Railroad Park

We were invited to a Primary activity at the Railroad Park today. The kids rode the train pretty much non stop.

 Ashlyn doesn't look excited in the pictures, but as soon as she got off she ran right to the front of the line and got on again. No on really saw her push her way through the crowd.

 Chawna, my cousin, is the one that invited us.

 Thank goodness for the big kids that took Ashlyn over and over again, so I didn't have to.

Blackberry Picking

We live close to some blackberry bushes, in fact where our house was built was probably a big blackberry bush at one time because we keep getting little vines sprouting up. GRRR. So annoying. We like them, just no in our backyard. 

Ashlyn probably enjoys picking them the most, and she isn't really afraid of the thorns. 

 After a while she just sat down and snacked on the berries. 

 It is torture when you are picking and you look up and see all these berries that are out of reach. 

Happy Birthday Tanner

It is still hot these days, so for Tanner's birthday party we played with water balloons. Hundreds of them! Played a few games but they really enjoyed throwing the balloons at each other the most.

 Tanner has been begging for a skateboard. Being only 6 I didn't love the idea, but I saw him playing with our neighbors and he was doing pretty good and is really determined, so we went ahead and got him one, and pads too, of course. 

 Tracie, my sister, made the cake. She did a great job with it. We did a sports theme.

Feelin' blessed

We bought our '97 Subaru Outback in 2006. It had over 200,000 miles when we bought it. I had no idea it would be such a reliable car all these years when we needed it to be. We have been students pretty much the whole time we've had this car and haven't had many problems. My dad did a couple fixes when we'd come back for holidays or affiliations but nothing big. Well, all of the sudden, in the last month, we have had our rotors, radiator and alternator replaced. And we will need our axles replaces soon. Even though it is a bummer, we are so grateful for the timing of it all. We can afford to pay for these fixes now, but while in school it could have been financial crisis. 

And what else has helped me stay positive is the timing of each break down. When our alternator went out, it was about 100 degrees. I drove the car to my dad's shop with all the kids, and it died right when I pulled into the garage. He only had to push it like 5 feet to where he'd work on it. Then I smelled the coolant and noticed the car over heating when we got to the end of our street as I was leaving to run errands. I was able to turn back around and again, not get stranded with the kids somewhere in 100 degree weather.  And the parts were available each time so the fixes were quick and cost less than we anticipated. Even though it stinks that the car is slowly dying on us, I am so grateful for the circumstances. I feel like we have angels watching over us. And one of them is my Dad. He is wonderful!

While we were stranded at home waiting for my dad to come fix the car after work, we had to find things to do, so we got out some paint and paper plates and made some masks. 

Peaches and Pure silliness

It is peach season, and a local store had peaches for $0.10 per pound. I went and got some, along with a couple hundred other people. Craziness. It was like Black Friday. Ashlyn has been eating them like candy. Loves them.

 I keep expecting Dallin to outgrow his silliness. But he doesn't, and maybe just gets quirkier everyday. He came out like this the other day.

 Then we were running out the door to get to church, and we had told Dallin to go grab a couple toys to bring to play with. This is what he grabbed. LOL. When I told him they had to fit in his church bag, these were the expressions I got.

Can't leave Tanner out of the post. No pictures right now, but we will have some soon. His 6th birthday is this weekend, so we are having a party. It is in the 100's all week here, so we will do a water balloon party. He is finishing up T-ball next week, and then soccer starts in September. We are trying to figure out what to do with Dallin. He is old enough to participate in some activities, but which would be the right one for him? I am thinking karate, but I don't know yet. Tanner didn't start anything until he was in Kindergarten, so maybe we will just wait with Dallin too.

Needed this today

My favorite

I forgot to put my favorite beach pictures on the blog. Ashlyn was so fun to watch play in the sand. I personally don't love the beach, but being there with my kids (and my camera) made it really fun.