4th of July Family Activities

After the big water slide, we had other activities to celebrate the freedoms we've been given and the opportunity to be with family.  The kids made their own ice cream in a bag within a bag.

And they loved eating the ice cream...even if it was softer than they were used to eating ice cream.

And there was time to dry off on towels.

And a smaller slip and slide for the smaller kiddos.

Here's my niece making her own ice cream but you can tell that she has already had a blue frozen ice because of her cute blue upper lip.

Later that day we had a BBQ...you know you can't just have Hawaiian Shaved Ice and ice cream...even if that sounds really yummy.  Real food always tastes good after expending so much energy on the slip & slide.

In the middle of the afternoon we had Hawaiian Shaved Ice...which is a scoop of vanilla ice cream, with a scoop of shaved ice on top, then flavored syrup and coconut milk/cream on top.  Very yummy!

And here's that cute husband of mine!  (He's helping the kids get ice in bags so that they can make their own ice cream).

And the kids took turns pushing each other around inside this ball.   Later in the evening when we were cleaning up, I got in this ball and got pushed around in the yard.  I felt like I was a kid again.  Lots of fun was had by everyone.  This was a 4th of July to remember.

4th of July Family Slip & Slide

On the 4th of July, SM's brother and wife put together this giant slip & slide in their yard and invited all the family over.  The slide was 50 feet long and ten feet wide.  They put a couple sprinklers onto the slide and some baby oil.

Look at that determination on his face.  The brothers were trying to slide to the end of the slide.

Even SM's mother tried the slide a couple of times. 

I was very leery of trying the slide because I know I'm a klutz.  And, well, I did try it.  And it did hurt me.  But at least I tried it and was part of the family.  (This is my new swim suit...my old one gave up on all the elastic...I used it since high school).

I did laugh every time I tried to slide.  Notice I didn't even get close to the end of the slide.  And I provided much entertainment for others...lots of laughter all around.

SM's older brother slid like a pro...

And his nephew was amazing as he slid all the way down the slide.

SM's youngest brother tried some other ways to go down the slide.  This was his "Super Man" pose.

Our sister-in-law is a natural athlete and slid all the way to the end.  Wahoo!  Lots of fun!

And here's a photo of my other SIL...she has a permanent smile and all of her photos are gorgeous.  She's the owner of this slide and set it up for us.

And here's a younger brother sliding down in style...with his sunglasses on and a smile on his face.

The newest SIL is also a natural athlete and was amazing as she slid down the slide and off the slide.  She was probably the fastest girl zipping down the slide.

Here's my niece...check out those core muscles.

I think all of my nieces and nephews were pros at the slide.

And there were smiles all around.  What a fun family activity!

Getting Caught UP!!

So, for the past month I have been taking a lot of pictures.  A lot has happened, a lot of family activities, reunions, and fun activities.  And then we drove over 2,000 miles and moved to the other side of the country.  So, I've decided to try to get caught up...and it's a bit overwhelming.  Luckily I'm only a month late.  One day at a time or one blog entry at a time!  Ready, set, go!

Temple Square in Salt Lake City

SM and I had some friends from Ohio come to Salt Lake and we met them at Temple Square.  Their three kids were so excited to see the Temple at Temple Square.  Here's the youngest is standing with me at the statue of the Christus in the Visitors Center. 

Here's an awesome picture of the Salt Lake Temple right after a large rain storm.  We did get a little bit wet but it was so much fun and I got some good pictures.

J was turning eight years old in a couple weeks, so he was excited to tell all the sister missionaries that he was going to be baptized soon.  He also was memorizing all the different flags on the sister missionaries' name tags (the flags indicate where they are from).

SM and his friend A were friends at Utah State and then found each other in Ohio.  A is a very nice and funny girl and I enjoyed making another friend.

This is A's husband, P and his little girl.  We had a good time walking around Temple Square, visiting with sister missionaries  taking pictures, and getting caught up with each other.

We also took a tour of the Beehive House, where Brigham Young lived while he was president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I thought that I had had a tour of this house before but as we went through it, I didn't recognize anything.

Isn't this harp beautiful?!  The rooms in the Beehive House were so elegant and pretty.

We are standing in front of the Relief Society building.  We all went inside and got a tour of the building.  It has an amazing history.  It was a fun tour.

These are some of the amazing and beautiful pieces in the Relief Society building.

Here we are on the top of the Conference Center.  There are lots of tall trees and even a field, along with several fountains all on the top of the Conference Center.  It's such a big, beautiful building and had some amazing architecture.

This is a photo of the field that is on top of the Conference Center.  The dirt has to be light so that it doesn't cause the ceiling of the Conference Center to cave in to the building.  We had a great visit with our friends and I enjoyed learning more about Salt Lake and it's history, past and present. 

Open House

Last night was the open house for SM's youngest sibling.  I really liked this photo that was taken of the two of us.

Here is my niece and nephew dancing at the open house.  SM had spent a couple hours the day before putting together a play list so that we would have fun dancing music that we all were familiar with and these two cuties enjoyed our picks.  My niece is five years old and her cousin is four...though, a big four year old.

Here's one of my gorgeous SIL's.  You know, it great to belong to such an awesome family.  We sure have a great time together!

Here's my SIL and BIL biting the heads off of the Twinkie bride and groom.  We aren't a silly family at all (said with a lot of sarcasm).

And here's the result of the first bite!



Here's my youngest niece...eating...one of the things she does pretty well.  Isn't she cute?!!



Here's SM and one of his brothers...the one that looks and sounds most like him.  Not the greatest photo when comparing the two of them but I just wanted to add the photo.

Here they are, dismantling the Twinkie cake and sharing it with all who want a Twinkie or a piece of chocolate cake!  SM's sister is on the right and my SIL who made the Twinkie cake is on the left.

Twinkie Grooms Cake

My SIL had a great idea to make a grooms cake for my BIL's open house.  She was sweet and invited me over to help her decorate the cake.  She started with a bottom square, and then the middle square was placed diagonal and then the top was was back to being straight on the cake.  I don't know if that explanation made sense, but I did add photos to help for clarification.

After we "glued" the Twinkies on with chocolate icing, my SIL made all the raw edges look nice with her icing gun.

Look at these cute little Twinkie buddies!  I helped decorate them.

Here are the finished bride and groom.

As I was trying to decide what kind of face to put on the Twinkie characters, I had to practice on a few headless Twinkies.  The two on the right looked more like robots to me, and I went with the two o the left.

Ta-Da!  Look at that cute Twinkie couple!

I like this photo of the cake near the bride & groom photo!  (This was taken at the Open House later that night).

Here's the whole grooms cake!  Beautiful! (And yummy).