Summer in a Snapshot

   This picture perfectly catches our summer.  Kids taking piano lessons.  While wearing swim suits. It just cracks me up!  They had to wear their swim suits because we had to leave the second piano was over to get to swimming lessons.  That's our summer - on the run from one fun thing (ok, not so much fun when it's piano) to the next.  We're going like crazy from swim team (Bailey 5 days a week at 7:00), swim lessons, tennis camp, basketball camp, water park, over to friend's, friends over to our house, movies, and every thing else.
  Usually I hate having many commitments in the summer.  This is my break from being overly scheduled.  It's my break from being a mom taxi.  It's my break from saying, "Hurry".  But as my kids have gotten older I realize that's not realistic.  My kids want to do all the fun things of summer - and I want them to too.  So this year, I'm way more committed than I usually like - but this year I'm liking hurrying from one fun thing to the next.  Yes, I'm still a mom taxi who needs a raise.  And I still have to say, "Hurry".  But we are cramming as much fun into summer as we can - and yes, sometimes you have to "put your shoes on in the car" if we're going to get it all in.

Studio C Fun!

We had the funnest night!  We took our kids to see a comedy show starring the cast of Studio C.  I have some serious Studio C fans at my house - Emmy being the biggest.  Studio C is a sketch comedy show filmed at BYU.  Its fun, clean, and mom approved. My girls watch it on YouTube all the time.  I've tried to get tickets to their filmings, but getting tickets to that is like winning the lottery.  

   I saw the cast was coming to do a show - some skits, some improv.  Derek and I decided to get tickets and surprise our kids.  I've been so looking forward to it!

  Tonight we told them we had heard of a good dessert place we wanted to try.  They all piled in the car and off we went, with promises of milkshakes. Once we got to the venue, we went inside where there was a huge line of people holding tickets.  Our kids were so confused!  We just kept saying, "I think these people are seeing a play, but we're in the milkshake line."  Tyler was the one who figured it out first, saying, "I think there's a comedy show here.  Are we going to a comedy show?" Then Emily saw the sign that said Studio C.  She was in shock.  Complete shock.  As in, couldn't comprehend it.  When we told her we were seeing the cast, she said, "Am I in the same building as Matt Meese?!?"  She was so excited!

So excited!

Excitedly waiting for the show to start!

The cast - Matt, Jeremy, Stacey, Whitney, Natalie, James and Jason

Make it even better?  Go with cousins!  The after shot - all smiles!  

 Thanks Studio C for such a fun night and for thrilling one 14 year old.  I am one happy mama!

School's Out!!!

Another school year has come and gone ... man these years just go by faster and faster!  Slow down already Father Time!  Goodbye 10th, 8th (middle school!), 5th and 3rd grades!

We hosted our 2nd annual water balloon fight.  We invited 12 kids from our bus stop to come straight to our house after school and cool off a little with a water balloon fight. 

Tyler filled 300 water balloons and hid them as caches throughout the yard.  

We were ready for the masses!

The kids showed up and the craziness began!  The water balloons lasted about 7.5 seconds!  Luckily we had sprinklers and a hose to fill the vacancy.  

A driveway full of bikes is one of my favorite sights!

Derek said he saw a car slow down in front of our house and count the bikes!

 The saddest part of our party involved our neighbor Justin.  He's in between Bailey and Logan in age.  He doesn't go to our school so it never occurred to me to invite him to our party.  I didn't even know what time he would be home from his school on Friday.  Needless to say, he wasn't invited but he was certainly home.  While I was outside turning on the sprinklers I could hear that someone was playing a recorder.  Now the sound of a recorder didn't really get my attention ... I'm all too familiar with the recorder.  This year both Bailey and Logan have played the recorder the last 2 months of school.  I've been known to say, "You should play that outside so the neighbors can enjoy it too!"  So when I heard the recorder I thought one of our party kids was playing the recorder in the middle of a water fight.  I've seen weirder.  It wasn't until I was in the backyard that I saw Justin.  Both of our backyards have a hill that goes up towards the back.  If you stand on the top our hill, you can look into our neighbor's backyards.  There was poor Justin, at the very top of his hill, practically hanging over the fence, playing his guts out on his recorder, just begging to be noticed.  It was the saddest sight!  I immediately had Tyler run over and invite that poor kid over.  Don't worry, he was soaked in no time. As we've talked about it, Justin has been dubbed the minstrel of our party - like the rooster in the cartoon version of Robin Hood.  

  After our party was over, we headed to Allyson's.  Having a sister with a pool is a pretty sweet gig.  She invites us over, we swim, eat her popsicles and go home happy.  So we swam with the Al and Jen's families and had a high ol' time.  After 3 hours Allyson and Paul had to leave to watch Josh's football scrimmage.  But the weather was so nice!  And the kids were so happy!  And the lounge chairs so comfy! Jen and I stayed another 2 hours.  

What a great day to kick off summer!

Summer - I welcome you, with your sleeping in, homework free, just let me enjoy my kids days, 

with open arms!