Good bye Ernie, we will miss you. (Let's be clear, the boys will miss you, I, on the other hand, will NOT miss you, and am so thrilled to have my patio back, I can hardly stand it!)

This is what they tried to bring home from the pond! Can you believe Matt even had the nerve to call me and ask me if I would mind if they brought it home! I just got rid of the duck, and now this? Needless to say, I told him no freakin' way! Boys!

This is what happens when you drive a duck clear across town without putting it in a box of some kind.

More last minute fun

After Lagoon, we stayed over at a hotel in Salt Lake that we love to stay in simply for the pool. It was the perfect ending to a long summer. The boys all swam for hours, and had a big breakfast by the pool. Cole fell down on the cement and got a nice shiner on his cheek, nice timing-- right before he starts school! We had such a blast just being together and relaxing, I don't know why we try to go on big vacation, the kids are just as happy with the hotel pool 45 minutes from home as they are 400 miles from home!

Lagoon

We took the boys to Lagoon for some "last week of summer" fun. I have not been there since I was little, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was really fun, and the rides have really improved. The boys were amazing, they all rode the scariest rides, and they did not even flinch. I woke up that morning with the flu, of course, ( I got the flu 2 years ago at Disneyland) so I thought I was going to die. I was really worried about the whole day because Matt does not do any rides that go upside down or side to side or fast or . . . Just kidding babe! So I didn't know how well it was going to work. Matt was a good sport and did most of the rides, and by afternoon I felt better and then we hit all the crazy rides. Good, cheap fun. Can't beat it! Hyatt even said he likes it better that Disneyland, I told him to keep that to himself, because I still want to go in the fall.

They loved Wicked! I must admit, I loved it too. I was a little freaked out when they made the twins ride in a booster seat, but it was fine.

Cole and Hyatt loved the water fountain!

They rode Collosus 6 times! Matt rode Collosus ZERO times.

Griff pretty much sat here all day, and had this same smile on his face, I know I am being rewarded for surviving the first three!

Last Lemonade Stand Of The Summer

The twins made a killing at what will probably be the last lemonade stand of the summer. They worked with their friends Sophie, Abby, and Esther and made over 20 dollars in under 2 hours. Sophie's mom Amy was a good sport to sit out with them! They have a system worked out, they split up and canvas the neighborhood ringing doorbells and telling people to come quick if they want to taste the "best lemonade in the whole world." Works every time!

This Is The Place

Matt worked on this monument that was just placed at This Is The Place Park. It was pretty amazing to see this huge crane lift this bronze statue that weighs about 1,ooo pounds like it was made of plastic.


The boys thought it was so cool that they got to help with the placement. There were a few people standing around watching, and they got to jump the tape and polish the monument up. They all felt so important, and they had big huge smiles on their faces!

I was so glad to have the thing on the ground, the day before at the foundry there was a little excitement. . . the statue FELL OFF the forklift as they were loading it onto the truck, and came crashing to the ground. It nearly hit Matt and his brother. Luckily no one was hurt, but it could have killed them both. Matt came home and told me the story and I almost threw up, he was laughing about it, but I could tell he was a little shook by it all. Can you imagine the headline-- "Sculptor killed by Joseph Smith and Brigham Young." Thankfully Matt and Jason have cat-like reflexes, and they are OK.

Children's Museum

My mom, Kristalyn and I took the kids to the Children's Museum a couple of weeks ago. I have been so uninterested in blogging this summer, too much going on, but I will post a few pictures here to catch up. We took my kids, Kris's kids, and my brother Clay's kids who were here from China for 3 weeks. It was CHAOS. The funny thing was however, the chaos was not so unusual to Kris and me so we really did not notice it. About 1 hour into the whole thing, we looked at my mom and she was starting to twitch. She put up with the noise for as long as she could, but finally it got the best of her so we loaded up and went home. It was lots of fun, but just lots of people too. Gayle was clearly still suffering the brain numbing effects of the museum when she suggested that we take all of the kids to Hires for root beer floats. So much worse than the museum! The kids tried to be good, but when Cassidy spilled her entire root beer float and then began to wail, it was officially time to go. (No pictures taken at Hires, but it is burned in my memory so I'm good) We had fun with the cousins, and my mom felt much better after the Advil kicked in. Kris and I had a good laugh when we realized we are so twisted that all the noise and running around seemed normal to us. Life with boys!
Parker, Hyatt and Zach, trying their hands at reporting

Big guy in a little suit
Aiden loved this swan

Trouble

Poor Cassidy was the only girl all month ( the only girl cousins are all older) but she was a good sport, and she kept them all in line.