June 2014

I had been a little concerned how summer was going to go this year. Last year I was pregnant and tired and the girls fought so much all summer long. This year I was determined to stay busy, have a little more structure to our break, and mainly have lots of fun!

We kicked off summer with a party right after Alta's kindergarten graduation. A friend invited all the neighborhood kindergarteners (and siblings) to jump in the sprinklers and have ice cream sundaes. The kids and the moms:

A few days later the girls wanted to go to the children's museum, but the line was out the door when we got there so we opted for Farm Country instead. There was hardly anyone there and the girls loved all the new baby animals. Petting a goat:

The girls still really wanted to go to the museum, and they had been wanting to show Dan, so the next evening we made a family outing of it. We got dinner at the cafe (these girls so rarely get pop and they were savoring it!)

 The girls ran around with Dan showing him all their favorite parts of the museum while Olive and I watched:

 Bekah and the boys are here all summer so we've been loving spending more time than usual with my family! The first Saturday in June we had a pool party at Brian and Colleen's house, this is the only picture I have:

A few days later we had more pool time at Riverside with my mom, Bekah, Sawyer and Wyatt. The girls seems to be slowly getting over their fear of water in their faces so I'm trying to take every opportunity we have to swim!
We got lunch (and I gave Olive a few bites of sweet potatoes, her first real food)

 spent a lot of time swimming,

 and relaxed in the sun:

In the spring I had signed up both girls for their own day camps at Thanksgiving Point. Ellie's was in June and she got to spend a few hours (with Ellie Swallow) at her "Little Chefs" class learning how to make easy recipes. I wasn't sure how she would do with me dropping her off with complete strangers but she had no problems and loved it. All ready to go:

 Over the next few days she wanted to teach us everything she learned. Here she's showing Alta how to make tortilla chips:

During that week Dan watched all the girls two nights in a row so I could go out with some friends and also go to our neighborhood book club. One of the nights I came home to find Olive asleep like this:

We went to Airborne one afternoon with Ruby and Ellie:

Near the end of the month Bekah invited us to hike Stewart Falls with her:

We took a break for lunch and playing once we got to the falls:

It had been a long time since either of us had hiked it and I think we forgot how long it was! The trail itself is not difficult but 4 1/2 miles was a little too much for the kids. Bekah was a life-saver and switched between carrying Wyatt and Ellie (mostly Ellie). We would have never made it back to the car without her! By the time we finished these four kiddos were exhausted, dirty, but happy:

 And last picture from the month, getting snow cones with Mal, Kevin, and Beck:

There were also bike rides, park days, and a trip to the aquarium but no pictures. We are successfully staying busy and happy this summer!

And Olive's development this month:
-she continues to be happy and easy-going.
-she remembered how to roll from her belly to back so now she rolls both ways. When I put her on the ground I'm always surprised to come back a few minutes later and see her a few feet from where I set her!
-still sleeps well at night but is becoming an early-riser. She usually wakes up around 6:00.
-always has one good nap a day, but often skips or shortens her 2nd nap. She doesn't get too fussy so it's not a big deal to me.
-had her first few bites of food (sweet potatoes and applesauce) but I haven't really made an effort to start her on solids.