We love it when it is warm

This weekend we got to do lots of fun things as a family. Friday we took a tour of Buffalo by boat. Buffalo is beautiful when it is warm. I wish I could go back in time and see Buffalo in its prime, this city used to be a happening place. On the tour we got to go through a locke, see a bridge rise up so we could pass, see a bridge rotate 90 degrees, see one of the first hotels in the U.S. to have a bathroom in every room, and a revolutionary grain storage system.

It was 2 hours long so unfortunately the kids didn't have these smiles the whole trip.

Before the tour

Saturday

Anthony took Kenzie and Parker to a class at Lowes were they got to make a little wood school bus.

We went for a bike ride

Got to go to a pool party.

Favorite argument

My favorite argument of the day went down like this:

Parker threw an unreasonable child like tantrum, adamant that Kenzie was using his chair.
Anthony being the mediator asked Parker how he knew it was his chair. Anthony pointed out there is no way to tell them apart, it isn't like it has his name written on it.

Parker still being unreasonable and combative was then put in his room to cool off.

5 minutes later Parker comes to the kitchen asking me to come with him so he can show me something.

Parker using permanent marker, has now solved the confusion. Their is no question which one is his.

Bunco

Last week I got to play Bunco with some friends. These ladies are so much fun, every time I have played bunco with them I leave laughing. During the game to settle a tie, I arm wrestled Chanda.

Have you ever tried to push over a brick building? That is what it felt like I was trying to do, needless to say I lost. If Steph hadn't taken this picture and there weren't 10 witnesses I might try to pretend like the whole thing never happened. Chanda may look sweet, but that girl is walking around with 2 guns hanging from her shoulders.

Ode to the Cast

When Parker came home from getting his cast off he told me he wanted to put it up in his room on a blue shelf so he can show everyone who comes to visit. We got it hung this weekend, Parker couldn't be happier.

1000 Islands

Thanks to our friends, this is were we got to spend last weekend. (Not in the castle, but in one of the houses on the island behind the castle).

This place is heaven on earth. Not only were we with our very good friends, but we got to spend the day wake boarding. I wake boarded until I was so tired I had to let go because my body was shaking. Anthony got pretty good on his jumps, to bad I took the picture after he let go of the rope.

The water was so warm Anthony and Andrew took the kids swimming. (Andrew is in the picture, can you see him?).Aren't these kids adorable?The guys were able to catch some fish.

Weston and Parker had fun touching the fishThen back out for some more boarding, Jessee is real good at driving the boat.

Kaitlynn hated the life jacket, but was able to fall asleep when we propped her in a corner

It took a while to get all the tangles out of Kenzie's hair after the boat ride was over:)

Good advice

A lady I really admire once told me if you want your marriage to last, you have to smash wedding cake in each others face.

8 years ago today, Anthony and I sealed our fate of a good marriage. I don't know if it was the cake smashing or the fact that I married a very amazing and patient man, but 8 years later our marriage is still holding strong, and I wouldn't change a thing.

What we missed

We drove to Utah for the summer and took way too many pictures, and did way too many things to blog about so to sum up, here are the top 12 things I haven't got around to blogging about but want to remember:

1. The fact that we all still like each other even after driving over 4000 miles with just us 5 and the open road. I was scared it would be horrible, but it was easy and so fun to have just us.

2. Marissa and Brandon's wedding, and all the fun family time it provided us.
3. Having all my sibling and their families together at my parents for a week(my brother lives in Australia, sister in Virginia, me in New York, and brother in California so this took more than a little planning).
4. Adam getting his eagle. The best part of this experience was Anthony wearing his shirt he wore when he got his Eagle 16 years ago.

5. Truth or Dare at my parents house. The highlights being when J was dared to eat the marshmallows that Alex put in her mouth, and Anthony stopping a car as he ran across Main street with a flaming marshmallow.
6. Slurpees
7. Sitting around the fire at mine and Anthony's parents house.
8. Spending time with family and friends that we miss so much.
9. All the manual labor Anthony got to provide. Move my parents, get the yard ready for Marissa's reception, build a fence.
10. Feeding the horse, and Parker getting scared to death when the horse got out and ran straight for him. 11. Parade and Fireworks over the 4th and 24th of July.
12. Daniels Summit

Jaron's Birthday

Kaitlynn 1 year

Until I can get Kaitlynn's 1 year old pictures this will have to do. Here is Kaitlynn at 1 year:
she can walk
has tons of teeth
says mom, dad, no, and nanna (which we believe is short for banana, but she uses the word when she wants something to eat)
laughs all the time
sleeps through the night
takes 2 naps
done with bottles
good at feeding herself

Kaitlynn turns One

While we were in Utah Kaitlynn turned 1. She and her cousin Jaron have a birthday one day apart so we had a joint b-day party.
Jaron turned 4

Since we have had kids we always live far from family, so this was the first b-day party of our kids that we had extended family. This is Anthony's sister Melinda on the left, Eric holding Jace and his wife Annamarie next to him. If you don't know the guy in the orange shirt you probably shouldn't be reading this blog:)
This is Anthony's dad, the back of Kenzie's head, Adam (Anthony's youngest brother)flashing the gang sign, Parker, Anthony, Micah(Anthony's brother), Brandon and his wife Marissa(Anthony's youngest sister).
Kaitlynn opening her presents.

Church History

On our way from Utah to New York we stopped at some famous church sites. Here we are in front of the Kirtland temple:

I learned more about the churches history at our 3 stops than 29 years of going to church. It was so interesting and fun.

Nauvoo was our favorite stop, they had a carnival, a pageant, and tons of interactive things to teach us how the pioneers lived in the 1800's. We learned how to make candles, rope, horseshoes, dolls, and toys. Here is Parker using a two-man saw.

We took the kids for a ride in a handcart.

Parker got to help make a rope.

Kenzie got a little scared when we got to Carthage Jail, where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred. When we got out of the car Kenzie asked "mom where are the bad man with the guns, are they going to shoot us?" Lucky for us the bad man with the guns left Carthage over 100 years ago so we were safe.
Did you know that the jail cell was in a room of a house, and a family with kids actually lived in the house and helped take care of the prisoners? Crazy huh?
This is the original door in the jail where the mob attacked and killed Joseph and Hyrum. The 2 bullet holes are from shots fired the night of Joseph and Hyrum's martyrdom.

We are standing in front of the window that Joseph fell from after being shot.