Magoon

The first Wednesday in August was set aside as the "use our free passes to Lagoon" day. Sad to admit, but I was SUper excited to go. With the exception of two sets of lost keys and an insane 30 minute wind/rain storm - we had a great time. Particularly Emma who asks pretty much every day if we can go back to "the fun place." "What's the fun place called?" I ask. "Magoon!" she excitedly replies!

The only photo I have to document is below. But, if you want to see some pretty thrilled faces on Emma and her two cousins Boston and Jae, click on the link to Ben and Jenny's blog. She has some GREAT pics!

We were very glad that our dramatic little girl was a ride-a-holic. We didn't have single meltdown - until it was time to go, of course. The picture above is Emma on her favorite ride - the new Jumping Dragon.

Anyway, she has been so cute about it for the last two weeks that I think I might break down and pay to take her again on Friday. Its so funny how making your kid happy can make you overlook the inflated price, long lines, and overall craziness that can be a Lagoon trip just to see that genuine look of absolute joy and excitement on their faces. I've told her she has to be a very good girl for the next three days. We'll see if she earns the trip!

Work Room

Today I helped my mom clean out the infamous "Work Room." It is not an exaggeration when I say that the "Work Room" is more like the "Room of Horror" just because it has been so cluttered for so long that you could easily unknowingly impale yourself on some Ginger Scissors should you attempt to enter. However, now I think I will call it the "Room of Miraculous While You Were Out Impowerment" because I felt like I was on an episode of While You Were Out - no...more like...what's that Garage Sale show "You're Room is So Full of Useless Crap that we are going to Force You to Throw it Away unless by some rare chance it Makes Some Money at the Garage Sale that We will Force you to have First" - no, that's not what it's called - too long. I digress. It was impowering to clean out a room that we never thought would be organized and to walk away feeling like - "hey, this room is the most organized it has ever been." Good feeling. Good enough feeling to make me post this pointless blog because I feel so gosh darn GOOD I wanted to share my good feelings with all of you!

I think I'll go clean out a closet.

Sarah

Summer Fun

These pictures are placed in a file adequately named "Summer Fun." They really just illustrate some of the things that our family has been up to the last couple of weeks. These are from our trip to the Hill Air Force Base Museum. Since the downturn of the economy, there hasn't been too many exciting things happening in the auto industry, so Matt has refocused his obsession with cars onto planes. Though I wasn't too keen on the idea of spending the afternoon there, the Museum was more interesting with the stories Matt could tell me about the different airplanes we were looking at. We had a good afternoon. Emma got a little plane that was hooked to a rubber band you could pull back and let fly. She had a really good time:

I have also enrolled Emma in some swim lessons. She has had some anxiety over swimming this summer, so I thought it would be good to get her more experience. She has been getting more comfortable in the water, which has been nice, but she definitely knows her limits. She refuses to put her whole had in the water and it took her a good long time to put her face in to blow bubbles. She tells me "Mom, when I get bigger I'll put my whole head in the water..." This picture is her waiting for her class on the first day of lessons. The sign says "Preschool Level 1:"We have also been able to go up to the lake with my family about every other week the last month or so. This is a picture of Lucy's first time playing in the sand and water. She really loves playing in the water and hasn't had the fear that Emma has had....not yet anyway. She has loved our beach trips:
Oh, and on a semi-related note (since it involves Lucy) she started crawling this weekend! Can you believe it? I have a child that crawls! Its a whole new world. I have to start thinking about what I have left around for her to get into and find a way to block off the stairs. She's gonna be a little trouble maker - I have a feeling!

This one last picture is just the pure joy smile that we only get in candids of Emma. Isn't she cute!?:

Check Sanity

This is Matt, one of the few times that I'm writing, but I have some sweet pictures that need an explanation. I went up jeeping in Bountiful on the 23rd. I was having a bad day, actually a bad couple of days and decided that jeeping would help me feel better. Ryan, the kid I work with, had never been jeeping so I brought him with me.

