Water, Foam, Dirt.... and White Clothes

Every year, our company does a party in the summer. Of course, since we just started this whole shibang in 2007, that really means that this was our second summer party. We went up to Ragin Waters and everyone had a blast. They have a good mix of rides for the older and younger of us and the day was perfectly hooooooot for getting in the water. There is one set of rides (last pic here) where you lay on a mat and ride on your belly down a huge drop off. I nearly lost my lunch on it... but Cloudburst went on it and loved it! She swears that she didn't even get scared on it. Sheesh, she's only 6! This girl is a daredevil.

For Pioneer Day here in Utah (July 24 for all you out-of-towners), Lehi city brought out the firetrucks and sprayed a huge field with foam. You know, just for fun. The kids loved it! Poor Cloudburst got lost and that was a bit stressful at the end, but other than that, the kid had a great time slipping, sliding and eating watermelon.

And we decided to finally pull out the ol tent and set it up in the backyard this summer. Everyone was all excited... until it was time to actually go to sleep and there were strange noises outside. I totally roughed it... inside in my bed with baby Sunrise. Yes, our tent is awesomely huge and yes, Thunder can stand up inside it!

Thunder had a business trip to Florida and brought back a T-shirt he made... Cloudburst fell in love with it and wore this cute number to bed that night.

And here are a bunch of pictures from the Fathers and Sons campout! I was not there, so I don't really have any commentary... but it looks fun, doesn't it?

And we were able to bless Sunrise on this past Sunday. We didn't have any family in town but it was such a special experience to hear Thunder give him a blessing in church. One part of the blessing talked about Sunrise turning to Heavenly Father in prayer as he goes to school and participates in athletics... maybe he will be a star athlete? He certainly has long feet for excellent stability!

Nana and Papa!

Last week we were able to have Nana and Papa come to visit. Yes, they were just here a few weeks before when Sunrise was sick, but this visit had actually been planned for a while, so of course we welcomed them back for more fun! We went swimming at the Legacy Center and it was so nice to have one adult per kid. All the kids ended up on the big green slide, even Tornado (you locals will know what I'm talking about!)

The kids love riding this thing! And Thunder doesn't think it's too bad either...

This past Sunday was our first back to church with the whole family. They all looked so nice I just had to grab a few pics. Of course, Thunder had already been to church for 5 hours or so. In church the kids had a bit of a rough time sitting still, but I was just happy we made it on time!

And little Sunrise is now 2 months old! He's doing just great. He is getting into a pattern at night where he goes to sleep at 8PM, wakes up around 3AM and then again around 6AM. I can definitely handle that. Now if I could just get MYSELF to bed earlier than 11PM, I could actually get some sleep!

27 pictures for you

Hello! Even though I haven't got my blog on lately, we are still here and doing great. By the way, do you know that Picassa can email photos directly to blogger? I just discovered that little trick, and it's saved me tons of time.

Last week I finally made the Rainbow cake I found on a friend's blog back in March, although I did just make a regular cake mix and put in food coloring rather than using sprite (seriously, that's the original recipe!)

It was just lovely! We made it for Family Night when we had company. The kids wanted to put balloons on top of the cake, so I popped some starbursts in the microwave for a few seconds, molded them into the shape of balloons, and added licorice for strings. Too bad they all got eaten before the picture was taken!

There has been a ton of construction going on behind us... and the developer is putting in a trail behind us. One of our neighbors was out working when he awesomely offered rides to the kids. They were in heaven!!

Baby Sunrise is starting to smile! He first smiled for Dad, then Cloudburst, THEN me. What's up with that?!? He is about 7 weeks now.

For the 4th of July, one of our great neighbors organized the first annual neighborhood parade and breakfast. She asked us to be the Grand Marshall of the parade! It was sooo cool to see the long line of kids on bikes, scooters, and 4-wheelers. During the breakfast, I sang "God Bless the USA" with Cloudburst, and Sunshine sang an adorable song by himself (What's more American that cornflakes, 4th of July and Uncle Sam? What's more American than baseball? I am, I am, I am!). There were games and face painting, and tons of food. A great start to the day!

Later that afternoon we had some good friends over for a good ol' BBQ. We had ribs, burgs, dogs, grilled pineapple, pasta salad, cookies, cake chips with homemade dips, and the most beautiful jello creation ever! The kids loved the fireworks show put on by the dads, and the mosquitoes really loved all of us being outside so late. Don't ask me why Tornado insisted on dressing like a ladybug.

Sunrise is starting to get some great facial expressions. Maybe he is starting to realize how crazy his family really is!

And we now have 2/3 bikeriders riding on 2-wheelers! Quite a few kids in the neighborhood have made the switch, so we decided last weekend was the time. On Sunday I got out the old small bike and right away Sunshine was off and running. He picked it up really fast and was riding up and down the street right away. Cloudburst took a little more time, but by Monday night she was cruising too. Tornado has switched back to his bigger bike without the training wheels, and Cloudburst will too, as soon as we fix her flat tire! Tornado just loved being able to ride in the street while they were learning.

Well tomorrow Nana and Papa arrive. Yes they were just here a few weeks ago... they came to help us when Sunrise was sick and already had tickets for this trip, so we get them back! The kids are very excited and we are looking forward to some hot weather with NO RAIN (cross your fingers)!