Miles, Cooper, Connor, Aiden, Preston
Grace, Maggie, Allie, and Ashlyn
Ashlyn, McKenzie, Ellie-Kenzie's new baby sister, and Allie
I was laying in bed this morning and heard Cooper and Chris talking. Cooper said, "Mom is a lot like Handy Manny. She can fix anything like him." Chris agreed with him and they continued their morning talk. I smiled when Chris told me about it.
Maggie loves playing softball. Her season ended today and will have a short tournament this week. She has really enjoyed and excelled in this sport.
Our neighbors behind us invited Maggie to go to their yard to slip & slide and we had our little pool and slide up. It was funny because they had the girls' yard (Maggie, Cassidy, Berkeley, Sierra) and we had the boys' yard(Aiden, Cooper, & Keegan)--Allie and Ashlyn were upstairs playing at the time.'
Chris has been training to do the Wasatch Back Ragnar relay--the largest relay race in the world--since January. He was going to run the Seattle Ragnar last year, but was injured. His foot has been bothering him this year, but he was able to run in the race this year. Chris ran with 11 other guys on his team, conquering 188 miles from Logan to Park City. He only got 3 hours of sleep per night (Thursday and Friday), so he was quite bushed when he got home Saturday afternoon. He really enjoyed it and wants to put a team together for next year. If you want to run this race and be on his team, let him know.
Cooper's season is finally over. Tee-ball is not very exciting--I do love Cooper's enthusiasm for it. The rules for t-ball though say that there are basically no outs. Cooper knew this and so would not run full speed to his bases. He would actually act like he was in slow motion, gliding into base. He would have a big grin on his face while pumping his arms very slowly. It was quite funny to watch. I am glad he'll get more action next year. He did have fun though.
The kids are loving board games, especially checkers. They love to challenge us to games. Cooper
Cooper was very disappointed in not being able to go to soccer camp, so on the last day we had Zac, Coop played soccer with him with Allie trailing behind. Both Cooper and Allie ate it up.
Allie has had to work hard to have her 5th birthday party. She was having a "BAD ATTITUDE" April, so she had to earn her party back--I was REALLY hoping she would earn it back. She invited cousins, school friends, church friends, and neighbors, which totaled 18 little girls. I didn't know where to say no, so we just invited everyone. The day started out with family presents: slip n slide from Cooper; barbie car & barbies from Maggie; lamp, clothes, and shoes from mom & dad. After family time, it was party time. It was a fun breakfast/pajama party. It was from 9:00-10:30 a.m. and worked out great. We served pancakes, eggs, bacon, berry muffins, orange juice, and ice cream sandwiches--at the end. (Allie didn't want to cut her cake.) The girls were great! There was no drama or trauma involved. I think I like morning parties.
After the party, we went to the discount theater and saw "Alice in Wonderland"--Allie's choice. I enjoyed it a lot more that I thought I would. Chris fell asleep and the kids all enjoyed it. Cooper exclaimed as we were leaving the theater, "THAT was a great movie!" Allie and Maggie also enjoyed it a lot.
Tonight for dinner, we were going to eat at The Oaks up Ogden Canyon--an outdoor burger place by the river--but the weather was not cooperating. (54 degrees with wind and rain--BURRR!!!) Allie then chose Golden Corral. She said she wanted to eat at a place where she could serve herself. It was an enjoyable evening with both sets of Grandmas and Grandpas. She received a beach bag, dress, and shoes from G&G Davidson and G&G Hislop gave her a Hannah Montana movie CD, a Little Mermaid CD, and a beach towel. Allie had a great day.
Allie's birthday is tomorrow and she "had" to choose a Strawberry Shortcake theme. (I bought a party pack at a silent auction in October, so she had to have this type of party.) I love making cakes. It is fun to create them. I have also found a fondant recipe that is sooo easy to make--cheap too. I think Allie liked it too. Maggie and Allie helped make the leaves and flowers. (The cake is made from a heart shaped pan--it did want to break apart, so I had to reinforce it with plastic wrap--underneath the frosting. I will have to be careful when cutting it.)
Jake, Maggie, and Zach
Maggie had a friend, Laura Hadley, over today. The lovely June weather that we have been having of 62 degrees with lots of rain hasn't stopped them from going outside. They donned our beautiful rain ponchos and went outside playing soccer, exploring the garden, and playing in the playhouse.
This is how Cooper and Chris watched game 4 of the Celtics/Lakers series. By the way, Celtics won putting the series at 2-2.
After Allie and Drew were finished swimming, they went in to change their clothes. They came back with big grins on their faces and said, "Backwards is cool!" They thought they were so clever...cute too.
We went swimming at Kim and Andy's today. Maggie, Cooper and Allie have so much fun with their cousins, Drew and Wakely--Henry was sleeping. Allie only dipped her feet in. Drew stayed in the pool all of about 10 minutes. Wakely and Maggie had fun hanging out in the deep end and Cooper swam mostly by himself while Kim and I chatted and were the life-guards.
I think these are peas coming up.
We have never had a garden before now--and it is quite big. With the help from Kevin, my brother, we used his rototiller and he got us some manure. We worked hard on our weed patch getting it ready for a garden. We planted: corn, beans, peas, beets, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelons, raspberries, blackberries, and potatoes. Today, I bought tomatoes and peppers to put in. Hopefully it will grow. There are some sprouts coming up and I am excited. Oh, we put in the lovely brick path too--we will fill it in with some sand and then border it with flowers--maybe--lots of ideas, but a little budget.
Cooper came down last night after his bath and said he wanted to wear this outfit to school. He was wearing 5 pairs of underwear also. Note where he put the tie. Needless to say, I didn't let him wear it to school, but did take a picture.
Allie and Teacher Brenda
A way excited Allie 
Grandma and Grandpa Hislop and Allie 
Grandpa and Allie
Cooper, Allie, Chris, and Maggie
Allie sitting between her friends, Rebecca and Brianna.
Cooper, Jacob, Allie, and Grace...the funny thing about this was Grace 
All of the "gorillas" in our group.
The new baby Zuri. Allie called the Mama elephant "Mean Mama"
It was a great day at the zoo for seeing the animals. It was overcast and not too cold.
Grace and Allie posing with the big horn sheep.