An Actual Weekend.

This weekend I did something that I seldom ever do... I took the weekend off. I mean, I actually didn't go to work at any job on Friday OR Saturday... like... at all. It was just short of a miracle. So we packed the days with some fun. From pancake breakfasts, to Pioneer Day Parades, to BBQing with the other fabulous Cardons, to sitting on the lawn talking to neighbors, to running 10 miles, and then... a super fabulous hike together to Catherine Lake.

I have certain expectations when it comes to Utah and hiking after June... like heat and no shade, and dust, lots of dust. So I was very pleasantly surprised when we got to the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon to see that all of the wild flowers were in bloom. You might not all think this was a miracle, but usually when you put your hiking off until after July 1st, you don't have much chance of seeing all of the wild flowers. Apparently as a special treat for me, and due to the cool and rainy June weather this year, the flowers waited to bloom a little behind schedule.

It was just amazing. The camera could not do justice.

And the hike was great too. Both of my strong tough boys hiked almost the entire 3.5 miles. The weather could not have been more perfect. What a fabulous way to spend a morning.

My legs were pretty shot by the time that we finished, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything. It was perfect, and for that, I am very grateful.

Swimming Lessons

Gavin just finished his session of summer swimming lessons. He had a great time, almost every day. Since he hadn't ever done swimming lessons without a parent, I put him in Preschool Level 3. It is the highest Preschool level and they say it is for 3-4 year olds, but he was a giant in this class (not too surprising I guess). They seldom took the kids where Gavin could touch bottom, if he wanted to. He learned a lot of fun games and a few new skills, but on the last day when we went to check in, they gave us the report card and a note letting us know that they wouldn't pass him to the next level. He refused to willingly stick his whole head under water, to do a bob or just to put it under willingly. He has no problem putting his face in or going all the way under when he jumps in, but he just won't choose to dunk himself.

Here is my handsome little swimming lesson flunkie. :-)

My nice friend Caryn, whose 3 year old did pass this class, reminded me that you can't flunk swimming lessons... So let's just say, he has been held back. :-D

Here is the cute and supportive little brother, who sunbathed his white legs with Mom every morning while we watched.

Youth Days of '47 Parade

Yesterday, the boys and I had the chance to walk in the Youth Days of '47 Parade. Our stake primary was asked to build a float and so they recruited us to dress as pioneers and walk alongside the float. It was super hot, and the wait for our turn in the parade was long, but we had a great time. Henry wore out quickly in the heat and ended up riding on my shoulders for the entire parade, but that made him famous! A Deseret News photographer took a picture of him that ended up in the paper.

Here is the link- http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705317752/Youths-celebrate-pioneer-heritage.html

(just click on the slideshow to the right of the article and you can see Henry in digital print)

Here is the photo- Henry says it is when he says, "Hi. See you later."

Gavin and Mom before the parade (yes-pioneer clothing is less than flattering.)

Here we are walking... the float was in front of us.

The boys were very happy to change in to short sleeves and flip flops for the carnival after.

The-Boys-With-No-Shirts-On-CLUB

Here is Who We Are-

Here is What We Do-

Sorry, Lovely Ladies... No Girls Allowed.

Because it is totally worth posting...

A timeless photo that we had taken in the touristy Wisoncin Dells.

GOTTA LOVE IT!

My Father-in-law kept turning around his Jose Ceurvo bottle to hide the label, and the girl taking the picture kept turning it back around. Pretty funny.

HUGEmungus

We had some small sunflowers growing next to the porch before we left for Iowa... When we got back, this is what we found. Guess the wet June sent them in to overdrive. The boys love them, and though Caleb had to tie them up to the porch rail to make it possible for us to use the sidewalk, they are pretty cool.

They have started to open up in the last few days. I am sure I will be taking pictures of that sometime soon.

Hurray for the 4th of July!

Yeah for Independence Day! Gavin went around all morning telling every one, "Happy 4th of July from Playhouse Disney!" It was pretty hilarious, but at least he was an excited and patriot little citizen. He even tried to pick out a July 4th outfit, which consisted of blue, blue and blue... no surprise there.

And I got to try out my fireworks feature on my camera, which I admit to being pretty excited about. We did sparklers and some ground fireworks with our friends and then drove up to watch the fireworks all over the Salt Lake Valley from the hill behind Caleb's lab. It was a FABulous night, for which I am very grateful.

