The Keatonator!

Yep. He is definitely 10 months old...

Haley's 14th birthday

She was not happy about having a camera pointed at her as soon as she woke up, but she endured to be able to check out her gifts from us on the kitchen island.

She had been asking for a bb gun, but she KNEW I would never agree to it. Sooo she was really surprised when she opened this...

Later in the day we had Haley's friends over for a Par-tAy!

The attempted gun conversion

Eric's brothers all own guns and they refer to my husband as "Eric the gunless" because I do not want a gun in our house. 

A few months ago one of them mentioned that they would bring their guns to Utah and teach our girls how to shoot. My girls would not stop talking about how excited they were to shoot a real gun. 

They were so excited that they all woke up early (after a night of fireworks) to drive out to the shooting range and shoot in the rain!

Eric's Brothers Greg and Wayne brought several guns (22 rifles, hand guns and semi-automatic guns). They gave them direction about what to do and not do with a gun. I think the only rule my girls remembered was  "Keep your buggar finger of the banger".

Ruby was very serious and careful

... and loved every minute!

Haley had a scope so she was right on and blowing away all the targets.

Little Lucy was like Annie Oakley. She was shooting, reloading and shooting again like she had been doing it for years.

It kind of scared me how comfortable she was. After a short time she was done with sitting and started shooting standing up!

I even got to shoot a few, and it was fun!

 The bad thing was when we were driven home Haley said "Forget the bb gun, I want a 22 for my birthday".

The Bees!

Eric got tickets to a Bees game for two reasons. Our girls had never been to a real baseball game and they had a firework show after the game. It took awhile for the girls to get into it but after they had a favorite player (the one with the funniest photo on the scoreboard) then they had a great time.

Eating sugar

I came home early in the morning from the grocery store and was putting everything away. Lucy said "I wish you would just pour that sugar right in my mouth" so I did. I filled her mouth thinking she would spit it our and be grossed out. I was wrong. Ruby watched in unbelief, then she asked her dad to pour some in her mouth.  Sometimes teaching moments backfire.

Grandma Bonnie time!

While in Utah we got to spend time with Grandma Bonnie (my mom). She had lots of fragile stuff so I was not that surprised when I asked Lucy to watch Keaton for a while this was her solution. Problem fixed.

We went up to Park City and did the Alpine slide.

Haley and Grandma Bonnie did not want to ride so they watched Keaton. Haley disclosed later that Grandma fed Keeter M&Ms and he really liked them. 

We rode the Alpine coaster for the fist time. It was the best. I never need to do the Alpine slide again, the coaster is SOOOOOO much more fun!

On Sunday night at my Mom's we had over my pseudo.. surrogate.. adopted grandparents Kay and Jo. Kay is a very talented graphic artist that has done tons of amazing projects. When I was a kid he did most of the illustrations for the Friend magazine and the New Era (church magazines). I thought he was a rock star. Whenever I sat next to him we used to play squiggles. I would draw a squiggle, or funny shape and he would turn it into an amazing picture. Then he would draw a squiggle for me to turn into a picture.  I have played this with my Kids and told them about how amazing it was to play this with Kay. Tonight my girls could hardly wait for dinner to get over so they could play with him. 

My girls were mesmerized and addicted, just like I was when I used to watch him draw.

Keaton on the other hand was more impressed with Grandma (because she has M&M's)!

Happy 4th of July!

We spent the 4th of July in Richfield. We got to attend their notorious parade for the first time. 

We have heard about how the fertilizer spreader spits out ping pong balls all over the street and if you get one with a star you win a special prize. We got to see that! We have also heard how Uncle Wayne gets right behind the truck trying to catch them all- Saw that too!

The handsome dude before he crashed out in the stroller.

We had heard about how Uncle Wayne gets out in the street and dances with the cheerleaders and dance teams. Got to see that in person this year. That boy in the ground was Drake laughing so hard he was literally rolling on the ground!

It was nice to finally go to a parade where they throw things!

The red white and blue fam

At the end of the day we all sat around Grandpa's house talking about, guns, cremation and other controversial and borderline inappropriate topics. Good times!

Utah trip- Richfield

Every summer we take a road trip to Utah. We get to visit friends and family and Haley had a camp that she LOVES.

The drive this year was execptionally beautiful! I took about 40 photos just of the drive. This was a cattle drive out in the middle of nowhere. So fun to watch.

We went to Richfield to visit Grandpa Rogers house (he passed away two weeks before we got there) and and Eric's mom & John, his brothers and their families.

When I think of Grandpa's house I think of Hollyhocks. He has the most beautiful hollyhocks growing all over his yard!

All the cousins got along great

It was great to spend time with Grandma Hawley & Grandpa John

Keets and grandpa both had crazy hair from the wind and Ruby's fingers :)