Summer 2011......so far.

Let's just start this post off with a bang, shall we? I mean honestly, who doesn't love a little bathroom reading? She gets this from her father-haha. So yes, we thought about potty training for about two days and then I realized that potty training is hard enough alone-but throw in driving the older two all over the green earth and just forget about it. If there is one thing I would not be okay with it would be pee in my car. No way. SO-it will probably resume at the end of August where we will be home alone for 7-8 hours. :) No worries.

So none of these pictures go in order-well they actually go backwards-in order. Olivia enjoying an ice cream sandwich. Yes, I take her clothes off to eat them. I hate stains-almost as much as pee in my car. ;)

Here we all are-ready to go to the fireworks. The red,white and blue was TOTALLY planned. Paul tried to wear black-and he was forced back in the house and not allowed back out until he coordinated properly. HA.

Paul and shorty. People are always amazed(especially at church) at the height of my heels. NOW you can see why I wear heels-we look so much better together when I can at least clear his chin.

Oh my heart........this picture is edible.

So over the 4th we went to my parents place in Star Valley. It was so much dang fun! It had all the makings of a perfect trip. Golfing, tennis, swimming, parade, shopping in Jackson, campfires......it is absolutely beautiful up there and we are hoping to get back up there before summer is over.

Oh, our little budding pyro-maniac. She was obsessed with putting more wood on the fire. Between that and the river roaring right next to us-I wanted to leash her like a puppy.

Glow sticks in the tent-a White family tradition. ;) The last night we were there it was lightning and thundering. It would light up our whole tent-I loved it! I love having my whole family sleeping all around me. So cozy-and SO nice to get away from everything for a few days.

Every year they hold a 4th of July parade at theStar Valley resort-everyone decorates their bikes or golf carts and tries to win prizes. Never ones to shy away from a little holiday,friendly-spirited competition-we decorated the shiz out of my kids bikes and entered. Hilarious. People really get into it.....

div> Olivia was entered also.....

div>
Nope-Not. Even. Kidding. The dog had a matching vest. With sequins. :)

Lined up and ready to go.

Cooling off at the swimming pool. I swear that I was on this vacation. I always try to remember to hand off the camera-but it rarely happens. I WAS here. I just happened to be eating red vines and reading a book. HEAVEN!

Jackson Hole.

Obviously it was a real mean game of tennis. ;)

Lookie who won in the parade contest: 1st(Allie), 2nd (Easton) and 7th(Olivia & Paul). For the record, I think Paul would have done better if he had put more bows and ribbons on his bike. Allie single handedly stole it because of the ribbons in her hair. HA! They each won some money to the country store that later bought 79 airheads.....;)

My sister went to Cancun and we got to get in some good cousin time. Check out the fence. Oh....the fence! It's the never ending project-for reals. We don't have our gates on because we are now waiting on concrete for our RV pad and between Paul being in Florida three times and now in L.A.-it just isn't moving very fast. However, I have LOVED having what is done and have enjoyed many, many hours in my own backyard. It has been an interesting process-somebody actually called the city on us(not kidding). They were positive we were doing something "illegal" because the city ordinance had changed regarding corner lot fences. So annoying and more than a little insulting. I kept saying, "We aren't stupid-or dishonest!" Oh well......I love it and will be so happy when it's done and I can get my husband back. haha...

One Sunday in June we took the kids to feed the birds and ducks down at Sugarhouse park. It used to be one of our favorite hangouts when we lived down there and I wanted to see what Olivia would do. Well-she loved it! So did Easton and you will notice the absence of Allie in almost all of these pictures. HA!-we are still working on her fear of birds. At least she got out of the car this time. :)

Just enjoying a banana in the backyard........

BASEBALL!! Easton started machine pitch this year and it has been SO MUCH FUN! We finally got a good team and an amazing coach. He is SO tiny on this team(I may have said he was 7 in July. Just maybe....) but he has held his own. He is actually one of their consistent hitters-there has only been a few times he hasn't gotten a hit. He has gotten so much better at catching the ball and getting in front of the ball too. I'm so stinkin' proud of him out there. He has really liked it this year too-almost as much as golf. Almost.

Could you just melt????

This next picture is what happens when Easton believes that he can take the jumps with the neighborhood 10-year-old boys. He was out there for about 15 minutes when I look out in the field and see one of the boys dragging his bike and the other dragging him. I could see the blood from my porch. All Easton could say was, "They said I was the toughest boy they had ever seen." The picture really doesn't even do it justice. I had to soak the blood off of him in the bathtub. He has grown up so much lately. :( When I look at him I see more of a boy-then my little boy. The way he walks, talks and acts is just so much more......older. He just keeps getting to be more and more fun and I'm so glad I have a mellow boy in the middle of my girls. haha..

Allie! She has really kept me hopping this summer! At the TaVaci concert in the spring I was stopped by Tami VanDusen (she created TaVaci) and asked if Allie would be interested in doing voice lessons for the summer to learn how to duet and harmonize. Of course we jumped at it and man oh man! It has been SO much work-especially for me. I can play the piano, but I have really had to step it up so that Allie could work on her music at home. Between her piano lessons and now voice lessons-we are spending at least an hour a day at the piano. The great thing is how much her voice has changed and grown just in the last few weeks. It's really shocking! So the hard work is paying off and I also love that it gives me and Allie our own thing to do. We are bonding over that piano bench-and I love it. The other nice thing is that she really wants to do it. She is singing at her friend's baptism next week-all by herself and it sounds so good! Its not just a little girl voice anymore. It's actually turning into a pretty voice that you want to hear. Me and Paul just look at each other and laugh when we listen to her because this DID NOT come from us!

Golf lessons. We put Allie in with Easton this year and while she didn't take to it anywhere near like her brother does-she does like it. Enough that she wants to go with her Dad. It really is the perfect sport for her though and I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier. No one is throwing a ball AT you-no one is chasing you-it's great for her. HA! Anyway, they both like it enough that it looks like I am bound for golf lessons or I might get left behind on family vacations!

Easton is obsessed with golf. He still is trying to figure out how he can grow up and be a professional golfer and a Jedi at the same time. ;)

What else?.....me and Paul are going on a river rafting trip for a week the first week in September. I don't know what I am thinking, other than I made a promise to myself to start trying more and different things. So here we go-we will be with professional river guides so that makes me feel a little better, but there is no cell phone coverage so I will go without talking to my kids for ONE WEEK. aaahhh. We are floating Ladore Canyon in Colorado and they say it is AMAZING scenery and camping. I'm counting on it......

Paul is busy-all the time. Between traveling for work and the yard projects he squeezes in golf whenever he can and an occasional date night with me. (I like the date night part best) and his work is actually going pretty well-which is saying something for where he works;). He has had some pretty neat opportunities come his way lately. So we are glad for that. Now if he could just finish the fence.......;)

So all is well! Here's hoping for a great rest of the summer