I went up a couple mild hills first, and then we decided to tackle a more aggresive hill. We made it to the top just fine, but we decided to take an easier route down. These pictures are as we are turning into the easy downhill climb. I was nervous going into it because I knew there was going to be a moment when we would be on two wheels, I just thought those two wheels wouldn't be on the same side of the vehicle.

I proceeded slowly to head down the hill and we got to the tippy part of the trail and Ryan got out and snapped some pictures. I had Ryan stay out as I went down but one foot down the hill and the jeep started to roll on it's side. I had two options: 1. gas it or 2. stop for some more pictures. I know what you're thinking "Gas it are you crazy!" No it gets the jeep off it's side and pointed the right direction.

Anyway, I stopped and we took some more pictures, while I was sideways the check engine light came on, which meant the jeep didn't like being sideways. Ryan stood on the hill and pushed the jeep up right as I maneuvered down the hill. After he got back in, he pointed out the check engine light, and I thought "that should be a check sanity light."

Oh yes...there WILL be a next year!

My post-festival days feeling is that it was a complete success. The goals that I had in mind when I learned that I would be the Chair were to make it bigger than ever and to get more sponsorships than last year. We were able to double the amount of sponsorship money we had behind the event and we definitely covered more square footage with our booths on Saturday - so in the words of Special Agent Oso: "Mission Completion!"

Let me walk you through the week: Our Monday movie in the park was a hit. We showed Kung-Fu Panda. It is really a good family activity. My girls loved it! Our Tuesday night basketball tournament didn't have the best turn out - not sure if we're going to continue it. Wednesday night was the Miss Farmington Pageant and an old neighbor who used to live two doors down from my parents took the crown. Thursday was the first night of our first ever Playstation Rock Band Tournament. Thursday struggled - I mean, our set-up was awesome, we just lacked participants! But don't worry - they showed up on Saturday and we had a pretty good showing then and overall happy rockers!! On Friday we had our Kid's Bike Parade. We probably would have had a better showing had we not misprinted the time in our second newsletter. Whoopsies. But, I thought it was still a blast - aside from my dry ice burn. My girls were with Matt at South Willow, so no adorable decorated bike shots of them, but here is a photo of the line-up right before we started the parade and a cute shot of my cousin's adorable little girl Londyn:

( BTW - Didn't her mom Oakley do a fantastic decorating job? Oakley is so talented at whatever she does! Go Oakley!) Anyway, after the kid's bike parade on Friday my right hand helpers Erik and Meggan helped me stay up late to make banners for the big day. I got about 4 hours of sleep before I had to get up to be at the breakfast and foot races bright and early Saturday morning! We started the day off with our amazing breakfast and our foot races. Matt ran with his cousin Lucas, who actually took 2nd place in his age division for the 5K. That was cool. There was a small hiccup that occurred with the breakfast - the health inspector showed up! I unknowingly walked right into a conversation she was having with Neil and she got passed to me. I got a little chewed out for a couple of things, but don't worry - we passed, the food passed - it was all healthy. I knew it wasn't a big deal when, as soon as the inspector finished lecturing me, she turned around and got in line for some french toast and sausage! And she enjoyed it (of course!)! After breakfast and the craziness of checking vendors in, I got to go on my first ever helicopter ride. It was pretty amazing! And it gave me the opportunity to take an arial gander at the parade that I haven't been lucky enough to watch yet. In the past three years of my involvement I have been otherwise engaged so, it was fun to finally see it! It was a good parade. Longer than in past years - hopefully due more to an increase in entrants and not in spacing issues! Anyway, the afternoon with the vendors in the park was spent putting out fires, divvying out information, and entertaining the children - via bouce toys, kid's booths and our unique little train:

After a 4:00pm pick me up - I'm talkin' the hard stuff (Mountain Dew) - the day culminated in a free ice cream and a really great concert in the park - photos below...
(Emma singing with the Beatles. Won't see that every day)

