Summer 2009

Because of my lack of blogging this summer I am cramming the best of our summer events all on one post. Why does the best time of the year have to go by so quickly? The usually perfect month of June was more like March and even August has had more than its share of chilly days. I'm not ready for the cold to begin. Too bad we can't put it to a vote, right? I can say, however, that we jam packed the season full of memories. Here's our favorites:

At the start of each summer we go on a week long camping trip with our friends, the Riggs. Last year Damon scheduled it for the last week of May and it was freezing. I decided I would schedule it this year after putting up a big stink about it. We tried a new spot, Millsite State Park, and I thought the middle of June would be perfect. Yeah, we froze again. We had our camping trailer for the first time and that saved us. The site was beautiful with a lake, grassy areas, a golf course, 4 wheeling, and a kick butt jogging route for Amanda and I. We started each day fighting the weather and jogging 4 miles up some challenging hills. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to burn off the treat calories while we played games at night. Regardless of the weather we had a lot of fun spending time with each other and our great friends.

Damon and Micah bought a couple remote control boats and played with them for seriously hours.

Damon was a little lazy when it came to having to walk the whole 10 yards to the toilets. He took either Bailee's bike or her Barbie scooter. Once while he was riding the scooter he hit a crack in the concrete and flew head over handlebars. Oh man, if only I could've seen that! Of course, this picture was taken before Damon backed over the bike with his truck. The lesson to be learned is...well, need I even say?

This is what I get for making fun of the guys about their socks.

Making s'mores. Once after Bailee pulled her hot (metal) fire poker stick out of the fire she accidentally poked it into her cheek. She got a pretty bad sore but luckily it only left a barely noticeable scar.

Going for a bike ride...chasing after me while I was trying to capture the perfect picture.

The day we left we woke up to the beautiful sun. That seems to be the way it always works. We hurried and packed up then spent a couple hours at the beach.
The dads and their little ladies. What you can't see is the very sad little boys watching them ride off. Unfortunately, our 4 wheeler started having a problem with the back breaks not too long into the ride and they had to turn around.

My boys.

Damon took what seemed like 12 hours to walk neek deep into the freezing lake. Micah decided to man up and follow his lead.

The dads chased the kids with their remote control rock crawlers till the batteries died.

2 of the days were so cold we were mostly confined to the trailers. Luckily, we both have TVs. Can I say LIFESAVER?!
Amanda and I attempting to change the weather's mind by laying out. You can tell by my expression how well it worked out for us.

Fourth of July

Damon and Trey prepping the yard.

Our neighborhood gets together for a never ending firework show to end the big day.

BBQ at our place after the swimming party.

Lehi Roundup

We try to go to all the Lehi Roundup festivities throughout the roundup week. Damon tried his hardest to make it to almost all the activities with us...and did really good. For the last day we took the kids to the park to see the animals and go on some rides.




We went to all the Lehi parades and the Steel days parade with Damon's family. The kids got so much candy that my candy cupboard is still full!





One thing we always enjoy in the summertime is the drive in. Gotta love stuffing the love sac in the bed of the truck and watching movies outside in our pj's!

Racing!

I ran the Lehi 5k with Amanda and surprised myself with my new best time. OK, so I haven't run that many but I was still pretty happy.
Seriously, one of the best moments of the summer was this one right here. After watching me run the Lehi race (and chasing after me), Trey said he wanted to run a race too. I signed him up for the half mile children's race in American Fork that a lot of his cousins run. Bailee ran it last year and pretty much hated it. I knew Trey would be one of the youngest and smallest and figured he would stop and ask his daddy to carry him not long into the race. However, this is what I saw coming around the corner before the finish line. Trey following his dad. He ran the whole time with little effort and a huge smile on his face. Melt mommy's heart, why don'tcha?!

Trey took first place in his age group while moomy took third.

Every year we go on a weekend camping trip with Damon's family. This is the whole clan (except Reed who is taking the picture.)

