don't have even one decent picture? This is one of those times. Arianna is in the middle of the float standing in the back row.)

Kali's "Scriptures"

Sunday morning, as we are all frantically trying to get out the door, we tell the kids to grab their scriptures and get in the car. Our kids are pretty good to do as they are told. Our four oldest kids all have their scripture bags and scriptures (in varying forms) to take to primary. For some reason we just haven't gotten anything for Kali. Perhaps we haven't seen a great need for her to use them in nursery. Well, as many youngest children do, she took care of things herself. Kali found our boxed set of Winnie the Pooh and announced that she had her scriptures and was ready to go. This has happened on more than one occasion. While she won't be able to reference any of her scriptures with the talks in Sacrament meeting, she does feel included with the rest of the kids. I guess it's time to buy her a Book of Mormon, before she starts quoting the wisdom of Owl or the deep thoughts of Winnie the Pooh!

Fun with Cousins

My amazing sister and her handsome husband trained for a few triathalons this summer. One of them happened to be in Cache Valley. While they biked, ran, and swam we got to play with our cousins. Jacob loved having more boys in the house. And Avery wasn't left for a second without lots of love and attention.

Jaron and Isaac loved watching our salamander eat. Miranda loved showing them!

Brianna and Cayde, feel free to run as many triathalons as you want, as long as they are in Cache Valley and we get time with our Isaac, Jaron and Avery!

The newest addition to our family

Those who know Miranda know that she loves reptiles. We've had two lizards at two different times. One died of "natural causes" and the other was "played with" by our cat. Since then we've told Miranda that we couldn't have any other reptiles until the cats (we have two) were gone. That's why I was taken quite by surprise (that's a nice way to put it) when Rory came home with a Salamander that someone from his work decided they no longer wanted. Miranda and the other kids were thrilled, and so we now have another mouth to feed. The salamander is actually an amphibian, so he spends half his time in the water and half out. During the summer the kids have been feeding it worms and grasshoppers. Once the winter hits, I guess Rory will be making stops at Pet Smart for crickets. Miranda has named him/her Jade since we don't know if it's a he or a she. I'm just grateful that the salamander has made our indoor cats become outdoor cats for it's own safety!

Kali turns THREE

While we were at Hyrum Reservoir (see below), Kali celebrated her third birthday! She opened presents in the morning and then spent the day at the beach. At age 3 she was just excited for the presents and, of course, the cake. Being child number 5 puts you in an interesting position with regard to presents. We have enough bikes, barbies, dolls, skates, scooters, etc. thanks to her older siblings. As we went to buy her something we found it difficult to just buy more "stuff". Lucky for us Kali LOVES dress up. So, unlike any of our other children, Kali got clothes (dress up, a nightgown, and swimsuit) for her birthday. She was in heaven!

Kalista truly is such a Joy (her middle name) to our family. At age 3 she seldom sits still, unless it's to watch her favorite show "Max & Ruby". We've often said she's the brother that Jake never had. No counter is too high, no dress too frilly, no limit outside the bounds that she won't push. She now refuses to wear pants and loves Sundays just because she has the chance to wear her church dresses. She changes her clothes at least a dozen times a day. If she's not sporting a dress, it's her swimsuit. Kali still sucks on her two fingers when she needs them and constantly knows where her blankie (actually a piece of her crib bumper from when she was a baby) is. She loves to sing, follow her older siblings around, and play Polly Pockets with Sabrina. She loves broccoli, tomatoes, and almost any vegetable, but she'd just as soon drink her "juice" (milk with a little shot of Nesquick) all day if we let her. I know I'll say this the rest of her life, but it's hard to believe our baby is already three. Kalista, we all love you more than you'll ever know!

Our Stay-cation

The weekend of the 10th we took our trailer all the way to Hyrum Reservoir (aka Hyrum Dam) to go camping. I google mapped it and it's a whopping 1.7 miles away. We spent most of Friday on the beach and all looked like a bunch of red tomatoes by the end of the day. Our plans to spend the next day at the beach were quickly changed, but we had fun just hanging out and playing.

