June Birthday Party

Aaaahhhhh! The birthday party season is almost over. I love to have fun birthday parties, but at the same time it is a lot of work! Tonight we had the extended Howard family and my mom and Wayne over for a celebration. Connor turned 10 (which he informs me means he is now officially a tween) and Addy turned 5 today. We had some yummy brownie pizzas (peanut butter, chocolate with pretzel m&m's, and mint) with homemade vanilla ice cream. It was all yummy and we even made some ice cream in the roll around ball...which is fun for the kids for about 5 minutes and then the adults get to take on the task for the next 20 minutes. The kids had lots of fun kicking around the soccer ball and flying some styrofoam planes that the Gloeckner's gave Connor. The older girls snuck off to Cassy's room, but we tempted them back with a game of table topics, a little conversation game in which you each get to answer different questions. We ended with everyone answering what your ultimate birthday dinner would be. Some of the answers: Ralph-wild salmon, baked beans and real key lime pie; Connor-top ramen, bread pudding; Alex-cereal; Cassy-bruschetta, brie, margaritas (non alcoholic of course); Grandma Bennion-roast beef dinner (which we then all agreed is the best, especially if your grandma makes it for you :)

Summer of Service

One of the things I am hoping to teach my kids is the joy of service, so we are trying to live a summer of service this year. On Wednesdays, we are planning on trying to fit in a service project and also a little something fun, or a field trip to somewhere that we have never visited. Matt's day off is Wednesday, so this way he can be a part of the fun. This week we went and made breakfast for the people who were staying at the Ronald McDonald House in SLC. We made french toast and sausage and cut up strawberries. Of course it was a little stressful because we were caught behind an accident on I-15, but we made it and were able to provide breakfast for about 35 people. The kids got right in there and helped cook it all up (especially Cassy and Connor). It is so fun to have them be old enough to help out so much and to see them be so capable and in charge of themselves. The families staying at the house were very appreciative.

After breakfast, we headed off to the Kennecott Bingham Copper Mine. It is a huge copper mine and we had never been to before. The mine is huge (one of the few man made things that can actually be seen from space). It was interesting to learn more about the mine and the operations there. We were especially interested in the big trucks that haul off the debris. They are as big as a two story house!

Cabela's was the next stop on our tour (much to Cassidy's chagrin). It is a big sportsman's store that I had heard was really cool. The boys had fun and Matt bought some bullets so they could go shooting. The store has lots of stuffed animals, especially deer. There is also a fresh water aquarium with a variety of fish. We were most impressed with the huge catfish.

We stopped at a picnic area at Thanksgiving Point to eat our lunch and play a little soccer. We had a great day serving and exploring some places we have never been!

Harry Potter-a-thon

We woke up to snow on Memorial Day...not just a skiff, but a couple of heavy, wet inches! So needless to say, we weren't heading to the pool for some memorial day fun. Once we shook the snow off the trees and assessed the damage in the garden (we had just planted the garden on Friday), we decided we would have a Harry Potter-a-thon. We called the Shuman family and they graciously let us borrow the first three movies from them. We watched them all and we couldn't stop there. Over the next day or two we watched all the Harry Potter movies up to the first of part 7. One night we even stayed up until almost 3am (Addy and Alex fell asleep) so we could watch the last show. We let the no PG13 rule slide for the younger kids (just this once). We can't wait until the final movie comes out on July 14th or 15th! I think we might try to go see it as a family to celebrate Matt's birthday....wingardium leviosa!