Family Fun this Summer!

I can't believe how quickly the summer has gone by!  We have done so many fun things as a family and I don't want to forget them!  One of the things we started doing was to have "journal" time on Sunday afternoons, so  for my journal entry today I decided to blog about some of the fun and new things we have been doing this summer.

We started things off with Emily, my dear sister, coming out from Florida!  2 days later, Emily, Jeremy, and myself ran the Utah Valley Marathon together!  It was a great marathon and I would like to run it again--but this time without a bladder infection and without a nursing baby.  Those two things slowed me down a bit, but I still ran the whole thing and did a pretty good job!  Before the race, Jeremy (my brother just older than me) and I had some great training runs together--we did our final long run of 21 miles here in Riverton.  We did awesome on that run and I felt GREAT afterwards!  It was neat to run to Bluffdale, turn around, run to South Jordan, then run from the river trail, then up to and around the Oquirrh temple, and then back home.  Jeremy is great to run with, but doesn't live close enough to run regularly together.  I would love to run with him on a regular basis, but alas.  I sure wish I could find a female running buddy around here--especially one that can do distance.  I swear there is one out there and I will find her one day.  I sure miss running with Emily--who moved to Florida.  It was so fun to have her around again and we had so much fun her last night here.  I stayed at my parents and we played games, visited, laughed, were silly and had a great time!

So much to tell about, but not enough time, so I will sum up--we spent many fun days playing with cousins throughout June and July.  We had all of the Robertson's visiting over the 4th of July!  It was crazy with so many little kids, but really a lot of fun.  Jon's family came out at the end of July and we had several family gatherings at our house.  We almost finished our kitchen before family came, but not quite--oh well.  We still haven't done anything since all the family came out because we have been so busy and doing some other great things--I will blog about doing the kitchen when it is finished and add pictures from before and after, but that's its own side note.

We ended July with Jon running his first half marathon!  I am so proud of him and still can't believe that he actually did it!  It was so awesome to see him coming to the finish line!  I was really nervous for him and hoped he would be able to do it--and he did awesome!  He is amazing!

Then we had the first week of August as our own little family to do what we wanted.  It was so fun--a "stay-cation" as they call it.  We started Monday with Temple Square.  We took the kids to the top of the Church Office building, walked around the visitor centers, and then took Trax to Gateway and ate dinner in the food court.  It was crazy going to Gateway--not that it's bad, but such a different spirit than being at Temple Square all day.  It is so amazing how this little city is very much like a city on one block and then on another block it is so peaceful and beautiful all around you.

Tuesday we went up Provo Canyon.  We hiked Stewart Falls.  The kids did an amazing job!  They never complained and hiked quite well.  We packed dried fruit, granola bars, and water bottles for everyone and just took it nice and easy.  It was a beautiful hike!  The mountains were so luscious and there were green ferns growing all over the trail--really quite beautiful!  I love the mountains!  Then we built a fire, roasted hotdogs and marshmallows and sat around the fire for a bit.  It was so fun!

Wednesday we went up to Ogden to the Train Museum.  It was cool, not anything super amazing, but we enjoyed it.  We then went to the Roy Aquatic Center.  We went down the waterslides many times with the kids.  It was super fun--perfect for kids!  We stopped at Grandma Hansen's on the way home and had dinner with them.  They had hid $12 worth of quarters and nickles in their sandbox--so then the kids spent about an hour playing and digging in the sand to find the money--that was pretty fun!

Thursday we went to the Zoo.  They had a dinosaur theme thing going on which was fun, but distracting from the real animals.  They had these fake, but pretty realistic dinosaurs placed throughout the zoo that moved and made noises.  I think my kids really weren't sure if they were real or not--at least Jonathan was pretty convinced that they were real--especially since many of the real animals didn't move or make noises.  But it was really fun and the kids really enjoyed it.  We then went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner--our favorite!  We thoroughly enjoyed it!!  And then we went and saw Kung Fu Panda 2.  That was a little crazy with Amelia--she was pretty tired of being held or in the stroller since she hadn't been able to crawl around all day, but in the end, we conquered and between Jon and I we saw pretty much the whole movie!  It was a really cute movie by the way.

Friday was stay at home/project day, which the kids didn't care too much for, but hey, they got to play in a room FULL of legos (we only have a huge tote full) while Jon and I worked on some yard projects we haven't been able to get to all summer.  We finally worked a bit on our fence, front flowerbed, wood pile, and garden.  It was nice to get those things looking better.

This week, the girls last week before school starts, we went to Grandma Robertson's to spend  a couple of nights.  We hiked up the Aspen Grove Timp trail up to second falls with Grandma and Grandpa, then got some yummy icecream treats (thanks to Carrie Scillito Magnum bars are now a favorite treat amongst the Robertson clan--the double chocolate are absolutely irresistable!).  The kids had so much fun spending the night and playing the next day.  We had a picnic with Becca in Salem, swam in Grandma's pool, played in the irrigation, watched some fun movies, and then it was time to come back to reality.  That's always the hard part!

It has been a great summer!  We have implemented things that I have always wanted to do as a mom and I have really been enjoying that.  Aubrey and I started making a quilt together last year that we haven't finished, Mariah and I started making a hat that we had never finished and Jonathan had a few things he wanted to sew with me.  I decided to take 1 hour 3 days/week and each kid got 1 hour of sewing time with me to work on a project of their choice.  It has been really fun.  We didn't do it the weeks that we had too much going on with family and were gone all day, but we did do it many times.  Aubrey's quilt is coming along, Mariah's hat is done and we are on to another project, Jonathan is making a "lion" bag--it will be pretty neat when it is done.  It's good for the kids to learn that things take time, but when we work on them, they do get done.

We have also started Family Council on Sundays and afterward we write in journals.  I think that has really helped with the kids knowing what it going on.  We discuss things that need to get done that week and the things we are planning to do.  We schedule their sewing time, chores, and fun activities.  It has been nice to get things in better order.  And that is currently what I am working on in my house--getting it in better order.  I am liking it quite a bit!