The Great Outdoors

We have had a lot of fun this summer getting out and about and enjoying the great outdoors. What was not so much fun was all the fires. I swear it was hotter sometimes because of them. Even though we couldn't venture far because of gas money and our tires we still had a lot of fun.



One place we really enjoyed was Salem Ponds. We had a nice little picnic lunch there one Sunday.







Being summer we found we had a few weddings to attend. One was for a friend of mine from childhood. I think this was a first for me. The first time I attended a wedding reception for good friend, that I grew up with. I guess I didn't have many childhood friends. Her reception was at a golf course down by Utah Lake.



We also enjoyed a fun trip to the Mt. Timpanogos temple in July. The Provo was closed for cleaning that month, so we drove to American Fork so I could get my monthly temple visit in. Craig kindly watched the boys. After I was done we walked around the temple grounds with the boys. Big H was so upset that he couldn't go inside so only Little H and Little M would pose for a picture.



One of our other ventures found us feeding the ducks down by Utah Lake-- I like this little spot right where the river meets the lake. We stopped by after dropping Craig off at work one day.




Of course, as everyone knows, this summer brought a lot of fires. At the beginning of summer there were several burning all over the state. The effects were seen at our house. There was ash everywhere,



and outside was tinted with a weird sepia like light. It was kind of weird. I tried to capture the moment on camera. I didn't do a great job though.



After our, above mentioned, picnic at Salem Ponds we came home to find smoke billowing out of our local canyon. We drove up to try and get a good picture of it. The smoke looked so thick from far back I could have sworn the fire was just around the corner. The further we drove into the less thick it seemed. And we never got to a spot where we could get a really good picture of the effect.



We also enjoyed taking the boys to a fun sports camp this summer.




And we joined my parents for their wards Book of Mormon activity. The boys loved the play battle scene area.




We've enjoyed ourselves a pretty full summer of fun. I can't believe it's already over.


Did I Forget to Mention. . .

Craig started a new job back in June. Here he is with his certificate saying he passed training. He now works at Teleperformance providing tech support for Verizon. He talks on the phone with people when they are having trouble with their service. So far he really enjoys it.



My brother graduated from POST. I was so happy for him. I hope he finds a job soon because he'll make a great cop.

Father's Day

So I was pathetic and did not pull off a decent Father's Day. I felt bad because Craig did such a great job on Mother's Day. I tried really hard to whoop my butt into shape all week, but no matter what I just felt swamped and overwhelmed. I seriously did bare minimum, and even that was a struggle. A lot of my time was spent in bed. I tried to think of something fun and exciting to do for Craig, but whatever energy I could find was wiped out by the stress of having to spend money.

I did manage to get him and the boys some fun superhero shirts. I try to get the boys some cute Father's Day shirts every year. This year we chose superheroes because the boys are obsessed and because I was hoping we may be able to finally see The Avengers movie for Father's Day.



This next part is total nerd of me, so hang in there. So there are DC Comics and Marvel Comics-- and other various one's I do not know about. I know, I'm a weird girl that actually knows this stuff. I grew up on DC comic characters-- Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. My brother and I would put on our Superman capes and jump off the top bunk, in an attempt to fly. My Dad would read us the Batman Comic strip every Sunday and I think Wonder Woman is in my childhood memories somewhere. Anyway. . .I'm more of a Justice League girl-- Superman, Batman, Green Lantern. But there isn't a cool Justice League movie out right now-- though I keep hoping maybe someday-- so that led me to try and find Avengers shirts. The Avengers are Marvel comics, and I'm sure most people know what characters are included on their team. Well The Avengers characters don't have cool symbols to go on shirts. And all the shirts that feature Avenger superheroes are kind of ugly. The best we could find was a Captain America shirt for Craig. I grabbed that, and a Superman shirt in his size. I decided we'd check out the little boys department and see what we had more options with, Avengers or Justice League. Well neither one won, so we ended up with a combo of both. We have Superman, Batman, Spiderman,-- another Marvel Comics character-- and Captain America-- or Super Star's as he is called in our house :).

The boys love their shirts. In fact they had to give them to Craig the night we bought them because they were so excited-- which happened to be 4 days before Father's Day. When Craig wears his they have to get theirs. And when they wear their shirts Craig has to wear his. It's super cute!

For the Grandpa's we printed off these pictures.



So the Grandpa's got a picture, Craig got a shirt and, thanks to my family, we all enjoyed a nice meal.

Oh, and thanks to our nursery leader! Who had some more cute things planned for Father's Day. I thought, "I need to at least have the boys give their gifts and cards to Dad when we get home."






