July 4th

Caught Christian and Em just as they were coming down the Half Pike at the water park-this is the scariest ride. Only takes a few seconds and it's done but the jolt your stomach gets is it... There is one at the water park in Provo that we went to. I love scary rides but this one was worse than I ever imagined. It wasn't too bad when I look back-but the anticipation killed me!

Having a Dairy Queen treat and waiting for the fireworks to go off

This was such a relaxing weekend. It was great to get away from the craziness of home and what was suppose to be a simple summer and just enjoy the days. We went to Boise, ID with just the 4 of us-Ashleigh was in Oregon at a camp. We left here on Wednesday and Nef needed to work in Twin Falls for a few hours so he dropped us off at the Mall and we walked around, had dinner and then headed up to dad's house. He was going to be there; but decided to go to OR to visit with Jeff (my brother) and his 2 girls and then head to Keri's house up by Portland. So we got there and chatted with him that night and then he left early the next morning to go. Kelly and her family were going to come with us and they had something come up and couldn't make it so it was just us. We went to a water park on Thursday with some friends; Andrea, Ryan, Bailey, Ellie and their newest baby boy Logan. They were in our 1st ward we were in when we lived in Henderson while he attended dental school. It was so fun to see them. I hadn't seen them in a long time. Nef works up there a lot and has often called Ryan to go to b-ball games or dinner. He gets to go to Vegas often and do the same-visit with friends while we stay here and go to school!! hahaha! It's great for him-at least he gets to go where he knows people and loves that aspect of the traveling with work. Kids has so much fun at the water park and it was hot. Worked out great. Emily and I went to see the new American Girl movie: Kit Kittredge on Friday while Nef took Christian to a movie. We went to dinner and then it was off to the Boise downtown parade and back to Meridian for the local fireworks show. For being a small town, the show was great. It seemed to last a long time and they did a great job. We took chairs and sat on the grass near the race track where they went off. We got to see a lot of fireworks from there going off all over. Emily especially loves parades. She will go to a parade anytime, anywhere. She loves seeing the floats and the candy, t-shirts, frisbees or whatever they throw. She scored with this parade, coming home with a bag full of treats and a t-shirt-from 2003! She said it would make a great sleep shirt. On Sat. we just hung out all day and I had a great time finishing a fun little gift for our friends baby boy. He was getting blessed on Sunday morning and that was a plus for the weekend. It ended up working out great that we got to be there for that day. It was so nice of them to include us as they had all their family there too. I've included a few photos from that day. He is such a great baby. I held him for hours at the water park-he slept the whole time and never made a peep. Such a sweet and tiny one. Those days seem so long ago for me-wow! I'm feeling old. Then we drove home on Sunday so we could get Emily ready for camp the next morning. Thanks to my dad for letting us use his home and to the Payne's for letting us crash their party. We had a great time getting away.
Emily with Bailey Payne
Christian hates! it when I take his picture-but I told him to be patient and just smile-he actually did it.
The Payne Family: Ryan, Logan, Bailey, Ellie and Andrea
This is the clock that I made. I really should have found out if it even went in his room before making it; but I saw a similar idea and just had to do it. I don't know if it will go in the baby's room or not; but I sure did have fun making it. I thought I could go into a store and buy the dies to cut all the pieces I needed for it/or even just cut them out at the store using their dies and just go home and put it all together-wasn't quite that simple. Ended up cutting a lot of them by hand and that was half the fun. Just cutting and trying to create the shapes. I had a great time and it was relaxing for me to do this. I love to put the pieces together and then see the final product-nothing more to make me happy-a little paper and scissors and I'm content for days or even months. Just that simple-wish I could play all day, every day. I used to-where did the "time" go.