37...

I guess I say it every year older that I get...but how am I 37 years old! I sure don't feel like it...but the years keep flying by.

I woke up on my birthday to Lars bringing me breakfast in bed...the boys were actually still sleeping!

They woke up while I was eating and came in and told me happy birthday. Gunnar of course hopped right up with me for a little bit :)

Then they went out and ate their breakfast while I got showered and ready for church. I was actually glad my birthday fell on a Sunday this year, I think going to mass was a great way to start our day.

On our way out the door...

 After church we came home and had some lunch, then just hung out for a little bit. Then my Mom showed up...Lars had called her to see if she wanted to come down for the day. So that was a fun surprise!

Lars had told the boys that he would take them out to shoot bb guns, so they got all that stuff ready, but then a huge wind storm blew in and it ended up raining for a little bit so we just stayed in for awhile longer. When it finally cleared out, we all went up to Vons Park and shot at these balloons that they had tacked to this board.

 Even Grandma took a turn...

 Then we came home and got ready to go out to eat...we went to Olive Garden.

Ashton had picked out this cake for me at Sams Club with Lars the day before.

Lars said it was cute while he was standing there talking to someone, Ashton went and picked out which cake he thought I would like, came and put it in the cart...(it was huge!), then took it over to the counter and told the lady what to write on it (in pink of course). It made me smile to imagine him taking charge and doing all of that while Lars was busy chatting. :)

Anyway after dinner, we took the cake up to our favorite spot up Logan Canyon and met our friends the Villas and the Hansons.

 The kids all ran around playing forever and we made it through almost the whole cake!

It was yummy and I had a great day.

37 feels pretty good!

My birthday wish...

About a month ago, a priest who is associated with a program called Food For The Poor  visited our parish and asked that we all donate some money for this charity that does as it's name says, gives food to the poor.
We didn't have our checkbook or any extra money at church that day to put in the envelope, so we took it home and I hung it up on one of my cabinets to remind me to put some money into it and send it in.
So there it sat for a couple weeks with this sad little boy's face staring at me and each time I would walk by it I would think...oh yeah, I need to get that sent in. Then I would continue on with whatever else I was doing and put it off another day.
Then as my birthday was approaching I had an idea come to me...I thought why not see if I could get a bunch of my friends involved in helping to do something good and give back to celebrate my birthday this year rather than making it all about me. So I went back and forth about my idea in my mind, and even lost a little sleep over it. I knew what I wanted to do, but when it came down to it, I didn't want people to think I was just trying to call attention to myself or anything like that. But in the end I thought...so what if they think that if it allows me to give more money to families that are literally starving? And I really hoped people wouldn't think that about me. So about a week and a half ago, I decided to just do it.
I had intended to put $100 of my own money in and send it in, so I also posted this on Facebook as well as sent out an email to friends and family who I know don't use Facebook...

 

Okay...I'm turning 37 in 11 days. Yikes! So I was trying to think of something to do to celebrate, but instead decided I want to do something different this year. I have everything I need and feel so grateful for all the blessings in my life, so it's time to give back. Anyone want to join me? I figure if I can get 37 friends to donate just $10...I can donate $370 plus $100 of my own to help feed the hungry. It's hard to imagine not having enough to eat for just one day...so sad to think of how many out there are suffering every day while I have more than enough.
So who's in? Celebrate me turning old by giving back! Let me know and I can come get it from you or send you my address. Let's see how much we can give!

 

The response I got was immediate and so positive. So many of my sweet friends and family loved my idea and couldn't wait to send in or drop by their $10. And lots even donated more! It made me so happy and I knew right then that I had put off sending this in for a reason.

I was so excited for my birthday this year! And it really made me want to cry as more and more of my friends left comments then started dropping off their money.

As of today I have reached my goal and can't wait to send the check in to this organization. I'm so glad I took the risk in doing this and it has really made this birthday my best yet!

Boys are in Price for a week!

Last Saturday...July 20th, we drove down to Orem and met Lars' parents at Red Lobster for lunch, then the boys got in with them and drove to Price to stay for the week.

