Fun Visitors. . . and a little trip to the dentist

I was able to pick up my niece, Katie, and her good friend, Ashleigh from the airport on Sunday afternoon. They spent the afternoon entertaining the girls. . . watching disney movies, fixing hair, nails, going to the park. I wish I had them around more often! Not only did my girls love them, but they were great to have around. Pleasant, appreciative. . .and did I mention they entertained and played with my girls all day??

Katie and Ashleigh in their cute matching shirts!

Kennedy sporting her braids. . . . she loves them!

Elizabeths' hair do. . . twists and pony tail.

Not sure why this is sideways, but Mia and her french braids. I got Katie and Ashleigh off to EFY this morning. Those check in lines are rediculous! So long and it is soo hot out! But they made it and here they are ready for a fun week. The dorms seem a bit old, but I am sure they will have a great time. Kennedy also had a dentist appointment today. She was a trooper. She had to have a tooth pulled and another one had a cavity. . . .I miss being able to see Kurt for these! But she was so calm and such a great patient. Hopefully she won't have any more toothaches now. She has been a little miserable for a while now.

Happy Pioneer Day!

Most of you know that July 24th is Pioneer Day here in Utah. . .and we celebrate when the pioneers first entered the Salt Lake Valley. It is a state holiday and we celebrate in style. Earlier in the week, the girls were able to participate in the children's parade here in Spanish Fork. All the different wards in the area have floats that the kids get to ride on or march by. The girls loved being a part of that, and it was a first for us. . .. but it is a huge tradition around here. Here are Kennedy and Elizabeth after the parade was done, showing off their red, white, and blue, and also their "support our troops" ribbons. Sitting beside them are a couple of our new neighbors that the kids pal around with.

Luke celebrated like a true pioneer by going on a Pioneer Trek in Wyoming this week. He got up bright and early Monday morning (5 am) to load the buses for his fun adventure. Here he is before he left on Monday. I was lucky that David was kind enough to get up and drive him to Springville that early. Luke went with our old stake and had a great time. I asked him what his favorite part was, and he said the bus ride there and back!! So I am not sure if he caught on to the pioneer spirit!

When I went to pick him up late Wednesday night, be had a little friend with him. . . .a horny toad lizard. I didn't really want to have him bring this home, but he insisted and I caved in. He enjoyed "Fred" for a few days, but was sad to find him Passed on earlier today. Much to my horror, David decided to have a science experiment. . . . I didn't have anything to do with it, but David wants to preserve "fred" to keep in his classroom. . . . I told him he absolutely couldn't keep it here at the house. I am mean, I know. I will spare you more details, but there is more to the story, I just can't get myself to write it. . .. it just seems morbid, but David thinks it is cool. Ask me some other time if you wish. . ..

On to other topics. . . .

Our Children's Parade entry placed third, so we were able to be a part of the "Grand Parade" today. So the girls were very excited to be a part of the big parade. They are intently listening to instructions here in this picture. .. really they were very happy. David actually came out for the parade to see the girls, and any one who knows him knows that this is a big deal. . . . he HATES parades. He would rather go dig a ditch or get a root canal than watch a parade. But is was fun seeing their cute, smiling faces waving at us.

So Happy Pioneer Day to all of you!!

Life is busy. . .

I am so behind, I don't even know where to start, but here is a little catch up of some activities from the past week at least.

PARK CITY: Kurt and Shannon came to spend a week in Park City and we spent most of the week with them at the really nice condo they had rented up there. Here is Mia slinking around the Pool. She crawls around the edge of the pool, gets out, walks around, gets in again and does it all over again.

The kids swimming at the pool. We only saw Paul and Bronte for a day before they were off to adventures at EFY. I hear they had a marvelous time! But we missed seeing them more.

We spent one afternoon at the Utah Olympic Park. Shannon and I both thought it was really cool watching the skiiers practice their jumps into the pool of water.

Luke Celebrated his 12th birthday on the 3rd of July. He was ordained a deacon at church on Sunday. I can't belive he is getting so old! What fun he is to have around.

We celebrated the day by heading to boondocks. We played laser tag, drove these slick track race cars (which david enjoyed a bit too much!), road bumper boats, played video games, etc. We had a blast.

Mom and Dad went into the MTC on Monday morning. Kennedy decided we needed to go to breakfast before they left. So here we are at Ihop before they entered the MTC officially. We still get to see them one more time before they leave fore Germany. . . so no official good buys yet.

We are also full fledged into house projects. I will update that later.