Shalom Israel

We had the opportunity to be a host family for some Israeli folk dancers for the Springville Folk Fest this year. We went back and forth about it, but decided we'd wanted to do it. Last year, the date fell over Henry's due date, and we couldn't have THAT mess to deal with...but our neighbors did it last year, and wanted to do it again, so we hosted together, which turned out FABULOUS!
We were put with Israel last-minute when our Aremenian dance team canceled a few days before hand. We had a good time with our dancer-men, and got to see some pretty cool folk dancing too! Our neighbors hosted 2 men, and we hosted 2 men. It wasn't what we originally planned on, but we were glad to help. If you personally know any Israelis, then you might have a clue as to how our week went...if you don't, then I will just leave it at that. It was an experience to say the least. They LOVED our boys, and Henry especially LOVED them!

Henry with Ofir

Henry with Aviel

Since Henry celebrated a birthday while they were here, we hosted a big BBQ (somewhat kosher) for all the dancers and their host families. We sung happy birthday and he was showered with attention, of course.

Summer chaos

What! How do our summers slip away from us? We wait and wait for it to get here, then we run ourselves ragged trying to make the most of it, and when it's over, we collapse. I feel like my summers are spend packing and unpacking. That's where I find myself at the end of this summer, and I finally found some time to sit down and write about what we've done.
Here are some things that have happened since the Holiday:
We were loaned(?), (given?) (lent?) a bike trailer from Evan's sister for our family. It has been wonderful. We use it several times a week. She even threw in little helmets for the boys. Porter enjoys it just as much as we do!

Here he is pulling Henry around

We've spend most of our summer outside playing around with the neighbor kids, and heading to the park when the weather was cool enough. Henry decided to show off at 10 months by climbing up the rock wall and sliding down the slide with NO HELP! What are we to do?

Here are some pictures of the kids playing around:

Here we are at the Spanish Fork Fiesta Days 24th of July Parade. It was pretty cool. Cooler even, that we got to ride our bikes to the parade route, and home again. Jig-a-Dee-Jig!

The 4th of July

This is my 2nd most favorite holiday. I am becoming more patriotic the older I get. I can't even make it through the hymns in church this time of year. Sad but true. I cry and cry. Of course I cry at the opening of the first football game of the season too...

As usual, we took the kids to the parade and sat in our "usual" spot. The kids LOVED the WHOLE 2 HRS of it! It took me back to last year being so pregnant and hot, and that my sweet baby is WALKING! It's not fair how fast they grow. We went to the carnival afterwards and generously bought tickets for Porter to go on some rides, which he refused, so we had to scalp the tickets. Then we left for some yummy luch at Cafe Rio (I know, nothing like Mexican to celebrate America). We visited with some family, then came home and napped. Later that night we went to a BBQ at a neighbor's house where Porter experienced his first sparkler! It was kind of magical.

I LOVE LOVE LOVED the new law this year! Aerials were awesome! The kids loved seeing them all over the sky. It kinda made up for not seeing the big ones this year. I don't think we missed out on much.

Camping

I know most of you wouldn't post about camping. Big deal, right? It's kind of a big deal for us. We've been meaning to do this for WAY TOO LONG! (2 yrs) I've been making excuses and the timing has just never been right. Evan has had a super crazy work schedule lately, which made our Friday night camping trip a bust, so...determined to keep my husband happy and my promise to my boys, we packed up saturday afternoon and went. It was really fun. I don't hate camping. I really enjoy it. BUT, it's very hard with very young kids.

On our hike

We went up Hobble Creek and reserved a site, set up the tent, and went on a hike. Then we came back and played in the tent for awhile, made dinner, and put the boys down for an "early" bed, which turned out to be a short nap, cause they were up playing again for another couple of hours until we all got to fall asleep. SO fun!





                                                                                

The next morning we were up and out before 8 am, fed and happy. I can do camping trips like that. I keep telling Evan that I can't wait until our youngest is 2 and we can really ENJOY family outings like that. Until then we'll just have to make do and plug through it, right? It's worth it, right?

The boys had a blast and I did too, to tell the truth. But most importantly, Evan had a good time, which was my whole objective!

We had a surprise visit from my Grandma last week. She is old, and doesn't like to leave her house, even though the flight is less than an hour and it's FREE! She came anyway for an afternoon. After hearing she was here, I packed up the kids and we headed to Salt Lake. My brother and his family were also visiting from WA, so when we got there, the kids had a pretty good water fight in the back yard. Porter has never been given a water gun before so he was pretty much all smiles. Henry played with little Scott and tried to wrestle a lot with him, but the moment had passed by the time I pulled my camera out.

Later that day, my dad took all the grandkids to the fairgrounds to ride some horses. Porter was excited, but as you can see here, he spent his time with the chickens. He missed out on quite the experience.

Morning shower

This is what happens when I take a long shower and leave P to his own devices. He's been on a toy kick lately where he'll bring every toy, pillow and blanket he owns to a specific place and just sit there surrounded by them. Henry was asleep, so when he asked me to bring MY pillow and blanket out and lay down to play on the floor, I jumped at the opportunity. I got in a good hour nap while Porter played happily around me, until Henry woke up. I love this kid! So funny!

Oh Deer

It's bound to happen when you drive 4 hrs a day in the dark on a dirt road...Good think work paid for it!