Our Summer Staycation Activities

We rarely go on out of state vacations.  So I try to find fun activities near home for the kids to do during the summer.  During the Summer of 2014, we went to the carnival for Strawberry days, ate waffles from the Waffle Love Truck, explored a new children's museum, did a day trip to Salt Lake City to see Wheeler Farm, Liberty Park, and Antelope Island.
Strawberry Days
I keep saying every year we will buy rodeo tickets, but sadly John is always out of town on a business trip during the week of Strawberry Days! Hopefully we have better luck next year! However, we went to the Strawberry Days parade and carnival.

Waffle Love Truck
Most people from Utah should know about the Waffle Love Truck! If you like them on Facebook you can find where the truck is located. It changes every single day. AMAZING WAFFLES!

Museum of Natural Curiosity
We went to the new Children's Museum at Thanksgiving Point.  The Museum of Natural Curiosity was fun for all ages. I cannot wait to take baby brother back and do all the cool toddler activities.

  Wheeler Farm
A cheap activity for all the family and furry friends. There are spots for a picnic, hiking trails, farm animals, pond filled with ducks, shop, wagon rides, a playground, etc. There is a very interesting tree that is perfect for family photograph!

Liberty Park
There are many things to do at Liberty Park, which is a large like Central Park in New York City. We only explored the south end of the park.  We had a picnic there, rode some amusement rides, and went paddle boating. Our dog Jagger met many other furry friends.  We would like to make another trip there to see the Tracy Aviary, check out the playgrounds, swimming pool, splash pad, and gardens.

  Antelope Island (The Great Salt Lake)
For $10.00 a car load, you get to play at the salty and sandy beach of Great Salt Lake, see a visitors center, eat a  picnic, observe wild life such as antelope, buffalo, deer, birds, and explore the Fielding Garr Ranch museum. Additionally, it's a beautiful scenic drive through the Island!

There are many beautiful and fun places to explore in Utah during the summer time!

Cooling off from the Summer Heat

Creekside Park, Alpine Utah

During the first week of June, we went to Creekside Park in Alpine Utah to play at the park and splash pad! We look forward to exploring some more of Utah's splash pads this summer!

Summer Haircuts 
There is nothing like a fresh haircut during the summer to keep you cool. On June 29, 2014, my girls went to Great Clips and had several inches of their hair cut off and we got cupcakes at Cravings for dessert afterwards!
Before Haircuts
After Haircuts with Cupcakes

Manila Creek Pond

In July the temperatures were in the upper nineties. So the kids cooled off and made sand castles at the sandy pond that is located just a few minutes away from our house! 

Slip n' Slide

We layered the slip n' slide with a large blue tarp for extra slippery fun! The girls also added dish soap. Little brother was not a huge fan of the slip n' slide, but the girls sure had fun though!

We Love Snow Cones!

In our town, there are several snow cone shacks near downtown!  There are so many yummy flavors! 

Grilling and Fireworks

We went to Denny's for breakfast and accomplished a lot of errands during the day.  To our surprise, the outlets in Traverse Mountain had some great 4th of July sales. We bought a few things for baby brother and I got some new white sandals. Afterwards, the girls and I did 4th of July manicures and pedicures! Later that evening, we gathered at our usual spot for BBQ and fireworks with some extended family. My niece brought a playpen for the babies to hang out! Little brother absolutely loved the fireworks especially the sparklers!  He was mesmerized by anything that exploded colorful lights through the air!  Pleasant Grove does a great firework show that lasts about 30 minutes long!  It's not much of a hassle to get out of there compared to Stadium of Fire since we live down the street.

Finally Summer

Memorial Day

We were invited to go camping in Nevada, but because of little bro needing g-tube feeds during the night we decided to pass on the idea of roughing it without electricity!  So we had a very relaxing Memorial Day. First, we got up early and went to breakfast to Kneaders Bakery and Cafe since we have heard great things about their strawberry and cream french toast.  Oh boy, they were delicious!  I choose a healthier option (low sugar) on their menu the croissant egg, cheese, and ham sandwich, which was tasty as well. Afterwards, we took baby brother home for his morning nap while Daddy went fishing with his nephew in South Jordan.  Later that day, we went to Manila Pond. Little bro and big sister loved walking through the water while little sis went to a friend's house to hang out!

End of the School Year

During the last week of school, little sis had a field trip to the space center, dance festival, fun run, field day, and awards ceremony in her class, which she received the Best Day Dreamer Award and Most likely to be an Archaeologist.  As for big sister, she went to Lagoon Amusement park and got several awards such as Viking Citizen, Viking and Attendance, and Viking Scholar. In fact, big sis was on the honor roll all school year!  We are very proud of their accomplishments this past school year and hope they will continue to be successful! 

