Juggling July

Hmmm...It's Sunday...sleepy Sunday. :) I decided to update my blog because my missionary in-laws wanted to see pictures. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't bother with it. So far we have had a really fun summer but it is busy and going by too fast. I really wish I could slow it down. August just means I go back to work, which I am not ready for yet. Oh well. Focus on the present. So, summer at our house this year has meant sleeping in almost every day. I know. It's awful. My kids don't get up until at least 9am. Consequently, I lounge in bed most mornings reading and being lazy. I feel guilty about it. I was supposed to get active this summer and become Wonder Woman. Just keeping it real I guess. My one accomplishment so far is cleaning the house almost everyday...and making the kids do chores everyday. That will have to be enough. July has brought a lot of good times our way. We had our Baxter cousins visit from Oregon over the 4th of July. We participated in the Provo Children's Parade the weekend before the 4th. Nate and I were not really that excited to get up and walk in the heat on a Saturday morning...but memories needed to be made. It was actually kind of fun.

As if one parade isn't enough, we also went to the Provo Freedom Festival Parade on the 4th of July. Poor Nate woke up at 4am to help save a spot for us. The tradition of going every year will probably continue for a long time. At least we have found a spot where we don't have to spend the night on the parade route. I remember the year Nate and I got engaged we were the designated spot savers. We spent the night out on the lawn, only to have the sprinklers come on at 3am. I was so dead asleep I just pulled my bag over my head and continued sleeping until Nathan pulled me out of the grass.

We thought it was pretty funny to watch Ben. Apparently the parade is not what it used to be for him. He read Harry Potter the entire morning. :) Anyway, after the parade and a nice lunch with our Baxter family we went home for afternoon naps. My mom and dad had us over for dinner. The Stalker family is less active on the 4th these days so it was just us and my padres. Actually, that was fabulously peaceful and made for a fun evening. Nate took the kids to the Pleasant Grove fireworks to wrap up the day while I spent a quiet night at the house. Babies do not care about fireworks as much as sleep.

Last week my parents took us boating at Deer Creek Reservoir . We had a super nice time. I wasn't sure how bad I wanted to go as I got all of our stuff together but once we were there I was really glad we did it. The kids had a great time on the boat. Sarah absolutely loved it. Ben and Rachel both tried out the wakeboard. I was nervous for them and thought it would be too hard...but they both showed me. They were great and even though they didn't actually stay up long enough to go anywhere they were both able to get upright on the wakeboard. I was really impressed and proud of them for their persistence.

There you go. An update on our summer. Mary and Tom, hope you enjoyed it. :)