Had to get some hugs before we left...

 They were so excited to go and I was excited for them...they have so much fun when they go. They love to play with their cousin Hunter!

After we left Orem, Lars and I headed to Wendover to stay the night. It was fun...Lars played a lot of poker and after watching him for awhile, then hanging out in the room for awhile, I put $20 in a penny slot machine and won $50 more and cashed out :)

We stayed up till 2 am, then got up and checked out about 10:00 and drove home.

The house has been so quiet and we miss our boys!

I've kept myself busy though and gotten a lot done. I cleaned the whole house and cleaned out and organized the boys rooms when we got home, then printed 9 months worth of pictures and actually got completely caught up on my scrapbooking!!

One of my friends took me to lunch for my birthday on Monday, and on Wednesday Lars and I got up early and drove over to Cokeville and fished all day on a river called the Smith's Fork over there. We had the whole place to ourselves and had so much fun fishing and just hanging out together all day.

 We can't wait to go pick up our boys though...I don't think we've ever been away from them for quite this long. I just want to squeeze them :)
It really is amazing how much you can get done though...now my blog is almost caught up too!

Kenny Chesney concert...

It had been a long time since I'd been to a concert, so when my friend Starlee called and asked me if I wanted to go see one of her favorites...Kenny Chesney, of course I said yes!

And I invited our other good friend Randi and she invited her cute friend Courtney.

It was a really fun girls night out that we all needed!
We ate at a place called Zupas in Salt Lake before the concert and it was so good!

The concert was fun too...I think we talked and laughed more than we actually watched or listened to the show however :)

Love these girls!

Grandpa & Grandma from Texas visit...

The Saturday before last my Dad & Michelle flew in and stayed with us for 3 nights...it had been a year since we'd last seen them. The boys were excited to have visitors and liked having them here if only for a few days.

While they were here we all went to see Despicable Me 2...it was really cute.

  We also took my Dad down to the river trail and the boys rode their bikes while we walked along. It was a beautiful night and a lot cooler down by the river...

 On Monday they took the boys to McDonald's for lunch, then took them to the JumpZone to play for an hour. Lars was at work, so I had a couple hours to myself :) They had a lot of fun and it was a nice break for me!

Monday night they took us out to Costa Vida to celebrate my birthday early...my favorite :)

After the boys got done with art camp on Tuesday it was time to say goodbye...they drove up to Evanston for the rest of the week.

 Good to see them!

Water fun...

Ashton and Gunnar have spent a lot of time this summer playing in water...one of their favorite things to do has been to put the sprinkler on underneath the tramp and jump.

They were out there for hours a couple different days...

So fun to watch them :)

 Oh and when they aren't playing and laughing we see a lot of this these days...

 

Summer is flying by....

I cannot believe we're down to less than a month until school starts back up again. Summer is going by way too fast and I need to catch up on here.

Ashton's Harry Potter camp ended on July 11th. He had so much fun with it! I know I said it before, but I am so glad we got him signed up for it and it was worth every penny.

That same week, he and Gunnar both started a fun art camp that my friend Aurora teaches part of. They went from 9~noon Monday thru Thursday that week and the next.

I think they liked parts of it :) I had to laugh when the first day they both jumped in the car saying "MOM! We had to dance...WITH GIRLS! haha :) I had kind of forgotten that Aurora told me that dance was a part of it...a part that her own boys had complained about last year. So anyway they weren't too happy about that, but they loved working with clay, painting, getting to do paper mache, and even cooking. And Gunnar actually got to where he liked the dancing...he would come home each day and teach me the new dances. Oh and they learned some songs too and I would catch both of them singing them sometimes. It really was a fun camp and I LOVE the projects that they brought home on the last day! Definitely glad we signed up for this one too.

Lars and I went to watch their little presentation on the last day and we got to see them perform the dances and songs that they'd learned, then we helped them gather up all of their art to bring home.

Such cute projects!

 Ashton's...

 Gunnar's...

 Can't wait to hang them up :)

 

During that second week of art camp, Grandpa and Grandma from Texas were here. That post up next...