Summer with the Sells

I'm not one to make new friends easily or often. But it happened anyway. Evonne and I met through our blogs (and later figured out that she used to work with Dan's sister...small world). I'm a homebody but Evonne is one to get out and about and do fun stuff with her kids. This summer she dragged me along kicking and screaming in an effort to get me out of my lazy comfort zone and expose my kids to the world of a fun mom. 

Ok, not really kicking and screaming. She invited us on lots of fun play dates and I gladly accepted. She even got me to drive on the big scary road (you might know it as the freeway) to far away lands (more like 30 minutes away but that's as far away as I've ever gone for a play date). 

Here's a few pictures of some of the fun stuff we did this summer with Evonne and her cute little kidlets. You'll notice that Danny is missing from all of these. Playing with an 8-year-old girl and her 3-year-old little brother and baby sister is not his idea of fun. Weirdo. He stayed home with Dad instead.

These pictures are not in chronological order, mind you. I don't have the brain power to remember back to June and figure that stuff out. Enjoy anyway!

We played at a park. Cate dressed herself that day in case you wondered.

This picture is the best. Don't you love their zooming down the slide and landing expressions? The best.

Of course I couldn't resist capturing a picture of Evonne and her precious baby being present and living in the moment. That's what parenting is all about.

It was fun to have them join us at the splash pad for Cate's birthday party.

They came over one day and just played at the house and even helped us feed the lambies at our neighbor's house. I love that Cate has a big girl to play with. She's surrounded by boys usually. It's good for her to feel what having a big sister is like.

We wandered around the farm together one afternoon. Feeding the duckies is always fun. Cute shoes, Evonne.

Splash pad another day. I like the splash pad because the kids can get wet and I don't have to wear a swim suit.

We took a "hike" up to Bridal Veil Falls. It was a beautiful cloudy day. I did a much better job than last time not freaking the heck out about the water and the slippery rocks that Cate wanted to walk all over.

We had a grand time eating snow cones the size of our heads too. Those things are divine. It's like eating tropical flavored freshly fallen snow. And even better with a blob of sweet coconut ice cream hidden inside.

We got to tag along and help out with the fabulous Non-lemonade stand that Evonne and her darling daughter dreamed up. Look at those adorable signs! That lady's got talent.

Somewhere in June (I think) Cate and I were invited by Evonne and Vanessa to a cupcake wars play date at Vanessa's house. I forgot to bring our matching mommy/daughter aprons but otherwise, it was a success. I'm not usually one to brag but our cupcakes won in the taste category. It's no surprise though since Cate is a master baker. She really knows her stuff.

(Those last two pictures are courtesy of Evonne and her fancy schmancy camera.)

So here's the bottom line.

I do not like summer. I have diagnosed myself with summertime SAD. It's a real thing. I googled it. I'd rather just stay in my nice air conditioned house all day long and suffer until September. Obviously that isn't really an option (before we had kids it was and I remember those days with fondness...not because we didn't have kids though...that was the crappy part...I just enjoyed not waking up until 10 and staying inside doing nothing all day).

BUT I have to say that I am thankful to Evonne for being my friend and getting me out doing stuff, no matter how much I thought I was going to shrivel up and die from the heat. It was good for me and it was good for Cate. It might have been good for Danny but he seems to have summertime SAD too.

So three cheers for Evonne. She's been a good friend. I'm sure there's other stuff we did but I didn't take pictures so it's pretty much gone from my memory. Oh, that one time we did meet at the movies to see Epic but that movie was horrendous. That's probably why I forgot to take pictures. Whatever.

Thanks for some good summer memories, Evonne. You're the best.

Fourth, fifth and first

In the interest of creating cherished childhood memories, we woke the kids up super duper early on the fourth and headed north to Grandma's neck of the woods. The parade in Dan's hometown starts at 8:30 and we live about an hour away so yeah, the Fourth of July turns out to be a long day. It was my idea to go so I'm not complaining. I'm going to make those kids of mine have some lasting memories of fun times with their family at parades if it kills me.

It's a pretty good parade too. Not many floats but lots of tractors and candy. Good enough.

We headed over to check out the fun in the park festivities after the parade. That part was probably a mistake. Too hot and too crowded makes for some cranky kids. We didn't last long. No biggie. At least we tried.

