Summer Days

Summer days are over. We've moved on. Here are some of the highlights of how we finished strong to the end. 

Meeting new baby cousin, Liz Allred. Landon and Sarah had a new baby girl that we got to go meet when she was just days old. Beautiful.

Growing tomatoes in the garden. Ava was in charge of the potted tomato plants this summer. She watered them every day. Now she picks her red, ripe tomatoes and brings them into me. We all get to enjoy "the fruits of her labor". Delicious!

Bees Baseball Game with Playgroup Friends. We had a family night at a Bees Baseball game for Playgroup. It was so fun to be there with some of our favorite friends. 

Zachary getting brave enough to hug the Bee . . . right in the crotch.

One of the players threw Ava his baseball cap as soon as the game was over. Lucky girl.

Thanksgiving Point Gardens - Two Buck Tuesdays. We always hit up Thanksgiving Point in August when they offer "Two Buck Tuesdays". We love following the map and walking through the gardens. It is beautiful. We took Tawna and Brielle's friend Natalie (who's mom just had surgery) with us.

Exhausted after being let loose to run.

Feeding the fish.

Picnic lunch with rolls and homemade strawberry jam. 

Seven Peaks. We all had a "Pass of All Passes" for the summer, which meant we got to go to Seven Peaks Water Park all we wanted . . . for free. 

Scott spent the day there with us (and every mother and child in the Salt Lake Valley) and said, "So, all the moms just go do fun things with the kids all day and spend all the money while the dads are at work." About right.

This was Brie's favorite thing to tackle. Scott and I were the only ones to do the water slides.

Kate lounged the day away pool side.

A Baby Blessing for Elizabeth Colleen. Ok. Hands down. Sarah Allred is the smartest new mom I have ever had the pleasure of coming across. She and Landon hosted a brunch before baby Liz's blessing at their house (three weeks after she was born) and they served Eggo waffles. Seriously. They are both excellent cooks, but for this, they plugged in a bunch of toasters and threw in some frozen waffles. Loved it. I mean, why do we ask a woman who has just been through nine months of pregnancy, delivered a baby and is exhausted to host a baby blessing get together? Thank you Sarah for taking it easy on yourself. It really was yummy too.

Date Night to the Sandy Amphitheater. Our favorite summer date nights are to the close by Sandy Amphitheater. It is outside, has a beautiful view and they always put on some good shows.

With Greg and Cindy to see The Piano Guys. (Seriously, look them up. Awesome.) We had a picnic dinner of sushi and edamame and then a snack of cherries, smoked gouda and crackers. 

 Jessica and a friend joined us for the musical "Aida". I had always wanted to see it and it was actually REALLY good.

Willow Lake Hike. A lovely hike to one of our new favorite, quite secret, spots up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Jessica joined us for the march up the mountain.

Picking Peaches. Our good neighbors shared their peach and pear trees with us this summer. We went and picked . . . 

. . . . . . and then turned all those peaches into these .  . . 

. . . . and 24 of these.

And now I have all of these bad boys to contend with. A lot more canning will happen . . . tomorrow.

Hike Up Ensign Peak. Our good friend, Jeni, and her family moved to Utah. We are so excited to have her close and especially to get to know her husband and cute kids. Our first adventure being together again was a hike up Ensign Peak to overlook Salt Lake City.

Check out those crazy eyes!

Cheese!

This girl honestly cracks me up.

Posers.

Me and Jeni - reunited and it feels so good.

We finished the evening at Temple Square and then City Creek watching the fire and water show.

It really was a great summer. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed getting to do whatever we wanted. I'm thrilled though to be back at a schedule and routine of school and dance and piano and chores. Good-bye summer days. You were good to us.

All Aboard The Potty Train!

I have always been nervous to potty train a boy. I remember all too well having to clean the boy's bathroom at my house growing up. Pee on the toilet and all over the walls around the toilet. We started talking potty training with Zachary a few months ago. He was all for it! I soon found out that was because he actually thought he was going to get to ride a TRAIN. A potty train.

He has done very well. Really easy actually. Once we convinced him to call them "underwear" instead of "panties", the only problem was that we did this in the summer. He would get really good at wearing undies and no accidents and then we would go somewhere new (friend's cabin, home to CA) where he would forget all about it. 

Now that we have been home for a few weeks though, the kid is completely potty trained. WaHoo!!! He goes running to the bathroom every time he needs to and then comes looking for a "potty training treat" immediately afterward. He's got this down!

Just doing a little light vacuuming in his undies. 

Playing play doh. Trying to keep him outside.

Just getting some water. What?

Using that water to "prepare some tea" for the girls. Still not noticing the undies around his ankles.

We made a chart for Zachary over the past 2 weeks. He got a sticker for each day that he was dry, with no accidents, all day. At the end of two weeks he got to go choose a prize!! This was so thrilling for him he would giggle with delight each time he got to put a sticker on.

Note the missing Wednesday sticker. That was the infamous day at the park when I had to use the doggy "pooper scooper" bags available there for my own son. Not the best experience for either of us.

So proud of Zachy and so happy to have yet another child out of diapers!!! Hooray!