Miscellaneous

I know you never thought I would say this, but summer really is flying by.  Now that the girls are getting older and I don't have a baby, I am actually enjoying summer break. 

Every morning before the kids are allowed to play with friends, they have to do some math worksheets, practice the piano, read for 20 minutes, and do some chores.  The nice part of that is my spring cleaning is finally getting done, and the girls are excelling in their piano practicing because they have nothing better to do!  Love it!

We have been busy with various activities this past week though after their morning routine that I thought I'd share with you. 

We heard about a special tour of an eagles nest with baby eaglets through Utah State's Division of Wildlife.  We made reservations with the group, and headed out there one evening.  This picture was taken through the telescope, so it's really grainy, and the eagles are just sitting there, but while we watched, the babies were attempting to fly.

 We also went up to Grandma Lynn's house and enjoyed lunch out with her, swimming in her hot tub, and my absolute favorite activity, picking raspberries from her garden.  Now that is what I call a little bit of heaven.  My girls were getting ridiculously frustrated with me because while they were picking their berries and putting them into buckets, I was bypassing the bucket completely and putting them straight where it counts.  Yum.

On Sunday, we went to visit Grandma Barker.  I love, love, love visiting with grandparents. 

On a side note, you might notice in the above picture how much shorter Megan's hair is when compared to the other pictures.  Megan cut her hair...grrr.

Considering the fact that I paid for a $12 haircut for her 3 weeks ago, I was not a happy camper to take her back in for another haircut in the same month, only this time, with her hair quite a bit shorter.  It had finally gotten down to her shoulders after Natalie butchered it awhile back.

At least she looks cute and sassy :)  On the plus side, it is easy to comb each morning.  I may get hooked and keep it short. 

Things that make my heart happy

I may just survive this summer after all, especially when my kids do things like this:

 Kimberly and Alicia's best friends are both out of town, so they've had to get creative with things to keep them occupied.

I had just finished up an interview on Friday morning to find both sets of girls playing games - and there was no fighting! (that is, until 60 minutes later, but 60 minutes I do believe is a record for them while playing games!)

 It definitely made my heart happy seeing them getting along and enjoying time with each other.  

Another thing that makes my heart happy:

 

We celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary this week, so John brought me in a vase full of these beauties from the rose garden he so carefully cultivates.  

They even smell good too.

Ready, Set, ...Summer!!

We had a few graduations this month:  

Natalie graduated from preschool and can't wait to start Kindergarten.

 Kimberly graduated from 6th grade and will start junior high in the fall...Can You Believe it?!?  I hardly can!!

So with graduation, comes summer of course.  Our first week off school was a roaring success.  We have been on some bike rides and been on a few outings, one of which was the Tracy Aviary:

Kimberly also started violin lessons so she can be in the orchestra at the school this fall, something she has been begging to do for some time now.  We tried to stall her in hopes she would choose a band instrument - you know, coming from two band geeks, you'd think she'd get excited about that too after all of our grandiose pep talks.  It was not to be as she has been dead-set on playing the violin.  Yes, we're excited for her.  Even more excited for those screeching beautiful orchestra concerts.

That's it for now.

Stay tuned for more summer time fun.