4th of July

We have had lots of fun things to do this summer, but I have spent every holiday or vacation teetering between enjoying the fun and feeling completely exhausted. I've almost come to terms with the fact that that's probably how it will be for me forever. I struggle without enough sleep, but my kids are eating these things up and loving all the action. The fourth of July was no exception.

I spent more time than usual thinking about how truly blessed we are to live in this amazing, free country. I am so grateful for the people throughout our history who have fought and sacrificed for our freedom.

 The epitome of Freedom!

 After the flag raising and pancake breakfast at the park, we decided last minute to go out on the boat for a bit. It was nice and hot so Haley, Darcy, and Ashley jumped in the water right away. Darcy had been into making these cool faces lately.

 After I had taken a turn wakeboarding I decided the water felt nice enough that I could stay in and swim with Darcy for a while.

 Lack of sleep eventually caught up to Parks.

 I had the wrong lens on at this point, but this is Haley wakeboarding.

 Ashley worked on learning to wakeboard.

 Luke hadn't been wakeboarding for, I think he said, eight years. You would have never known it though. Just like riding a bike I guess.

 I thought this was an awesome shot because you can see how hard Drew carves. He's practically sitting on the water!

 When I looked at this picture close up I had to laugh when I realized Darcy had decided to make another great face for this picture.

 

 When we got back to Drew's parents' house Grandma Becky set up the bubble machine.

 Thankfully, I got a nap in before we headed over to the Gallacci's for the party. Parks was wearing a white shirt, so I made him a cool bib out of a napkin for him to eat his watermellon.

 The guys and a couple girls (Not including me. I'm such a terrible shot.) spent hours shooting clay pigeons. This was a typical moment of Drew gloating about how amazing he is. :)

 Jack broke his leg riding motorcycles in Moab a few weeks ago, but he still joined the party outside.

 Ezra was excited and determined to be outside to watch the shooting games, but deep down he was a tiny bit nervous. I thought it was so sweet that he went and cuddled up to Darcy for a little comfort. We've had our fair share of fighting between these two lately, so seeing that when it really comes down to it they can count on each other, it so wonderful for me.

 Check out all that amunition!

 Parks was happy enough to be outside for all the shooting too. Of all our kids, he has been the least affected by loud noises. I thought it would be nice to protect his hearing a little so I gave him some ear muffs and he liked them for a while. Then he wanted them off. Then he wanted them on. Etc. etc. etc.

Father's Day

I know Father's Day was a while ago, but I had a couple pictures that I had to post. I love my dad and my kids' dad so much, and I love that we have a special day to celebrate them every year.

I thought this picture of Drew with our kids before church was soo cute! I love how Darcy is draped over him, Ezra decided to pose with his leg crossed and Parks is missing a shoe. When I think of how blessed my kids are to have this dad who loves them so much and takes such good care of them it chokes me up. I love these guys!

After church we headed to my parents' house to visit. Haley had made a bunch of little crowns for her nursery kids to give their dads and had some left over. We decided we needed a picture of all the guys in them. I told them to all go find the manliest prop they could find for the picture, and they took that very seriously! We were all getting a serious kick out of this shot. I am so proud to call these guys my family! So fun and such good sports! On top of that they are fantastic fathers (and soon to be fathers)!

Family Reunion

 At the end of June we went to the Jensen family reunion at Cherry Hill in Utah. Cherry Hill has a big water park with an awesome pirate ship that my kids were soo excited to go to. The second day we spent the day at the water park and it did not disappoint. The first day we all met up at the treehouse museum which was really awesome. It was 100 degrees the whole weekend, we were camping in a tent and we didn't end up getting a whole lot of sleep. The last day we went to boondocks which was a fun place, but I was so completely exhausted by then that I could hardly enjoy it. It was hard to make my legs move, and our kids were running all over the place. We were supposed to stay there a third night, but Drew and I decided we had had enough and we left after he finished golfing. We got to Boise at midnight and stayed in a hotel there. We all got a good nights sleep which felt so wonderful. We swam in the pool in the morning and headed home where the 113 degree temperature greeted us warmly.

 My parents borrowed the big box hockey game from Lainey's wedding and took it to the reunion, and it was a hit again.

 The boys in the water

 Luke, his kids and Darcy in the lazy river. They spent a lot of time there.

 Darcy, Whitney, and Michael in the lazy river again

 Alyssa, my mom, Whitney and Nick coming off the double dragon water slides

 Luke with Sam and Drew with Ezra

 Drew and Ezra high-fiving

 Ezra on the bumper boats

 Right before we left Ezra and Sam had a little water fight that was so adorable. 

 Sam kept saying, "I won't get you this time. Really. I won't do it." And every single time Ezra would fall for it and she would get him. I thought it was so funny.

Just some of our big group

Tea Party

 At Darcy's dance studio they were wanting us to pay for an extra month of classes for only two classes, one of which was going to be a tea party. I wasn't really interested in paying for that so I told Darcy we would have a tea party at our house instead and she was thrilled. We had Thomas and Marley come and Matthew just happened to be at our house that day too for a bonus! The boys sat there for a couple minutes, and then the outdoors called to them and they moved on which I thought was funny.

 I tried to come up with royal titles for all of them for their place cards. 

Madame Marley

 Earl Ezra (I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with that one.)

 Missure Matthew

 I struggled to come up with one that started with T, and eventually settled on Titan Thomas.

 Dutchess Darcy

Drake and Lainey

On June 20th my cousin Lainey married Drake in the Columbia River Temple. They are such a cute couple and we are really excited for them! Lainey, her parents, and our other cousin Shay (who Lainey is really close to) stayed at our house the night before the wedding and I was so excited to have them come. It paid off for us to live the closest to the temple. :)

After the wedding we all went to Yakima for the reception. They had a more casual reception with a bunch of different yard games, and we all came away thinking we had never been to a reception that was more fun.

I took a million pictures, and I am going to attempt to cut them down as much as I can.

 Lainey, ready to go get married!

 I love this picture of Drew and Parks.

 This one of Ezra checking out the fountain cracked me up.

 Married!

 Most of our side of the family that was at the wedding (missing some husbands and little kids)

 My dad's three sisters who are some of my favorite people on the planet!

 My dad and his siblings that were there (missing two brothers)

 My grandparents and their kids who were there

 At the reception somehow my kids got their hands on these cool old hats of Lainey's and Uncle Don's that they wore faithfully, and looked really awesome in.

 In my family my Aunt Elaine is famous for her homemade root beer. She had these made with special labels and I thought they were so cute.

 My Uncle Dale whipped up this big version of box hockey that was a big hit. (And there are those awesome hats again!)

 The stick game

 Lainey and Drake met in a bluegrass class in college and they performed for us at their reception!

 Emily also dazzled us with a song she dedicated to them. :)

 More box hockey

I can't remember what this game was called anymore. Darcy won one of the rounds which was pretty exciting!