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it sort of makes me laugh because it says a lot about me. i'm very forgetful, it's true that if i don't act on a thought immediately as i think of it, then i run the risk of it being lost forever. at the very least i have to write it down. in this photo i am actually on a field trip to snowbird with my kids and parents and out of town family when i remembered i needed to re-schedule my hair appointment. it didn't matter that i was at 11,000 feet elevation and surrounded by incredible beauty, if i didn't make the phone call right then, it never would have gotten done. thanks april for grabbing a shot of me in my element. as a side note, it makes me feel sad to see my hair so long and pretty. it's crazy to think that it grew for an additional year after that before i donated it.the sixth photograph in the sixth folder also makes me laugh. it's actually one from the summer that spencer has been begging me to post. during a field trip to the children's museum in salt lake, we toured the life flight helicopter on the roof which the boys thought was totally awesome. they made ethan lay on the stretcher and pretended to give him CPR. (this is actually the fifth photo)
then they told ethan to "act dead" (does your tongue hang out like that after you die?), and then proceded to sob dramatically over their patient who didn't make it. 
what the hey? i swear there are times that no matter how hard i try, i just don't understand boy humor. but trust me, in "boy" world, this was hillarity at it's best and was talked about for weeks afterwards.
then they told ethan to "act dead" (does your tongue hang out like that after you die?), and then proceded to sob dramatically over their patient who didn't make it. what the hey? i swear there are times that no matter how hard i try, i just don't understand boy humor. but trust me, in "boy" world, this was hillarity at it's best and was talked about for weeks afterwards. 
all good things must come to an end, rich's vacation is no exception. he still has a few weeks left of comp time to take but we're going to wait until the holidays so he can be home when the kids are home from school. i'm so excited for how long their christmas break is this year! ethan was not happy about letting him go, when i told him to, "say bye to papa, he has to go to work", i got a broken up little voice saying, "bye papa", it was the saddest dang thing you ever heard. then he watched him pull out of the drive way from our big living room window with these puppy eyes - poor kid, first the kids go back to school and now dad goes back to work. we have all enjoyed having rich home this past two weeks. we didn't really do a ton, we spent several days in our pjs watching movies and playing play dough with ethan. i did talk him into a few little trips out of the house though, like grocery shopping, the children's tree house museum in ogden - we love that place... 
and to gardner village for tuesday play date with the cousins...
...and i started cooking dinners again, it was nice to sit down as a whole family to the table.
i guess this is good news, but really i thought maybe it was my chance for a new kitchen, oh well. i knew there was a reason i had procrastinated painting the cabinets...
kristy, lauri and i hauled all our kids to sweets candy factory in salt lake for a tour. i loved all the good smells and super soft taffy right off the assembly line. what i didn't love was not being able to take my camera inside! there were so many would-be great photos, like huge pallets of candy, giant bin of taffy, cinnamon bears and giant bags of sugar. i'll have to take mental photos (rich's phrase) i guess, but at least we got a group shot of all the hair-net lovers. we look like a bunch of lunch ladies! pretty sexy.
the kids loved the primary exhibit, there were some really great hands-on activities.
my older boys liked the wall of prophets and were interested in seeing who they were named after, i don't know why i never thought to teach them about these great men before!
the life size moroni was shockingly large, i guess i knew it was big, but wow, it was really fun to see it up close.
i was so taken back by this gorgeous stain glass of the first vision taken from an old church building - why can't we have stuff like this in our church buildings now?
so beautiful, i want to learn how to do this, who knows how who could teach me? we also spent some time at the olympic fountains at the gateway, a big favorite with the kids. ethan was so nervous about the water popping out of the ground, that after the first time it popped in his face, he would only enter the area if holding someone's hand.
drew is such a good buddy to ethan, one time at the playground last year, a bully kid pushed ethan and really scared him. drew jumped right in and shoved the bully back! not that we promote violence, but it was pretty awesome! he is always trying to protect the littler guys.
eventually, ethan was tired enough that only mom would do, so i spent some time out in the fountains myself trying to help ethan "catch" the water when it jumped.
he thought it was pretty hysterical and gave me some of those great, unhibited belly laughs that bring me so much joy! i was so glad jenny had charge of the camera because she got some great shots - thanks jenny. we're grateful to be part of such a big family with so many cousins that everyone has someone to hang with.
this last week home from camp i have tried to spend a ton of time with the kids. if it sounds like i'm feeling baddly about missing the first one third of their summer planning camp and other activities, you're right. tuesday apey and i took our kids, plus natalie who's mom is at girl's camp this week, to the aquarium for some fishy fun. 
i was SHOCKED at how small the building was, i guess it's a "preview" exhibit for the good things yet to come. at first ethan was into this big "bruce" from finding nemo, but then he kept looking up at it all nervous like, i'm thinking it was just a little too life-like for comfort. 
the kids loved the sting rays, everyone but ethan anyway, and i was surprised at how people friendly they are. 
i'll be honest and say that every time my kids stuck their arms in the water i was thinking about steve erwin! ethan and ashton loved the fish aquariums that were sort of built into the floor, they could see everything right up close on their level which was great. 
ethan kept saying, "whoa nenny", translation: "whoa nelly", which rich says all the time. my personal favorite were these super cool jelly-fish that i wanted to bounce on like dory. 
the octopus, on the other hand, kind of grossed me out, ok really grossed me out. what would you do if you ran into one of these in the ocean? now you know why i don't scuby dive! yikes! by the end of the day, the kids were all feeling a little fishy, 
especially taylor and spencer who couldn't find enough reasons to make these faces.
The men are all golfers (Erin is too but didn't bring her clubs), and so my dad has been in charge of entertaining the men all week. This means that they drive to different golf courses and play until they can't breathe the thin Utah air any more. Then they come home, order KFC or pizza and watch sports. :) So, we have been having a ton of girl time with my aunt Erin which has been so fun. My mom took the week off and so that has been a special treat for me too because it's been a long long time since we spent every day together doing lunch and everything else under the sun.
April has been along for the ride for most of it too which is fun, unfortunately, Leah starting school was bad timing with the family visiting and so we haven't seen her as much, but hopefully more this weekend. So, to re-cap, they arrived Monday evening and we loved just sitting around mom's house talking and catching up. Tuesday was shopping and to the Outback for dinner YUM-O. 
Later that night Jake, Erin and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie and it was AWESOME! One of the best movies yet, very scary but loads of fun. Then yesterday everyone, including kids, went up to Snowbird for a day of tram rides, alpine slide, zip line and bungie jumping. I'm exhausted but it was well-worth it, the kids had a riot and it was a glorious 58 degrees up there! Way nicer than the 100 degree weather we have been facing all this month. We rode the tram to 11,000 feet and the view was absolutely breath-taking, Uncle Kelly couldn't stop taking pictures, it was great. Seeing sites like that make me love our mother earth even more and appreciate the beauty that God put into making her. In the picture of me and kids, the "V" in the mountains to the left of us is the Salt Lake Valley! Holy moly, awesome!
Ok, this blog is forever long. I guess what I really want to say, is how grateful I am to be part of this family that laughs and plays hard and makes everyone feel welcome. It's been so fun to just hang out and soak up each other's good energy and to be lifted up by their smiles. I'm grateful that my kids could meet grandpa and the rest of the gang and maybe know grandma Jackie a little through them.