our 4th of july celebration

enlarge this picture and check out brighton's fish lips!

we think ellery wins for best face!

no 4th of july is complete without the photo in front of kim &
wade's gigantic flag......................believe it or not, we actually
have a smaller group this year, guess we better start having
more babies!

end it with a bang!

hayden running really fast with the olympic torch

brighton and chandler gazing at the fireworks

sparkling sailor

tradition

as usual, the boys played a lot of basketball......it was fun to have
some new talent around to shake up the game a little (griffin & jt)!
the girls in the family need to brush up on our ball skills so we can
get in on the action--the kids can take care of themselves, isn't that
right guys?

nickel dive

shayne had a nickel dive. here are the kids getting ready for the
go-ahead.......skylar was lucky, she got one of the nickel's with a
"p" on it which means she got to pick a prize out of a pocket--she
scored a candy bar!

the life of the party....

christian and traci were both on fire today.....traci impressed us
with her dives and flips (yes, at 40____something years old!)
and she spent the day trying to push aunt mary in the pool only
to be pushed in herself--every single time!

triple twisting double back

jordan is always entertaining to watch--we never know what
he's going to do and we are always amazed--hopefully skylar
will be doing tricks like this pretty soon! (enlarge this picture
and look at the swirl of the water coming off his body!)

pool fun!

it was nonstop pool action all day at shayne and mikes--the 3
girls in the tube were a blast for the boys to tease, boston loved
the squirting water feature (notice the flip flop near him--his
new obsession), and throwing people in was the favorite of the
day. here is christian pushing and cameron pulling andie in!

stars and stripes and kids

parade through town

sadie lady

the girls

the whole gang, minus greg and joe who were sitting a house over,
in the shade, on a cooler filled with ice cold coca-colas!

tired babies

after the freedom run and waffles at christian & lisel's (yum) it was
off to the parade in 100 degree weather and humidity--brighton
was a sweaty sleeping baby and boston was a sweaty not-sleeping
baby! they eventually got cooled off (cold water poured over their
heads) and loved the balloons, marching bands, horses and big trucks!

6 am

the twins went straight from bed to the races at 6 am--
they should have still been in bed (along with mom & dad)!
at least we had the gutter for boston to play in while watching
the runners!

sky was ready to go back to bed after her race--the lawn seemed
to be a good enough place for her................zzzzzz

freedom run

skylar & paige running the 1 mile......skylar finished 1st in her age division!

sailor (in back) running the 1 mile.
sailor finished 1st out of all the family and 2nd in her age division
(2 seconds behind)--the girl in front of her in this picture took first
.......sailor soooo could have beat her!
(she actuaaly dropped back a little when she saw me with the
camera, darn it!)

blurry hayden right after the 5k
hayden did fabulous!!! he ran the 5k for the second year in a row-
he beat his last year's time by over 2 minutes and he beat all of his
cousins! he came in 4th in his age group----we figure we need to
get him running more, it just might be his thing and boy, is he stiff today!

freedom run participants--way to go!

happy birthday america!!!!!!

up, up and away

a favorite tradition of ours is seeing the balloon launch
on the 3rd of july.......................it never ceases to awe!
we were up at 6 in the morning and as always we hit
mcdonalds for breakfast! now it's time for a nap!

16 years

happy anniversary to us!

unofficial opening

cold water didn't stop the kids from jumping
in shayne's pool today--we know where they'll
be the rest of the summer!

super golfer!

taryn, this one's for you....we just had to
get a shot of asher in his super hero-
muscle man costume.......golfing.......in
100 degree weather! he didn't do too
well, i think his 6-pack got in the way!

comp-e-ti-tion!

could you ever guess this was serious miniature golf?
the boys were intense---so it was nice to see lisel make
a hole-in-one! here they are oooohhing & aaaahhing
over it (actually a few of us girls ended up making some
holes-in-one! even grandma pam!)

fhe

we had a fun night mini-golfing---our family was
in charge of the extended family home evening
tonight. we had a little patriotic lesson and then
went to cascade, thanks to the fam for helping
with b&b!

first day of nursery

today boston & brighton got to go to nursery!
what a bittersweet day............they did great
for about 15 minutes until brighton got mad--
mom could hear her from the other side of the
church! her crying made boston cry so mom
got to sit in nursery with them the rest of the
time. we enjoyed: toys, snacks, bubbles, balls,
singing and books. they even colored a picture!
we have a feeling next week won't go so well...

cam

aren't these beautiful?!!

we just wanted to share some of our favorite

artwork, done by cameron........................

he's preparing a portfolio to send to art schools

and these are just a few from his awesome collection!

now we just need some on the walls of our home-hint, hint!

3 up 3 down

sailor

skylar

hayden

all 3 kids got up on the wakeboard today for the first
time! they got up great, boarded great and crashed
great! i think we owe it to their great teacher, gina!

surf utah lake!

joe and jim tried surfing behind the boat--

it's pretty cool because you get up real close

to the boat and ride the wave! if you do it

right, you don't need the rope..........gnarly!