lots of catch up = lots of fun

 Wow, I have so much to catch up on! I can't believe I've been so long in updating the blog. We have had such a great Summer, I'm SO sad to see it come to an end. We are excited for school and all the fun things in the Fall, but I don't feel like I had a very long Summer. So, here goes the update! (Above and below) We were able to see our good friends the Heatons. They were great friends of ours in Cleveland. They were here in the "west" to see family before they begin their new adventure in JAPAN. Yes, Japan. It's awesome, I'm so excited for them! Their boys are adorable, Eli and Anderson are just a few weeks apart, so we have to always get a picture of the two together. They are pretty cute!

 I'm glad it's not only my kids were are hooked to electronics!

 Me and Stacey. I love this girl!

 Real Salt Lake! We love going to Soccer games, especially with the Suxo's. Here's Packer trying to spruce up our picture. Thanks Packer. He just got his mission call to Bolivia! So Scott and him are especially excited to hang out and chat about Bolivia.

On the 24th of July, we had such a fun family day together. We went to a parade, caught lots of candy, went on a hike to Stuart Falls up Provo canyon, then up to Midway to eat lunch at our favorite pizzeria. The boys did great on the hike. It is over 4 miles. Will walked the entire way, and Eli walked some of it. We had fun putting our feet in the water at the end of the hike. We were super dirty and dusty afterward, but we had a great time. 

 Eli has a great smile. Here he is waiting so patiently for his pizza!

 Eli crashed right after we started our drive back home. He is always pulling his shirt up like this when he sleeps. Mostly because he usually has his blankie with him and I think he likes the feel of the soft blankie on his tummy.

 We were so lucky to have our nephew/cousin come visit for three days. We had a great time with Caleb. Will really looks up to Caleb and loves hanging out with his cool older cousin. ;) We went swimming and got shaved ices.... of course. We played games, watched movies, and the boys played a lot of wii together. They also did a lot of Parkour.... now Will is obsessed. Look it up on YouTube, it is pretty cool stuff!

Girls Night at the Cheesecake Factory! These woman are amazing. I love them all for different reasons and I feel lucky to have met them!

My cousin Lauren stopped by to visit. She just returned to the states from Panama! Here hubby will now be working in the states so she has returned to the good 'ol USA! I'm so glad I got to see her and her cute kiddos. This is Nellie, she is adorable (freaky double chin picture of me....) and I just loved watching her waddle around. 

Random picture, but I had to document! I got my ring cleaned, dipped, polished, etc for the first time since we've been married..... almost 10 years! Yes, it was WAY over due. This picture doesn't do it justice, but it was so incredibly beautiful when I picked it up. So clean and sparkly, I loved it. I felt like I did 10 years ago the day after I got engaged and I sat and stared at it all the time. It sure makes a difference when your diamond is actually clean!

Oops, not sure why this is out of order, but this is my cute cousin Lauren when she came to visit. Crazy, I live next to a good friend of hers! They know each other from their BYU student ward and they are both from the east coast.

Park day! I met my friend Cassi at the park to see her new baby. Unfortunately I couldn't even hold her because I wasn't feeling the greatest, but she is adorable! The kids had a lot of fun playing at the playground and eating their "picnic." 

We headed up to Logan a few weekends ago to see Kari who was here from CO. We don't get to see her very often so when we do we don't miss the chance! We also had my nieces baptism, so it worked out perfectly to do it all in one weekend. We had a super yummy dinner at Grandma Martha's. Then all the grandkids took some pictures together, they all looked so cute! I just love these boys of mine, they are too much. They tug at my heart every.single.day. LOVE THEM!

 They LOVE the trampoline!!!

 During that same weekend in Logan, we helped my brother Mike move. All his stuff was stored in my partents garage since they are gone on their mission. Seeing all my dad's stuff there made me miss him. He is such an organizer, I love it! I must get it from him. :)

After the baptism on our way home, we were feeling like Mexican food so we went to one of our favorite spots..... Los Hermanos! We love it!

Another trip to the shaved ice place! These two are such great friends and brothers. I couldn't have asked for a better pair of boys. I love that they look out for each other, play together, wrestle, laugh, and genuinely care about one another. Have boys is a blast!

My sister came to visit for a few days and we had a great time! While they were here, we got some of the cousins together to watch the Lorax. I made truffula trees and we had some "themed" food, gummi bear barb-a-loots, humming fish goldfish, skittle truffula fruits, and candy truffula seeds. 

 My two oldest nieces both have babies! They were so fun to have around. Their little girls are only a couple months apart. We love having babies around our house! My boys were SO sweet to them. They NEED a baby sister! This is Maysa (below) just snoozing at the pool. Check out that swimsuit. Seriously? I was dying.

 This is her cousin Rhen. Talk about chubb. She has the most delicious rolls of fat I've ever seen. She was also snoozing at the pool while we swam and hung out.

 This is what me and Eli do. We wrap him up like a hot dog and then we snuggle on my pool chair. I love having a pool!!

 More of the Lorax party. Cute bottles, huh?! I loved them, and I had to have them.

Another picture of cute chubbie Rhen.

Will started soccer last week! He is doing great! Scott is their coach and they are having a lot of fun together. Eli also loves soccer and is DYING to get out there and play with the big boys! He thinks he is on the team and he does all their drills and practices with them. AND he's really good!

Last weekend we went to see Fiddler on the Roof at the outdoor theater in Orem. It was a lot of fun and the boys loved it. Scott's parents were able to come with us. We love Fiddler on the Roof and now our boys walk around singing the songs. 

This little munchkin of ours does not like to stay in his bed. He comes in our room at least once or twice a night. Sometimes he comes in and lays down on my floor and I don't even know he's there. Then usually in the morning he'll just push his way into our bed and take over. I have to admit, I kind of like snuggling with him every morning..... BUT we are trying really hard to break the habit with school starting and all of us getting up earlier. He sure is a cutie though!

Wish me luck! Potty training has begun AGAIN. We are doing a little better each time we try. It is really hard when you still have places to go and things to do. So slowly but surely we are making changes! He still doesn't really care to tell me that he's going to go, or that he has gone in his undies.... so we are working on that. I found out that the motivation is marshmallows. He will go every time if I promise him marshmallows!

Will had a violin play-in. It is like a recital but all the students at his studio play through book one together. They did great. I was so proud of Will he did an awesome job and he has been practicing so much this week to get ready! He is cruising through book one, only a few more songs left. He always looks so cute up there playing his tiny violin. I'm so glad we put him in violin last fall, it has really boosted his confidence and he really enjoys it and is good at it. I'm really proud of him!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!! I was a wreck, but he did great! I can't believe I have a first grader, gone all day! Me and Eli have really been missing him. His first day of school went great and I was so thankful for that. The only problem was that he ate only Pringles for lunch..... so he was starving and ate the rest of his lunch in the car on the way home. 

 This year his teacher is Ms. Jenkins. She seems great and hope he enjoys his first grade year! He is in Spanish, which means he has Spanish every day (which I LOVE!) every day of the week, plus he has PE, Music, Art, and Library time each week. I'm excited for him to learn to read and I know he is going to do a great job.

Me and Eli have lots of fun plans to keep us busy and to keep our minds off of Will being gone all day! I'm thinking I might join a gym with kids care (mostly for Eli's sake) so Eli can go run around and play, even during the winter. I also signed Eli up for itty bitty football, which will be so fun to watch! Eli is also going to start a little Joy School Preschool with some friends here in our neighborhood. Life is definitely changing and moving forward, we are so lucky and so blessed with all that we have. My boys are my life and I love every moment!