THE WATER WAS SO HIGH WE ENDED UP ON THE GRASS MOST OF THE TIME

KALI LOVED THE SAND

KORTNEE AND SABRINA

JACOB SPENT MORE TIME IN THE BEACH THAN IN THE WATER

GRANDMA MANN JOINED US FOR THE WEEKEND. WENDY, IF YOU READ OUR BLOG, YOU'D BE SO PROUD OF HER OUT DOING LAPS!

SINCE WE WERE ALL TOO BURNED WE OPTED FOR MOON SAND IN THE CAMPGROUND ON DAY TWO

THE OLDER KIDS FOUND "CLAY" UNDER THE SAND AT THE BEACH. THEY SPENT THE SECOND DAY MAKING THINGS OUT OF CLAY.

YOU'VE GOT TO WONDER WHAT'S GOING THROUGH HIS MIND...

I HAD TO ADD THIS ONE TO SHOW IS NOT-SO-MISCHIEVOUS SIDE

Who'd of thunk...

We've been parents now for 11 1/2 years. With each child I've always wondered who would be the first to cut their own hair. As a parent of 5 you just know that it's a matter of when, not if, it's going to happen. With each child I've thought, "This is the one", but been so grateful when they'd each pass that age that I thought they knew better. The one thing that I'm starting to learn with this whole parenting thing is that you should never underestimate a child's ability at any age.

Just two weeks ago Jacob came upstairs with a mischievous grin. He showed me a hunk of hair that he'd taken from the front of his hair. He was just hanging out with his friends, and I guess he was looking for a shock factor. Well, he got it from his mother! I went downstairs and found hair all over the bathroom sink. I didn't get pictures because the whole that he left in his pate was pretty easily blended in his spiky do.

I thought we were past the shock of the whole hair cutting thing. Then a couple of days ago, Arianna came walking in with a pair of scissors and a sick look on her face. She had been trying to cut the elastic out of her ponytail when she cut a big chunk of hair! We're still trying to decide whether or not to cut it short, layer it, or just try to blend it into hair-dos until it grows out a little more. We'll post pictures if we decide to cut it. I just never thought it would be two of my older kids to break our 11 1/2 year no-hair cutting streak.

July Fourth Festivities

Our Independence day celebration started Thursday, July 2nd with the Hyrum City fireworks. We watched the skies all day due to a lot of dark rain clouds, but thankfully we were able to watch the show. We are able just to cross the street and sit on our neighbors yard and have a great view. The kids loved them! Kali asked the next day to see them again. I guess you can't give your kids everything they ask for!

On July 3rd, Rory took the kids up to the fireworks that are in the USU stadium. They were joined by Uncle Blaine and Aunt Necha. They said the pre-show was great. And due to the wind, they had ashes raining on them during the actual fireworks. They got home about midnight. I stayed home with Grandma Mann (who is visiting Utah for the summer) and Sabrina and Kali. It was too late of a night for us girls! I worked on July 4th dresses for the girls (which they've refused to wear since - they're not pink) and Mom kept me company.

July 4th started bright and early for me. I decided the day before to run the 15K Freedom Run. I started to wonder what I was thinking about mile 3, but I made it through all 9.3 miles and lived to tell about it! After coming home and getting everyone ready we headed to the Hyrum Parade. This becomes just a good way to get free candy for the kids. I'm not sure they could even tell you what was in the parade, but they love it! Here is where I actually had the camera.

WAITING FOR THE PARADE TO START

WE LOVE GRANDMA'S STORIES

JAKE WAS LOOKING TO GET SQUIRTED...

THEY GLADLY OBLIGED

MY CUTE TWEEN

JAKE WILL EAT SPIDERS, BUT NOT PIZZA OR SPAGHETTI

BRING ON THE CANDY!

Then July 5th we were able to enjoy a nice BBQ with Blaine, Necha, and Grandma Mann. Our kids are deprived because we do our own fireworks show in the light of the evening instead of waiting until 10 pm when it actually turns dark. But after this long, busy weekend we were more than ready for a good nights sleep.