August Wrap up

I've spent the past 5+ weeks participating in another Biggest Loser - Healthy Habits competition. I did one back in February and was one of 12 people to end up with a perfect score. Unfortunately that meant we all had to split the winnings and I only came away with $33. I have to admit that the main reason I participated this time is because I knew I could win again. Right now I'm on track to tie with one other lady. Because of this contest I've needed to workout 6 days a week for an hour each day. I never thought I'd say this, but I have grown to love the 6:00 am hour. Every day but Sunday I get up at 6 and either go running or mountain biking. There are some awesome biking trails a few miles from our home, so I set off and blaze the trails or run around town. One particular day I went biking with a friend  and was trying to show her that yes, we can do trails that say "most difficult." Well, in the process I fell downward into a tree and got these awesome scratches and a huge bruise on my upper thigh. Don't worry though, I got back up on my bike and have beat the trail over and over again. I am really loving biking and am now waiting to get a road bike.

 The kids have been having fun playing with friends, flying kites, riding bikes, swimming, going to the aquarium, playing, playing, playing. I'm excited for school to start in a couple weeks, but sad that they won't get to run free as much anymore.

 My Mom gave Blake this swing for Christmas last year. We don't have a play set, so I finally screwed the bolts into our front porch beams and set his swing up. It's high enough that the older kids can't reach it to climb in. I set the bolts wide so that we can hang our BYU flag up come game times.

 We had some concrete curbing laid a few weeks ago and it makes our front yard look much more finished.

 Because of said curbing my crazy boy now has more creative ideas for dirty fun. He turns the hose on, makes everything a muddy mess and as you can see, has no qualms with getting down and dirty. He had to be hosed off and put in the bath tub after this picture.

 I'm pretty sure Blake isn't following too closely in Cole's footsteps, but it sure looks like it from this picture. Aubrey left her makeup out and Blake got a hold of it. Ugh. It's the greasy stuff that is going to take FOREVER to get out of his hair. He still has a purplish hue on his head.

I scored!

You should all know that I love a good deal, especially a great deal. Cody's work has been needing some children's toys so I did some browsing on KSL Classifieds and came across this beauty! It's a 2 foot square play cube. I was able to pick it up for $25! Now if you aren't sure how great of a deal that is, take a look at this website and glance at the prices. A brand new cube costs over $500!

 I had no idea it was going to be so big when I picked it up. Tucker ended up having to seat in the front seat all the way home. Now if you go visit Cody's office you'll have some fun entertainment. : )

My Dad's Birthday

Every year we like to celebrate my Dad's birthday in conjunction with the 24th of July. If you're not from Utah - the 24th of July is the day the pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley and declared that "This is the Place". We have rodeos, fireworks, parades, the whole shebang. My Dad's birthday is on the 23rd so we had a big family BBQ and swimming party at my Grandpa Foster's house.

 Tucker must be explaining why there are so many candles on my Dad's cake. : )

 I guess you never get to blow out your own candles the older you get. Happy Birthday Dad!

Maryland Reunion Party (yes we like to party!)

Apparently we like to party, and host parties. Our friend Hannah was in town and wanted to get together with Maryland friends, so we decided to host another party. Unfortunately, a few families had to cancel last minute and others were out of town, but us 4 families had fun catching up. More babies have been born and families have moved. It's fun to see where everyone is. We plan on making this an annual event, so if you missed it this year, don't worry, there's always next. We'll try to plan when the out of towners are in town.

 The dentists, minus Jeremy (he was on a plane flying to Utah at the moment).

 Some crazy kids! and no, the boy next to Tucker isn't crying.

 Tucker's neighborhood buddies joined in on the fun so I snapped a picture of them too.

More Please

This baby loves the dirt, and sand, and anything else that looks good and dirty.

 I bought a kiddie pool for the kids a month or so ago and we finally filled it up mid July. The water was freezing, I didn't drag the hose through the house to use the hot water tap from the garage, but they loved it and pretty soon the whole neighborhood was sliding and swimming.

Dental Class Reunion of 2008

We love to get together with members of our dental class. We had a couple families in town the end of June so we planned a BBQ/swimming party at my Grandpa's house. 6 of the 10 Mormon families made it. Not too shabby!

 The kids swam and swam...

 while the dentists and ladies chatted and chatted.

 These three babies were all born last summer. Most of us have doubled the size of our families since moving.

As always, it was so fun seeing everyone. The kids that were Maryland born have grown so much and the new ones are fun to see for the first (or second or third time). Until next summer!

Blake's 1st Birthday 7-11

We celebrated Blake's 1st birthday on Saturday, the 9th when we got home from the ranch. Cody was going to scout camp on his actual birthday and I figured since everyone was already with us, we might as well bust out the cake and ice cream. Cody baked the cake before we came home so I just had to frost it and turn it into a fish.

 Blake wasn't quite sure what was going on, he was actually ready for a nap. He just sucked on his thumb while we sang and the kids blew out his candles.

 He really wanted nothing to do with the cake either. He touched the frosting and I tried to put some in his mouth. He ended up flicking frosting all behind him on the highchair and the door.

 While we were gathering to open presents Cody brought his new gun out to show my Grandpa Foster. It's bullets are so big! And they are ridiculously expensive. $4 a bullet! Um, you better shoot that elk/deer with the first shot buddy!

 Blake received wonderful gifts from everyone. We don't like to give our kids much, they already have a ton, and with him being the 4th child and 3rd boy, we pretty much have everything covered. He did get some new sippy cups, some clothes, truck, and a couple other toys.

 I'm throwing this in just so I don't have to make a separate post. Tucker has been wanting to fly the kite he got for his birthday, last September, and Cody finally unpicked the knots in the string and Tucker flew it Sunday afternoon.

 On Blake's actual birthday we celebrated, or rather the older kids celebrated by getting free Slurpee's from 7-11. That will definitely become a tradition every year now. I'm not sure why I've never done it before. : ) Too bad Blake was taking a nap when we decided it was Slurpee time.