The End of Summer

On our last adventure Wednesday before school started we went to Chick-fil-A and the Museum of Native American History. Ty loves the Chick-fil-A car to play in and we all had a fun time in front of the wavy mirror distorting our image.

 The kids love going to the Native American museum because after the tour they always let you go in the front and search in the rocks for arrowheads.  Then they let you keep one of them. Fun day! We will miss our adventure Wednesdays.  School starts soon and we'll have a whole new routine.

LOL!! Ty looks like baby Sloth from Goonies in this one!!  "HEY YOU GUYS!!"

In the mind of Brooke

"I really do wish that magic wands were real because if they were I would turn Jace nice."

B: Can we put the sprinkler underneath the trampoline again today?

Mom: No, we can't do that every single day because the water that you use costs money.

B: What?!? Water costs money?

M: Yes, what did you think it just magically appears? ;)

B: I don't know I never really thought about it before. I guess I thought it just came from like the ocean or something.

M: No, it comes from the city and we have to pay for it. We get a water bill every single month.

B: That is so weird I'm going to go tell everybody about that.

M: I'm pretty sure that most people already know about it. :)

She hates having her hair combed and would rather run around having it look like a rat's nest.

She stomps her feet when she gets mad.

She loves to snuggle stuffed animals at night. 

Dishes...

What would you do for a pan of brownies??  Craig HATES doing dishes but he'll do them for brownies. This had to be documented lol!

Jace

Jace is nine, how the time flies. His best friends are Kaden, Israel, and Cody. They have the best time together. He is very into collecting Pokémon cards, playing Minecraft, watching Minecraft videos on YouTube, playing tag with his friends, playing Nerf gun wars with his friends, and putting together Star Wars Legos sets. He just finished all of the requirements to get his wolf in Cub Scouts. If only mom would remember to take him every week. He loves helping me with little Jenni and has a very soft spot for babies. He loves cheese pizza, hamburgers, chicken, steak, chips, popcorn, watermelon, blueberries, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and cupcakes. But he's outgrown sprinkles on his cupcakes. They are no longer cool. He's also outgrown cartoons and/or cartoon movies except for Pokémon and Star Wars the Clone Wars.  Any other cartoons are for babies. Lol! Mom and dad are also the no longer cool list. He likes reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and relates to Greg Heffly. He still gets in trouble for beating on and teasing Brooke and Ty, backtalk, arguing, being negative, losing his temper, and doing the opposite of pretty much everything we ask him to do ... His goal in life right now is being a prankster. He loves mischief.

We went to jump zone for his birthday party. The boys had a blast! They chased each other around, raced through the equipment, played rough, got all sweaty, stood in front of the big fans while making faces at each other,  and called each other suckers. All I had to do was make sure that they didn't hurt each other seriously and laugh at them trying to impress each other.  After overhearing conversations of teenage boys while we were at Lagoon, Craig and I decided that the brain of a teenage boy is the size of a pea ... and after overhearing nine year old boy's conversations in the car to and from scouts we decided that their brains are only half the size of a pea. They still love talking about poop. When do boys grow out of that? After jump zone we drove back to our place and had a cheese pizza dinner and cupcakes. Jace tried to light his Pokémon cupcake topper on fire while we sang happy birthday to him. What a nut. He opened his presents and then Craig gave all the kids a ride home. Cody lives half a mile away and was already back to our house before Craig finished dropping off the one after him. It was a pretty relaxed birthday party. My favorite kind. Jace had a blast and was up until two in the morning thinking about all of his new Pokémon cards. Lol! We love Jace!!!

Katie's Wedding Pictures

What a beautiful wedding, and a beautiful day, and a beautiful bride!

Utah Vacation

July 9-10,Thursday-

20 hours in a car with four kids is a long,long time! We tried to be as prepared as possible by putting in DVD players, uploading new games on the leap pad and allowing some extra data usage on the iPhone's. Jace and Brooke are also really into Pokémon cards right now so I purchased a lot before our trip and every hour that they went without fighting, nagging or whining they got 10 new cards. I strategically placed Brooke and Jace as far apart as possible since they love to fight. I put Jace by the baby because he likes to tease Ty as well. Craig and I passed the time by talking and listening to the book on tape "Unbroken", which we highly recommend. The first day we drove up through Kansas City, passed through Iowa and got halfway through Nebraska. We arrived at our hotel in the middle of the night and suddenly the kids went from being asleep and tired to awake and excited to be in a hotel. They did not want to go to sleep. Craig and I were spent. Even though we only had two double beds Jace felt like he should have a whole bed all to himself and threw a huge tantrum about it. He didn't want to sleep in the same bed as Brooke. We were all grouchy and we were all tired. We finally decided to just have all the girls in one bed and all the boys in one bed. 

The next morning we slept in and ate at the breakfast buffet at the hotel and then finished driving through Nebraska,Wyoming and finally down into Utah. Wow!! That was a long drive. I think especially long since we had to make extra stops to nurse the baby and Brooke has a super sensitive bladder and needs to pee more often than anyone else I know. Lol. :)  

July 11,Friday - Wedding,wedding,wedding!!  We started the morning off with the temple ceremony, then did pictures, the wedding luncheon and then we were at the reception the rest of the evening. It was a full day but it was wonderful. We are so happy to have Brad as a part of the family and to see Katie so happy. Brooke loved being the flower girl.