Rachel and Brennan's Wedding

Well- They are finally here- for all to see... Rachel and Brennan Harding Wedding Photos. Of course these are the ones taken from the view of a random family member... Me... so they may not be the photos that you would see in the wedding album, but we really like most of them.

The Newlyweds, just minutes after being married. They look so happy, and they really were that happy. Yea! Nothing better than a happy wedding day.

The not-so-Newlyweds... though we are pretty happy too.

(In defense of my hair throughout most of these photos, it was insanely humid and very windy on the wedding day, so seriously, my hair didn't stand a chance.)

A few days after getting back from Iowa, Gavin told Caleb that he didn't really like getting dressed for Rachel's wedding because he thought he looked "kinda weird." I think he looked pretty handsome though. Green is a great color for my children. :-)

It doesn't get much cuter than Henry... pre-wedding, I should add.

(His attitude changed significantly about an hour later.)

This is one of my favorite shots... Click on it to see that Caleb and Gavin are making the exact same face. I love it. Both boys have more of their Dad's mannerisms than mine, even if they have my coloring. :-)

Now the slide show- With many more shots for you to enjoy.

A few more Iowa Shots

Aside from the wedding (pictures coming soon) we definetely managed to keep busy. We certainly wore ourselves out...

Just a glimpse at all the fun.

Nauvoo Fun

After having some fun in Iowa for a few days, and getting ready for the wedding... we headed to Nauvoo. We got there the day before the wedding to see some of the historic sites and to enjoy the temple. Unfortunately, touring sites was cut a little short by the fact that we were all melting in the 87 degree/95% humidity weather. I can't remember the last time I was so sweaty and since everyone was the same, I guess it wasn't too embarassing. My hair instantly returned to the super curly 5 year old hair style, which was just more awesome than I can really tell you. Just a few shots of pre-wedding fun.

A Bicycle Built for Two

The tandem bike that Grandma and Papa got for their anniversary was a big hit with the kids. All of the couples took at least one little ride, since you have to try it sometime. But the kids got the most pleasure out of riding it. Gavin and Mia weren't quite tall enough to really be helpful at pedaling, even with the seat lowered, so they got to take a couple of leisurely rides. Gavin would have gone more, but he didn't trust anyone, but Dad to keep the bike up for him.

Circus World Museum

On the way from Wisconsin to Iowa we made a stop at the "Circus World Museum." Along with the museums full of old circus stuff, they all preformed shows throughout the afternoon that we were there. Some of them bordered on creepy, but the actual circus which took place as the last part of the day, was pretty cool. It was in a small pavilion, with about 7 rows of bleachers surrounding the ring, so no matter where you sat, you were super close... and it wasn't crowded. While I have always liked the circus enough to go to it, it was a lot more impressive to watch a girl ride on an elephant's trunk when the elephant is towering over you in the second row of a tiny building. We don't have any pictures from the actual preformances, since that would have been against the very stringent copyright restrictions, but here a few shots from the really old props that we did get to see.

The Wisconsin Dells

Our first stop on the trip was a few days at the Chula Vista Resort in the Wisconsin Dells. It was a great place with many pools and an indoor and outdoor water park. We took major advantage of both. They had water slides of all sizes, even Henry was able to go down a few by himself (after we had gotten in trouble for letting him ride on our laps). Gavin was a maniac and went down the medium sized slides over and over. He was tall enough to ride the big one, which would have used a double tube, but he wasn't much interested in it. He did also enjoy "being lazy on the Lazy River." We did a few things in town, but mostly we just enjoyed hanging out and getting wet.

The Moustache Contest !!!

Well, It finally came... the moustache contest that we have all been waiting for... It was hard to keep a straight face or actually look directly at any of the men for a few days, but here are the results-

Caleb

Nathan

Brennan

Jeff

Rich

Since Ben chose not to participate in this unflattering facial hair competition, we went ahead and did the photo shoot and judging without him, so that shaving could them commence.

Rich was awesome enough to purchase matching camo jackets that added to the affect of so many mustaches in one place. Pretty good-looking group... or something like that.

I don't think an official winner was actually named, since they were all making up different categories to best describe their current mustache... It seems to me that Jeff is really the only one who can get away with wearing this style of facial hair any how.

