Monson Cousins 2012

Some of the Monson Cousins came down with Grandpa and Grandma Monson the 12-15 of July.  We had such a good time just being in one another company.  So much so that I forgot to take pictures of some of the things we did. 
Friday morning they all headed up to the Red Rocks of Dixie, and played around.  It ended up being over cast and quit nice outside.

Then we headed back to Quin and Dani's to do our crafts.  We made a cute cup.  The kids all colored there picture and we inserted it into their cups.

Then we tie dye our socks.  We were supposed to do shirts too this day but we got rained out.  So we went out to eat, then back for Swimming the rest of the day.
The next morning everyone woke up and everyone headed out our way.  We made breakfast for everyone.  Then went to work on more stuff for the kids.  They made Strawberry Jam...well some of them did, grandma and I helped when they got a little bored.  All the girls enjoyed this project... the boys were MIA.  They were having to much fun just playing with one another.  

After the Jam making we headed outside to finish up our tie dyeing project with the  shirts.  Now I do not like tie dye, but the kids had fun and it was so easy.  Just Sharpie Markers, and some rubbing alcohol was all it took.
We then headed back down to St. George to swim again.  We swam the rest of the day.  Then of course we had to end that night with a trip to the pizza factory.

We had so much fun with the cousins, Grandma and Grandpa.  Thanks for coming to visit us.

Homemade Fun!!

Play Dough

 We had fun making us some homemade play dough.  It has been so HOT outside, we had to think of some things besides swimming to keep us entertained inside.  So we decided on play dough.  So easy, and hours of fun playing with it. 

Funnies!!

I wanted to write down of few things that were said on our last trip up north with the kids.  Dean had Clinical, Work, School...you name it he had it.  So he was unable to go with us.  Well, after having a few things fixed on the van to make it ready for the trip, We packed and headed out Sat morning.  Well as Dean was plugging in the computer so the kids could watch a movie, it blew a fuse to everything...no radio, no AC, no nothing.  So we went and bought a few replacement Fuze's and decided that our cigarette lighter couldn't have anything plugged into it.  So No GPS, NO Movies.  I thought I was in for a long trip by myself with 3 kids, but it actually was a blessing to me.  It was so fun to hear my little kids talk and tell me about stuff, play some road games, and tell them some stories, about when I was a kid.  It was a lot of fun.  Now don't get me wrong, a movie here or there for a 7-8 hour drive would've been nice, but there was no fighting, crying, or anything it was really pleasant and Quiet.  Anyway, with that being said..onto Addison.  We were just outside of Cedar City, and she yells has it been 20 minutes yet?  I'm racking my brain trying to figure out what I told her about 20 minutes...so I said "What???"...she said has it been 20 minutes yet?  I go, I guess I don't really know what your asking Addison, and she says.  I hope its been 20 minutes, because you told grandma I go Pee every 20 minutes, and I have to go.  I laughed a little, OK a lot.  I didn't even know she was listening when I always tell grandma how much she goes to the bathroom.  Needless to say she didn't have to go to bad, because we didn't have to stop tell around American Fork.  Also while we were up in Bear Lake, you go through a town called Paris to get to Montpelier. Well one of the many times we were going through I was telling the kids abut the big Tabernacle building, and a few things in Paris, and Preston Says, Mom while were here do you think we could go look at the Eiffel tower?  I laughed a little and then had to explain the difference between Paris France, and Paris Idaho.  Oh, how I love my kids.

Swim Meet!!

 Preston participated in his first Swim Meet this past weekend.  It was a long day.  We had never done one before and there were over 82 events.  Preston was in event 38 and 72.  We were there bight and early like they asked at 7:00, Preston didn't swim tell about 11:00.  Then we had to wait tell his next event so we went home, and got a lunch and had him back up there by 12:45 or so.  Which we then sat around and waited tell about 2:00 for his event.  He was a little nervous at first, but really had a fun time.  There were about 11 boys in the fist event the Breast Stroke.  He placed 3rd in his heat, and 5 overall.  He also did Free Style, which he took 2nd in his heat, and 5th overall in that one as well.  There was about 15 boys in that event.  So he was pretty excited with how he did.  He won a couple of ribbons, they gave them out to the top 6 in each event.  I think he really liked participating, and asks when he can do it again.  He has been checking out books on swimming from the library,and he cant wait for the Olympics.  He watched everyone of the qualifying  rounds of swimming on t.v.  It's a good thing my kids like the water...with it being 112 &113 this week.  We are HOT!!!!

Yummy!!!

Some of our very first tomatoes.  Yummy!! We've been getting zucchini and green peppers for awhile now, but tomatoes are just turning.  They were so good.  The kids love to help in the garden every year, plant it, weed it, everything else, but they don't care to much about eating the food.  They do though...just not with as much enthusiasm as I do.  Oh, well hopefully they grow into it.

July Trip

Bear Lake Cabin 2012

We left Sat morning to go up to our cousin Ammon's Baptism (well all of us but dad).  Preston and him are the same age, and love to hang out.  They both have so much in common.  We were so proud of Ammon, and were so excited to see the family.  After some dinner with the family we headed up to Bear Lake to hang out with the Eves family.  My bother Matt is the Golf Pro at a golf course up there.  So there little family moved up to Montpelier Idaho.  We were so excited to see everyone that night.  We stayed up way to late hanging out with our long lost buds.  The next day; Sunday we woke up and went to church, then played around the cabin all day with the cousins.  That evening we went over to see Matt at his course.  We drove around and saw all the improvements he had made.  It was beautiful. 

The next day we woke up and headed over to the Ranch Hand Inn for there Yummy breakfast.  They have the biggest pancakes ever.  We order one then divide it up between all the kids.  After that we headed over to the lake.  Aunt Marci, had to work, and the house she cleans has a private beach.  So while she worked, I watched all the kids at the beach.  They had so much fun playing in the sand, and trying to build sandcastles.  They also spent hours on the swing set there as well.  They were very hungry and tired when we were through.  We then went to eat at a little Mexican place the family has grown to love.  It was really good.  The Salsa was really good.  We ended the night with a trip over to the gold course again.  The kids loved to pick up range balls. 

The next morning we headed back over to the course to say goodbye,and get a lunch to eat, before we headed back down to Centerville.  The children's parade starts around 6:30 the night before the 4th.  It has become a tradition.  All the kids love to decorate their mode of transportation for the night.  The parade has hundreds of kids, and it lasts 10 minutes.  At the end they get a Popsicle.  which the kids all love.  We then headed back to grandma's to get out of the heat and eat some pizza for dinner.  Then it was off to the fireworks.  We also love this tradition.  Centerville does their fireworks the night before the 4th as well...so they don't have to compete with the bigger cities.  They had a great show this year.  We loved it.  The next morning we were off to the parade.  We got so much candy, and the kids had a blast being with there cousins, and seeing the cool floats.  After the parade we headed back to Grandpa and Grandma Monson's for a BBQ, and then we hit the road to try and make it back to see our dad before he left for work, and to also watch Hurricane's fireworks.  Well, we made it back in great time, but we found out the fireworks had been canceled.  Oh well, we at least got to come home to our dad.  Boy, I sure missed him.