If you know the story behind the choosing of the band, you will know that IMAGINE (our fantastic Beatles cover band) didn't come easy - but they were a complete hit. We filled every inch of that park. I tried to get a good shot of the crowd (above). The argument that was solidified in the eyes of my little Lucy (see photo below) was that the Beatles were multigenerational and would entertain all involved. I can no longer disagree as evidenced below.When the last note of the fireworks music played, I just felt like it had been a really fantastic day. A LOT of work - but I have to say that after all of this I believe I was meant to be an event coordinator. There is this amazing, irreplaceable, totally unique feeling I had at the culmination of planning this event - and yes I worked hard that day and in months prior to that day - but I literally loved every minute of it. I have to conclude this lengthy post by saying that I am well aware that it took the capable hands of many volunteers, family members, city workers to have made Festival Days what it was. I am not as egotistical as you may think...I know it wasn't all my doing....so, if you are any of the above - I couldn't have done it without you!

Until next year....

Bibbidi Bobbity Boo

I had wanted to get to blogging about the craziness of last week sooner, but I was hit with the exhaustion bomb and then the sickness bomb and am still recovering from both. Not only did I have Festival Days last week, but I was also trying to give Emma something to entertain her while her busy mom was otherwise engaged - so I signed her up for a Cinderella Princess Camp at a local dance academy. She completely loved it - what 3 year old wouldn't when you get to dress up in a princess dress every day and spend an entire hour doing princess related activities like coloring in a princess diary and learning a princess dance. The whole week culminated in a "Royal Ball" where all of the little princesses danced for their families. Silly mom didn't realize that it was an "invite dad and grandparents" moment, so poor little Emma had the smallest fan club of Lucy and me - but she didn't care! She was lost in the world of Cinderella. She did her little dance and came to me "Mom, I danced!" She has been obsessed with dancing ever since and I am pretty sure we will sign her up for a dance class in the fall. I wish I had better pictures to post, but with a lost camera I have had to rely on my camera phone - so here is a low quality taste of Emma's week at princess camp!

Emma and her friend Aspen:Emma dancing at the "Royal Ball:"

Our 4th of July

Our Fourth of July was a success! We started out the day with the Centerville Parade

Despite the fact that every bone in my over-anxious planner body wanted to approach the Centerville Parade differently, I let my laid back take-it-as-it-comes under-anxious husband take the lead. One thing you need to know about Matt is that he can be so laid back because somehow things usually pan out for him. Which is what happened yesterday. We walked up the street about 5 minutes before the start of the parade and got to the intersection where the parade started just as the trumpets of the Davis High Marching Band began to blow. We just happened to find the perfect little spot, watched and enjoyed the parade, and walked home - no saving a spot the night before, no going up to the parade hours early....just walk up, watch, and walk home. It was great. Sometimes it pays off to just RELAX!

After we walked home, we loaded straight into the car to head to the Kaysville Parade. For me, the Fourth of July wouldn't be the Fourth of the July without attending this parade. It is a crazy experience. My family is pretty competitive - we like to get the best stuff. And my brother, Ben, is literally louder than any of the sirens and instruments that crash around us. Emma would have enjoyed it more without all the noise and Lucy slept through most of it after wearing herself out dancing to the marching band. But I loved every minute of it!

After the parade we began the Barbeque circuit. My family's house was stop 1 - where I ate WAY too much food. Matt and I also tried something new: Red White and Blue homemade ice cream. We were trying to be festive, but it wasn't our best ice cream effort, so it probably won't happen again. See below: The finished product

And Adam being a food model:

After dragging my overstuffed butt out the door, we then headed to stop #2 - the neighborhood Barbeque. It was a nice, laid back event and allowed us to put the girls to bed somewhat early (for the 4th) and still enjoy a nice little evening watching the neighborhood kids light their street fireworks. It made us reminisce about our engagement anniversary, 6 years ago last night. That night turned the 4th of July into one of my favorite holidays! And this year was a great tribute to that day - Happy Independence Day!!