Happy Birthday!

We had a couple of birthdays at our house in September. Alice turned 3 on September 1st! I can't believe she is 3! She is growing up and getting so big. She is lots of fun and learning to do lots of things. Granmama and Auntie had a lovely tea party for her. (Joe and I missed it because we were in Hawaii). She thought presents were great! She is such a princess!

Joe also had a birthday, last week Sunday. I won't tell how old he is to be nice. But man, how did we get this old. Time just keeps ticking...

Aloha!

Yes, Joe and I went to Hawaii. For a week. Without kids. Thanks Mom, you're the best. We worked hard, helping Mike and Myrna get ready to move. We wish we could have done more, stayed longer. We did manage to get to the beach a few times. It was so fabulous. We got to see some old friends. We ate local food. We went hiking. We went to the temple. We forgot the camera a lot. We stayed in Waikiki the last night, took a catamaran ride, watched the sunset. I couldn't resist taking a picture of the exit sign at the hotel, too funny! Ahh, Hawaii, I miss you already.

Busy August

Here are a bunch of pictures from August. We went to Utah for my little brother's graduation from BYU. We took a tour around Temple Square. We played laser tag, I wore the wrong color. We took a little hike up to see Bridal Veil falls. Carissa and I made Evan an awesome pinata for his graduation party. It was a fun time with lots of family!

Just before our trip to Utah, the Marlers entered some things in the county fair. Between 5 of us (Carissa, Daniel, Ayden, Joe, and Leslie) we took home 14 ribbons, and 2 Reserve Champions. Carissa and I made cards, cupcakes, baked goods, and entered photos. Joe made the elephant, of course, and got Reserve Champion for the fine arts department. Daniel won 2nd place for his cinnamon roll, and Ayden made monkey bread, that not only one 1st place for junior division baking, but got Reserve Champion for the entire baked goods division, including adults! He was pretty shocked! Guess I will have to step up my game to beat the 10 year old next year!

How many pancakes can you eat?

Well I was going to post some pictures from our trip to Utah for Evan's graduation, but I can't seem to get it to work. So instead I will post this story about my dad that he was telling the kids while we were walking around temple square.

My dad, Brent, had a friend Johnny when he was growing up. I guess one morning, after a sleepover or something, Johnny and Brent decided to have a pancake eating contest. My dad thinks he was about 11 years old. So they started eating and kept eating. My dad ate 50 pancakes! And Johnny ate 51! He just had to eat one more than Brent. After he was done, he realized that he had been eating syrup on all his pancakes while Johnny hadn't eaten syrup on any of his. When they got done it was just about lunch time, but of course my dad said he was so full he couldn't eat lunch. But I guess Johnny did eat lunch!

I thought it was a funny story, and I can't imagine anyone eating 50 pancakes. I asked my dad how big they were, and he made a circle with his hands. Normal pancake size, not silver dollar size. Wow! So I just wanted to write this down so I could remember it, and my kids could remember it and know something about Grandpapa when he was a kid. Thanks for the fun story Dad!

Pictures

A Month in Review

Because I haven't posted in over a month, I should highlight all the things that have been going on, because there are lots:
School is out
Rylan (nephew) got baptized at the beginning of June. We had lots of family come. It was a great time. We went to Heritage Square in Golden one day and had a lot of fun riding Apline slides, go karts and kiddie coasters. Alice loved it all, the little daredevil!
It hailed, marble shooter sized hail. We will be getting a new roof, new paint and fixing the fence. Joe's car is dinged up, but was already ugly so oh well. Fortunately the tomato plants have recovered nicely.
I had a birthday, woohoo! Yummy Chocolate cupcakes filled with mousse and topped with caramel.
Eli went to Camp Invention and had a great time.
Eli had a birthday, 9 years old! More cupcakes, this time with fabulous spekuloos mousse.
Eli went to kids college and learned some Spanish and about math in art and nature.
My parents came twice. Once for the baptism, then they came back to watch Carissa and Daniel's kids while they went to Hawaii.
Simon has been playing baseball. He likes the position of catcher best. He looks so cute wearing all the gear that is way too big for him. He also really likes playing in the dirt.
Joe went with the scouts on a 100 mile bike ride near Moab - the White Rim Trail. I believe it was quite the experience. It is good to have him home.
We got to watch my cousin Kelly play softball at a tournament in Denver, and visit with my aunt Kara. They came from Santa Monica and it was lots of fun seeing them.
Its been 100+ degrees for more days than I have kept track of, but I am sure it is some kind of record. And that was before we got to July. Doesn't bode well for the rest of the summer. Praying for rain....
Its been a busy summer and we are still going. We have swimming lessons to look forward to, and a trip to Utah in August for my brother Evan's graduation from BYU. And then before we know it school will start. Joe and I are going to Hawaii at the beginning of September to help his parents pack up. They are retiring after 35 years at BYU-Hawaii. Something to look forward to!

Happy Birthday America!

Happy Fourth of July! What a great country this is and I am happy to celebrate. Even without fireworks. We had fun going to the parade in Brush and then we had our annual water fight, where I got a lot of water squirted in my eyes and ears. The children thought it was fun to gang up on their mothers. And a fabulous dinner, and for dessert homemade ice cream of course, and yummy cupcakes by Carissa. I will try to post pictures of the water fight Joe took later.