Evening At the District

This afternoon I decided to take the girls to the District this evening for a small picnic and a ride on the carousel. They always want to ride it and with Tripp out of town and Kyle visiting his mom we had nothing stopping us. I got in touch with Lindsay and Sam and both were interested in joining in. I got there a little early with the girls for a picnic. They loved playing on the grass, lounging on the blanket and dreaming about which animal they were going to ride.
Then everyone joined us and we headed to the carousel. My girls were all smiles (they've been a little blue lately with daddy, Kyle and Ruby all away).

Lindsay suggested a trip to Ben & Jerry's after the ride. Abbie & Daisy never turn down ice cream so off we went. After the cones we wandered over to the live music and the kids danced for awhile. Daisy fell asleep within seconds of getting in bed tonight. Sometimes the best of times come out of plans that were never really plans at all...

I Sew! Well, Sort-of...

I've been wanting to learn how to sew for as long as I can remember. A few years ago, Tripp found a really great sewing machine on sale at Sears. It is small and doesn't do anything fancy but it is perfect for learning how to sew and at under $50, it was the perfect price as well.

Fast forward to December 2009. I still hadn't used my machine! I kept looking into classes in town but with our schedule I could never commit to anything. Then I thought I would just teach myself...plenty of people do it. But I never got around to trying anything. I didn't want another year to go by without using the pretty blue machine so I devised a plan to invite a darling lady in my ward over once a week to help me out and keep me on track. Luckily, she was completely in to the idea and her two cute daughters wanted in as well. Thus began our Tuesday night sewing group.

So far, I've made napkins, pajama pants (pictured on Abbie above) and blankets. We've taken several weeks off along the way to accommodate schedules but usually Tuesday night at my house looks something like this...

It has been fun and I'm slowly getting the hang of things. Getting everything perfect is really tough. Sometimes just sewing a straight line can be tough! But I love it and I especially love seeing the Meyer family every Tuesday. They are all slowly moving out of my ward so Tuesdays will become a special time just to visit with them.

We've been busy this summer but I haven't been toting my camera around everywhere. Here is what we've been up to: swim lessons * swimming at the rec center * swimming at grandma & grandpas * lots of parties (going away, birthday, etc.) * scout camp (Kyle) * Wacky Wednesday (Abbie) * Discovery Museum * sleepovers * tennis soccer * Wii Fit * library * cleaning the church. No vacations yet but we plan to leave in a week for Duck Creek then Salt Lake City.

What We've Been Up To...

We've had a busy few weeks. I'm convinced that May is the new December. With all the craziness going on, we did manage to sneak in some fun last week....
Abbie's spring dance recital was Tuesday night. She was all smiles and excitement until she actually got near the stage. The crowd terrifies her. She didn't go out for the first dance and went out for the second but left the stage in tears before the music started. Poor little marshmallow heart. She looked festive and had fun with Ruby so we are concentrating on that.

After Kyle's last final on Wednesday we went up the road to Mt. Charleston for an afternoon hike and cookout. It was a lot of fun and much cooler than Vegas. The hike and marshmallow roast were a huge hit with Kyle and Abbie.

We took the kids to the public pool Friday afternoon for a couple of hours. It's their favorite and we especially enjoyed having Tripp join us. I got sick Friday afternoon and thank goodness for the Butler Family. They invited Abbie & Daisy over for the evening while Tripp & Kyle attended a meeting and I was in bed.

Saturday morning we hit the library summer reading program party then off to Grandma & Papa's for swimming and lunch.

The kids got to spend some time with their cousin's this week. Thursday afternoon Isabelle came to play with the girls and they couldn't have had a better time. Saturday night Kyle and Tripp went to play video games with Paul, Seth and Cooper. Paul provided treats for the night and Kyle came home asking for new video games so he must have had a great time.

This week begins official "Summer Break". Kyle heads off to scout camp tomorrow morning and the girls begin swim lessons. I guess summer is really here...