Dog Days of Summer

Poor Baxter

My parents, and everyone else for that matter, were really great about me bringing my DOG to visit.  It is no secret that we are not dog people (my kindred I mean). Baxter was a good sport this summer.  He spent a lot of time tied to the kitchen table so as to avoid messes in the house.  Luckily for him, the weather was very nice and he was able to spend a lot of time outdoors.  Even still, he was not exactly happy about this arrangement.  Here he is wanting to come and join me on the couch.  

Here he is in his approved spot by the kitchen table, that is until he started chewing the carpet by the stairs!



Macey's Run

The kids enjoyed going to the store with Grammy and getting ice cream!

Carnival

One of the things that I love the most about Utah in the Summer is that there are mini celebrations for each little town.  We have "Draper Days," "Swiss Days," "Alpine Days," "Strawberry Days," etc.  What is nice is that for Houston standards these carnivals are not hardly crowded!  What's even better is that the weather is perfect and there is NO humidity.  Here are a few iphone pics of the kids at Strawberry Days. 

Inflation

Orang Joos $2.00  $5.00



     One morning while I was in the shower, Rachel and Adam decided to have a lemonade stand.  Aparently they made quite a profit in the ten minutes that they got away with it!

Church

When I was a child, my Dad would keep us quiet in church (as well as keeping himself awake) by drawing with us.  He would fold the paper and then have us draw the bottom half of a body and then he would draw a head.  This made for some pretty funny combinations.  He resurrected this game this summer with my kids and I joined in on the fun as well. 

The top one is mine and my Dad's creation! 

 I am a terrible artist and so you can probably tell which half I was responsible for. 

However, I was pretty impressed with the result. 

This last one is just my Dad keeping the kids entertained.  Good memories. 

Single Motherhood

No disrespect to Women who really are single parents, I tasted little bits and pieces of single parenthood this summer while James and I were apart for two months.  We missed him terribly but we had a lot of good times together.  I got pretty efficient at the whole bedtime rutine.  These are poor in quality but rich in memory.  I really enjoyed those summer nights with my babies all piled on the bed. 

Three Stooges

One Day while Brittany, Tyler and I were driving down state we saw this!  If you look very closely, there are three guys inside of a hollowed out big screen TV.  They were waving at us from the inside of the TV with some kind of a covering on the top!  It was hilarious! 

Mountain View



While I was in Utah I had the privilege of going down to the track by my old high school for my morning run.  I was so grateful to my Mom for keeping my kids so that I could enjoy that time to myself.  The weather was perfect and the view was spectacular.  I texted this picture to my husband and he responded, "Mountain View" the name of my high school.  The funny thing is that I had never even put that together that my high school was named because of its amazing view of the mountain.  I guess I just got so used to seeing mountains everywhere I turned that it escaped me.  It is such a novelty now.  I so enjoyed these nice 65 degree morning runs.  

     As we got closer and closer to Texas from our journey out west this summer, the temperatures grew and the greenery diminished.  Texas has seen its worst drought on record.  When I saw this scene I had to pull over and snap a picture.  Even the cows are miserable.  A vast open pasture and they are all crowded around these tiny little spots of shade. 

Yesterday I was looking for some music for the kids in nursery and Audrey and I were listening to "rain rain go away, come again another day."  Audrey said, " Mom, I don't think this song is very appropriate considering that Texas is in a drought and all." 

I love my girl.



Sno Cones!

Did I mention that the Scera Pool has a sno cone shack out in the front? We LIVED on sno cones this summer. For only a dollar each, they were just the thing to cool us off. This picture of Adam and his cousin Sage is my favorite picture from the summer.

 

                                                                 We had Sno Cones with cousins!

Cousins: Mary, Lizzy, Sage, Brighton

We had Sno Cones with friends! 

 This is my oldest friend Libby.  We have been friends since 6th grade. 

It is so fun to see our boys together.  I love little boys with their shirts off!

The Scera Pool

There is an old swimming pool on State street near my parents house that has been there for years.  Not too long ago, they completely renovated the place and it has become one of our favorite summer spots.  The beautiful mountain backdrop, the beach entry pool, the wave pool, the "Big Slide," the snack shack, and the grassy area where we can spread out and relax, all make for a magical summer afternoon.  To top it all off, it's cheap!  Kids get in for $3 and adults for $4.  Oh Scera . . . I miss you!