Sunday 10

1. A couple weeks ago my mom came to stay with us for a few days. She had a conference in Spanish Fork so decided to stay here rather than drive clear down everyday for it. She was gone during the days, but it was fun to have her here. Especially fun when she realized in her air-headedness (she blamed it on the drugs since she had just had major surgery on her shoulder a few weeks earlier) that she didn't have to attend on Friday. . . . and since Spencer stayed home from work to watch the USA World Cup game Friday morning. . . . we took off shopping! Without the boys! It was great - I hadn't had an opportunity to just shop with my mom in SO long. It used to be one of my favorite things growing up. My mom is a great shopper.

2. So since my mom was here that Friday we talked my dad into coming down (since my mom isn't able to pick up Benj or do much of anything with her arm in a sling) that night too so we could go on a date without paying a babysitter. And without worrying how late we got back! It was great! We didn't do anything too fancy. We felt like eating at Chili's so after eating as much as we could possibly stuff down we decided to go hike the 'Y' and work it off! Spencer had never hiked the 'Y' before, and I hadn't since my freshman year at BYU. Its something we always wanted to do together. It was really fun and I think we definitely worked off those extra calories since that hike is SUCH a climb. Absolutely beautiful, but seriously straight up the mountain. It was fun. Nice to do something active together for a date!

I'm no photographer - but when you see such beauty its hard

not to want to take some of it home with you!

We imagined we could see Santaquin far off in the distance. . . .

View of one of our favorite landmarks - zoomed way in

Its really hard to take a picture of yourselves when you are laying on a steep mountainside, so just ignore my ugliness.

From the 'Y' at dusk

3. That Saturday we headed up to Farmington with my parents to have a Father's Day barbecue at my grandparents house. That afternoon a bunch of us headed to the movies in Layton to see Toy Story 3! Tanner and Benjamin have been SO excited for this movie. Tanner has literally been counting down the days until it came out. I guess that's what watching so much playhouse disney will do for you. So anyway, we had to go see it. And it was great! We all loved it. Even the tender teary parts at the end. My boys (especially Benj) are definitely in Toy Story obsession mode these days. . . .

Climbing the apple tree at my grandparents house.

4. Father's Day was very low key around here for us, but good. We have a great Daddy in our house and great father's ourselves to be grateful for! The only thing was that I really wanted to make some yummy, tasty, ok maybe a little fattening food for Spence. But he's in diet mode these days, which means no fun. So we settled for vegetable stir fry. Very good also, but I wanted to make like sweet rolls or something too! I hate how I get to feel like the fatty when Spencer diets. He's really good at it though and doing well so we're happy it makes him feel better.

5. Can I just say that I am so happy that there is now a Wal-mart brand of oreos? (Thanks Casey!) I feel so much better about only paying 1.77 rather than the 3.00+ that normal oreos usually cost! And they taste the same to me! They even have double stuffed ones! Just a nice treat once in a while when I don't feel like baking our own cookies. Although because of what I talked about in #4, none of this is as much fun as it used to be. Its not fun to be fat alone!

Benjamin really likes oreos too. . .

6. There is a new park up by our church - it is so fun with a splash pad and everything! But I'm really needing to change my attitude about going to the park. I don't think I'll ever again be able to sit and relax and chat with my friends. Benjamin doesn't allow it. Its getting harder and harder with that kid! Have I mentioned how big he is getting? He's huge to me. He wants to do everything that all the other kids do, and of course I really want him to be able to do all those things too. So I end up having to walk him around and do everything with him so that he can also have those experiences. He LOVES the splash pad. I just have talk myself into wanting to get as wet as he wants to. Anyway, we will still go to the park but I just need to think of it as my workout time rather than my relaxing catch-up-on-gossip time. Its really hard for me for some reason. It just doesn't seem fair.

7. Tanner continues to have a blast everyday playing with a variety of friends. He is getting such dry and calloused hands an feet though. Its a daily battle of washing, and lotioning, and bandaging. He has an infinite number of woulds daily it seems. Oh the life of a little boy!

This picture was supposed to show how dirty he was.

But you really can't tell. He's been much dirtier since I took this picture. Boys are just dirty!

And silly!

8. Friday we had a neighborhood bbq that I planned along with my neighbor Julie. It turned out really fun as always and everyone brought such amazing food. Its just fun to have an opportunity to visit with people who live around you that you don't always get to see. Plus we have so many neighbors who are not active in the church and I really like to have these opportunities to if nothing else, befriend people a little more.

9. Outdoor movies seem to be the rage in the area lately. One neighbor had one like last Wednesday or something and then another friend in our ward hosted a neighborhood movie night Saturday night. It was so fun! They have a very cool blow-up screen and a tiered backyard - so its perfect for a bunch of people to watch a movie! Our kids definitely had fun. When we were leaving Benjamin just kept saying 'that fun', 'that fun mommy,' over and over again. Yeah, wrestling around in a blanket in the dark with glow sticks, popcorn, and homemade root beer is apparently a dream come true for the kid!

10. I can't think of anything to say for number ten. Except my house is really dirty right now. Let's just say I didn't feel much like cleaning this past week. Let's hope I am reinvigorated for this next week and get this house in shape or I may very well go crazy!