Shake shake shake!

It's been really hot here (again). Obviously it is not as hot as many places but it feels awful when you are trying to go to sleep and there is no air conditioning in your house.  There is no air conditioning because you are not supposed to need it for Colorado summers or so we were told.  Those were the days.  People are always telling me how great summers used to be here.  I wish I would have lived here then! Oh well it could be far worse and I will probably live somewhere where it is worse at some point.  So to cool down we made homemade ice cream in Ziploc bags.  Jared did the pouring (with help) and Mark did most of the shaking and it turned out great. I mostly just ate it.

Water Balloon Art

I found this great activity online and we had a lot of fun doing it with Jared. I had him color on canvas with washable markers and then we took it outside and dropped water balloons on it to make the colors run. The original activity has you throwing the water balloons at it from a distance but I didn't think Jared was quite ready for that and he loves climbing on our step ladder so it worked out great.  This was the first time he had seen a water balloon so he thought they were pretty awesome.

We had a few balloons leftover after the colors went away so we just let him throw them which he also thought was great. The canvas dried completely in a few hours and most of the colors were gone so we can do it again and again.

Spencer Family Reunion

After our time in the mountains we headed over to Utah for the Spencer family reunion. All 7 of Mark's siblings and most of their kids were there. It was really nice to stay together at Mark's Mom's house and have chances to visit because that is really what I like to do best when we get together.

We had BBQ's and played at the park

Spent some time at the Evan's family farm.

The big attraction was riding the horses but Jared was not too impressed and just wanted to play with this:

And more importantly this: 

It was really hard to convince him to ride the horse. He just wanted play on the "tractor". Going to the farm itself was really cool because it is Mark's mom's families land. Her family settled down in Lehi UT and owned a good amount of land there.  She still owns some acres there so it was cool to go and see/hear about her side of the family. Very family reunion-ish.

We flew kites and played at a water park. (If you are in Utah with little kids, the Lindon city pool is awesome. Kids 3 and under are free and everyone else was 4 dollars and it was lots of fun.) It took Jared forever a really long time to decide to play in the water.  He kept wanting to be held which pretty much defeats the point of a zero entry pool but he did end up having fun. When we went to a water park last summer in Yuba City he loved it and was super brave so I was surprised he was so hesitant.

Celebrated The 4th Of July! As a side note. Two families were paired together to cook dinner for one night during the reunion. We were given the Fourth of July with Mark's brother David and decided to cook slow cooker chicken tacos and Cafe Rio Pork with Taco rice and lettuce to make awesome salads.  It was awesome but very un-Fourth of July. We decided we were celebrating "Quatro De Julio" for dinner.  I did throw in a Fieth family tradition and we had Root Beer Floats for dessert which to me is very Fourth of July-ish since we always had them growing up. So it all worked out in the end. We went out to the end of Mark's Mom's street (in Saratoga Springs) and watched firework shows across the lake. (And  the mountains over by Alpine burn... it was like we were still in Colorado Springs) It was perfect because we didn't have to deal with any smoke, crowds, or traffic.

*Nice 4th of July colors right?

Visited a temple: Every time we go to Utah we make sure to take Jared to a temple because he loves going to them. Unfortunately this time we went on the 4th of July. I knew the temple itself would be closed but I did not think the gates would be so it was kind of a bust since we couldn't get very close. This is the Oquirrh Hills temple which neither Mark or I (or Jared) had been to.  It was still nice to be there and Jared loved it.

We went to Trafalga and played games and rode rides. 

The other people on this ride were really nice and didn't spray us much at all. I had super impressive avoidance skills. Which was way more fun because instead of just getting stuck in trafffic jams we actually got to ride around.

AND Lydia and Jared got all kinds of attention.  They really had fun with their cousins who were all so sweet with them. I am so glad that they have cousins to play with.  I never had them growing up, at least not close to my age so I was always jealous of those who did. Jared is kind of all by himself as far as cousins his age though.  (Well on Mark's side hooray for Lyra!) There were 4 kids born in 2007, he was born in 2009, then a baby girl in 2011 and now Lydia so we were a little late in making it so he had cousins his age but the older kids are really nice to him.

The last night there was special dinner/slideshow to celebrate Mark's parents 50th wedding anniversary.  I am so thankful I married into such a welcoming, generous, kind family.  It was great to see pictures of Mark's parents and siblings growing up. We will play it often for our kids so they can know their family. We had a really nice time and can't wait for the next reunion especially since our kids will be older and we will be able to go out and do more things with everybody! I am still a bit too attached to my kids taking naps/having a normal routine so they are pleasant to be around and easy to manage to give them up.

She'll be comin' round the mountain...

Before we headed to Utah we spent 3 days in the mountains here in Colorado.  Mark had an IB conference for school and since Colorado Springs was super hot and the Waldo Canyon Fire still going strong we decided that Jared, Lydia and I would accompany Mark.  He had been assigned a large room with two beds but there were no other male teachers from his school going so our family got a little trip in the mountains together. Thanks District 49!
We stayed at the Keystone Resort which was really nice. It was great to be away from the hot weather and all the smoke. It was not great to sleep in the same room as Jared.  Lydia did really well except for the last night where she could not settle down. It is an awful feeling to be the people with the unsettled child at night.  It was really hard to know how to help her because we haven't had to make her sleep before so we didn't know what to do to help her. She has always been really good about going to sleep herself once we lay her down. Eventually Lydia and I took a nice walk through the halls. Little did we know we would get lots of practice making her sleep in Utah.  Again, not fun to be the ones with the unsettled child. (Although Mark's family was totally understanding it just was hard. And now its been hard getting her back on track but I think we are almost there, hallelujah. No more trips for us any time soon! end tangent)

We went to parks, had picnics, played in the creek, and rode a gondola to the top of a really high mountain like 11,500 feet high. I am pretty sure I got some altitude sickness or something akin to it which is weird because when we have gone to Pikes Peak (over 14,000) I felt fine.  This time I felt awful! Jared, Lydia and I did have fun exploring and playing outside while Mark was in his classes.  This is the second training he has gone to for IB.  The fact that Mark's school is an IB school is really good for our future plans of teaching overseas because he is getting some valuable training that will make him more hireable so we are all about these trainings! Especially if we get to somewhere together. It was also nice because it made our drive to Utah 2.5 hours shorter for the way out.

skillz

Lydia is gaining more and more skills.  On Sunday (July 08) she rolled over for the first time and yesterday (July 11) she started sitting up by herself on my lap.  She is just growing and growing. For the past while she has scooted herself into different spots on her back by kicking her feet, now she starts rolling around to new ones.  When we get her up from naps she is often facing the opposite way then where we put her down.  She is just about 2 weeks away from being 6 months old and is lots of fun.  She got lots of attention last week in Utah at the Spencer family reunion and we were glad everybody could meet her. Here she is in all her cuteness!

Happy Independence day!

Taking a bath at our hotel in Keystone Colorado. 

She has been eating solids for a few weeks now but this week we started putting her in the little booster chair in stead of her bouncer to eat.  She seems to like it and Jared loves eating at the table with us. I cringe a little bit when we have things like spaghetti for dinner since our eating area is carpeted but he is doing a great job.  These kids are just growing and growing. Jared will be three years old in 3 short months!