Welcome to Toddlerhood Little Bro!

As for our happy little toddler, he is making some amazing progress on milestones. He loves to pull up to stand, can stand without support for a few seconds, cruise all over the place, and scoots instead of crawling! Little bro is finally eating table foods instead of stage 2 purees and drinking cow's milk! When he gets together with our extended family, he loves playing with his second cousins!

Our 2013 Summer Highlights

Big Sister went to Heber Girl's Camp

Big Sis went to Idaho with a friend.

The girls played in the summer rain!

We went up the canyon to explore Cascade Springs and had a picnic.

We went to the Redwood Drive-In to see Turbo

For our 16th Wedding Anniversary, John and I went to Firebird Pizza and Pasta and had cupcakes for dessert at Alisha's Cravings.

The girls went to Seven Peaks Water Park!

Happy Summer Days Scraps

Grandpa's Delight, 2004

Credits: The template is by Shabby Princess. I used "Happy Trails" kit and "Smarshmallows" kit by Shabby Princess.  I used the following fonts: I'm bored and Kristen ITC.

Slip n' Slide, 2010

Credits:  The layout is by me. The papers are by Amy Sumrall. The alpha and doodles are by Kate Hadifield.  I used grumble as my font.

Silly Sisters and Friends, 2012

Credits: The template and "Memory Lane" kit are by Shabby Princess.  I used the grumble font.

Our Happy Independence Day!

First, we started off the day by seeing Despicable Me 2.  We didn't want to bring the baby so John and little sis went first then big sis and me went last. It was a very funny movie! I absolutely love the minion's quirky personalities!  Next, we took a nap for a few hours after the movie. Then that evening we went to a BBQ with some family and friends at a near by school.  Lastly, we ended the night watching the Pleasant Grove fireworks! It was a lazy and fun fourth of July! No stress and hassle free!  That is how we roll on Independence Day!

All American Family Scrap Pages

Happy Fourth of July!

Stars and Strips Forever, 2009

Credits: I used the "Summer Cottage" kit by Shabby Princess and I used sabrina font and love ya like a sister font.

A Sparkling Good Time, 2010

Credits: The template is by  The paper and elements are from "Celebrate" kit by Shabby Princess, which is a free kit.  As for the fonts, I used arial and Catherine's college days.

July 2012 Family Fun Events

1. July 4, 2012 We celebrated Independence Day with our usual yummy BBQ and watching fireworks at Pleasant Grove Junior High with family members. Our dog Jagger hated the fireworks, poor pup! 

 2.  July 14, 2012 We went to the Payson Scottish Festival to see the Campbell family who were selling some darling homemade Scottish Dolls. We enjoyed listening to the bag pipes and drums as well as watching the dancers.  As for food/drinks, we bought a large bottle of cream soda, twisted tators, and Boston cream funnel cake! Later we stopped at Daley Freez for dinner, which was my favorite place to eat while living in Payson. We parked at Salem Pond to eat our food. So many memories flooded my mind thinking about my long bike rides to Salem pond, hanging out at Payson Memorial Park listening to band concerts, etc. I had some fun childhood memories growing up in a small town called Payson...

 

Later that same day, we went fishing at Manila Creek! We didn't have much luck catching anything. Little Sis caught a small blue gill, which we put back in the water.  We enjoyed walking in the sand and cool water.  There was an incredible sunset too.  

 3. July 16, 2012 Uncle Nate invited us, sister, nephew, and Hahn girls (my ex step brother's kids) to swim and watch movies at his house. We ate pizza and junk food.

4.  July 20-22, 2012 Lastly, we went to the cabin in the Unitas with my brother Nate, my sister Karen as well her her sons, and Hahn family.  We had a blast playing card games, swimming in a stream, eating BBQ foods, watching movies, busting moves with Just Dance 3, and enjoying the quiet away from city life!

 
 I ♥ my family!!! 

Summertime Scraps Faves

10 Lazy Days of Summer, 2000

 Credits:  The layout was designed by me for once! The papers are by Amy Sumrall, Valorie Wibbens, and Karah Fredricks. The cloud element is by Jacque Larson.  The rest of the elements, doodles, word strips, and alpha/numbers are by Kate Hadfield, which you could find most of the stuff from my layout at The Lily Pad. I used the segoe print for my font.

