Futbol

We ended up doing another session of soccer for Emily. I was planning on taking the summer off, but Jeff talked me into doing the summer session so Emily could play one more time with her team. (She's one of the oldest on the team and has to play up an age level now). As crazy as it was to get to the games, I'm glad we did it. Emily improved a lot over the few weeks and it was fun to see.

Emily became pretty good friends with a couple girls on her team and had a lot of fun with them. It was fun to see them add a bit of estrogen to the games.

The last game of the session Emily scored THREE goals!!! We were so excited for her. She has become quite the little soccer player and we are so proud of her!

Pioneers

With Pioneer Day being on a Sunday this year it makes for a whole weekend of festivities. Saturday morning we went to the neighborhood breakfast. After eating delicious fruit, eggs, bacon, and pancakes, Emily got on her decorated bike and followed the neighborhood fire truck around the block for a bike parade. When they ended the fire truck pulled out their 'water guns' and completely soaked all the kids for the next 15 minutes. Emily enjoyed the water more than Jacob, but he still went out into the mist a little bit. Jeff kept quoting, "You get to drink out of the fire hose!"

After getting home from the neighborhood party we pulled out my mom's slide and played for a little bit with some neighbors. Jacob's getting to be quite the dare devil on it. But then that's not all that surprising.
After church and dinner on Sunday we headed down to temple square. The kids had fun splashing around in fountains, pointing out the temple, and seeing the new temple display in the South Visitors Center.

Emily & Jeff checking out the model of the SL temple in the Visitors Center.

Emily was excited to see what the temple actually looks like inside.

While there I tried to get a good cute picture of the kids together. They didn't quite cooperate with me, but I still think the kids are cute. Jeff had Monday the 25th off so we headed up to This is the Place. It was really fun and we're glad we went. It was the perfect thing to do for the holiday. The kids loved petting all the different animals and riding on a horse.
Then while Emily played checkers, Jacob built with some blocks.
We toured some houses and the kids enjoyed the swings out back.
The kids tried their hand at stamping leather. Jacob actually did pretty well all by himself. He was so proud!Eating the taffy from the candy cannon they shot down main street and playing with toys in the ZCMI store. They l.o.v.e.d. the stick ponies.
Checking out the Indian Village and the teepee's as well as the playground/ship.
We rode the little train around the pond, went panning for gold (this was a favorite for all - water for Jacob, gold for Emily, and shade for mom & dad), and then Emily tried her hand at some carpentry. After getting some ice cream we ran home and gathered our things and headed to Jenn's house for the evening. We had a yummy BBQ, the kids played out back and went on Gma's water slide, and then we all gathered out front for some fireworks.
It started sprinkling a little bit so Ally grabbed their big umbrella and all the kids (and Matthew) cuddled underneath it with my mom and me. Can you believe that there's 3 adults and 7 kids under it? We also had some really big sparklers for the kids that were pretty fun. When I asked Emily to look at me so I could take a picture she did the pose below. She can be such a ham sometimes.It was a really fun and busy weekend. I can't imagine a better way to spend a holiday than with family.

Heidi

Stan, Mel & Heidi came into town on the 13th. We pulled out my mom's water slide so Emily, Jacob & Heidi could play. My mom also came over with Sara & Grace and cousin Em stopped by with her baby Benjamin. We splashed around and had a picnic for a few hours and enjoyed Stan & Mel's company.

Jacob -one of the few brave enough

Emily & Sara were the only ones besides Jacob that would repeatedly go down the slide.

Then later that night we had dinner with Stan & Mel and Mike & Niki. Then we all trouped off to Emily's soccer game.

After changing into pajamas that night Emily, Jacob & Heidi had fun running around with blanket capes.

