This came on Tuesday – yes, 2 days ago. It has been sitting on my counter, patiently waiting to be opened. It hasn’t been opened because I already know what is inside. I pre-ordered it a while ago and it was so timely delivered right on the release date.

Yes, it is Mockingjay – Hunger Games part 3. You would have thought I would have torn it open and been finished by now (as some of you may have already done), but I have told myself that I really need to finish rereading books 1 & 2. The problem is I didn’t start rereading them, until two weeks ago and now I am only this far in book 2. Somehow, with sports and school starting, I have had very little time and by the time I sit down to read after the kiddos are in bed, I am so exhausted I don’t last very long. But I will say I am thoroughly enjoying rereading the first two books. There are so many little things I forgot about and I have such a different perspective already knowing what is going to happen. And as anxious as I am to get into book 3, I am also hesitant, because I know after I finish that book, there will be no more. There is something sad about the end of a good book or series as I will have to find somewhere else to escape to. Anyways…Don’t call me and say “Can you believe she chose Peeta? Or Gale? Or whoever because, I am not there yet. Maybe soon, but I have got to tackle a mountain of laundry firstJ

This is the one picture I got of Trenton as he headed out for the bus. As you can see, from the kids in the background, I had to stop making a motherly scene with the camera to keep from embarrassing him. Trenton is starting 6^th grade this year at the Jr. High. He has also started the football season this year, with his dad as the head coach.

Mac is in 5^th grade this year. He is also playing football this fall.

Cami is in 3^rd grade now. She typically has played soccer in the past, but is excited to try something new. She is playing volleyball this season instead.

Kadie is starting first grade. She is looking forward to doing gymnastics.

Since my littler kiddos were not embarrassed of mom being out with the camera, they posed for a couple more shots.

Football

Wiffle Ball

Wave Runners

Slip – Slide Extreme – Jet Ski’s pull them off the ramp into the water

Bridge Jumping

Bridge Swing – We tied a rope to the bridge and grabbed on as we passed by on the jet ski.

The faster they went, the higher they swung. Of all the crazy stuff, this is the only one I tried. I was too nervous to go fast, so I didn’t swing high, but it was still fun.

Now we are looking forward to the competition next year.

There were at least 6 phones and FOUR TVs, including one right above the bathtub.

I loved the sound system throughout the whole suite.

But my favorite part was the soaps. A couple of years ago, Scott stayed at the Four Seasons for work and brought me home some L’Occitane Verbana soap and I quickly fell in love with it. When I found out it was something like $10 for 1 bar, I couldn’t justify buying more. So I was so excited that there was LOTS of it in our room.

Before heading out to the river, we met up with Brandon and Lisa and enjoyed some time at their beach and wave pool.

I can’t wait to go back next year.

Trenton wanted a party for his birthday and Minute to Win It has become a favorite show in our house. The challenges proved to be a bit trickier than we thought, but the boys didn’t mind. It was quite hilarious to watch.

This Blows -
The contestant must inflate a standard balloon, then release the air in a controlled fashion to blow a series of cups off a table.

Junk in the Trunk – With an empty tissue box attached to their waist, the contestant must shake eight ping pong balls out of the box without using their hands

Nose Dive – The contestant must use petroleum jelly on their nose to transfer five cotton balls from one bowl to another

Matchmaker – The contestant must deliver, one at a time, each of 16 or 18 colored candies to one of three or four stations. At the start of the challenge, each candy is individually placed under a plastic cup in the center of the stage.

Hanky Panky

- The contestant must quickly pull all the tissues out of a box of 160 tissues, one at a time, using only one hand.

Worm Diving – The contestant, using a moist Gummy Worm as “bait”, must fish a pretzel out of a fishbowl full of them, bring the pretzel to their mouth and eat the pretzel without using their hands or dropping the pretzel.

Paper Dragon – The contestant must unroll two rolls of party streamers with only their hands and arms.

We also thought it would be fun to make “cousin shirts”, so we set up some freezer paint stencils and let the kids paint their own shirts.

. The girls painted birds and the boys painted fish.

They came out adorable.

The kids had so much fun with all of their cousins. Thanks Brandon and Lisa for a great time.

We enjoyed a fun day at the park.

One of Brandon’s friends owns a dairy farm and gave the kids a full tour. We saw how they hooked up the cows to the milking machines. (No, Cami would not take her hand off her nose to take a picture. It was probably all she could do to keep from losing her lunch, as she after the pic, she hurried outside to wait.)

Mac was brave enough to hook up a cow.

Kayden liked petting the baby calves.

It is quite obvious how Cami felt about the whole experience.

But overall, I think the kids thought it was kind of cool.

So as I was getting ready to leave Utah, I realized that I had been there for 2+ weeks and Kylie and I had not even taken a single picture together, so we had to shoot at least one before I left. Thank you Kylie and Aaron and Zoie for letting us stay in your home. We had a wonderful time and look forward to a possible time when we live closer and can hang out more:)

The kids thought it was the greatest place ever.

One thing you can see from just about anywhere in Provo is the big Y on the mountain. You can see it in this picture we took at 7 peaks.

When the kids heard we could hike to it , that was all they wanted to do. So the morning before we left, we made the hike as a family. Although, it was not a very far hike, it was very steep. We were all pretty grateful to make it to the top. I don’t know what I expected, but it was really a bunch of bumpy concrete. My kids had no problem, but the steepness of it kinda freaked me out. I kept having visions of my kids (or myself) tumbling down to the bottom.

Fortunately, we all survived and enjoyed a beautiful view.