Riding in the back of the truck to the kickball field.

Trey was a little sleep deprived after coughing all night. This is what happened when I let Tyler sit on my lap.

Dodgeball.

Buddies, Trey and Jace.

So, we had to end summer break with a bang. What better way to do that than going to the demolition derby? OK, so it's no Disneyland, but it was still so much fun! Damon and I have gone a couple times but this was the first time since we've had kids. My sis, Autumn, and her family came with us. This is soooo going to be a tradition now. My kids had an absolute blast! Trey's new favorite thing to do all day? Playing demo derby with his toy cars.

See ya next year, summer break. :( Missing you already.

CHICAGO!

I was recently given the opportunity to go on an amazing vacation to Chicago . Where do I even begin? It became an experience of a lifetime. My friend, Amanda, her mom Vyki, my sister, Mari, and I went. No men and no kids. Vyki has cancer and gets her treatments in Chicago. She took us girls with her for her treatment and then we spent the rest of the week playing. Vyki has become someone very important in my life and it's so difficult to watch her have to fight for her life. We spent 2 days with her in the hospital and unfortunately the chemo hasn't been working so they didn't do the treatment. She spent most of those 2 days having tests run. As difficult as it was, I'm so glad we were there with her to hold her hand and cry with her. I pray that God has a miracle for her because no one deserves it more. I also grew closer to Mari and Amanda, whom I feel are both my sisters. We had many spiritual experiences and I have yet been able to talk much about them cause I start to cry. Yeah, I know I'm a big baby.

Chicago skyline.

Vyki rubbing...and kissing...the lions tail. It's supposed to bring good luck.

Us faking a counseling session.

At the bean sculpture. Amanda got a little disoriented under the giant mirrors and hit her head pretty hard as she stood up after this pic. She never ceases to entertain us.

Damon was obsessed with me trying the deep dish at Pizzeria Uno. I told him no way after I found out there was a Pizzeria Ora. He was bummed and told me it would probably be a dump. Come to find out, when we arrived, Vyki's friend, Mary, was pacing in front of the Pizzeria, terrified we would go in. I guess it's a very bad street, pretty much only used to get your drugs. Not to mention it had no customers...most likely a drug front. Mari took a quick pic and then we got the heck out of there. I ended up bringing home a frozen deep dish pizza from Pizzeria Uno as Damon's gift. What a bummer that he was right!

Vyki met Megan (far left) while they were both having chemo treatments quite a while ago. Megan and her hubby treated us to an amazing dinner cruise. We had such a blast! There was about 600 passengers aboard all enjoying dinner, dancing, and a huge firework show over Lake Michigan. It was an unforgettable night.

The Sears Tower ( now the Willis Tower) just finished their glass balconies. It was fun but a little freaky standing on the top of the tallest building in America and seeing under my feet aaaaalllllll the way to the ground. Awesome!

We went to Cirque Shanghai (Chinese Acrobats) and can I say...OH MY FREAKING HECK! How do people do those kinds of things? I was missing my Bailee during the show cause I know she would've loved it.

Hershey's Factory. Mari's eyes looked a tad bigger than her stomach, don't you think? That candy bar is $40, btw.

We did alot of shopping (duh). I know, I know....dream on, Ora.

One of the biggest highlights of the trip was going to the Blue Man Group. Now I understand what all the hype is about. Why did it take me so long to go to this?! The blue men took me out of the audience and took me up on stage. I was up there for quite a while and had so much fun. I played around with their act and they fed off of everything I did, making it SO HILARIOUS! What a blast! Seriously, once in a lifetime opportunity. I could write forever about it but I know it's way more exciting for me than anyone else. Who cares. It was awesome. After the show was over and we were waiting for our cab, there was quite a buzz around us cause people didn't believe I wasn't a hired part of the show. Nope. Just a crazy girl from Utah who apparently fits in a little too well with 3 blue men pretending to be aliens.

Thanks so much, Vyki! Love you!