What we did this summer

Okay since back to school is only a few days away I thought I would just do the summer round up so you could all enjoy the crazy things we did this summer. This is going to be long with lots of photos so get a drink, a snack, and get ready to oooh, ahh, and laugh at all we did this summer. Also, don't forget that if you want to see the pictures bigger than they are here, just click on them. Yes they are going to be really big if you do that, so don't say I didn't warn you.

Lela, our oldest daughter got her ears pierced the day after school let out, on May 22nd. (I finally gave in, what drama this caused with our middle daughter Cora, who is now counting the days until she can get her ears pierced, sigh)


The next week on May 27th David's step-sister Karali got married, here he is with the bride. Karali and I are balancing out the universe, she has three blonde-headed boys close in age to our girls.



















Then on June 4th our middle daughter, Miss Cora turned 6! After her party she asked how long it would be until she would be 7! I have to slow this girl down or she'll be a teenager before I know it.



















In June I also got to watch my youngest nephew, Ethan, (he just turned 1 year old) for a few hours one day while his Nana (my mom) got her nails done. Ethan is my younger sister Samantha's little man, she works full time right now so Nana and Papa (my mom and dad) watch him and his two siblings (big brother Morgan aged 7 and older sister Katie aged 4.) Look at those cheeks! I just love to nibble those cheeks!



















Anaya, our youngest daughter, took her first dance class in June at The Little Gym. Okay I am not a girly-girl per se but I was so freaking out over how CUTE my daughter looked in her dance clothes, tap, and ballet shoes. I watched her all through her dance class planning what dance outfit I was going to put her in next.



















Our family enjoys the Phoenix Zoo, so here are some pictures of us on the Endangered Species Carousal while we took a break from the hot summer sun.



























July 1st we went on a fun field trip with Anaya's summer Developmental Preschool group to our local Bounce Play Place. Here is Anaya sliding down the slide. (In case anyone reading this doesn't know already, Anaya has an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Anaya goes to a Special Education Developmental Preschool at a public school in our school district. We are very proud of the progress she has made in the last two years. As always, if you have any questions about her disorder please feel free to ask me about it. I love to help people get educated.)



















July 3rd was Anaya's 4th birthday (yikes my baby is 4!) July 3rd is a big birthday day in our family because its was also Ethan's 1st birthday and David's cousin Karah had her son Ryker that very day this year. (Note to self: I need to get a picture of Ryker to post on the blog, he is a cutie.)















July 4th we all got in the car and headed for Cedar City, Utah for 5 days of fun at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. I have been attending this festival for many years and each year it just gets better so if you are inclined and can go one summer check them at here: http://www.bard.org/ Lela attended her first live Shakespear play; we took her to Taming of the Shrew. Lela really enjoyed herself, I was so impressed that she was able to following the story even the dialogue was 16th Century English. Lela also attended Fiddler on the Roof with my parents. David and I attended Two Gentlemen of Verona and School of Wives while we were at the festival as well. We took the girls to the Green Show and we ate tarts (according the fine gentleman that sold the tarts to me - our tarts were fat free because we were eating them outside, they also make you look more attractive, well maybe not, but when said with a perfectly bawdy English accent you might just believe it. wink wink nudge nudge)

The girls played at the park with my parents while we were at our matinee of School of Wives and then we all went to see Disney's WALL*E. We also went to Cedar Breaks which is near Bryce and Zion Canyons. We had a great view and saw lots of wild flowers that the girls were crazy about.


















Okay is it just me or is my Cora always making some kind of distressful emotional face in the pictures I take of her. (She's my drama mama in case you didn't know that.)

This part of our vacation was not withouts difficulties, the first night we stayed at the resort I wacked my head on the low ceiling of our loft bedroom. That little middle of night walk in the dark pretty much knocked me to the floor and gave me a huge bump on my forehead that lasted over a week.(Seriously, could I be any less coordinated on vacation than I already am at home.) We didn't have air conditioning so we sweated all night the first night (gasp! Doesn't everyone in the Western region of the United States have air conditioning, I guess not!) We didn't need the air conditioning the rest of the week because the weather was cool and beautiful. We also had to have the brakes replaced on David's car. This meant spending 2 hours in the waiting room with our daughters with nothing to entertain them as all their stuff was in the car. I had no idea it would take that long! My children survived and lets just say that we were all very happy to leave when the car was done.

The next destination on our vacation was Sedona. We love Sedona! We go to Sedona at least twice a year. This was a nice place for us to stop and catch our breath before we came home. I washed clothes like a mad woman. We went swimming at the resort's pool and David cooked for us. Being away from home for a week was great but we were ready to come home. Sorry no pictures from Sedona this time but I promise our next trip I will post something.

Cupcakes from Boston Market. Okay they didn't taste as good as they looked but since I am total freak I took pictures of them anyway on July 17th. (Thank you for enduring this cupcake break here at my blog.)















Our next fun event of the summer was July 23rd, when the girls dressed up for a Princess Tea Party in our living room. (Sorry you folks out there that only have boys; this is just how we roll in Estrogenville when David is at work.)


























This is the tea set that we use when we have tea parties; I have had it since I was 8 years old and its very special to me. I am so glad that I have my girls to share it with.















I hope you have enjoyed our summer wrap up. We had a great time and yes, I am glad school is starting. We did some back to school shopping (sorry no pictures) and went to school for meet the teacher. Stay tuned for the back to school pictures!