Dress-Ups

 Lately our #1 activity has been playing outside in dress-ups. After multiple dress-rips and stains we had to put an end to the outside part, but Elise continues to spend more time in costume than in regular clothes.

EllaCooper

My kids like to combine names of friends and family into one unit. For example, their grandparents, MimiPaco. The newest combo is EllaCooper Dunn. Daniel and Tyler first met when they were thrown together as roommates. Ten years later our 4 kids love playing together. The Dunns were visiting Utah a couple weeks ago and we ended up getting together 3 days in a row. Just yesterday Elise was asking for EllaCooper. We really wish they still lived in Utah. Come back and see us soon! Your last visit doesn't count since Tyler didn't come!

1. BBQ at the Merrills

2. Playdate at our house

3. Manila Creek Park

(Our girls were up and ready bright and early)

Suncrest 3rd Friends

We have really enjoyed our neighborhood and ward for the past 3 1/2 years. Our girls have lots of friends. Two teenage girls from our street, Miranda and Savannah, babysat Sadie and Elise this summer while I worked. Our girls loved them, except inevitably Sadie would always whine for whichever one was not at our house. I made Savannah take a picture with the girls after church one Sunday.

The Jensens are some other friends in our ward. Miranda frequently babysat our girls and our girls love her little sister Ruby. Ruby gives the girls huge hugs and carries them around every time we see her. The other week we had the Jensen kids over for dinner when their parents were gone for a couple days. They are some of the coolest kids. I can only hope my kids end up as cool as them. 

Hold Up

How can it be that this goober is starting pre-school today? 

So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday

A couple weeks ago we had one last play-date with the Morrills.  They up and moved to Baltimore. The Morrills were in our student ward and then Naomi watched Sadie from age 3 months to 10 months and then both of our girls for the past year and a half. Our whole family loves the Morrills. They will be missed! 

Hot & Heavy

Hot and heavy air, that is. We've had some intense temperatures here in Utah. We generally try to either go swimming or stay inside. Here are some of the indoor activities we have come up with: 

-Cleaning out the animal cages at our zoo. This turned into building new cages as well.

-Dancing in dress-ups

-Playing in the ottoman. 

The few times we have attempted to play outside without swimming have been somewhat miserable. Last Wednesday we went to the Mapleton July 24th fair. 

We caught the end of the parade and then headed over to the games. 

After a few turns on the bouncy houses and some face painting we were done. The 95 degree weather and uncharacteristic humid air were too much.

The only good time to be outside is the evenings. Utah summer evenings are the best. Last Saturday we walked over to the Sullivan's lot where they are building a new house. It is going to be awesome. Then we came back and ate popsicles and watched Claire pull 90 pounds of children around in the wagon.

The Cottle Waddle

Every time I go to write a post about hanging out with the Cottles I resist the urge to use this post title. Today I finally gave in, so Cottle Waddle it is. We got to hang out with the Cottles a couple of times when they were here for Nick's father's birthday. One of the biggest bonuses to living in Utah is how many friends and family we get to see who are here for various other events.

One afternoon we drove up to Daybreak to swim. Sadie had a great time and she learned from Brizzy the virtues of swim goggles. (She has since used birthday money to purchase goggles for herself)

 Lexie tried to teach Sadie about cannon balls and she demonstrated the proper form as the girls looked on. Below that is Sadie's lame attempt. She didn't tuck her knees one bit.

 Lou spent nearly the entire time trying to get food out of the vending machines. When I told her the machines were locked and we couldn't get the candy she started knocking on them. Sadly, they never opened. Then when I said it was time to go she jumped in the pool with Sadie where they played adorably together.

A few days later we got the Cottles for the whole afternoon. We went up to Manila Creek Park. It was over a hundred degrees so the freezing water felt great. Elise was struggling without a nap so we headed home and just visited while Sadie and Briz played in the basement. It is so nice when kids are at an age where they don't need constant supervision during playdates.