Summer Review

Here is a review of what we did as summer dwindled away and the weather was still nice and warm...

1. Kennecott Copper Mine- We live so close yet we never took Dawson so we figured it was time to visit the Copper Mine (did you know you can see it from space?)...especially since they were doing a special where it was free to go...score! Dawson loved seeing the HUGE trucks, tires, rocks, and tools. Emerson sat back and chilled in her stroller. Chris and I laughed at Lisa's fear of looking down. Good times.


2. Fishin' with the Boys- Chris took Dawson fishing with his Dad and brother in law Jeremy. Words could not describe the excitement on Dawson's face getting to go fishing with his new Cars fishing pole. The kid had a ball and couldn't stop talking about it. Note- We still have two fish in my freezer that Chris and Dawson are "still" gonna eat one day. Can I just say I hate seeing them look at me?



3. Playing Around- Some days we just hung out and played around the house.




4. Cowabunga Bay- Jen and Jeremy found buy one get one free passes to Cowabunga Bay so we decided to give it a whirl. We decided it was somewhat fun, but not our favorite and not worth the price. Dawson, Emerson, Jen, Kohen, Lisa, and I loved the lazy river and pool with kiddie area cause it was so warm and fun for the wee ones. We weren't a huge fan of the slides because the water was so cold and there were tons of water guns and sprayers that people could nail you with so it felt like I was CONSTANTLY getting pelted by some punk kids. But Jer and Chris enjoyed it and it was entertaining while we were there.


5. Camping- Chris, Lisa, Dawson, Emerson, and I decided to take an overnight camping trip to Jordanelle. It definitly is a pretty place and the lake was beautiful, but we had a rough start for sure! You have to carry in ALL your stuff and they are suppose to have these carts to put your stuff in and pull. Well, they had one cart that had a flat tire that someone else was using. So here we are half laughing half crying carrying kids and camping gear a ways in. It was terrible!! Luckily we found the cart and the second half of carrying our gear in wasn't bad. We had a slow start setting up and getting dinner going but after a couple hours things settled and we relaxed around the fire. The kiddos did great and loved playing in the dirt. A highlight for Dawson? Peeing on trees. No joke. In fact, he loved it so much he sometimes now opens our sliding glass door and pees off the porch into the grass. We are working on that one. (Boys are a joy, right?)



6. Shaved Heads- Chris has begged me to let him shave his head forever but I kept saying no. I'm not a fan of the shaved head. I like his hair. Yet somehow this summer he convinced me to let him shave his and Dawson's heads. My little boys hair was all gone and I was sad. So was Dawson. He did not let Chris live it down. If you asked him he said he was bald and that his dad cut off all his hair and that is was really mean of him. Luckily both of their hair grows fast and they are back to normal now.

Giveaway!!

Hey everyone head over to Sumo's Sweet Stuff (http://www.sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/) to enter a giveaway our Etsy Shop Just Our Style is doing! It starts at 10am and you can win some pretty cool stuff if I do say so myself :) You also get a sweet discount code too if you go take a look for 30% off every item on the store so check it out!

Over-Blogged

Yes, I did it again and I went and over-blogged. I think I just did about 8 or 9 posts to finally catch up. What can I say, I have been just having too much fun this summer and haven't wanted to sit down and play catch up! But I finally have, for the most part. Sorry for the overload!

Emerson's First Birthday!

Emerson turned one on July 6th! How did my baby girl turn one?? I just can't believe it! We absolutely love her to pieces. She is so mellow, easy going, and so much fun. She will copy her brother and has a handful of "tricks" she does now. While she is easy going, if you cross her she will let you know and the sass will come out. She gets jealous if Dawson is sitting on my lap and will squeal and push him away. She doesn't like being told no or not getting her way. Here are her stats and some facts about our little Miss Emerson.

Stats:
Weight: 14 pounds 10 ounces (0% TINY!)
Height: 27.2 inches (4th %)
Head: 16.9 inches (4th %)

Yep, she's petite. The doctor said since her brother was little too he's not worried, she just has small genes. She is right on track with her development and put up a good fight with the doc when he did the exam. He said even though she is little she is a tough strong little thing!

