And a fight ensued

After the fun in the water, a water fight broke out. Interestingly enough, if you were to compare past pictures from when I was a little girl you would find that these pictures resemble those from my childhood quite closely. Dad is still as scary as ever when he acts like a zombie. Aria and I decided that it still scared us!

Homemade slip and slide at Grandpa I's

July 31st
Dad brought a "call sheet" home from the mill for a mutual activity. When the grandkids were there, he got it out for them to use as a slip and slide. It was a VERY warm day and dad wanted a quick way to cool down and the grandkids were thrilled at the idea of being able to play in the water. Mori went first with Lily trailing right behind. Nora was a little too light on her feet and slipped way before she could slide. Grandpa even took some of the kids for rides on his back.

Mori at the fair

Mori is just as much a dare devil as Lily, but she is also a big helper. Because we adults wouldn't pay the $ to ride the rides with the little kids, Mori was willing to take them on rides to help us out. But she got to go on LOTS of rides for herself. She went on the hammer twice, (once with a friend she made at the fair) and everyother ride many more times than twice. She loved the bumper cars. She thinks driving is really fun and it is even more fun when you get to run into things. I actually went on a ride with Mori and Lily -- the scrambler. This ride was one of my favorites as a youngster so I decided to go on it with my two older girls. I forgot what the g-force does to you on a ride like that. I was completely squished up against the side of the ride by the 140 lbs of the two girls. Mori screamed the WHOLE time and Lily and I just laughed. Mori apologized 100 times after we got off, but still thought it was extremely funny!

Lily at the fair

Lily is our little dare devil. Last year she tried all the rides she possibly could and was looking forward to being tall enough to go on all the rides this year. Some of them she had to be with Mori because she still wasn't tall enough, but she did get to go on them. Her favorite was the "Round-Up" which is the thing that goes around and around and around forever. Amazingly enough, she is our motion sickness queen. The only ride that made her sick was the hammer. She was dizzy and green for about 45 minutes after, but with food in her stomach and some walking around to see the animals, she was ready to go on all the rides again (except the hammer).

Nora at the fair

The girls love to ride the rides at the fair and to see the animals. We got to the fair at 2 pm and stayed until close to 10. Nora loved all the rides. She and Camden tried all the little kid rides. She was a motorcycle mamma, played like Indiana Jones, drove a car, went through a twisting tunnel, went down the big slide 20+ times and found time to pet the animals. It was hard to pry her away to get her to eat dinner and to go home at the end of the day. She got a good night sleep that night too!

Face painting

July 30th
Today we went to the Union County Fair. It is a bit po-dunk, but it has been a tradition for the past 3 years for our family and Aunt Aria. One of the favorite things for the day for the three younger kids was to get their faces painted. Owen and Camden had never had their faces painted, so it was extra special for them. Camden got a dragon on his cheek, Owen got a ninja turtle and Nora got butterflies painted on her cheek. They were very excited and the ladies thought they were very sweet!

Nora's last day

July 29th
Today was Nora's last day of swimming lessons for the summer. She started out in level 1 and I really thought she would never make it out of level 1. She absolutely would NOT put her face in the water. She had her teachers wrapped around her little finger, so they would reach down in the water and get the diving sticks for her. But as the weeks moved on, she got to be more brave. After her second stint in level 1 she was able to move on to level 2 because she could now float on her back and would put her face in the water. Her second two weeks in level 1, she was the bravest of them all. Her teachers were very happy with her progress.
Now at the end of the last week of level 2, we know she has come a long way because all she does is swim under water and do what she is supposed to. We look forward to lessons next summer when she can brave the water even more.

Picnic with the cousins

July 28th
We have found that picnics at meacham are a favorite for our family. It is beautiful and much cooler than town. We also get to meet up with family and laugh and talk. What more could you ask for. With Aria in town and everyone wanting to be together, it was a perfect opportunity to enjoy each other.

The neighbor's puppies

July 27th
Our neighbor's dog had 11 puppies. They are very cute and VERY loud. One escaped into our yard this evening when Camden and Owen were here. Matt brought the cutie into the house for the kids to look at and hold. Owen was enamored to say the least. He cried VERY hard when Matt returned the puppy to his home. We are actually looking forward to the puppies going away. They live right outside our bedroom window and we have lost much sleep over them. But for the time being, we are more than happy to have such cute neighbors!

Leif LOVES food

July 27th
My sister Aria was in town this week for a visit. We love it when the cousins come because we just don't get to see them all that often. Her youngest son, Leif is SO cute. As were were eating dinner this evening he wanted everything on Aria's plate. We were eating ham and cheese roll-ups and veggies from our garden (fresh green beans and beets). As you can see from the photo, Leif loves EVERYTHING. His hands and face were purple from the beets. He couldn't get enough. We enjoyed watching him devour his food. What a cutie!

Trusses

July 23rd
The truss system was dropped off this morning. Matt had his dad and two friends here to help him put them in place. It makes things look so much more "done" I guess. We are excited to be moving forward with the house. Sometimes it is hard to wait for things. We were actually ready for the trusses 2 days ago, but Matt can always find more to work on, so no time was wasted. The next step is plywood, tar paper and shingles. We'll keep you posted.

Missed the board

July 21st
Matt works LONG days on the house. He has done all the work himself, and only has a few weeks before he has to go back to work. He works until he is tired. Today he worked til he was overtired and missed a board with the nail gun. Thankfully the board that he missed slowed down the impending nail, but not enough to save us a trip to the emergency room. The picture shows how the nail was in his hand. You can see the hole if left in the side of his palm. You'd think it would have slowed him down. Not really. He came home from the hospital and finished framing the closet he was working on when it happened. Thankfully the pain killers kicked in soon after and he took a break for the day. He was back to work the next day, but had to work very carefully with his new "piercing".

Playtime with the cousins

July 21st
Since our cousins stayed, the kids played and played and played all they could. The new addition was a favorite place because it wasn't as confining as the house and it wasn't as hot as outside. Nora and Wyatt found the dirt pile and played in it till they were absolutely disgusting, but they had fun. It is so nice when cousins come to visit. It will be even nicer when the house is finished and they can sleep inside instead of outside in the yard in tents!

Jaren's Blessing Day

July 20th
We had Jaren's baby blessing at church today. We had lots of Matt's family in town for the reunion and decided it was the best Sunday to do it. He was very handsome in his outfit that Grandma Isaacson sewed for him. He also had a matching blanket for the occasion.
Matt's mom and dad, Grandma Marvel, sister Michelle and her family, our niece Payton, and my mom, dad and brother Seth were there. It was a very nice blessing and we had a nice BBQ after for the family. It was a perfect day!