We headed over to Grandma's house for some lunch and good times with Uncle Tony. And Grandma gave me some Tupperware that she didn't want anymore so that was awesome. 

After lunch we drove home. The kids snoozed in the car. I don't remember the rest of the day honestly. That's what happens when you're an old lady like me and you don't blog it when it happens. It's gone forever. I do remember that we kept the kids up way past bedtime to go see the fireworks and all they did was whine and complain and want to go home before they even started. We won't make that mistake again any time soon. They were happier just watching the fireworks in the street that our neighbors were lighting off. Duly noted.

The next morning we drove down to Provo to meet up with my buddy Arlene and her hubby Carl. Arlene and I used to teach school together. She lives in Texas now but was visiting Utah for the Fourth. We stopped by an awesome shaved ice joint for a treat.

The servings were humongous and so very tasty. It tasted like a big fruity scoop of fresh snow. Dan and I had a little scoop of coconut ice cream hidden inside ours. Divine. I think I'll be heading back very soon.

Dan makes a pretty good photobomber, I must say.

Last but not least, the first harvest of my wimpy little garden. Isn't it cute? I'm excited for the beets and broccoli to get a move on. And next year maybe I'll figure out how to grow strawberries without killing them.

chapter five: to the country

I made the little darlings pose in the front yard before church. Cate's wearing her Auburn dress that my buddy Janell made for her. Another crafty sewing friend. I'm so lucky. So the dress isn't the traditional orange and blue but it says War Eagle and has the AU and tiger eyes all over. Danny's got the orange and blue going on though.



In case you're wondering, it was already 85 degrees out while we were driving to church...at 8:45 in the morning. Ug.

Church was fine. I worried how Danny would do in primary. Lucky me, I got to stay with him the whole time since he wouldn't let me leave. Cate went right into nursery and played like a champ! Amazing that I can have two children so extremely different from each other.

I sent Grama Bama home with the kids when there was still an hour-ish left of church. I had pretty much had enough of the whiny naughty kids by that point. Grama Bama later reported that Cate promptly fell asleep upon their arrival at her house. Good thing too since she'd stayed up so late the night before and then we had to wake her up for church.

After the nap and some lunch, we headed over to my friend Rebecca's house. Cate and Ella posed for a few pictures. These two cuties are almost exactly one year apart in age. They're adorable if you ask me.


We spent a little time in the basement chatting while the kids played ping pong and explored.

Rebecca's mom brought out some of the old toys and this was one of them.



I love it! You can't really tell from the picture but that table is set for a dinner of sushi. Sushi in the play family camper. I love it (not actual sushi, just the idea that the little plastic family is eating sushi on their camping trip...who does that?).



We headed out to the country after a few rounds of ping pong (the kind of game that goes like this: you hit the ball, your opponent picks it up off the floor and then tosses it over the net, you pick it up again, your opponent walks away because they're now bored of it all).

The country is actually a place called Gold Hill. It's a short drive out of the big city...it's the country. That's where Rebecca's grandparents (Granny and Granddaddy I believe) used to live. It's a very old house. I remember driving there as a youngster in the back of her dad's El Camino.



There were kittens in the barn.



And a peacock! I loved watching Danny chase it around. He was having a blast.





A little bit of porch swinging (which actually felt really good since it created a small breeze...it was stinkin' hot out and oh, so muggy)...



and 4 wheeling (which also felt quite nice because of the breeze)...



and cute little girls staying hydrated while they awaited their turn for a ride.






Time for the girls to ride. I was scared Cate would fall off, hence the fake smile. I'm also not a big fan of this whole 4 wheeling thing. Big scary roller coasters, yes. Fast motorized vehicles riding through fields and weeds and such, nope.



See my true feelings about it...



Rebecca thinks it's funny that I'm such a scaredy cat.


Awwww, how sweet. Me and my man. See the glistening around my collar bone. That's sweat. From just sitting around and doing nothing. It was so humid. I don't know how people live there in the summer.



Somebody please help me remember to put my hand on my hip when I pose for any future pictures. I'm really not loving the flabby arm thing I've got going on.



We wanted to get a few pictures of us and our kids before calling it a day. They were all so good I couldn't pick just one to share.









I think this last one is my favorite.



A fun, sweaty afternoon in the country. Good times.