A few more shots of Caleb as he was determined to be the last one sporting a trashy mustache...

This one is for Tannon- We can lead by example. :-)

Mount Rushmore- aka The MIddle of No Where SD

Well, on our way to the Wisconsin Dells, we decided to drive through Wyoming and South Dakota and make a stop to see the magnificence of Mount Rushmore. So- after 11 hours of driving, we arrived at our destination at 3:15pm... to this super fabulous view.

And it was also about 45 degrees and raining, and I had assumed that we would never actually need shoes and sock or jackets for at least the first 4 days of the trip, so we were able to dig out just enough not to freeze. Very very disappointing to me. And after we went through their museum, which is really only a hallway with some history of the sculpture) we went back to the view in homes that the fog might have cleared a bit to discover that it had only gotten thicker. I left in very grumpy spirits and at the hotel that night Gavin asked when we were going to see the mountain with the president's faces on it... BOOO! The good news is that they give you a pass for the $10 you pay to see nothing, that allows you to get back in for the rest of the calendar year, since so many people are going to drive back to the absolute middle of nowhere several times in a year!

All packed.

Tomorrow morning bright and early we leave for our trip to Iowa (via a stop in the Wisconsin Dells). This morning when I got out of the shower, Gavin called to me, "Mom, you better get your suitcase ready. Henry and I are all packed." Since I had not yet even started laundry, I chose not to reply to this, but to go and check it out.

Henry was mad at me, since I told him he wasn't going to be able to take all of those cars.

I guess my job for the day is done. What more do we need? Henry even took out all of the diapers that I had already put in his suitcase. So Helpful.

Bring on The Mustache Contest

We are headed to Iowa in a few days for endless amounts of Cardon Family fun. One of the many highlights of this trip is the Mustache Contest... I am not sure exactly who this is a highlight for, but it does at least seem to be greatly anticipated. On the rumor that our brother-in-law Rich was also growing his hair out for the occasion, Caleb used that as an excuse to decline/refuse a haircut the last time I roped the boys in to getting theirs. He stopped shaving on Mother's Day, a little later than some of the other men, but in respect for his church responsibilities and for all of us that have to look at him daily, that seems sufficient.

I guess we will know in less than a week, which hairy man is more hairy than all the other.

I think we've got a fightin' chance. Look forward to the photos, I know some of you are dying to see them. :-)

Some Kinda Fight

Gavin has been getting lots of questions about his latest injury.

And if you think that looks bad, you should see the other guy...

... Or the swing set that he tripped and hit with his face. :-)

Sweet DI find

We have some neighbors who are expert Di shoppers (Deseret Industries... Goodwill to those not located in Utah), they have a little 3 year old girl who the boys play with almost every day. She spends her days at home with her dad, and she loves to tell all the neighborhood kids about the things she found with her dad at DI. On the other hand, I never go to DI. When I have things to donate, I pull up at the drive-up, dispose of my wares and move on quickly. Perhaps it comes from my mom trying to make me shop for clothes as a hard to fit kid, hoping to find a fab deal... I just generally don't take the time to get my kids out and go in to DI, not knowing what I will find and certainly not planning to find the things that I need. But, since our neighbors find great things there, Gavin has recently been asking to go and look around. So, I got some great tactical advice from my neighbor about which stores he recommends and what the major DI shopping strategy should be, and I took the boys to make a loop on the look out for a steal-of-a-deal. And what do you know?!? After less than 2 minutes, making our circuit of the store, we can across none other than.... a silver knight helmet... for only $.50!!

Now some of you might be doubting the excitement of such a find, but if you are, it is because you haven't spent much time lately with a knight-in-shining-armor-obsessed-4-year-old boy. I know most of you are thinking that I should have just gone to wal-mart or target or toysrus or many other places that sell toys and gotten him a knight outfit. Trust me when I tell you that in this summer season with no thoughts of Halloween on the horizon, there are no knight outfits to be found "in all of Salt Lake City." We know, we have tried. But as at least one boy has been wearing this helmet most of the time for a solid week, we are pretty grateful for our awesome DI find.

And now of course, we will be trying our luck again soon. (And yes, I did come home and wash the helmet with soap and hot water before allowing anyone to wear it. ;-)