Bugs and Rainbows!

Yesterday I decided to take my kids to the park for a play date with some other ladies in my ward. They had tons of fun. They discovered an area that was infested with snails. They found snail, after snail, after snail. At one point, Austin had ten in his hand that he wanted to bring home. Cameron had 5 or 6 and Ben had 1.  I think between all the kids there, they had over 30 snails on the table.  I tried talking my kids into returning the snails to their home where they would be more happy multiplying and replenishing the earth but they wouldn't go for it. So, I told Austin and Cameron they could take home 2 and Ben could bring his 1 home but they were not allowed to take them in the back by our garden.  So...fast forward to early evening....as I'm finishing up with dishes, I look out my window and I see my boys creating this thing.....They say it is a snail playground.  What I would give for their imaginations...

And....here are some of the other pics at the park.....(I promise...I made my kids wash their hands with SOAP and WATER!!)

Escargo anyone????

 

 

 

 

Austin has always had a fascination with certain bugs. He believes grasshoppers are his friends, he likes snails, etc. Well, he went working with his grandpa today and found an injured butterfly. He immediately rescued it and has given it a name.  He lets it crawl all over him and whispers to it.  Here are a few pics of his new buddy.

You can't tell because of the size of the picture and it's shaded but the butterfly is on his face as he is reading his book.

Pretty butterfly

Last but not least, the other night Cameron comes running into the house and says, "Quick mom, come look."  I was busy at the time so I told him to take my phone and go take a picture of what he wanted to show me. (I did not ask him what he wanted me so badly for) After he came back with this FANTASTIC picture, I was ashamed that I didn't take the time to really go see what he wanted to show me.  Definitely a reminder to me to really LISTEN to my children and that NOTHING is more important than time with them...not even laundry!  So, here's the picture that Cameron took, all by himself and his mommy thinks it's BEAUTIFUL!!  Thanks Cam for "catching" a rainbow for mommy. It really made my day.

Marshmallow Roast

This past weekend we had planned to go camping with our good friends but plans fell through.  So.....we decided to just take a ride up the canyon Sunday afternoon, take stuff to make smores, and have us a marshmallow roast.  It was a pretty drive and the kids had a blast. We are definitely going to have to do this a lot more often.  My goal is to do some sort of (cheapish) activity with my kids every weekend until school starts.  Last night they had their first experience at a drive in movie theater. It was a spur of the moment idea but my Mother in Law and I decided to take the 3 boys (Kent is out of town). I'm glad we went. The two youngest quickly fell asleep but Austin loved it.  I haven't been in probably 20 + years so I had forgotten how fun it is. I didn't get any pictures of the movies last night....(shame on me) but I did take pictures of our marshmallow roast up the canyon.

You can't tell because the pic is so small (argghh!) but Kent looks like a chipmunk.  Cheeks full of marshmallows.

Cameron & Austin sharing a rock with their grandma.  Yes...Cameron is cross eyed....on purpose!

Austin fixing himself a smore with grandma watching.

Austin eating a smore. He wouldn't look at the camera so I had a hard time getting a good pic of him.

Kent roasting

He looks like he's going to puke but he really isn't....he just has his mouth full.  I think this is what you get when you "try" to smile with your mouth full of marshmallow.

driving home in Tooele. Thought the sunset was beautiful!

4th of July!

I didn't take too many pictures on the 4th but still wanted to post about it. It was a pretty fun day. We went to the Grantsville parade in the morning. The kids loved it!  In the afternoon we went to my parents for a barbeque. We haven't done anything with them on the 4th for a couple of years so it was fun being with them.  Later in the evening, we went back to Grantsville to let off a few fireworks and to watch the city firework show. I love Grantsville's firework show. I love being out in the open and listening to the big BOOM that comes off the mountains!  Okay, so I can't enlarge my pics because then they go REALLY blurry.  So, hopefully you can see them. That will teach me not to use my cell phone to take pictures!!!

I think this is of Austin lighting his first firework with dad's supervision.

Kent lighting off a firework

Kent helping Cameron light a firework

The boys at the parade

boys with their sparklers

This was actually taken on the 2nd but it was the same weekend so here it is.  Pic of Kent and the boys walking on the beach of the Great Salt Lake.  I didn't walk with them since it was pretty stinky and muddy.