-She loves stuffed animals and babies. She cuddles them and rocks them.
-She can sign milk and food, and uses them to let me know when she wants them!
-She likes to growl, fold her arms, wiggle her tongue, blow raspberries, say shhhh and no no no, play peak a boo, clap, give high fives, waves, says go and points, "talks" on the phone, and point to things and say "dat" like she is asking what is that??
-Despite her size, this girl likes to eat. She will eat anything and lots of it.
-She is standing and cruising a little.
-She still has no teeth (Brother didn't get them til 13 months!)
-She hates being told no, getting things taken away, and brother rough housing her.
-She is all over the place and crawls like a maniac and pants when she does...makes me feel like we have a little puppy.
-She loves necklaces, bracelets, and anything girlie.

For her first birthday we had it at the park and did it 4th of July themed since she was born two days after. I had lots of cute decorations, and I made cupcakes and borrowed my friends cupcake stand but due to the CRAZY wind we couldn't use a lot of it. Oh well. The kids played with water balloons and got gift bags with sparklers, star beads, candy, and glow sticks. We did BBQ sandwiches to eat. Miss Emers looked so cute in a red, white, and blue tutu I made her and she loved opening her gifts and eating cake. We had our family and friends there so despite the wind it was a perfect day! PS The pic is of her and her friends Cooper and Remi. We had to get a pic because they are all the same size but Remi is 2 months, Cooper is 4 months, and Emerson is a year old!







We also have a tradition where every year on the kid's birthdays we go to lunch and take them to Build a Bear to make a stuffed animal. We usually go to Cheesecake Factory because it's by Build a Bear and so far the kids don't care where we eat. I got the Thai Lettuce Wraps which are an appetizer but can EASILY be a meal. They are DELISH!

The 4th of July

Fourth of July= Parade, BBQ, and fireworks. Need I say more? My family was in town so we went to the West Jordan Parade, BBQed some delish Asian Kebobs, and lit our own fireworks. It was a fab day.

Taylorsville Dayzz

We have gone to Taylorsville Dayzz for I think 4 or 5 summers now, and it has become a beloved tradition of ours! Our friends the Olsen's invited us the first year and we have gone with them every year since and have so much fun. Hands down the have the best fireworks show and always a great impersonator. This year they had beatles impersonators and we loved the music. We always go early to kick back, eat, play around, look at booths, and chat. This year I was so excited my fam was in town to come with us! Jen and Jer also met up with us and I loved being around friends and family that I love!

The Fam Comes to Town

My family got to come out and visit us this summer for vacation and we had the most fun week ever! Dawson and Emerson loved having someone to constantly hold them, dote on them, play with them, and give in to their every command. While they were here we got to go to Taylorsville Dayzz (more in another post), a neighborhood/ward BBQ and Softball game, see a movie, eat Cafe Rio, go to the aquarium, celebrate Em's first birthday (more in another post), celebrate the 4th (again, another post!), go to a Rodeo, and play at the Gateway. We ate a ton, laughed a lot, and had a great time. It's amazing how fast their trip went and we were sad to see them go!

A First Time Auntie!

At the end of June I became a first time Auntie to the CUTEST nephew ever! My sister in Law Jen and her hubs Jeremy had their first baby, a boy named Kohen Jeremy Atkinson. He weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces and was 20 inches long. His momma Jen is a rockstar at the parenting thing and Jer is the cute doting dad. I just love my Kohen and it's so exciting to have a cousin for D and E!

Soccer Mom

Yes, I am officially a soccer mom. We signed Dawson up for 3 year old soccer at the Kearns Fitness Center and he loved it. He couldn't wait to get his uniform and ball. When he received his soccer shirt and shorts he started stripping down right there to put them on. They had 4 practices then 6 games. D did pretty good, but he is totally the kids who gets distracted and picks up rocks, blows a feather around, and goofs around with his team mates. He kept having to tell him to run and play. When it was over though he started to cry because he didn't want it to end, so we promised him we will sign up again. Did I mention how funny it is to watch 3 year olds play? They are a little herd running around together in mass chaos, kicking it out of bounds, picking up the ball, and scoring on the wrong goal. Hilarious!

Father and Sons Campout

Chris finally didn't have to work this year for Father and Sons Campout and so him, Dawson, and Chris' dad Dave got to go together for the first time! To say they had fun was an understatement! They put up the tent, cooked dutch oven, roasted corn and smores, slept in the tent in a CRAZY, POURING rain storm, and had breakfast the next morning. Dawson met some little boys and they had fun running around and getting dirty.

Summer Days

We have been keeping busy doing lets of fun activities this summer! I absolutely love summertime with kids; going out, enjoying weather, and not having to bundle them up! That is a lot of the reason why I am so behind on blogging because I just hate sitting at home. Anyways here is a list of things we have been up to and some pics to go with some of them...

