Locked out by a 3 yr old

Something funny just happened this morning before Chris went to work. Our backyard is very secluded(and our neighbors are gone for 2 months) so we are guilty of going out on our back deck in our underwear quite often in the morning. It is peaceful and quiet and nice to breathe in some fresh air. We were out there for 5 min and then came back to our bedroom sliding glass door to find it was locked! Luckily I had thrown on a night gown before we went out, but Chris was in his underwear. Johnny had locked us out and left our bedroom. The kitchen slider and basement slider were locked also. I had to go to the side basement windows and bang on them so they would hear me. Luckily Adam's face appeared as he pulled up the blinds and I got him to open the side door and let me in. It was pretty comical and we got a good laugh out of it. KIDS! Wouldn't life be dull without them?????

Early Morning Apricot Picking

At 6 am we went to pick apricots. We had to climb a fence and I deliberately held onto the camera while I was climbing the fence so no photos would be taken. (:

The sunrise was beautiful and the kids worked super hard.

Special Delivery

Katie decided to surprise Steven by hopping into a big box and closing the lid while I rang the doorbell and ran away. Steven came to the door and I said from the backyard," Looks like Gramma Betsy sent you guys a BIG package!" He was totally excited and ripped into it and found his sister grabbing out to scare him.

John's New Pool

I got this tub to hold toys or laundry. John had other ideas for its use. I was getting dressed when he knocks at my sliding glass door and says," Mom, look at my new DI pool!" ( I bought the tub at DI, the Goodwill of UT) He was filling it up on the back stairs. I love that kid. He is always up to something. I just wish all of his new inventions and ideas were this clean!

Adam

Adam's new postion for reading stories.

Apricots Galore !!

It is 2 am and my friend and I just cleaned up from making 38 bottles of jam and 15 bottles of apricot - pineapple nectar. She came over at 8:30 and we thought we'd just whip up some jam really quick.Yikes. Our work got slower and funnier as the night went on. It didn't help that there were10 kids here under foot.( my six, her two, and Mandy and Katie Powner visiting us from Colorado) I am very sleepy. The jam bottles are upside down that is why they look weird.Good night! Why is the time stamp on my posting always wrong???? It says 1:20 am. It is 2:30 actually now.

P.S. : Chris is so good, he got the time stamp fixed in two minutes. Stud.

Tortilla strips

Only kids think to do this while eating dinner. I love their creative minds.

Camping

We had such a peaceful time camping last weekend. It was ssssoooo nice to get away from the "noises" of life.(cell phones, computers, t.v., home phone, in and out of cars, radios,and doorbells)

Steven pitching the tent and then flying his kite!

Aquanaut

I took the Webelo Scouts down to our neighbors pool to sign off their aquanaut badge requirements. They had a lot of fun going crazy off of the diving board after they were done with the serious stuff. Adam of course came along to hang out. (:

This is for You, Mom

Do you remember this?

Beautiful Things

These are some of the beautiful things we saw last week. I love summer!

Cooking Camp

Alex, Kate, Steven, and Ryan have been going to a Cooking Camp this week. It is free through the college. They have had a blast. They are learning everything from balancing your diet to proper handwashing and avoiding food poisoning. They have cooked their own lunch as part of the class each day. There are so many FREE things available to kids in the summer if you just check with your library or in thenewspaper.Almost everyday we go to FREE school summer lunch. They have it in over 15 parks and schools in the area. There are FREE movies in the park on Family Night and Wed. nights. There are FREE concerts everyday in the park at lunch time. Every Saturday there is something family friendly that is FREE. This week it is ice skating. Last week it was the Nature Museum. An old theatre downtown has FREE movies once a month for kids. They just need to bring a milk cap. Elderly people run it and have on the uniform and flashlights like the olden days. They always have an intermisson and give away a FREE bike to some lucky kid in the audience. Also they have drawings for books, games, and snacks. At the end they give each kid a Moon Pie. (those nasty stale graham cracker things) Of course all of the libraries and their "discovery times"/storytimes are free. The Summer Reading Program is always awesome and usually gives good incentive prizes for kids of any age who read 20 minutes a day by themselves or with a parent. Alex, Kate,and Steve went to a "Japanese Culture" program tonight for teens at the library. They taste foods and explore their culture. That is 2x a month. They love it. I could go on and on, but I will stop now and go to bed. (: The kids need to be to the Cooking Camp by 9 am and it is almost 1am. Johnny, Adam and I are going to the kids movie tomorrow. They have $1 movies at 10am and 12noon for kids Tue, Wed, Thur. We will go there while the big kids are gone. Horton Hears a Who is playing. (:
Goodnight!

Mowing

John was so excited to find a mower for a dollar at DI. (Utah Goodwill) He had his $1.00 bill and paid proudly. As soon as we got home he bolted from the car and started "mowing". He took it very seriously and spent a couple of hours "mowing" off and on yesterday.

I'm Thinking

I came inthe room and saw John making this face and I asked him what he was doing. He said," I'm thinking."

Parade

Pleasant View Founder's Day Parade was Saturday. The kids had a blast and got the mother load of candy.

Founder's Day Fireworks

Saturday was Founder's Day for Pleasant View. We have an awesome view of the fireworks they shoot off down the hill at the high school. Our yard is a very busy place twice a year......Founder's Day and 4th of July. We had a limited crowd this year. Only ten or twelve families were here. The pictures do not do the fireworks justice. We will have another great show this Friday, 4th of July if anyone wants to come!!! We were VERY sad that our friends from CO (Lyon and Taylor families) were not here again this year with our kids camping in the backyard. ):