Summer Vacation ~Night 4~ Reception

We had a nice ride to TN and met everyone at my sister Cathy's house to rest a while before changing and going to Emily and Spencer's reception.

 

 We helped finish setting up and getting the food out for the reception. We were able to talk with the wedding party before the bigger crowd came.

 After we got something to eat and sat around to chat with our family they started some music and Katie was very excited to get up and dance.  He cousin Josh was more than willing to have some fun with her so they went out on the dance floor so sweet! Katie also was able to dance with her dad and they had a good time.

 

 It was nice to see my parents get up to dance as well.  My mom was a little tired but looked great that night.

Toward the end of the night we all got up to do the Chacha slide we all had so much fun and it was a great way to end the night.

The night was winding down and everyone was saying goodbye to Emily.  It was a great day very busy but still lots of fun.  We were so happy to be here for Emily's Wedding and the kids had a blast hanging out with their cousins again.  We are so happy for Emily and Spencer and wish them all the best.  It was a great night but we were very tired and ready to get some sleep.

Summer Vacation ~Day 4~ Wedding Day

 Saturday we all got up early and got ready for Emily's wedding. We had to pack the car and be dressed which was hard after getting in so late the night before but we all made it and everyone was looking good.   Emily and Spencer were married in our LDS Temple so the kids could not come in so they all waited outside while the couple was married. It was wonderful that John and I were able to sit with my parents and siblings for this special day. 

Katie and her cousin Amanda were the flower girls in Emily's wedding party and they both looked so cute together and they loved being able to help out on this special day.

 After the wedding and pictures were done well all went inside to have some lunch and hang out together and cool down after being out in the hot weather.

After lunch was done all of the families changed and the kids had fun running around and hanging out together. Its hard for our kids to get to know there cousins since we all live so far apart so its a special time that they all get some time to be together.

We took advantage of us all being together and had a family photo taken.  It has been over 11 years since we have all been together so it was a perfect time to have it done.  We were missing my one older brother and his wife but other than them we were all together.

 

Each family had a color and of course we chose red and I think our picture turned out really good.

 Each family had there individual pictures taken then we had all the cousins get together for a picture and it turned out great. This is the first time we have been able to get a picture of them in about 4 years so I was so glad to have us all together.

After a very busy first half of our day we had to climb into our very full car and drive about 3 hours back up to TN and then get ready for Emily's reception that night.  It has been great spending time with our family and now we are heading back into the car for a fun party later.

Summer Vacation ~Day 3~ Hanging with our Cousins

 After our much needed restful night of sleep we went out to meet with my sister Jennifer's kids.

We meet up at an old Civil War Battle Field.  My dad came along and had a blast hanging out with 8 of his 13 Grand kids. 

 We drove to the top of this hill where there were old cannons all around where they would shoot at the enemy below.

 The kids had a good time time hanging out together and climbing on the rocks.  It was neat to look out on the city below.

We all went out to lunch together and had a great time catching up.  From there all the kids went back to the hotel where we meet up with Susan, nick, and William. All the kids went swimming with Ben, Susan and Nick in charge while the rest of us adults went with Emily to the Atlanta Temple.
Once we were done at the Temple we had a family dinner put on by Emily's Husband to bes family, but our kids were not invited so John and Jennifer's husband Jeremy stayed behind with the kids.  It ended up being a long night and we didn't get our food till very late but that gave us a chance to spend time together.  It was a fun day but the real craziness was to come in the morning so we all got some much needed rest for the big day a head.

Summer Vacation ~Day 2~ Atlanta

After driving all night we were able to get into our hotel room early and get cleaned up before we headed out to meet my dad and brother.

Atlanta is the HQ for Coca Cola and they have a World of Coca Cola museum so of course we had to make sure we made it there. This is were we meet my dad and youngest brother Ben who we have not seen in years.

  We had to wait in a line outside in 100 degree weather it was really humid out I don't know how people live down south I was dying just walking to the building.

They had some really cool things to see inside like these huge bottles.

They had this huge touch screen to learn about the company around the world.  They had this really cool 4D movie where the seats moved it was really fun.

We walked around looking at all the cool things and information they had. They have an area where you can taste different soda from around the world and most were pretty awful but we did find a few that were really good.

They had the Coca Cola Bear so we had our family picture taken, but Aaron didn't want anything to do with him.

We had a great time and saw many cool things but everyone was tired from driving all night so we headed back to our hotel to take a quick swim and head to bed early.

Summer Vacation ~Day 1~ D.C.Fireworks

 We started our trip on 4th of July morning and drove the 8 hours to Washington D.C.

The city was very busy and many roads were closed as we tried to guide our way through to get as close as we could.  We walked the 4 blocks to the Mall Area and our first stop was the Natural History Museum to see the Dinosaurs.  Aaron has been waiting since last year to see them again and he was in Heaven as we walked around.

 I forgot the camera in the car and it was a bit to far and way to hot out side to go get it so the pictures didn't come out very well, but I'm still glad that we were able to take some. The kids had a blast and it was nice to be inside out of the 102 heat.

 Our next stop was to the Air and Space Museum.  We were getting hungry so we sat down and had some dinner and cooled off before we walked around looking at all of the space ships and planes until they closed and kicked us back out into the heat.

 We still had over an hour to wait for the fireworks to start, so we all had some ice cream and ate it really quickly before it melted in our hands.

 The kids found a hand railing to slide down and that helped pass the time.

 We were about halfway between the Capital Building and The Washington Monument so as it got dark, both buildings lit up and they looked so cool!

 The Fireworks were done over the Monument and they were so beautiful!

They didn't really last that long but they sure were big and very pretty.  We all enjoyed our time and it was so cool to be in our Nations Capital for our country's Birthday!!!  It was way to hot and way to humid so getting back into the car was not really that fun but we found a place to change our clothes and settled in for our 11 hour car ride to Atlanta.

Soccer Camp

 This year all 3 of our kids were able to attend soccer camp together.

 Aaron only went half days but he came with lots of new things to teach me.

All the kids in the camp are put onto teams and play games all week and in the end one is the winner.  Zach was on team Nigeria and they came in 4th, Katie was on team Netherlands and they came in 2nd.  We had a good time making their shirts for the final day.  Aaron's team, Spain was the camp winner but being only a half day 6 year old he never played in a game but he was still given a certificate and he thought that was pretty cool.  It was a good week and they all learned a lot of cool tricks to practice over the summer to be ready to play in the fall.

Katies New Earrings

 Last summer Katie got her ears pierced but when we changed them her ears got infected and she wouldn't let us put the old ones back in. So now that school is out and she has met some goals we set for her she is ready to get her ears done again.

 We took her to the mall and she picked out a flower with her birthstone in it.

 She was very brave and didn't even move when the lady did each ear.

She did great and they look so good.  We are very proud of Katie, she has changed a lot over the last year and has made some really good improvements as well.  Nice Job Katie you look Great!!!