Kristie's Birthday

I had my 29th Birthday. My last year until

I'm 30. So Crazy. I never thought I'd be were I'm

at today. Happily married with 4 beautiful

children. I could not be any happier!

We took the kids swimming at Brandon's

family reunion down by tooele city. I even had

fun going off the diving board with Riley.

No I did not dive. I'm not sure I even know how to

any more!

We then headed back home to the Jensen Park

in Syracuse to hear the free band play. It happened

to be my dad's band playing. They sang me a Happy Birthday

song in front of everyone and then incorporated my name

in a popular song. I was a little embarrassed to say the least.

Brandon invited the family over the next day

for chocolate cake, which I love and he made

me home made Ice cream. Yum!

What a sweet husband.

Riley's 1st day of 2nd Grade

Riley was so excited and not even

nervous to start 2nd grade. It could

be that she only had a 3 week summer

break. Or it could be that she just

loves school. I let her pick her outfit.

Riley is in a portable this year. She thinks

that is pretty cool. The one with the Red door.

She has a bunch of friends in her class that live

on our street. Hallie, Jake, Spencer and Whitney.

Riley and Hallie

They are such cute girls!

Riley found her desk right away and sat

down and got right to work.

Salt Lake City

Fortunately this year we were home when the

24th of July parade was going on. My Aunt

Sandy and her family had a spot saved and let

us sit in their shade. We barely made

it in time to see the Prophet at the beginning

of the 2 hour parade. However his windows

were rolled up so you could only see his

silhouette. But you could tell it was definitely

him and his wife. He had 4 security guards

walking along the sides of the car.

Of course Sierra was happy just sitting and

snacking the entire parade. I loved all the

marching bands and my girls loved

the big floats and all the city royalties.

After the parade we headed to gateway to grab some

lunch and then we let the kids play in the water.

Owen just laughed. And he kept leaning

right over the hole and the water kept hitting

him right in the face. Sometimes he would laugh

and other times he was a little shocked.

North Beach

My girls can't get enough of Bear Lake.

Although the drive we could all do with out.

But being up there, specially with family are

some of the best times.

The mini canoes are so much fun.

Owen did not need a tutorial on how to

play in the sand. He was born a beach bum!

Owen misses daddy when he goes for a while

on the boat. He cries when Brandon tries to leave the

beach and walk to the boat. Owen can be both

a daddy's boy and a mommy's boy.

Owen tried out the new tube. He about

fell asleep on the ride.

Not Brandon and I though. We had a rough

bouncy ride.

More Summer fun

So there were a few things I wanted to do with

the kids while they had a short 3 week summer

before school started. Going to the movies

was one of them. Unfortunately Brandon

had to work.

I took the kids to the Kaysville theater to see

Soul Surfer. They loved it and the pop corn

and candy was a plus.

Later that night the Hardisons invited us

to swim and have dinner. The kids had a ton

of fun. And it was nice to have Brandon be with

us. I actually got my hair wet and did some

swimming! That usually is not the case since I

have to watch Owen.

Roy Aquatic

Even though taking four kids to the pool

by my self is tough I wanted the kids to

have a fun summer and not ever say that

their mom did not do fun things with them!

It was quite funny that Riley's friend

Hallie and her family were at the pool as well.

I was thinking on inviting them but decided

not to and what a surprise when Paige said,

"Hey mom I think that is Jill". And so the

girls had a friend to play with. And a dad (Kyle)

to take them down the big slide.

Owen wore me out. He did not hold back

when I put him in the water. He thought he

could walk into the water with no worries.

Sierra is feeling a little more confident in

her life jacket. She went down the slide

with out even asking me to watch.

We met my sister there so that was fun.

We will have to do that again but maybe next

time with Brandon.

Fish Farm

We have been doing so many fun things already

this summer and to add to it Grandpa & Grandma

Gardner took us to the Fish farm.

That is my kind of fishing. I'm not very

good at waiting. There were so many fish.

Riley loved it and caught a bunch of fish.

She even picked up a fish and held it.

Paige was another story.

She was a little nervous when the fish came out

of the water flopping around. She wanted to

get away from it. She did not want to touch it

and was trying to be brave in this picture but

then she eventually could not be brave any

longer and busted into tears.

I don't think she wants to fish for a while.

But she did say she wanted to eat it.

We'll see I guess!

Owen trying to get a peek at the fish in the

buckets.

After watching Paige cry Sierra

decided she would rather just pretend to

fish with out the hook. She liked to

reel it in but with no hook and fish.

I finally talked her into it if I held

her tight and told her she did not have

to hold the fish.

She caught a fish and kept her distance.

Farmington parade

We went to the Farmington parade because

my girls love watching parades. It was a good

thing they threw out otter pops. It was so

dang hot. And we did not have any shade.

The babies sat under Grandma's umbrella.

Later that day we went swimming at a

community pool for Jenny's birthday.

Owen cried at first being in the water

but then got use to it and had so much fun!

The cousins.

This Is The Place

HERITAGE PARK

Grandma Gardner took the grand kids to

Heritage Park in Salt Lake. The kids loved it

and enjoyed doing things like the pioneers did.

They washed clothes on a wash board.

Then hung it up to dry.

They got to decorate a little draw string bag.

They had pony rides. Riley was a little nervous

after being bucked of a horse before but

this ride was pretty mellow.

Paige

Sierra

There was a little petting zoo with a pig, some goats

and a horse. Owen got way excited when he

was petting the goat. He just followed the goat

around and kept getting urges to squeeze the goat.

The girls pretended they were at school and wrote

their names on little chalk boards. They realized

that school back then is very strict

They were fascinated with the banker who told

them about the different value of the coins.

They rode train.

They dug for gold.

They made arrow head necklaces and rode on

a mini train ride and pounded leather.

Other then the heat of the day it was very fun.

I had no idea this place existed.

Discovery Museum

Before my sister and her kids moved out of

state my mom took all the grand kids to

the discovery museum in Salt Lake. This is the

best picture we could take. The kids were to

excited to go play and did not want to hold

still. Owen did not want to get out of his stroller

for the picture and got upset.

Riley, Owen, Aidan, Sierra, Paige, Emery and Maddie

The girls loved the shopping market the best.

Riley shopped and made deli fresh sandwiches

for all the shoppers.

Sierra just shopped and filled too much stuff in

her basket.

Paige spent a long time being the cashier.

It was cute to see all my girls play pretend

with all the other kids even though they did not

know them.

Owen just walked around and would not stay in

one spot for too long.

Emery and Owen

At first Owen would not let go of the toy

lawn mower. We have one at home and so

I think maybe that is why he liked it so much

because he knew what it was.

Later that night we surprised my Sister, Kate

at her house with her children who were with

Grandma all day so she could pack and we brought

pizza and presents. Saying she was shocked was an

understatement. I don't think she was prepared

to have company, nor did she want it. But

there we were. We were celebrating her birthday

a couple weeks early.

Sierra and her cousin Maddie are a month

apart and have so much fun together.

It's too bad my other sister Karissa could

not make it down to be with us.

Kami, Kate and Kristie