Pioneer Day Party

Last Saturday our ward had a really fun Pioneer Day party. A BBQ dinner was served and then there were a bunch of Pioneer-ish activities planned. My kids had the best time trying everything out and being with their friends.

Crossing an "icy river" (aka baby pool filled with water and ice - brilliant!):

Potato Sack races:

Making/Eating Butter:

Tug-o-Wars (YM Presidency v. EQ Presidency - the YM were victorious!):

Stick Pulls:
Hanging with Friends:



Looking Cute:


There was also candle making, another pioneer craft, 3 legged races and hoop roll races. We had a wonderful time and hope this becomes and annual tradition for our ward.

Zoo Music

Gosh, it has been forever since I posted anything on the old blog. We're just busy enjoying summertime - lots of swimming, playdates, popsicles, bike rides, afternoon reading, and trips to the park. I should take more pictures of our day -to-day activities but I never seem to remember my camera.

Last Friday we picked up dinner at one of our favorite local spots and headed over to the zoo for their Friday evening live concert. The zoo here has different local groups come in every Friday night during the summer to perform. We had a really fun time. We got set up in a shady spot on the lawn and enjoyed our dinner. We still had a little while until the concert started so we spent some time looking at our favorite animals (the adorable baby elephant, giraffe's and sea lions) and then settled on the lawn to watch the concert.

(ignore Al's full mouth in this picture!)

The group we saw was a Celtic group that were billed as Celtic rock. It ended up being VERY mellow Celtic music. Allen and I really enjoyed it but the kids were a bit restless. They ended up playing with the kids that were sitting next to us for most of the night. We'd really like to go again for a date night and hope we can squeeze it in before the summer is over. We will definitely be making this a family tradition every summer.

We only have a couple more weeks of our summer break so my posting will probably be minimal as we try to squeeze in as much fun as possible. And I hope to have my 365 blog updated in the next couple of days. I'm taking my pictures but am slow getting them off my camera!

A festive Fourth

We had a super fun and relaxing 4th of July weekend this year!

First, a few pictures of my patriotic decor. We are almost always traveling over the 4th so I usually don't decorate so it was really fun to have my stuff up this year.

On Saturday morning we attended the local 4th of July parade. It was perfect weather and we had a great time. The kids took their Trick or Treating bags to the parade and brought home about as much candy as they did this past year ToTing. It is crazy! After a quick stop at Sonic for drinks and treats we spend most of the afternoon lazing by the pool before watching the fireworks from our backyard balcony.

Parade goers:

On Sunday we got decked out in our red, white and blue and headed to church. After naps we had dessert with some friends and then headed down to watch the ABQ city fireworks from Allen's work parking lot. It was a late night but the kids had blast.

On Monday we hosted a big BBQ with a few friends in our ward. It was so much fun and we had delicious food and great conversation. When it finally got dark we put on our own fireworks show in the front yard.

Carter and Noah in their matching shirts!

A few of the party goers:It was another late night and my kids miraculously slept until 9:30 this morning recovering from all the festivities. It was a perfect weekend - family, friends and fun - and made me wish for a holiday every weekend.

Galloping Graces

A couple weeks ago I was able to take the kids, along with some friends horseback riding. A couple here in town opened a non-profit horse ranch for kids a few years ago that offers FREE horseback riding to kids several times a month. I have wanted to take the kids for awhile but wanted to wait until summer.

They had an amazing experience! We were so impressed with the entire organization and with the couple who generously offers their land and livestock so kids can have this experience. Our day was broken into three stations. At the first station the kids were asked to make thank you cards that are sent to the people who donate the food for the horses.

Our second station was our service station where the kids got to pick up horse poop. Hilariously, the kids loved this part of our day almost as much as their time spent on the actual horses! The kids proved to be hard workers and even the littlest ones chipped in and scooped poop

It was finally our turn to ride the horses and the kids LOVED it. Carter and Makenna both proved to be quite adept at handling the horses on their own. I was so proud of how brave they were and how patient they were with the horses and the process of steering them through the obstacles in their pens. The surprise of the day was how IN LOVE with the horses and riding Addie was. She could not get enough of it. Of course she was just walked around the ring with the horse for about 15 minutes but she cried and cried when they took her off the horse. She is STILL talking about riding the horsey.

After the organized activities the kids spent quite a bit of time playing around their amazing playhouse, barn and play structure

Carter, Noah and Jay practicing their roping:

Thank you Galloping Graces! We had a wonderful time and can't wait to come back!

Camp Invention

I'm a *little* bit behind in my blogging but I'm vowing to get caught up this weekend!

The 2nd week of summer vacation Carter was able to attend an all-day science camp at his school called Camp Invention. The camp focused on getting kids to look at science and creating in a new light. He LOVED his week at camp. They built roller coasters, took apart electronics and put them back together, created spacecraft that they raced, planned and built a city, created rides for an amusment park, played games and learned about scientific advances around the world.

On the last day of camp, families were invited to see what the kids had been working on all week. Here are a few pictures of Carter's teams projects:

The city they built:

Carter's invented carnival ride, the icecream scoop twirl:The roller coaster wall (they raced marbles down these tubes):We hope Camp Invention comes back next year because he had a great experience. It is a national camp program so if it ever comes to your area, we highly recommend it.