July 12 Saturday  - 

We got to hang out with the Christiansen family all day long. We have been missing them like crazy since they moved from Arkansas back to Idaho. We ate at Maddox for lunch, did the Ogden children's museum, Snowcones and the Castle Park. It was a super fun, jam packed day!

 

July 13 Sunday-
We attended church and were able to bless our sweet little Jenni bean just a day short of her being 4months old.  She's so curious and loves to reach up and touch our faces when we're smiling down at her.  The pics above are of a sweet moment with daddy after church.

We waited to bless Jenni until we got to Utah so that our family could be there. She looked like a little angel in white.  She wore the same blessing dress as her big sister, Brooke.  A gift from Grandma Johnson.  Jenni is the happiest, sweetest little thing. Daddy gave her a beautiful blessing in grandma and grandpa Brammer's living room. It was low-key, intimate, and perfect.  Afterwords we took a few pictures in the front yard.  Everyone wanted a turn holding Jenni,  except Ty, he just wanted to ride the tricycle.  

I love that I get comments all the time on what a beautiful baby she is.  My mom says she looks a lot like me.  It's fun to contribute to the gene pool a little.  I feel like she's the first one that looks a lot like me or Johnson side of the family for that matter.

July 14 Monday-

We spent this day with grandma and grandma Johnson and Uncle Justin at Temple Square, Caputo's,grandma Carmen's, and we drove out to see my late grandmother Sundberg's grave and her old house.

The kids loved the visitor center at Temple Square. We watched a new video about families that really touched me and reminded me that our time here on earth is short and to enjoy every moment.

After Caputo's we stopped by my grandma Carmen's home and got to visit with her for a little bit.

Craig can't come to Utah and not hit up Caputo's. It's one of his favorite places to eat.

We drove by my grandma Sundberg's old home. I hadn't seen it since before she passed away and it really tugged on my heart strings to see it so grown over with weeds and unkempt. I was so glad that my mom was able to go with me over to her grave for the first time. My grandma Sundberg is an amazing woman and has been such a wonderful example to me. I know that she is in a good place and that she was finally able to reunite with her husband and that makes me happy.

July 15 Tuesday-

We had a girls date and finally made it out to Gardner Village. Nani has been talking about taking me here since Craig and I were dating and we just never got around to doing it. I'm so glad that we got to go this time though. It was so fun! The perfect girls date. We had an amazing lunch at Archibald's restaurant including dessert and then enjoyed walking through all the little shops: The Village Quilt Shop, The Posh Peddler Boutique Clothing Shop, Storybook Nook, The Bead Farm, Country Furniture & Gifts,  Aunt Elsie's Trinkets, Georgelle's Doll Shop, The Village bakery, and the Chocolate Covered Wagon where we watched them make taffy from scratch. The candy store and the doll shop were Brooke's favorites. It was the perfect morning. We enjoyed having Nani  all to ourselves.

Later that day we went to the Bountiful Rec Center and enjoyed swimming and going down the waterslide over and over again. Ty  really liked the pirate ship outside as well.

July 16, Wednesday-

LAGOON, LAGOON all day long!! We didn't take very many pictures but we had the time of our lives. Well, the kids did. We didn't quite make it to all the rides in the park but we sure tried and we stopped in the middle of the day to cool off at Laguna Beach as well. Brooke said it was the best day of her life. It helped me realize that I no longer like big roller coasters anymore.  Maybe that's a post having babies thing.  Rattlesnake Rapids was one of our favorites. Brooke, Jace, and I loved the swings too.  Ty's favorite was the mini bumper cars and Jace's very favorite was the Paraglider ride.  We were happy that nani & grandpa could come with us.  They had lots of fun in Kiddie Land with Ty while Craig and I took our big kids on the big rides.  Brooke was barely too short to ride so we put a big bun right on the top of her head to give her an extra inch and it worked!  It was a really fun day.  Jace & Brooke wanted to stay forever.

July 17, Thursday -

The day before leaving for home we mostly just relaxed at the house and visited with family. Nani and grandpa did a surprise mini birthday party for Jace and Brooke since they wouldn't be able to make it to their birthday parties.

July 18, Friday-

Luckily for us we were able to carpool with grandpa on the way back. Jace rode with him and had some special one-on-one time with grandpa.  The ride back was significantly more smooth. We drove through Utah,Texas and New Mexico The first day. We were going to stay with my sister in Albuquerque but things didn't end up working out so we stopped at the Marriott hotel instead. Grandpa took the kids swimming and wore them all out before bedtime. The second leg of the trip we just drove to Oklahoma City and stayed with Grandpa one night before doing the last 3 1/2 hours home to Northwest Arkansas. What a trip! Busy,busy,busy,and fun,fun, fun. It was difficult to get back into normal mode after SO much fun.