.waning summer.

It's been an incredibly busy summer for us...but considering we still have three very young kids it was still very low key in most ways.  

sparklers with Finn on the 24th

Roy has been gone a lot with scouts and work this past month so we definitely appreciate having him home when he is.  The last week of July he spent a week up at Bear Lake with the scouts and had a good time keeping everybody alive, but he was ready to be home by Saturday.

saying good morning to all of us one day

August 4th we celebrated our 8th anniversary.  We had big plans to go sailing and actually spend a night out together, but it totally flopped when we had to re-schedule our sailing date, and I got sick.   Instead we settled for a Temple date and dinner on Saturday.  It feels like life has been giving us a lot of different turns lately so we are learning to go with the flow and not be terribly disappointed when things don't go as planned.  

8 years ago when Roy was a model and we were babies...in a lot of ways.

 The kids have been busy playing and living up the summer weather.  We love having good neighbors close that have kids that come and go as they wish so that there is always someone to play with.  E stays with me most days while Finn, and his tag along Meg play.  Her mullet is finally long enough for two little pigs and it is the sweetest thing ever.

She was screaming at ants when I took this picture.

 The end of the summer brings a lot of activity in our neighborhood.  We have a carnival, harvest fair, and a neighborhood block party, all within two months.  We enjoyed our night at the carnival letting the kids sugar themselves up and running until they dropped.

When Meg was asked what she wanted painted on her face she just said, "pink".  

 Finn is always wanting to go to Grandma Caroline's house because she has the best toys and feeds him well.  She invited us out to her parents house who live out on a lake for a picnic and swimming.  Let's just say it was a little slice of heaven.  Lots of toys, water, and food to keep any kid happy.  We couldn't get over how incredibly awesome their set up was.  We will be spending many more summer days playing out there!

the kids playing with Laura on the private beach

Besides a pea flop earlier this spring, our garden has been producing like mad.  I find growing things so satisfying and I'm so happy that all this food is so healthy for us.  My kids love eating carrots and cucumbers straight out of the garden.  And I can eat all the cherry tomatoes I want.

We continued out summer fun this past week with a trip to the county fair which is just down the road from my parents house.  We were lucky to have my sister and her kids come to help me out with the littles.  We had a lot of fun even in the VERY hot weather.

E especially loved the sugary goodness of the cotton candy.  She was covered from head to toe in a pink glaze by the time we got home.

 Finn really enjoyed it the most. He was excited about all the animals and things to see.  He even road one of the smaller kid coasters at the carnival.  He was smiling so big until it actually started going.  Then his face instantly went to surprised terror as the ride screamed around.  He never cried, but was more then eager to get off.  He opted for the kiddie train ride that went around in a small circle topping out at snail speed next.  He declared it to be just the ride speed...that boy kills me!

the petting zoo was a big hit with this blondie!

To finish the week out Finn and Roy went to a monster truck rally.  Boy heaven!!!  While the boy's played with big trucks, the girls and I went and got PINK frozen yogurt...a most happy night for all.

School starts for Finn in a mere two weeks so we are soaking up these last few free days of summer,