Giddyup car seat!

Saturday, July 16, 2011MJ trying out her car seat from a different angle. I decided to just switch her to the convertible car seat once we bought our new van so this infant carrier was sitting in the living room for a few days until I took it down to the storage room.

Blondie turns 8!

Friday, July 15, 2011
Blondie's birthday was a little crazy this year because M&M was away at YW camp. We also ended up spending the morning at my parents' house to help look after my dad (he had a kidney stone at the time). So we had Blondie open her presents later on the evening of her birthday and we also had Papa John's pizza for dinner. We waited until the next day when M&M was home to have her birthday cake.

Blondie was so cute trying to decide whether to celebrate on her birthday or wait until M&M came home the following day. She really wanted to do things on her birthday, but she also didn't want M&M to miss out on any of it!

Trying out her new roller skates.
I have a butterfly cake pan, but Blondie and I designed the frosting design and M&M shaped the antennae out of pipe cleaners.
Then on Sunday after church we went over to my parents' house for dinner, leftover cake and a few more presents for Blondie.

Kay talk

Kay this morning: "Mom, I want to play DS." (Nintendo DS)
Me: "No, we're not going to play any DS today."
Kay: "Then I'm not going to be happy!!" as she storms off to her bedroom.

And just remember that she is only 3!! I'm afraid of what she'll be like when she becomes a teenager!!

Just chillin'

Saturday, July 9, 2011

4th of July

Monday, July 4, 2011

The kids waiting for our neighborhood parade to start:
This year we went to my parents' house for dinner and then headed over to try out the Sandy City Fireworks. Except for a tree that blocked part of our view until we moved, it was a great show and it was relatively smooth getting home afterwards. We may have to go there again next year.

Having some fun with glow sticks before the show started:

Toyota Family

We are now officially a Toyota family! (both of our cars are Toyotas now)
We have been looking for a new minivan for our family for about the past year. Up to this point we have been driving a 2002 Dodge Grand Caravan and it has been a great car for us, but our family has outgrown it. It only seats 7 and our family currently has 8 people in it. We have been able to make do with it up until now but I really felt strongly that we needed to upgrade to one that fits our family before our scheduled family trip to Washington.

So one reason I was a little more scatterbrained then usual during the kids' last week of school is because I was busy car shopping. I drove to several car dealers with MJ and decided that the 8-passenger Toyota Sienna (a.k.a. the Swagger Wagon) was probably the best fit for our family. On Monday, June 6th I test drove a couple of them and found a 2008 model that I really liked. (Apparently the 8-passenger Siennas are a pretty hot item in Utah because one dealer I went to that day had sold two of them that morning.) DH agreed to accompany me to the dealer that evening and in the end we spent way too much time there because we decided to buy it! There were a few things that they needed to fix on it (such as replace the front windshield) so we decided to leave it there until everything was finished and ready for us to take home.

My dad gave me a ride to pick up the new minivan on Thursday. Unfortunately there were a few things that I noticed before I left the dealer that weren't taken care of - like they couldn't find the mats for the car anywhere so they had to order a new set for us. We were also only given one key so I went over to the service department and had a second key made - it's definitely better to have an extra one and not need it than to need one and not have it!

I think it's a very pretty car. They called the color "sand" - it's kind of a very light gold color. Thankfully it came with an overhead DVD player and crossbars for the roof rack so it pretty much came trip ready for our upcoming trip. DH asked me when we were looking at it if our old van has any features that the new van doesn't have. I told him that no I didn't think so, but after driving it around for a while here are some things that I have found: no separate climate control for the passenger, no remote for the DVD player, the rear climate controls are located on one side of the van so you need to have a passenger sit there who is tall enough to reach the controls, no lockable storage drawer under the passenger seat. Here are some features that I love: stow-and-go back row of seats, super deep trunk, not as big of a step-up to get into the van, power sliding door is much quieter and smoother than our Dodge, seats 8 and is fairly comfortable in the back seats - even with car seats (I rode in the back for a good chunk of our trip to & from Washington and there was plenty of room for me), we can fit a car seat and two booster seats all on one row, the front row seats can all slide forward and backward individually. We are still trying to figure out how everything works and where to best sit everyone - especially the car seats - and still allow the side seats to fold down so the kids can climb into the back row. It's also kind of difficult to buckle the seat belts for the booster seats when they are next to a car seat. (One of these days I won't have to worry about these things anymore...)

In the meantime...

Here are some blog posts to look forward to:

- M&M attended 2 church camps (and DH spent a night too)
- 4th of July parade & fireworks
- Luke at Webelos camp
- 2 July birthdays so far (and one more on Saturday)
- MJ starting to walk and communicate with baby signs
- 1st day of school for the Elementary school kids (yikes!)
- Fun at the pool and slip-n-slide
- Blondie's upcoming baptism (August 6)
- visits with family

And if you live in the Salt Lake area, come watch my kids perform in Faith the Musical at the LDS Conference Center Little Theater!! Performance dates are August 4-13.

Purchase tickets by clicking here: Buy Tickets

More info about the musical: Faith the Musical

And here's an article about the musical on the church's website: British Saints to Perform Faith, the Musical at Conference Center

This is a neat experience for our kids and we're excited that they are participating - even though the next 3 weeks are going to be very busy and hectic!!

Blog Update

Sorry I am behind in the blogging. We have run out of space on the computer I use so I haven't been able to put any of the pictures on it that I have taken over the last month! There have been a lot of things going on this past month (and I still have some blogging to do about the family reunion in Washington back in June)! My husband is working on backing up all of our photos onto his server and when he is satisfied with how that is working I will be able to delete some of the pictures from our Mac so that I can upload our more recent pictures to it. I just hope I don't forget everything that I want to blog about!!

Kid talk

Last night Luke and I were getting in the minivan to come home and Luke said to me, "Mom, can I scroll down the window?"

Little things

* Luke mowing the front and back lawns without complaint while M&M was gone for a week at camp.

* MJ sleeping through the night a couple of times a week.

* Watching MJ learn to walk!

* MJ learning how to go down the stairs the right way!

* M&M having a fun time at Oakcrest camp

* Getting dresses made for Blondie & Kitty for the play the kids are in (more on that later)

* Luke going to his last cub scout day camp

* Luke buying something for his sisters at the trading post at scout camp