When Family Come To Town

 We took Lizzie and the boys to the Cache County Fair yesterday.

 Ari loved the swinging boat. :)

 Sam and little Jesper

 I wonder which one drank the blue Gatorade.

 They don't see me.

 Oops, they caught me.

 Ari almost sees me...

 Almost!

 Now he sees me.

 The person in the front of the train gets the bugs in the eyes.

 Douglas had fun hanging out with Grandma and Aunt Kate.......trying on sunglasses and such.

 Hmm, did Ari and Anders plan the exact same stance?

 At the rodeo!

 Logan Temple in the distance.

 Someone is getting tired.

 Today (Friday) we took the boys on what we thought was going to be an easy hike up to a waterfall and a nice spot to relax for a few hours.  Well, that part of the Davis Creek trail was definitely NOT easy.  After much effort (7 boys with us!) we made it to the waterfall, only to realize that it was not a good location for young people to play, so we turned around and went back to the vehicles.  I took the boys to the splash pad while Sam and Lizzie did some shopping.

 After the splash pad we came back to the apartment and turned on Robin Hood (the cartoon), but the two littlest ones couldn't keep their eyes open any longer.

This evening we had planned to walk over to Zupas, eat dinner, and then play around the fountain area of the mall.  That is, until the freak storm rolled in.  We were forced to quickly grab our food and retreat to the apartment.  Fun times!

Birthday Week

Earlier this week Sam and I celebrated our two-year wedding anniversary.  We're marriage pros now.  Almost to the silver! :)  As you can see, Douglas didn't want to be left out of the photo.

On Thursday Sam and I participated in some sealings at the Payson Temple while Mom and Sara watched Douglas.

Thursday evening we celebrated the July birthdays.  Papa Murphy's gave me a 40% military veteran's discount on their pizza.  Don and Judy came by to celebrate with us.

I have to thank Dan Urbina for the following sequence of photos.  He started snapping photos as we made our way through various birthday songs, and boy did he get some awesome facial expressions.  After looking through all of the photos I realized that Dan is not in a single one.  Sorry about that, Dan.

Mom's birthday was the 23rd, mine was the 24th, Jarem's is the 26th, and Dad's is the 30th.  Lizzie would have been in the photo if she lived in Utah.  Her birthday is the 15th of July.

Do you see the fifth pair of eyes?  Hint:  look under the cake.  Maxwell was tired of waiting.

Speaking of the cake....Mom made a fabulous, healthy carrot/apple cake topped with whipped cream, all made with coconut sweetener.  So yummy!

Thursday night Dad told us about a temple-to-temple walk/run taking place the very next morning - Pioneer Day (my birthday morning).  For those of you who know me, I love making my way from temple to temple, so this was a perfect way to start my birthday.  Sam joined me and we walked the 5k, along with over 10,000 other people, from the Provo Temple to the soon-to-be-completed Provo City Center Temple.

"Pioneer" women getting ready to begin the walk/run.

Gathering at the starting line.

Pioneers with their wagon.

Missionaries from the Provo Mission were providing support all along the route.

Last night we attended the Deer Valley Music Festival concert.  The Utah Symphony and two guest artists (along with a country band) performed various country music songs.  We had a great time.  Douglas absolutely loved it, and he made quite a few people laugh with his dancing, clapping, and "singing" during the performance (see videos below).

We brought some "Mormon wine" (Draper Valley Vineyard grape juice), Sam's delicious corn salad, and some homemade hummus.  Twas a great way to end my birthday.

What sign?

Douglas loves his Mama.

First Birthday

This doesn't have anything to do with his first birthday, but it's something I like to do with him when he's being goofy.

 I had to leave town two weeks before Douglas' first birthday, so we decided to do the "cake and presents" thing the day before I left to see if we could get those coveted "1st Birthday" pictures that most new parents want.  Douglas got to open his presents before singing "Happy Birthday" and eating cake.

One of his birthday presents was a box of tissues.  He loves pulling them out of the box. . .

 . . .and putting the tissues in his mouth.

 Sam made a nice little chocolate cake for Douglas' first birthday.  As new parents, our expectations were high that we would have a perfect day with lots of cute pictures.

 We did get some good pictures. . .

 . . .and then this happened.  Call it teething.  Call it anger at having to sit in his chair.  Call it whatever you want.  Perhaps we haven't allowed Douglas to feed himself enough times, so when we wanted him to dive into his cake and put it all over his face, he refused.  Nay, he rebelled!

 "I don't want to get old!"

Eventually we gave up trying to get him to eat the cake.  Instead, we put it on the floor, gave him a fork, and watched.

Hey, we made memories.  Nobody said they had to be perfect ones. :)  Honestly, I think we will laugh about this for years.  Little goober.

 A few days before Douglas' birthday, Sam went down to Provo for a visit.  Granny (Mom) made him a little cake and they tried again.  I was told that while he did eat some cake, he loved the blueberries more than the actual cake.  Stacie was down there as well, making many happy feet.

Gideon:  "What a waste of perfectly good sugar."  He probably would have kept going, but Mom stopped him so that everyone else could enjoy a piece of cake.  Gideon, I'm sure, was very grateful.

Yesterday, Sam went up to Paradise........huh, I sure enjoy saying that....."went up to Paradise."  Anyway, Douglas got a third, 1st birthday party with Grandma and company.

 Woohoo, more presents!

Krew........funny little man.

"Oh boy, they're putting another one of those things in front of me."

"And they're pointing the camera at me again.  Nope, I'm not going to give you what you want."

And THAT, my friends, is what we were looking for a couple of weeks ago. :)

Happy birthday, little Doogles!