Lagoon Amusement Park, 2010

Credits:  The template is by Memory Clips. The papers, elements, alpha, and word strips are from "Carnival" kit by Sahlin Studio and Jennifer Barrette from The Lily Pad.  The felt elements are by Dani Mogstad. To my surprise, I did not use any fonts!
Cawabunga Bay Water Park, 2011

Credits: The template, papers, elements, word art, are from "Sand Box" kit by Shabby Princess.  I used sf Katie Fun font.

Family Hike and BBQ in Provo Canyon

June was an exciting month!  We celebrated John's 37th birthday and Father's Day!  We went on a family hike, swimming at the pool, John and big sis went to ward youth conference at Camp Williams and Heber Valley Girl's Camp while Little Sis and I went to a local Strawberry Days parade with some friends!  Lastly, our dog Jagger got a cute haircut!
I was playing around with Instagram while waiting for the parade to start.

On June 9, 2012, We went on the annual local family day breakfast and hike! Our nephews (Malcolm and Justin), nieces (Keli and Lauren) and grandnephew Tristan came along with us. The breakfast included fruit, donuts, scones, and juice.  They did a Smurf theme.  Little sis  made some blue play dough and played several games on the way up to the falls.   We won gift certificates to Chubby's and a Cookie Shop as well as got many coupons from many local food and entertainment sponsors! 

While John's parents were in town, we went up to South Fork Canyon during the evening of June 9, 2012.  We invited several family members!  South Fork has always been our favorite spot that is perfect for grilling meats, lounging under shade, watching the children play in the cold stream, and playing either football or Frisbee. During this trip to the canyon, we celebrated John's 37th birthday!  We had everyone bring their own meats and a side dish to share.  I made potato salad, snickers apple salad, and marinated a couple different chickens.  Then I made an incredible Texas Ranch Cake for the birthday guy!  We had a wonderful time visiting all our family members!

 Jagger got a groovy haircut!  We took him to a local groomer and requested it short. She did a poodle/bichon frise style and tied a purple bandanna around his neck. When we picked him up, we could hardly recognize him!  He is very happy and cool with a new summer hair do!  

Past Due Labor Day Weekend Post

I had good intentions to post these Labor Day photos sooner, but never got around to it.  I have been so busy lately... My nutrition class demands a lot of time and energy from me. I am currently researching water treatment methods as well as pros and cons about bottled water. I will be doing a power point presentation in a couple weeks with a group of five other classmates.  In addition, I am trying to keep up with my nutrition assignments and reading.  On Tuesday morning September 20, 2011, I injured my knee during a workout.  It happened while I was doing a very high impact "jump training" P90X plyometrics workout. All a sudden, I heard a popping sound and then waves of pain hit me. I had sharp pain, some swelling, and stiffness in my knee with limited range of motion for a couple days. It was difficult to drive, walk, stand, sleep, and rotate my knee.  This injury was a big inconvenience for be because I had school on Tuesday and could not miss it... On Wednesday, I was able to rest all day long.  I did some mild stretching, iced it several times, wrapped it with an ace bandage, elevated it, and took some ibuprofen for pain.  To my surprise, yesterday and today I have mild pain nothing close to what it was like before.  I hope it is healing and I will continue to take it easy for the next couple days...  By the way, I am too stubborn to go to the doctor unless is it critical... I wanted to wait it out to see how it heals before wasting hundreds of dollars on a doctor who will just tell me to R.I.C.E. (I am hoping and praying it wasn't anything too serious)... I miss jogging and exercising. :( 

Cowabunga Bay 

We decided to do something really fun for labor day weekend....  We got some discount tickets to Cowabunga Bay water park in Draper, Utah. We decided to go on Saturday 11:00-3:00.  

The slides reminded me of the game mouse trap because of the many bright twirly colored water slides, water games, bridges, etc.  

There was a lazy river, wadding pool, and snack shack as well.  My youngest daughter was nervous to go down the slides by herself at first.  We had her try the baby slides by herself and eventually she worked up the confidence to go down the bigger ones without us!   

We had a total blast even though we got a little sunburned (no we did not forget to apply sunblock we just happened to miss some areas such as our faces, foreheads, shoulders, back, neck,)!!! ACK!  What a painful Saturday night sleep.


On Labor Day, we had brunch around 10:00 AM with some extended family members at a park.  It was a cool summer morning (a light jacket day).  As for the brunch menu, it included: scrambled eggs, bacon, bagels from Einstein's Bagels, cream cheese, fresh fruit, and orange juice.  My kids enjoyed playing at the park and throwing the frisbree with their cousins!  We were able to see some family members from Arizona and Idaho who were up for a baby blessing as well as family who live in Utah.  It was great to interact with them all since it has been a while since we had a large family gathering. 

What a fabulous weekend to end our summer adventures!