1. Summer Kids Movies- We have done this for 3 summers now and I LOVE it! Every Tuesday during the summer they show a kids movie at 10am at the Jordan Landing movie theater. It's $5 for a pass for 10 movies or $1 each movie if you don't buy a pass. It's great because the kiddos love it and I don't have to worry about them being quiet because it's already noisy with all the kids there!

2. The Gateway- We have a pass to Discovery Gateway and Dawson just loves it there. He requests to go all the time. He plays and learns while I sit back. Sweet. We also hit up the fountains there at the gateway, a nice way for kids to cool off! We went one day with a group of us moms (Summer, Lindy, Paige, and I) and let the kids go wild!


3. Day Out With Thomas- The Heber Valley Railroad had a Day Out With Thomas activity that is every little boys dream. Dawson loved it. We road on Thomas, got pics, played with trains, got a temporary tattoo, did a maze, met Sir Topham Hat, and lots more.



4. Thanksgiving Point- I forgot my camera for this one! But I went with my friends Summer and Stacy to the Children's Discovery Gardens and the kids had a blast. They ran around in the Noah's Ark splash pond forever. We walked around and did a few other things but it was 100 degrees out so we left for lunch pretty quick!

5. The Zoo- We got to go to the Zoo with our friends Summer and Josh and their kids Reece and Remi. Dawson and Reece love playing together and loved being able to walk all around the zoo and not have to sit in the strollers. They loved all the animals there and we saw the cutest baby elephant!



We have also had playdates, gone swimming, gone to the aquarium, the library, and Wheeler Farm among all of our activities! PS Emerson isn't mentioned a lot in this post. She tags along and sits back and chills where ever we go and points to things and babbles away. She is such a fun girl and SO easy going!

The Tie Shirts

So after my Disney post, I had a few requests for the "tie shirt" picture. As a background for those of you who don't know the story, I have made Dawson some cute t shirts that have a tie on them, and Chris and Jer thought it would be hilarious for the three boys to have matching Disney tie shirts. I said no and that they would look like huge nerds. Well....the first day we got to Disneyland, we rode a few rides then took a potty break. Next thing Jen and I know, the boys are coming out of the bathroom with tie shirts they snuck and made. Awesome. To rub it in my face even worse, they got a ton of compliments. I still say they are nerds. Except the short one, he is cute!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!

Yep, we took a vacation to see The Mouse. At the end of April we loaded up the van and headed to Disneyland with Chris' sister Jen and her hub Jer. Our first stop was Vegas. We left at like, 3am and got into Vegas by 9am and spent the day there poolside and relaxing to break up the drive. We ate and swam and ate and swam. Can I just tell you how nice it is to leave behind 50 degree weather knowing that day you will be in 80 degree weather by the pool. It was delightful! Dawson was a fish and had no fear of the water slide. Emerson swam and napped pool side. Vacation suits my kids. Here are the pics to prove:




The next day we loaded up again and headed to the sunny state. We arrived in the afternoon and explored Downtown Disney, did some shopping, and ate at ESPN Zone that evening.



Monday morning we got up bright and early and headed to Disneyland...which we did Tuesday and Thursday as well (yay for 3 day park hoppers!) Our days were filled with rides, characters, and parades and shows. Dawson loved seeing the characters and we got him an autograph book so every time we saw one he asked if he could write their name for them. One of the mornings we did a character breakfast and the kiddos couldn't take their eyes off of them. Here are some facts about the trip:

Dawson's Favorite Rides: Jungle Cruise, Buzz Lightyear, It's a Small World
Emerson's Favorite Rides: It's a Small World (she would point and yap away) and Pirates of the Caribbean (a slow dark boat ride that would put her right to sleep!)
Chris' Favorite Rides: Tower of Terror, Indian Jones, and Space Mountain
Sarah's Favorite Rides: Indian Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean

*The boys (Chris and Jer) were obsessed with finding the hidden Mickey's on all the rides and would ask the workers were they could find it.
*Emerson did great and would fall asleep in her stroller or our arms at her nap times (score!)
*Jen is prego and could ride a ton of rides actually and was a total trooper thru it all!!
*They had the cutest parade that stopped in fron of you and they would sing and dance and the kids got to go dance with the characters in the street.
*After 3 days you get sick of park food.





On Wednesday we had a beach day. We went to Huntington Beach and it was about a 70 degree dayand really windy so it wasn't ideal but the boys still played in the waves while the girls laid on the beach.



PS I am done for now...did you make it to the end of the looooong post?? But I may be posting some more pictures because we have a ton!!