Slippin' and Slidin'

Sometimes the best part of having kids is to relive some of the highlights from your own childhood. Bill and I get excited when they are interested in some of the same music, movies, toys, and activities we remember relishing. So, when the kids begged us to buy them a slip and slide today, we could hardly say "no". It has been such a scorching summer, we were all thrilled to hook up the hose and try it out! The boys had so much fun and we had such a great time watching them enjoying the wet piece of plastic that brought so many of us joy at that age!




This week has not been as busy as the past few months have been. The break was nice. We are closing in on the last few weeks of their summer break. It will feel so wierd to have both kids doing some school in September. I am not ready to send them back, hopefully we will all be ready in a few more weeks, because ready or not, here school comes.
Bill is looking at some different employment options this week, as well. We figure it won't hurt to know what else is out there. He will either go back to his job, much happier or it will instigate a new chapter for his career. Both outcomes are positive, and so the experiment begins.


We are needing one last vacation before the end of summer break, and are thinking Northern California to explore San Francisco and visit my brother and sister. I figure for interesting photo ops, San Fran is a great place to capture odd and wonderful visions. Plus, we need a fun way to celebrate Bill and my upcoming birthdays. (HINT, HINT!)

3 Barbers and a Jackson. . .

You know you love soccer when you plan your vacations around it! Bill had the opportunity this week to fly out to L.A. to watch one of his favorite soccer teams, Chelsea, play in America. This is a passion he shares with his brother, David, who joined him from Denver in L.A. Last year the two flew to D.C. to watch Chelsea take on D.C. United, so all things considered, it was a much easier trip to organize.

Anne, Quentin, David and Bill all had a great time at the game and hanging out together. Bill came back with a huge smile and a serious sunburn from his beach time, relaxed and happy!

Sarabs, Mummies and Ankhs, oh my!

William took an Ancient Art class at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts this week. I handed the kids a cataloge of all the available summer classes in hopes that they would find something that interested them. William is not usually a big fan of making art or doing crafts and I was skeptical he would enjoy himself. He proved me wrong by having the best time, and being really proud of the art he created. He made some really interesting and cool things in the class and learned a plethora of interesting things about Roman, Greek, and Egyptian cultures. Yipee for U of U youth education classes. It was a mother's dream class-- learning and fun!

We had a very busy week with the Ancient Art class, swimming lessons, piano lessons, and most importantly Anne's visit. Anne came out for some business and then a fun visit after she was done. We enjoyed having her here! William LOVED that she was reading Harry Potter and would pump her for Potter Information. Anne inspired William to want to read the books and so we bought book one and he is so excited to be reading it. He would sit right by Anne in the "reading corner" and read his book while she read hers. Heaven knows this family loves their Anita Bonita!

Romney for President

Who would have thought that we would be able to find merchandise with Romney's name on it. We figure that this is a once in a lifetime event for him, so we bought a few. The "100% Romney" shirt was just way too perfect to pass up and the scrabble letters shirt was too cute. He enjoyed modeling them for the photos and he is currently wearing the sweatshirt even thought it is 100 degrees outside.






Today we went to tour the SWEET Candy Factory with our friends, the Bates. The kids had a ton of fun watching them making the candy and sampling all the goods. Who knew the chewy middle of a jellybean has no flavor until the hard candy shell goes on? Now we do. The factory was founded by the Sweet family. If that is your last name, what else can you really do that would make as much sense, right? Thanks to Alicia (our buddy Buggy) for telling us about the tour and then showing us around. She was an amazing candy factory guide!

And the award for best baby hair goes to. . .

Aaron Johnson! Clear winner with a curly Mohawk coif. We had a wonderful 4Th of July that included many friends. The boys went down to the community pancake breakfast and enjoyed a Utah tradition. After filling up, we joined family friends, the Bates, for a movie to try and escape for a couple of hours from the heat. We rushed back so we could enjoy a mid-afternoon barbecue with dear friends, the Johnsons. (This is where the picture of Aaron comes from.) The boys also braved the heat and crowds to attend the REAL soccer game and then watched the fireworks, again with the Bates boys. It was wonderfully relaxing day. We had a great time with each other and some of our friends. Here's hoping you all had just as enjoyable of a time.