Yeah I didn't even do that. He got them a couple days later. Seriously, I was pathetically wiped out till Monday.

I really do feel bad that I did absolutely nothing for Father's Day. But hey, I still managed to make a long post about it.

Father's Day and Some Summer Events

Thanks to a friend of mine we discovered there is a splash park not far from our house. Before we were driving up to Highland and Salt Lake to enjoy splash parks. Of course, each splash park is enjoyable in it's own way. I think the Highland one is my favorite, but this one is a plus for convenience.






We finally convinced Baby M he could crawl. It took a lot of effort on both our parts. He did a lot of crying and screaming, and we tried to have a lot of patience. He really isn't a fan of crawling. I think he'd much rather walk. He can pull almost pull himself up, so I'm sure walking isn't far away,



June 17

We attended a close friend's wedding. She's actually younger sister to my best friend when I was growing up. We've kind of drifted a part, but her family is still really important to me so I was very excited for her little sister. Isn't this the coolest cake?



June 19

We celebrated Father's Day by having a nice breakfast, or I guess more of a brunch. I made Craig some yummy crepes and invited my parents over. Later that night we had a nice steak dinner with the rest of the fam. With no Grandpa's to see it was kind of a lonely Father's Day.



Craig got a fancy flag to put on the house. The twins enjoyed marching it around the house, and they were rather disappointed when Dad put it away.



And the boys got some scrubs just like dad. I wrote Future Murse on them. That's a term used for Male Nurses.



June 20

Friends and family gathered together to mourn the loss of Grandpa Guthrie. Not the happiest of occasions, but still it was nice to get together with friends and family. This is Baby M giving my Aunt Maxinne some hugs. He kept leaning into her. It was so cute!






My grandpa's grave is close to another friend's grave. She was a girl I worked with before I moved to St. George. She died not long after I had the twins. Such a special spirit.



I was sad to see her father passed away last Christmas.



June 27

We got together to celebrate the birth of one of the most important men in our lives. Craig's birthday was Monday and we had fun swimming in the pool and eating some goodies.



Craig's cake this year was a homemade pumpkin pie and some Princess Cakes from Ikea. The princess cakes were good, but I wasn't a fan of the pumpkin pie I made.



Baby M however loved it all.



Random

Here's Craig pretending to blow out his pretend candles. I didn't bother with them because usually the wind makes them pointless. However, they probably would have worked this year. Figures!



I got bit by the art bug not too long ago. Decided to sit down and make something fun. I don't know if I like it, but it at least I enjoyed making it.



I also painted these as invites for my parents anniversary party. They turned out pretty cute!

Father's Day (my perspective)

Fathers day started late, which is always a good thing on Sunday. My boys got me up with presents of new navy blue scrub tops and bottoms, which they helped me open.
My wifey made the special shirts for my boys, they both say "Daddy's boy"and her calligraphy far out shines my own, not that that is to difficult a feat...

After our morning fun I had a monster sized bowl of Captain Crunch with crunch berries of course, my mouth hated me but my stomach sang my praises, to everyone else dismay.

We made a grand apperance at church with my dapper young men, after which I kicked backed and watched "Timeline" with my father-in-law while the women went to visit Grandpa G.

Upon their return we cooked a steak dinner and spent sometime at the park.














It was a very enjoyable day, and I hope all you Fathers (mine especially) had a wonderful day that you deserved.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

June 20-22, 2010: Happy Father's Day!

There's no doubt that I don't have a shortage of great men in my life. I have a wonderful husband who is also a wonderful father to our children- he even changes diapers. And I have a wonderful Dad whom I look up to very much- it's no secret that I'm a super Daddy's Girl.

One thing I love to do is to make people feel special on their special days. Especially when they are as deserving of it as the men in my life.

Craig has been so wonderful about backing me up through this pregnancy. I feel bad that I can't do more, but he never complains or acts bothered when I ask him to bathe the twins or change yet another poopy diaper.

My Dad has been a great help as we've entered the yard work season. We've borrowed every tool under the sun from him, and he's even bought some replacements and told us to keep some. He tracked us down a lawn mower and a weed whacker, and is always standing by to answer our questions and help us out. I love my Dad very much, and the boys love their grandpa. They cry more when he leaves then when we leave.

On Father's Day we woke Craig up bearing gifts. I wanted to make him a big breakfast, but asked if cereal would do because I was low on energy. He said he'd love a bowl!



Then my mom and I put together a steak dinner for all the Dad's. After dinner we headed to the park for some play time.



On Tuesday we stopped by Payson and visited my Grandpa's grave.



Hope everyone had a Happy Father's Day!