Summertime ABCs

A is for Arcadia

Early in the summer, we went on vacation with extended family to Saint George and stayed at a rental in the Arcadia Resort. This was our third time there, and we've had a blast every trip!

B is for Band

Nicky was recruited to play bass in a band with some friends (even though he doesn't actually play the bass). They had a backyard concert with Scotty's band as the opening act. 

C is for Chickens

We brought three new chicks into our family while Scotty was out of town, and we've loved watching them grow over the summer. This gray one is Princess, and she really is our little princess. She's the sweetest thing, and we all adore her!

D is for Disaster

I had the dumb idea to let my girls paint the play place in the backyard. 

E is for Effort

Scotty, Daisy, and I all went to stake girls' camp this year. The theme was "The Lord Loves Effort" which comes from a video interview with President Nelson. 

F is for Fourth of July

We spent the day at Willard Bay with Scotty's family and then came home and watched our neighbors' fireworks. We had a few boxes of sparklers stashed on top of our fridge that we lit. 

G is for Garden

After spending a few years revamping our garden, everything was finally finished this year, and I love it!

H is for Hill Aerospace Museum

We hit the aerospace museum on a Saturday morning and then went to the Burger Bar in Roy, which was delicious!

I is for Ice Cream in a Bag

We made ice cream in a bag a few times, and the kids thought it was pretty fun (although Nicky broke his bag of salt and ice at least twice from being to aggressive and got salt water all over the floor).

J is for Jurassic

Our Thanksgiving Point pass expired the day before the dinosaur exhibit opened at Ashton Gardens, but luckily, Grandma and Grandpa got a pass and treated us to a trip!

K is for Koi

I continue to find them disgusting.

L is for Laundry

One goal I had for summer was to get Zoe and Eva folding and putting away their own laundry. I invited them to attend "Mom's Laundry Academy" in the living room one day and then printed each of them a diploma stating that they get to fold and put away their laundry from now on. Zoe didn't handle it well.

M is for Musical

We saw a local production of In the Heights. I went to it twice. Nicky, Daisy, and Scotty went three times!

N is for Nine Square

Nine square is a hit with the kids in our area! They'll play it for hours. Our friend KoriAnn brought the glow in the dark version to our lives this summer. We played in her yard and at camp. All the other wards were constantly in our camp playing nine square. 

O is for Oops!

The moment Scotty and Brian discovered they were wearing the same shirt on our date night was classic!

P is for Parade Preview

I've never been to the Pioneer Day parade float preview (a popular event here in Salt Lake), but my mother-in-law took some of my kids and their cousins while we were at camp with Daisy. 

Q is for Quarts

It's been several years since I canned green beans, but this year I started up again. 

R is for Relatives

As always, we did a lot of fun stuff with family this summer. 

S is for Sunflowers

I plant sunflowers every year and always enjoy watching them grow. This year I planted a multi-pack of seeds and got a huge variety of sunflowers. This one is called a teddy bear sunflower. It doesn't have the classic center, so when it started growing, I was a little weirded out! The sunflowers have attracted tons of bees to our yard. 

T is for Tennis

I found a bunch of brand new tennis balls at the thrift store and a couple of children's' tennis racquets. I later took a tennis ball straight to the eyeball from two feet away, courtesy of Eva.

U is for Uintas

Scotty and Nicky went backpacking in the Uintas with the priests quorum. They had a great time. Scotty really enjoys backpacking, but it's not my thing at all. Carrying all my equipment up a mountain and eating crappy food while sitting on a log for three days? No, thank you.

V is for Volcanoes

We made homemade play dough volcanoes one day, and then they sat in the living room for three weeks before we finally found a time where all four kids were home, and we could erupt them outside. 

W is for Wardrobe

Since I knew I'd be hot, sweaty, and miserable at girls' camp, I decided to invest in a large wardrobe of ridiculous thrift store t-shirts to perspire in. I wore two different shirts per day - my "daytime" wear and my "evening" wear (it was always refreshing to change into my evening wear after the hottest part of the day). 

X is for Xtra Tomatoes

We grew a lot of tomatoes. And I always hate trying to work in the letter X.

Y is for Youth Conference

Life has worked out such that Nicky had never been to Youth Conference before this year.

Z is for Zoo

We had an annual pass to Hogle Zoo, that expired at the end of July. We made sure we got our zoo fix! We live the zoo, but we’re sure sick of it!