Stan & Mel then left the next day for a trip to Lake Powell with Mel's family. They came back on the 19th for Stan to fly home to work. Mel stayed a couple extra days to keep playing with us. On the 20th we went to the zoo. I don't know how many times we've hit the zoo this summer, but this was actually the first time Jacob had ever seen the bird show and only the 2nd time in her life for Emily. Jacob was constantly climbing all over and was only interested in the birds if they were flying directly overhead. Heidi was pretty much the same way. Mel, Emily and I enjoyed it - as much as we could anyway. Other than a few shots at the show I apparently didn't pull out my camera. But I promise - Mel & Heidi were with us!

We spent that night at another one of Emily's soccer games. This time around though Heidi wanted to join in on the fun. Fortunately we had another ball for her to run around and play with.

Mike & Niki stopped by later that night just before we were going to put the kids down. So we ended up letting them stay up later than usual. They had fun jumping on the tramp, swinging, and going down the slide and weren't very happy when we finally dragged them inside for bed.

We spent the next day relaxing and playing. Then after naps and when Jeff got home we headed up to visit with Gma & Gpa Johnson. Gma invited us to play in her swimming pool so we spent some time splashing around. Emily practiced her swimming moves, Jacob l.o.v.e.d. jumping in and Heidi was content as long as Melanie held her or if she was out of the water.

After we had our fill in the water we went back to Gma & Gpa's house and had dinner. Then the kids played outside while we sat and chatted.

It was fun to have an excuse to visit Gma & Gpa - although sad that we needed one. And it was really fun to see so much of Melanie & Heidi. Hopefully we'll see them again before Dave & Arline come home, but with babies due, schedules, and cost of travelling, we're not going to see much of Jeff's family till fall of 2012. Thanks again for staying the extra days Mel! And hopefully we'll be able to see more of Stan next time.

Zoorassic

My mom was watching two of my sister's girls on the 12th so we decided to take the kids to the zoo. They were all excited to see the dinosaurs and as expected Jacob couldn't get enough of them but the girls were more timid. It was fun to see the dinosaurs again and Emily & Jacob always love to be with Grace & Sara and of course Gma.

Friends

Three and a half years ago I was serving in the Relief Society presidency with two of my very good friends when Jeff and I took our ventures back east. When we I returned both Marli & Sara had moved away. :( Fortunately Marli was only 30 minutes away. Unfortunately she was now 30 minutes away (before it was 3 min tops - if you got stuck at the light). With Sara on the other hand we went from a sharing a wall to her living 3,500 miles away in Alaska.
Since they both moved the three of us have only been together twice. Once two years ago and then again on July 7th. We've each added a kid or two since they moved away and the 'preexisting' ones have grown like weeds. Emily & Ella seemed to pick up right where they left off two years ago and Cora held her own with all the boys. It was a lot of fun to hear Fred & Sara's jokes, comments, and parenting again. I didn't realize how much I'd missed it. It was a fun night catching up and seeing old friends.

Independence

The 4th found us a bit bewildered. We usually spend the day with family but both our parents were out of town and the only siblings we had in the state were either in Bear Lake or 3o min away and spending it with their in-laws. Thank heavens for extended family! :) Jeff's grandparents called us and invited us to hang out with them and some of Jeff's uncles and their families. We had a delicious dinner of steak and corn on the cob and so nice to be able to chat with such a small group. Usually when we get together with the Johnson's there's over 50 people so with less than half of us there we were actually able to talk to everyone.
After dinner and hanging out for a bit we headed home and met up with the Stillman's - some friends from our old ward. We packed up some gear and headed over to see fireworks. While waiting the kids snacked on popcorn, threw pops, ran all over the golf course and played with glow sticks to fill their time. The show was amazing as usual and it was so fun to watch with Jacob & Emily. They both cuddled right up between Jeff and I and sat in awe of the beautiful sparks lighting up the sky.

After getting our fill of fireworks we came back home and had ice cream cones and rootbeer floats. The kids ran around and played and were extremely hyper after such a long and sugar-filled day. We finally got the kids asleep and collapsed in bed right after - just after midnight. We missed our family greatly but were still able to have a good holiday.